WTF?! Not for the primary time, one thing that began as an April Fools’ joke has gone on to turn into an surprising success. On this event, it was Sega’s The Homicide of Sonic the Hedgehog, a free visible novel wherein the speedy blue mascot has been killed (or has he?). Not solely has it turn into Sega’s best-performing PC title but additionally the 62nd highest-rated sport on Steam.
On April 1, Sega joined the various different firms world wide in doing one thing jokey for April Fools’ Day, and so The Homicide of Sonic the Hedgehog was launched. Whereas this visible novel is actually no Return of the Obra Dinn, it is an fulfilling option to spend a few hours with out spending any cash.
Whereas these types of April Fools’ jokes are normally finished to garner a little bit of publicity, Sega’s sport has been extra profitable than the corporate doubtless imagined. Since its launch six days in the past, The Homicide of Sonic the Hedgehog has been downloaded over a million instances. It is at present the 62nd best-reviewed sport on Steam, sitting one above Undertale, and had been within the 61st place, because of 98% of its 11,000 Steam person opinions being constructive.
Over 1,000,000 of you could have grabbed The Homicide of Sonic the Hedgehog and it is at present the #61 highest rated sport on Steam of ALL TIME.
Completely unreal. Thanks all so, a lot. �’� pic.twitter.com/Cy2cIo2AHl
— Katie – MiniKitty (@KatieChrz) April 5, 2023
The recognition means the sport is now Sega’s best-reviewed title on Steam, edging forward of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Reworked Assortment and Sonic Mania, each of which have 94% constructive scores.
We have seen actual and profitable merchandise originate from April Fools’ pranks earlier than. Razer’s Undertaking Breadwinner, which started as an April Fools’ joke in 2016, ended up turning into an actual kitchen toaster full with Razer Chroma lighting.
Then there was the Stack Overflow keyboard known as The Key which consists of solely three keys: Ctrl, C, and V. It happened when Stack Overflow stored displaying a tongue-in-cheek pop-up notifying customers that they had been nearly out of free copies each time they used a keyboard command to repeat characters from the location. The $29 actual product was so profitable that an up to date model that includes RGB and hot-swappable switches was created.
Extra not too long ago, the Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld initially introduced as an April Fools’ joke can be turning into an actual product, one smaller, lighter, and extra highly effective than the Steam Deck, in line with Asus.