Video Games

Manor Lords sells a million copies on first day, plans for next update revealed

Back to business after a fulminant launch

Marco Wutz

Slavic Magic / Hooded Horse

Last weekend was all about Manor Lords, the authentic medieval city-builder from Slavic Magic and Hooded Horse – the most-wishlisted game on Steam made some waves when it launched last Friday: According to publisher Hooded Horse, the title sold over one million copies in a day.

That success was apparent when the game cracked 100,000 concurrent players about an hour after its release, but is still staggering – we’re talking about an indie city-builder here. That’s not a genre you’d usually associate with numbers like this. It helps, of course, that Manor Lords is still available with a generous launch discount and got fantastic Early Access reviews.

The one area the game is still weak in at the moment is its mass of content, so it’ll be interesting to see how player numbers develop over the coming weeks and how quickly Slavic Magic is able to deliver fresh updates.

Speaking of which, the developer revealed what the first Manor Lords patch will focus on: Some bugs revolving around homeless people have been discovered and will be tackled as a priority. Slavic Magic will also slow down the AI’s speed when it comes to claiming territories, as users felt quite heavily pressured by the current rate.

Balance-wise, the damage or archers will be tuned and the recently-added trade oversupply mechanics will be nerfed as well – the developer described it as “too harsh” as it punished regional specialization too much. Finally, the Sawpit will get a buff in the form of high efficiency and/or more storage space for timber.

It’s currently unclear when exactly the patch will be out, but players won’t have to worry about their save games – they should be compatible with the new version.

If you’re currently getting your start with the game, check out our Manor Lords beginner tips, learn about your military forces, and find out how to get sheep – it’s important!

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Marco Wutz

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg