Considering the heights that Yacht Club Games reached when Shovel Knight arrived, you might think that the indie developer would be in a rather good place still, but evidently not. In a new Bloomberg article, it's claimed that the upcoming title from the studio, Mina the Hollower, which recently got delayed indefinitely, is a "make-or-break" game, one where poor sales could be the last straw for the studio.
As per co-founder and studio director Sean Velasco, it's said that Mina the Hollower is "make-or-break for sure. 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."
This is something that marketing director Celia Schilling seems to confirm by noting that "your company is only as strong as your last game".
Bloomberg then went a step further to explain that the studio has already undergone downsizing and even put a second project on the backburner, with this supposedly being a 3D Shovel Knight sequel, all because it has "churned through most of its capital".
Quite a dire set of circumstances for what was once one of the industry's most promising indie studios. But is it truly all doom and gloom? This is where things get a tad confusing as Velasco also explains that "if Mina flops, we'll still be around" even if they would then need additional funding.
It's unclear when Mina the Hollower will launch as the game doesn't have a release date. Perhaps this will change at The Game Awards week? What do you think?