Case Study: Bumblebee Studios achieves $300,000+ in free publicity with Inworld AI

How Vaudeville took off on Twitch and got millions of views

Bumblebee Studios, an indie game studio led by founder and CEO Simone Odoardi, wanted to build Vaudeville, a gritty noir whodunnit where players interrogate AI-driven characters to solve a mystery. The challenge was creating believable, unscripted dialogue and interactions that would make the game feel immersive and playable, something traditional scripted conversations couldn’t easily support.

Using Inworld AI’s Character Engine and Unity integration, Bumblebee Studios built a working prototype in just two months and launched it in Early Access on Steam. The game quickly went viral on Twitch and YouTube, earning over 7 million views, 6-figure sales, and an estimated $300,000+ in free publicity, while Inworld AI also helped the team support multiple languages through a flexible SDK and external translation integration.

Bumblebee Studios

Simone Odoardi

Founder and CEO