Japanese dev showcases Japan’s hit small-scale indie games that have sold over 500k units
In response to recent discourse on X (formerly Twitter) implying that the Japanese indie game scene doesn’t produce any commercial hits, Japanese solo developer Miyako Publishing set out to prove that there are many highly rated, top-selling indie titles. In a note entry, they showcase titles made by 10 or fewer devs that are known (or can be inferred) to have sold over 500k copies.
In the 500k range are titles such as Downwell, Touhou Luna Nights, BOKURA and The Exit 8. The vertical scrolling shooter Downwell by Ojiro Fumoto (Moppin) is thought to have sold over 500k units based on combined review data from Steam, mobile platforms and the Nintendo Store. The game maintains an Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam, winning players over with its simple but thrilling gameplay since 2015.
Touhou Luna Nights is a unique entry to the best-seller list in that it’s a Touhou Project fan game. The critically acclaimed 2D metroidvania was developed by Japanese indie studio Team Ladybug in 2019, quickly attracting the attention of players from all over the world.
BOKURA and The Exit 8 were both created by solo developers. However, while the former is a tranquil and story-driven two-player puzzle game, the latter is an eerie anomaly-spotting walking sim that went viral thanks to its compatibility with let’s play streamers. Inspired by the success of The Exit 8, its creator Kotake Create recently released an official sequel, which is likewise being favorably received.
In the 700k+ unit range is ASTLIBRA Revision, a 2D action RPG that took Japanese indie dev KEIZO 14 years to complete and ended up being hailed as a “masterpiece” by reviewers.
Finally, among indie titles officially confirmed to have sold over a million copies are games such as the dark fantasy metroidvania RPG ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights (whose core dev team counts 10 members) and the farming sim meets side-scrolling action game Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. While these two titles surprised players with how refined they were for their small development scale, the viral PIKO PARK, put together by one person, made waves with its simplicity. The list of million-selling indie hits is topped off by the colorful but dark streamer-raising simulator Needy Streamer Overload, which maintains an Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam (out of 33k reviews).
As an aside, Miyako Publishing, the developer behind this list, is a solo creator currently working on a tea-brewing adventure game title LoveSoTea.
I am very glad to hear a lot of Indies in Japan are hitting 500k and even 1 million in the milestones. Those are still gigantic milestones for single developers, and even huge numbers for smaller publishers. This helps them be able to make more games that change the landscape of what we know, and expand themselves to become a good sizeable player in the industry. If there is one thing i criticized a lot it’s that there was never much Indies from Japan existing and that if it did, they could always sell and change what we know today easily until recently.
Anyone that says Japanese Indies or even medium sized businesses in Gaming never sell has zero clue about what ROI and Budgets are in the 1st place. For example Movie games might sell 10 million but they also have budgets 280 million as well so they need to make 9 million sells to break even. Indies and AA on the other hand have smaller budgets of various sizes and do not need as much sells and in fact need much less than Movie Games. Anything beyond 100k or even 500k and 1 million is just a bonus.