Shovel Knight dev could lose independence if new game Mina the Hollower fails to sell

Yacht Club Games needs Mina the Hollower to sell 200,000 copies, and if that doesn't happen, the studio could face some tough choices like being acquired by another bigger company.

2

It's been three years since Yacht Club Games released their latest project, Shovel Knight Dig. It's also been that same amount of time since they announced Mina the Hollower, the next big release from the studio. Mina was supposed to launch in October, but Yacht Club delayed the project indefinitely in order to boost the game's chances at making better sales.

If Mina misses the mark, Yacht Club is in trouble. Studio founder Sean Velasco tells Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that the new platformer is a "make or break" moment for the team. That's on top of the $1.2 million in funding raised by Kickstarter.

"It's 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," Velasco said.

"If Mina flops, we'll still be around. We would need more money."

It's unclear whether or not these potential alarm bells are premature. The original Shovel Knight series sold millions of copies over its 10+ year run, many of which were sold on the Nintendo Switch.

Mina the Hollower looks to be familiar enough to scratch that old-school retro gaming itch, especially on a platform with many classic-adjacent titles like the Nintendo Switch.

The new report also sheds light on why Mina is taking so long. Yacht Club had split its teams in two back in 2020--one group would work on a new 3D version of Shovel Knight, which hasn't been revealed yet, and the other would develop Mina. This plan was scrapped and everyone moved to work on Mina.

Now it's full steam ahead on Mina the Hollower, but Yacht Club isn't ready to give a release date just yet.