If Skateboard Game Decksplash Doesn't Get 100,000 Players During Its Free Week, It Will Be Cancelled

That headline sounds a little clickbait-y, but it's also true. Bossa Studios, the off-the-wall developer behind I Am Bread, Worlds Adrift, and Surgeon Simulator 2013, has a bold new experiment in video gaming: If its latest title, Decksplash, gets 100,000 players during its upcoming free week, it'll be launched immediately. If it doesn't, the studio will cancel the game.

The Decksplash free week runs from Nov. 2-10 and it looks like a pretty fun game, if you can get over not have an actual human avatar. The paint-spray mechanic reminds me of Splatoon, and it looks like there are plenty of ways to customize your board, from conventional decorations to a pizza slice motif.

What makes the game unusual is the risk Bossa Studios is taking in promoting it. As explained on the game's Steam page:

Like any proud parent, we love Decksplash, but unlike deluded creators, we want to believe that you love it too. Thus we’ve devised a ‘first of its kind’ experiment: The Splash N’ Grab! We’re releasing the game free for a week AND if 100K people download, play, and have fun, we’ll instantly launch the game at the end of the free week. If not… RIP Decksplash.

The game’s future is in YOUR hands. We hope you have fun being a part of gaming history! (However it turns out -- fingers crossed...)

So it sounds like -- and other outlets are reporting -- that if the game doesn't cross that 100,000-player plateau, it will be cancelled. That's a bold move to take, and obviously one used to generate some press and interest in the game, so it'll be interesting to see if Bossa sticks to its guns if Decksplash doesn't meet its required quota.

If it does, the game will be immediately launched into early access on the 10th. It doesn't look like it'll be free-to-play, but we thought we'd let you know about the free week anyway, just in case you're in the mood to save a new game from oblivion.