According to the game’s publisher in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Manor Lords’ impressive player count of 170,000 is the highest ever for a city builder game or other genres like GSG/4x/colony sim.
Developed by Slavic Magi, Manor Lords is a medieval strategy game featuring in-depth city building that first launched in Early Access on April 26th, 2024, and is now enjoying a bigger Steam launch over the likes of Cities: Skylines and Civilization.
In 2023, Hooded Horse celebrated selling one million copies across its game portfolio within its first twelve months of sales. Founded in 2019, the publisher first began selling with the partnership release of Old World on Steam in May 2022, marking a turning point.
With six titles released in the past year and 15 more in 2023-2024, Hooded Horse emphasizes its commitment to long-term support for partner studios. Their business model prioritizes financial sustainability, promoting consistency over isolated viral hits.
All five games released in 2022 have sold over 100,000 copies each, contributing to the total of over a million units sold. Manor Lords is now the publisher’s first tile to rack up over a million copies just after its release.
Hooded Horse president Snow (Xue) Rui said in 2023 that the company “intends to keep helping developers market their games so we can empower them to do what they do best: Create fantastic strategy experiences enjoyed by players around the world.”
