Back in October, three weeks before its release date, Yacht Club Games' first brand new game since the original arrived. Shovel Knight, Mina Emptywas postponed indefinitely. There's still no release date, and now a new report and interview with the studio makes it sound like Mina's success has been a defining moment for Yacht Club Games.
Talking to BloombergNoting how important it was for Mina to succeed, studio head Sean Velasco explained: “If we sold 500,000 copies, we'd be gold. If we sold even 200,000, that would be very, very great. Right now, the most important thing Yacht Club Games wants to avoid is a repeat of the work on Shovel Knight, whose founder worked without a salary for several months in 2014.
Velsaco said that “if Mina fails, we'll still be there,” so it's not complete doom and gloom, but noted that they definitely “need more money.” Money is a big and obvious problem in the gaming industry at the moment. Even very famous names like Ron Gilbert struggle to get funding, and his untitled Zelda and Diablo inspired RPG was closed due to publisher's disinterest.
The indie scene isn't what it was in 2014 when Shovel Knight first hit the market. These days it's everything bagels from Wazoohighly replayable genres that keep people engaged for long periods of time, and safer bets than retro throwbacks like Mine Hollow. Not to mention how many games are released on Steam every day. It's a difficult time to get anyone to tune in to this attention economy.
This report also mentions another potential victim in this whole affair: the 3D Shovel Knight game, which has only been teased until now. The Yacht Club games were divided into two teams: one for Mina Hollow, the other for the new Shovel Knight. But by 2024, the studio laid off some of its staff, pausing development of the 3D version of Shovel Knight and focusing on Mina. It looks like the studio's founders are at least looking at the game again, but things are a little uncertain for Yacht Club Games at the moment.
You can add Mine the Hollow to your wishlist directly on Steam. Here.
