If you somehow haven’t heard of it, one of 2023’s biggest sleeper hits for indie games is DREDGE, the fishing game set in depressing and dreary waters surrounding Lovecraftian cryptids and horrors.
This incredibly engaging title has just hit a million sales total, as revealed by the devs in an interview with Game Developer.
The devs were casually celebrating their launch day on an actual boat, watching as they gained 100,000 sales within a single day, making this landmark inevitable.
DREDGE is a pretty notable indie success story, considering it’s the debut of a small team of only four people, and it managed to hit such high sales numbers in only six months’ time.
How Did DREDGE Succeed?
Black Salt Studios, the team behind DREDGE, started as only three game developers and a studio manager with a dream of an immersive, horrific, and incredibly detailed world where you could fish up incredible mysteries.
After only two solid years of development, DREDGE was released with the help of publisher Team17 to astonishing success.
Due to the success they have by landing a good publisher, having an incredibly strong concept, and making a solid game, DREDGE is seeing DLC, free updates, and a ton of love from the community it’s developed through its unique story and game design. T
his success story is defined purely by striving for quality and originality in the indie space.
Given the game is this successful, we’re now seeing the devs get plenty of resources to develop not only the free updates they’ve been steadily releasing but also the upcoming Pale Reach expansion, a brand-new island made entirely of icebergs with hours of new content to experience, launching in just a month from now on November 16th.
DREDGE’s immense and unprecedented success is on par with something like Hollow Knight, another game developed by a tiny team that quickly blew up due to its incredible quality and unique gameplay.
It teaches that success is best gained by having a vision and executing that vision to the absolute highest degree you can manage.
The developers of DREDGE only expected to sell 100,000 copies in a year, and even then, that seemed like a high ballpark estimate to them.
When they hit that number in a single day, their dream of maybe selling a million in a year didn’t seem so far off, and their incredible dedication to this terrific project had finally paid off as they hit that goal in half the time.
Further Reading
If you want to hear more about DREDGE’s updates or read up on the game so you can dive into all its content, stick right here at Indie Game Culture.
DREDGE adds Boat Paint, Shipwrecks, and Craberrations
Dredge Relics Guide – There’s Something Fishy Going On Here
Dredge Review – Part Angling Adventure, Part Eldrich Horror
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