Indie devs call their game “cursed” after Valve accidentally ruins promotion twice

Independent devs at French team ‘Permadeath’ are convinced their game, Planet Centauri, is “cursed.” After an accidental error from Valve hindered the game’s launch, an apology led to a subsequent promotion that also went awry.

Planet Centauri launched in full in December 2024 after almost a decade of development. Despite boasting 138,000 wishlists on Steam, the indie project only sold 581 units in its first week, as Polygon reported.

The multiplayer game, where crafting equipment and capturing monsters is central, fell ‘incomprehensibly’ short of expectations, as developer Laurent Lechat said. Through its time in early access, it sold over 100,000 copies. To launch in full and not even crack 1,000 sales left the devs befuddled.

Months later, Valve contacted Permadeath to clarify what happened. It turned out that a bug on their end prevented notifications from being sent to all those who had wishlisted the game. Looking to make amends, Valve opened a spot for a new promotion this November, but that ultimately went awry too.

Valve apologizes to indie devs with new pledge

After the wishlist incident, Planet Centauri failed to gain momentum. With limited early sales, it struggled to place in popular charts for new releases and thus, quickly fizzled out. Devs reduced post-launch support much sooner than anticipated as a result.

Contacting the French team, Valve apologized and offered a new promotion as a form of recompense. This would come in the form of Steam’s Daily Deal spotlight, a banner that appears when all users boot up Steam on the given day. Furthermore, Valve added that the game could also appear on Steam’s front page, as well as in highlights for ongoing sales.

At the time, Lechat said to Polygon, “Steam could have offered something more substantial,” as it was unclear how big an impact the offer would have.”We can’t tell, and we will see and hope for the best.”

Planet Centauri’s Steam spotlight goes awry

As you’d expect for a Daily Deal, the duration of the spotlight lasts 24 hours. Developers picked November 12, 2025, from a batch of “limited choices” offered by Valve, they explained to Polygon.

An innocuous choice in the moment, this decision ultimately backfired through no fault of their own. November 12 is when Valve happened to announce its next wave of hardware, including the Steam Machine, Steam Frame VR headset, and Steam Controller.

In light of the news, Steam’s storefront was overhauled on that day to spotlight the hardware announcements. It’s not every day Valve makes headlines, but it just so happened to come on the day Planet Centauri was meant to be the focus.

Of course, the game was still spotlighted as agreed upon, but attention was certainly focused on Valve during that 24-hour window. “I must admit… over the years, I really get the feeling that Planet Centauri is cursed.”

“It’s just bad luck and we must accept it,” developer Laurent Lechat said. Despite the circumstance, the boost ultimately helped drive an additional 5,000 sales. This is enough to help the team “survive for at least another year and to finish our second game.”