It has been nine years since Mike Rose founded the indie publishing house No More Robots. In that time the company has carved out a respectable niche, largely thanks to a back‑catalogue anchored by the wildly popular bike‑riding title Descenders – the first game to bear the No More Robots label and still a strong seller today. Now the studio is poised to launch its inaugural self‑developed title, a cruise‑ship management and puzzle hybrid called Cruise Control. The road to this release has been anything but straightforward.
The original spark for the project came from a conversation between Rose and Dan Foster, a developer recruited to handle console ports who brought valuable multiplayer experience from his stint at Team 17. Their brainstorming session initially produced the concept for a team‑based online shooter. After three years of work, the prototype attracted interest from a “big company” – a partner Rose says he knows well. Unfortunately, that partner withdrew, claiming the project wasn’t the right fit.
The timing coincided with the brief, troubled life of the game Concord, which was quickly pulled from stores, hinting at broader turbulence in the online‑shooter market. “Given our size, we simply couldn’t launch an online multiplayer shooter on our own,” Rose explains. “I was devastated – it was one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had in this industry, especially because it came from a partner I deeply respect.” With the shooter on ice, Rose and his five‑person team had to decide on a new direction.
The idea of Cruise Control emerged as a pragmatic alternative: a genre that could be built quickly, one that performed well on PC, and a concept that the small team could realistically execute. The early vision resembled a cruise‑ship management sim in the vein of Two Point Hospital or Two Point Museum, but as development progressed it morphed into a puzzle‑focused experience inspired by titles such as Mini Motorways.
Publishing a game you have created yourself feels fundamentally different from acting as a middleman for external developers. Rose admits the anxiety level is higher, but the upside is also far greater.
“Every sale of Cruise Control is worth three or four times as much to us because we own 100 % of the revenue,” he says. “If it performs as well as one of our existing hits, that would be a massive boost for the company.” Should Cruise Control succeed, Rose hints that the shelved shooter could be resurrected, albeit likely in a more modest form. “Pure PvP shooters are not a realistic path for a small studio,” he notes.
“We’re considering turning the concept into a PvE experience instead.” Reflecting on the broader industry, Rose describes recent years as a “massacre” for many developers. Yet No More Robots weathered the COVID‑driven boom without a dramatic expansion – a decision Rose says scared him “the shit” out of him. By avoiding rapid scaling, the company sidestepped the deep layoffs that forced many peers to downsize.
Rose also calls the current situation an “accidental genius.” At the end of 2021 he distributed the year’s profits evenly among staff, assuming the same would happen again in 2022. When revenues dipped, the company simply broke even, having kept overhead low. “We don’t need to make huge sums,” he says. “Everyone gets paid, we release games, we have fun.
I know it sounds naïve and stupid, but it’s actually working.” The publishing model itself has remained relatively stable. Descenders was produced on a five‑figure budget, as were most of the label’s releases, including Hypnospace Outlaw and Yes, Your Grace. A handful of titles received larger budgets during the pandemic, a period Rose admits he “got caught up in.” Those larger spends resulted in a few setbacks, prompting a return to modest five‑figure budgets, with the sole exception of the upcoming multiplayer roguelike Another Door, which carries a $180,000 budget.
Rose recalls telling his wife he was confident about Another Door; she encouraged him to “just go for it.” The game has generated strong organic interest, and Rose believes it could match the success of Descenders. He emphasizes the importance of genuine, steady wishlist growth on Steam as a more reliable indicator than short‑term marketing spikes. Speaking of Descenders, the title remains the label’s crown jewel, having generated over $35 million in revenue. Remarkably, about half of those sales occurred in the last year alone, a surge Rose attributes partly to the game’s unintended appeal to younger audiences.
“It’s almost a Roblox‑style experience now,” he jokes. “Kids just fire up the game, hold the trigger, and ride the bike around the lobby for hours. We originally marketed it to hardcore mountain‑bike fans, but the majority of Steam reviews are from kids saying ‘bike goes brrrr.’” That perception even led to a six‑month negotiation with Roblox about bringing Descenders onto their platform.
After a ten‑step approval process, Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki ultimately rejected the proposal, deeming the game too different from the existing catalogue. Rose admits a hint of regret, noting that funding a Roblox port independently would have been a huge gamble given their lack of experience.
No More Robots has since refocused on PC releases after a period of console‑centric titles delivered through Game Pass – a channel Rose describes as “huge” for the modest‑scale games the label publishes. While wishlists and pre‑orders have traditionally served as early success metrics, Rose now looks for organic, sustained interest.
“If a game is steadily gaining wishlists without any push, that’s the best sign,” he says. “When we add a small influencer boost and the numbers quadruple, it confirms we have something special.” Looking ahead, Rose admits that after nine years he feels “drained” and is eager for a new challenge. He continues to wear many hats within the company, handling a large portion of day‑to‑day operations himself. Even successful launches like Thank You for Your Application have come with sleepless nights and high stress.
“I’ve done so many launches now,” he reflects, “and I’m moving toward a point where I’m 100 % done. I don’t know when that will be, but I’m ready for the next chapter.”