In the crowded field of video games released this year, Black Salt Games’ Dredge has genuinely stood out. This success story is even more impressive because the indie developers at Black Salt Games initially thought selling 100,000 copies within the first year would be an outstanding achievement. But the fishing-meets-cosmic horror game didn’t just hit that target; it soared past it to cross the million-unit mark.
In a recent chat at PAX Australia, Nadia Thorne, the producer of Dredge, told Game Developer how they had modest sales goals initially. “We hoped to maybe sell 100,000 copies in our first year. That would have been amazing. That was a top estimate when we were setting our expectations,” she said. But those expectations were exceeded, and then some, when Dredge sold more than 100,000 copies in just 24 hours after its release.
3D artist Mikey Bastiaens shared a behind-the-scenes moment from their launch party: “We actually had our launch party on a boat, and we were just refreshing the [sales page] going ‘oh my god, oh my god.’”
Not only has Dredge been a commercial success, but it has also been well-received by critics. It has undergone several significant updates since its launch, making it an ongoing project that keeps giving back to its fans.
Fans of Dredge have something more to look forward to. Black Salt Games is set to release a paid expansion for the game called The Pale Reach. This update, coming on November 16th, will introduce an icy new setting and bring 11 new types of fish and crabs into the game.
Another significant update, The Iron Rig, is also in the pipeline for a 2024 release.
Dredge is available on multiple platforms, including Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
