As the game reaches its first anniversary, indie developer Vertex Pop looks back on the success of Graceful Explosion Machine.
That fact the Nintendo Switch is home to some incredible first-party games is no great surprise, but the rate at which the console has become a hotbed for indie games has been impressive.
Nintendo has gone to great efforts to court independent developers to the Switch, and the result has been an avalanche of titles coming to the eShop each and every week. Not every one of them is a gem – there are plenty of ageing Steam games and mobile ports, for example – but the platform has proved to be fertile ground for many studios.
One of the first games to walk Nintendo’s Nindie red carpet was Vertex Pop’s vibrant shooter, Graceful Explosion Machine. The game was highlighted on the very first Nintendo Switch Nindie Showcase, and released on the eShop just after the console’s launch.
In a blog post to mark the game’s first anniversary, developer Vertex Pop has revealed more about the process of bringing the game to the Switch, and its sales figures.
“To date, Graceful Explosion Machine has sold just under 50,000 copies on the Nintendo Switch. This is such a remarkable achievement for our humble little game! We continued to support the game (with features like the new score screen, highlight screenshots, and video capture) and continue to be amazed by (and grateful for) the community’s support and enthusiasm. Most importantly, GEM’s success put us in a strong position to get back to work…”
It’s good to see that the success of Graceful Explosion Machine – which is also available on Steam – is enabling the studio to continue working on new projects. However, we do worry about other indie devs currently bringing their games to the Switch. The volume of releases is such that many titles are quickly buried within an eShop front-end that has rapidly become unfit for purpose.
Nintendo’s indie liaison, Damon Baker, has said this is something Nintendo is actively looking to solve, and let’s hope they do, as it would be a real shame if other studios missed out on the same success because their games can’t be found.
