Back in October, three weeks out from its release date, Yacht Club Games’ first completely new game since the original Shovel Knight, Mina the Hollower, was indefinitely delayed. It still doesn’t have a release date, and now in a new report and interview with the studio, it’s sounding like the success of Mina is a “make-or-break” moment for Yacht Club Games.
Speaking to Bloomberg, noting how pivotal it is that Mina does well, studio head Sean Velasco explained that “If we sold 500,000 copies, then we would be golden. If we sold even 200,000, that would be really, really great. If we sold, like, 100,000, that’s not so good.” Right now the big thing Yacht Club Games want to avoid is having a repeat of working on Shovel Knight, which in 2014 saw the founder working for months without paychecks.
Velsaco did say that “If Mina flops, we’ll still be around,” so it’s not complete doom and gloom, but did note that they would certainly “need more money.” Money is kind of the big, obvious issue in the games industry at the moment. Even very notable names like Ron Gilbert are struggling to get funding, with his unnamed Zelda and Diablo inspired RPG having been canned due to publisher disinterest.
The indie scene isn’t quite what it was like in 2014 when Shovel Knight first launched. These days it’s all roguelikes out the wazoo, very replayable genres that keep people invested for lengthy periods of time, and safer bets than retro throwbacks like Mina the Hollower. Not to mention just how many games come out on Steam every day now. It’s a rough time to get someone to tune in in this attention economy.
This report also lined up another potential casualty in this whole affair: that 3D Shovel Knight game that has thus far only been teased. Yacht Club Games had been split into two teams, one for Mina the Hollower, the other this new Shovel Knight. But by 2024 the studio laid off some employees, pausing development on the 3D take on Shovel Knight to focus on Mina. It does sound like at least the studio founders are looking at the game again, but for now, things are a little uncertain for Yacht Club Games.
You can wishlist Mina the Hollower on Steam right here.
