A Swedish developer has just made a strong start with his survival game Core Keeper on Steam as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. As a child, he was apparently mocked for his passion for games.
What game is it about? The survival insider tip Core Keeper celebrated its release at the end of August 2024 after two and a half years of early access and made a really strong start:
- At launch, more than 34,000 players were playing simultaneously on Steam
- In the first week, Core Keeper sold over 250,000 copies
- On Steam, the survival sandbox also impresses with a rating of 91% positive from nearly 30,000 reviews
Fredrik Präntare is the founder and CEO of the Swedish studio Pugstorm, which is behind Core Keeper. He recently shared a new milestone of his game on X – and suggests that the path to this success was not always easy.
Developer says: “This is completely crazy for me”
What milestone has the game reached? According to a post from September 16, 2024, Core Keeper has exceeded the impressive mark of 3 million players. The official X account states: “We are so happy to have you on this journey.”
Präntare shared the post and added some supplementary words to it.
You can check out the post here:
Translation: “This is COMPLETELY crazy for me. From being called a ‘fat nerd’ as a kid, to creating maps for Heroes 3 and WarCraft 3, to having a game with more than 3 million players… Thank you all – my wonderful team and I are more than grateful!”
In the comments, many users congratulate Präntare, including other developers who see themselves reflected in their colleague.
- kinbdogz works at Mojang on Minecraft and writes: “As someone who made a bunch of maps for Warcraft 3 as a kid, which probably started my journey in the gaming industry, I can really relate. Congratulations!” (via X)
- Jim T Myhre Kjexrud works as an artist on Terraria: “I also started messing around with the WC3 editor. Made a few maps that circulated in my friend group, but never posted them online.” (via X)
- Not only the map community from WarCraft 3 feels addressed. One user writes: “As a former fat nerd:”, followed by a GIF of a saluting Jack Black (via X).
While Präntare pokes a little fun at his younger self, he also shows that following your passion can pay off – even if others may not always understand it. Additionally, he continues the trend that indie developers seem to be the most surprised by their success: He thought 10 people would play it and he would have to work normally again: But a million buy his 1st game on Steam
