Execution

As with all other Tower Unite updates, the WarpZone Arcade update didn't have a set launch date - instead, as soon as developers were confident that it was complete and all major bugs were ironed out, the update was released via Steam.

When the final build was ready and the team agreed to release the update, I began the YouTube Premiere of the update's trailer - and as the Premiere ended and the trailer was posted to all social channels and forums, the floodgates opened.

An archived version of the original WarpZone Arcade trailer

Instantly, activity in the Discord server began to skyrocket as players raced to download the update, join the Plaza, and finally experience the Arcade's 22 new games and 180 unlockable prizes.

The game's player count on Steam almost tripled, from 428 to 1245 on the day of the Arcade's release - followed by 1603 players the following day, Tower Unite's all-time peak player count.

Working in Real Time

As a result of the surge of new and old players logging on to play, the game's Plaza servers filled up completely - until Tower Unite's server list crashed, causing the in-game Plaza server list to break.

As the sole liaison between players and developers frantically working to fix server and gameplay issues, I spent days working overtime and on weekends to keep players up-to-date on server status updates via social media, Discord, and the game's chat feature.

Due to the severity of server issues, I set up a Discord channel to quickly relay server status updates to players.

Overall, the WarpZone Arcade was a huge success, with 94% positive Steam reviews during the launch month. The game's record player count still stands after four years.