Peak's developers were surprised by its massive success given it's the result of a game jam project, but Aggro Crab studio head Nick Kaman explains he wants that vibe to continue through the game's updates.
2025 had a ton of great games, but it felt like a year where some of its biggest and best games came from out of nowhere, so it wasn't exactly a surprise to see that two of these – Schedule 1 and Repo – place as the two most beloved Steam games of 2025. But my favorite of the surprise hits was Peak, the indie co-op climbing game co-developed by Aggro Crab and Landfall that was full of silly moments.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Kaman explains why the game's success was such a surprise for the team. "I mean at the end of the day we didn't launch with so so much of what we thought was required to make a hit," he says. "We didn't spend a long time polishing it, and things like localization and console ports and media backing were all glossed over. We just wanted to get it out there."
That being said, Kaman admits, "It very quickly dawned on us just how electric the game really was, with every playthrough seeming to be able to make a viral clip." He adds, "When we flew to Sweden to release the game with the Landfall team, we were ready to hit the launch button and go into vacation mode, but that quickly became a pipe dream as the player base grew every day and we had a mountain (hah) of bugs to fix."
But Kaman says that the team was quick to recognize what it had, saying, "Ever since we've been treating it more like the big release that it is, which both teams have more than enough experience for, so we were able to hit the ground running." Even with its success, however, Kaman explains, "we still try to maintain that jam-like spirit for updates, because I think that's resonated with players as well."
Valve sends annual chocolates to Steam devs who earn roughly $800,000, and the Peak devs are happy to finally get theirs.
