How Fat Princess Became a Huge Success

Fat Princess is a Playstation Network title for the Playstation 3. The exclusive game was released on July 30th and became an instant hit. Fat Princess managed to become one of the most downloaded content on the Playstation Store since it finally debuted. In fact, it sold so well that players were experience connection problems due to the unprecedented demand. These issues have since been resolved.

So how did Fat Princess become such a huge success on the Playstation 3? Let's take a look at several contributing factors.

Hype
The first debut of Fat Princess couldn't have been more humble. The downloadable game was revealed as part of a montage for upcoming Playstation Network titles on the Playstation 3 during E3 2008. While it only appeared for a few seconds, Fat Princess caught the eye of many gamers with its unusual name and unique gameplay. So, even without much media exposure, Fat Princess got a large amount of hype early on. The anticipation only grew when more (including a beta) were revealed for the Playstation Network exclusive game. When the game was finally released on the Playstation Store, it was destined for success.

Controversy
Fat Princess also got some exposure in the mass media due to a small controversy. In the game, you can feed cake to the enemy princess in order to make her fatter. Her increased weight will then make it harder for her rescuers to carry her. Of course, some special interest groups and individuals were not fond of the depiction. This caused a litter stir in the media and subsequently increased the exposure of Fat Princess.

Multiplayer
Fat Princess wouldn't have found as much success if it just were a single-player game. Although the Playstation Network game does have a story mode, it is mainly used to train players for the multiplayer matches. Fat Princess is a 32-player online multiplayer game first and foremost. Because of that, it gets a lot of sales due to good word of mouth since players who already own the game will ask friends to buy it as well.

Release Date
While the holiday season is great for retail game sales, the opposite holds true for downloadable titles. Games like Fat Princess have the most success when there are very little new games released at retail. Because it was released in the middle of the summer, there was little competition from retail games. As a result, Fat Princess got the spotlight whereas it would have been lost in the shuffle during the holiday season. If it weren't for the perfect timing, Fat Princess wouldn't be as successful as it is.