It is always welcome for an indie game to be a success. The effort required to bring a game to the market as a small team, without the resources of a big company behind, is monumental. That’s why, every time exorbitant numbers appear for an indie game, they feel even more special than when they do for a big production. Because, in the end, they always had it harder.
The latest case has been Sea of Stars, winner of the best indie game award at the Game Awards. The game by Sabotage, released on August 26, has surpassed 4 million players in less than four months. Completely insane figures for a game of this size.
Of course, there’s a catch. Sea of Stars was available on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium, so everyone who has a subscription to those services has been able to play it. But that doesn’t exclude the fact that it’s still an obscene number of players. Or the fact that, in the launch week, they managed to sell 250,000 copies. Which is what they expected to sell in the game’s first year, not in the first week.
That’s why Sea of Stars has a lot of life ahead. Their studio is working on a DLC, named Throes of the Watchmaker, although it doesn’t have a release date yet. Similarly, they have recently removed a cameo from the YouTuber The Completionist, who had helped promote Sea of Stars, because he has been accused of defrauding tens of thousands of dollars through his charity organization, The Open Hand Foundation.
If you haven’t played Sea of Stars, it is a classic J-RPG in the style of Super Mario RPG or Chrono Trigger. The game is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC.
