Amid studio closures and mass layoffs, one indie developer's pirate RPG just sold enough copies to fund a sequel: "it feels right when talented individuals can finally do what they love"

Pirate RPG Caribbean Legend just sold enough copies to help its developer in "truly becoming a studio, a company."

Developer BlackMark Studio celebrated a rare win in a recent blog post, announcing that its high-seas roleplaying game has sold over 15,000 copies. The developer writes that it had planned for all possibilities. If Caribbean Legend had sold somewhere under 10,000 copies, the developer would eventually "bid farewell."

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Thankfully, the game passed the developer's "realistically optimistic" expectations, meaning the team can "establish a sustainable enterprise for the long term," develop a 2.0 version, release "several exciting DLCs," and even begin work on an Unreal Engine-powered sequel. 

In one day, Caribbean Legend apparently surpassed the developer's last game's first-month sales. And within a single month, the game earned more revenue than the previous game made in 12 whole years. 

"We've won. You've won," the developer writes. "For the first in BlackMark Studio's history, we're turning a profit and truly becoming a studio, a company. The core team now receives stable royalties, and we've bought on board several more exceptionally talented people for full-time and part-time roles." The note continues to say it "just feels right when talented individuals can finally do what they love without distraction."

What now? Caribbean Legend plans to welcome several more updates, with patches 1.1 to 1.3 bringing the game "up to speed." That includes more quests, an epilogue, extra romance scenes, and a whole host of fixes, alongside improved assets and new locations. Updates 1.4 to update 1.5 promises companion quests, more new locations, and updated animations. Then by update 2.0, the game will receive redesigned quests, a revamped tutorial system, tweaked balancing, and "20 new locations." You can grab the game over on Steam. 

That rare good news comes amid a turbulent time in the video game industry, with mass layoffs and studio closures becoming common occurrences. Sony recently laid off 900 employees from its top studios. Microsoft let go of almost 2,000 staff. Unity shed a quarter of its workforce. And EA is sunsetting several games alongside mass layoffs. But at least indie teams can still find unexpected success. 

Check out our upcoming indies of 2024 and beyond guide to keep your eye on all the other unexpected gems dropping this year.