It has been nine years since Mike Rose founded the independent publisher No More Robots. Over that span the studio has carved out a respectable niche, largely thanks to a back‑catalogue anchored by the mountain‑bike blockbuster Descenders – the very first title released under the No More Robots banner and still a strong seller today. Now the company is preparing to launch its inaugural self‑developed title, a cruise‑ship management simulation called Cruise Control. The road to that release has been anything but straight‑forward.
The seed for the project was planted during a conversation between Rose and Dan Foster, a veteran who joined No More Robots to handle console ports and brought with him a wealth of online‑multiplayer experience from his time at Team 17. Their discussion initially sparked the idea for a team‑based online shooter. After three years of development, the prototype attracted interest from a "big company" – a partner Rose says he knows well.
Unfortunately, that partner withdrew, citing a mismatch with their own strategy, and the deal fell through just as the shooter Concord was released and then quickly pulled from stores, a signal that the online‑shooter market was becoming treacherous. "As you can imagine, a tiny studio like ours can’t just launch a multiplayer shooter on its own," Rose admits. "I was devastated – it was one of the most unpleasant feelings I’ve experienced in this industry, especially because it came from a partner I deeply respect." With the shooter put on ice, Rose faced a dilemma: what should his five‑person development team tackle next?
The answer arrived in the form of Cruise Control. "I thought, ‘We need a game we can build quickly, in a genre that does well on PC.’" The initial concept was a cruise‑ship management sim in the vein of Two Point Hospital or Two Point Museum, but as development progressed the design morphed into a more puzzle‑oriented experience inspired by titles such as Mini Motorways. Releasing a game that the studio itself has built feels fundamentally different from publishing someone else’s work. The anxiety is higher, but so is the potential upside.
"Because we own 100 % of Cruise Control, each sale is worth three or four times what a typical publishing cut would give us," Rose explains. "If it performs even half as well as Descenders, that would be massive for us." Should Cruise Control prove successful, Rose hints that the shelved shooter might be resurrected, albeit in a more modest form.
"Pure PvP shooters are unrealistic for a small studio – the risk is insane. I’m now thinking about re‑tooling it into a PvE experience," he says. Reflecting on the broader industry, Rose describes recent years as a "massacre" for many developers. Yet No More Robots avoided the worst of the COVID‑era boom because Rose was terrified of scaling too quickly.
The company therefore sidestepped the deep layoffs that hit larger studios. He calls his cautious approach an "accidental genius". At the end of 2021 Rose split the year’s profits evenly among staff, giving everyone a generous bonus and entering 2022 expecting the same. When the revenue dip arrived, the company was still breaking even because it had never over‑expanded.
"We don’t need to make massive sums; everyone gets paid, we release games, we have fun. It sounds naïve and stupid, but it works," he says. The publishing model has stayed fairly consistent. Descenders was built 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, and he acknowledges that the company "bit a couple of times" with those larger spends. Today the budget ceiling is back to five figures, with the sole exception of Another Door, an upcoming multiplayer roguelike funded at $180,000.
Rose recalls telling his wife he was convinced about Another Door; she simply said, "Go for it." The game has already generated buzz, and Rose feels confident it could match Descenders’ success. "Organically, it’s racking up thousands of wishlists each day without any push. When we add a small influencer boost, the numbers quadruple.
That kind of organic traction is rare for us and gives me a strong feeling we’re on to something big." Despite the excitement, Rose admits that nine years in the business have left him feeling drained. "I don’t want to keep doing this forever.
I’m looking for a new challenge and have a few ideas I want to explore," he confides. Part of the fatigue stems from the fact that No More Robots has never grown into a large operation; Rose still handles many of the label’s day‑to‑day tasks. Even successful launches like Thank You for Your Application have cost him sleepless nights and high stress, not because of the games themselves but because of the sheer volume of launches he’s overseen.
Looking ahead, Rose says he’s moving toward a point where he can step back completely. "I’m aiming for 100 % done, but I don’t know when that will happen," he says, hinting at a possible transition away from the studio once his current projects have reached a stable footing. In summary, No More Robots’ journey illustrates how a small, cautious studio can survive the volatile indie market by keeping budgets modest, sharing profits with staff, and focusing on organic community interest.
The upcoming Cruise Control will be the first true test of the company’s ability to profit from a fully owned title, while the lingering shooter prototype may yet find a new life as a PvE experience. Regardless of the outcome, Rose’s candid reflections reveal a founder who has learned to balance ambition with realism, and who, despite feeling exhausted, remains hopeful that his next venture—whatever form it takes—will continue to resonate with players.