"It's honestly been surreal": Yapyap dev sells 500,000 copies in a week through the power of friendslop and Steam, this time with wizards and 6-player co-op

The friendslop era is truly upon us, and it seems the genre's potential for success didn't, uh, peak with Peak and REPO last year. A new contender has entered the friendslop arena in the form of Yapyap, and just a week after launch, it's already managed to reach 500,000 copies sold.

"Way more of you showed up than we ever expected," the devs say in a February 9 Steam post announcing the news, "and it's honestly been surreal to watch! All of us at Maison Bap are super thankful for the overwhelming support we've had from you all!"

Reaching half-a-million copies sold would be impressive for a small-scale indie game in any context, but it's made all the more impressive by the fact that Yapyap only launched on February 3. Those 500,000 sales happened in less than a week.

Yapyap is billed as "a magic-themed co-op horror game," and it essentially plays like REPO in reverse. Instead of trying to extract piles of treasure from haunted locations, you're instead trying to destroy as much as possible. Add in the voice recognition spellcasting popularized by Mage Arena, and you've got a stew going – not a particularly original one, but a tasty one nonetheless.

Steam reviews for Yapyap currently sit at a "very positive" 82%, and the primary complaint right now is that the game just doesn't offer a whole lot of content. For now, the devs are working on basic bug fixes, but more is on the horizon. "We want to make sure the game is fully stable and smooth for everyone," Maison Bap explains. "Once that's locked in, we'll start planning the fun stuff!"

While "friendslop" might carry some derogatory connotations – and certainly, there are those in the industry are eager to see the term die – some developers wear it as a badge of honor. Whether or not the term sticks around, it seems that the games themselves are here to stay.

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