Dead Cells developer Motion Twin took a big risk leaving mobile behind for the hit PC title, says the studio's communications manager.

But speaking to Gamebolt, Joan Blachere stated that the practice of creating games based on analytics had no longer become palatable for the studio.

“Motion Twin shifted to mobile when the market for browser games collapsed,” said Blachere. “But, building mobile games based on data like a player’s behaviours, retention, and spendings isn’t how we like to design games.

“The company took a big risk when we moved away from the mobile market, which for all its faults was providing us with a sustainable business. We traded that relative security for the ability to develop a game that we wanted to play.”

Dead sells

The move away from mobile evidently brought the company success, with Dead Cells selling 730,000 copies in its first week on Steam. The roguelike hack n’ slash eventually made the move to Nintendo Switch last month.

Unlike many similarly-sized studios, Motion Twin boasts a co-operative workplace structure where all employees are paid equally. Game developer Sebastien calls the structure a “direct challenge” to exploitative.

Benard will be providing a Dead Cells post-mortem (of sorts) at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki next Tuesday.