It has been nine years since Mike Rose founded the indie publishing house No More Robots, and in that time the company has carved out a respectable niche in the crowded world of independent games. Their breakout title, the downhill‑bike adventure Descenders, was the first game released under the No More Robots banner and remains a strong seller, generating tens of millions in revenue on a modest development budget. Now the studio is poised to launch its very first self‑developed project, a cruise‑ship management simulator called Cruise Control. The road to this release has been anything but straightforward.
The seed for the new game was planted during a conversation between Rose and Dan Foster, a developer who joined No More Robots to handle console ports and brought with him a background in online multiplayer shooters from his time at Team 17. That discussion initially sparked the idea for a team‑based multiplayer shooter, a project that consumed three years of development and attracted the interest of a "big company" that Rose says was "someone you would know very well." Unfortunately, that prospective partner eventually pulled out, citing a mismatch with their own strategic goals. The timing coincided with the brief, troubled launch of Concord, which was quickly withdrawn from stores and hinted at broader challenges in the online‑shooter market. Rose admits that the setback was a crushing blow: "There’s no way a tiny studio like ours could launch an online multiplayer shooter on our own.
I was devastated – it was one of the most unpleasant feelings I’ve had in this industry, especially because it came from a partner I deeply respect." With the shooter put on ice, Rose faced the question of what his five‑person development team should tackle next. The answer came in the form of Cruise Control.
He recalls thinking, "I needed a project we could build quickly, something that fits a PC genre that consistently performs well." The concept began as a cruise‑ship management game in the spirit of Two Point Hospital or Two Point Museum, but as development progressed it morphed into a more puzzle‑oriented experience inspired by titles like Mini Motorways. Publishing a game that you have created yourself feels fundamentally different from acting as a middleman for other developers.
While the anxiety level is higher, the potential upside is also dramatically larger. Rose explains his financial expectations: "Because we own 100 % of Cruise Control, every sale is worth three or four times what we normally earn from a published title where we only take a small cut. If Cruise Control matches the performance of one of our existing hits, that would be massive for us." Should Cruise Control prove successful, Rose hints that the dormant shooter project might be resurrected, albeit likely in a more modest form. A demo exists, but the final product could be re‑imagined as a PvE experience rather than a competitive PvP arena, which Rose believes would be more realistic for a small studio to sustain.
Reflecting on the broader industry, Rose describes recent years as a "massacre" for many developers. No More Robots, however, avoided the dramatic scaling and subsequent layoffs that hit numerous studios during the COVID‑driven video‑game boom.
Rose admits that the prospect of rapid expansion "scared the shit out of me," so the company stayed lean, which insulated it from the deep cuts later required by larger competitors. An unexpected moment of "genius," according to Rose, came at the end of 2021 when he decided to split the year’s profits evenly among all staff. "I gave our team a lot of money and went into 2022 assuming the same would happen again.
When it didn’t, we were still fine because we hadn’t over‑expanded. We broke even, and that’s enough – everyone gets paid, we keep making games, we’re having fun. I know it sounds naïve and stupid, but somehow it works." The publishing model at No More Robots has remained relatively stable.
Their flagship Descenders was built on a five‑figure budget, a figure that also applies to most of their catalog, including titles like Hypnospace Outlaw and Yes, Your Grace. A handful of games received larger budgets during the pandemic, a period Rose acknowledges he "got caught up in" and which led to a couple of financial missteps.
Today the studio has returned to five‑figure budgets, with the notable exception of Another Door, an upcoming multiplayer roguelike that received a $180,000 allocation. Rose recounts a conversation with his wife about Another Door: "I was so sure about this one, and she just said go for it.
We announced it and the response has been fantastic. Of course we still have to launch, but my intuition feels right." This confidence is reinforced by the game's organic wishlist numbers on Steam, which are climbing by the thousands each day without any major marketing push.
One of the core reasons Rose prefers modest budgets is the inherent unpredictability of the indie market. "You have to assume every game will do okay. If you’re the flavor of the month, that’s great, but you can’t rely on it.
Our strategy is to build launches around the idea that a decent performance keeps us afloat, and an exceptional one propels us forward. That's how you survive." Descenders remains the studio’s biggest triumph, having generated over $35 million in revenue.
Remarkably, roughly half of those sales occurred in a single six‑month window between April and September 2025, a surge that Rose describes as a "pop" with no clear catalyst. He attributes part of the game’s enduring appeal to its accidental similarity to Roblox experiences: "Kids can just fire up Descenders, hold the trigger, and the bike goes ‘brrrr’.
They spend hours in the lobby riding ramps. We never designed it for that audience, but it’s where the steam reviews are coming from now – 99 % of them are kids saying ‘bike goes brrrr’." The Roblox connection went further when No More Robots entered talks with the platform about creating an official Roblox version of Descenders. After a six‑month, ten‑step approval process, Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki ultimately rejected the proposal, saying the game was too different from anything on the platform and would confuse users. Rose reflects that while the company could have self‑funded the port, the lack of experience with Roblox made it feel like a gamble too risky to take, a decision he partially regrets given Roblox’s massive user base.
In recent years the studio has refocused on PC releases after a period of console‑centric titles delivered through Game Pass, a partnership Rose describes as "huge" for the scale of games No More Robots publishes. While wishlists and pre‑orders have traditionally served as early indicators of a game’s potential, Rose now emphasizes organic interest as the most reliable metric.
He looks for a steady, upward trend in Steam wishlist graphs rather than sharp spikes tied to influencer pushes, which he sees as less sustainable. That organic momentum is exactly what Rose sees with Another Door, and he even dares to suggest it could replicate Descenders’ success. "Without any marketing, we’re getting thousands of wishlists daily. When we add a small influencer push, the numbers quadruple.
It’s a rare feeling for us – the sky’s the limit if we execute correctly." Despite the excitement surrounding these projects, Rose admits that after nine years he feels drained and is eager for a new challenge. He still handles many of the label’s day‑to‑day operations, and even the recent success of Thank You for Your Application brought sleepless nights and high stress, not because of the game’s performance but because of the cumulative pressure of countless launches. "I’m moving towards 100 % done," he says, hinting that his tenure at No More Robots may be winding down, though he leaves the exact timeline open.
In summary, No More Robots has survived and thrived by staying lean, embracing modest budgets, and trusting in the organic interest of gamers. Their upcoming self‑developed title Cruise Control represents a bold step into full ownership, while the potential revival of their shelved shooter shows a willingness to adapt. As the studio looks ahead, Rose’s blend of cautious optimism and a willingness to pivot may continue to keep the company afloat in an industry where success is as unpredictable as it is rewarding.