Indie Hit Celeste Sold Over 500,000 Copies In 2018

That’s amazing for a debut indie. Hope Matt continues to make games, this wasn’t for me, but he and his team clearly have talent.

And it absolutely deserves every one of those sales. It's one of the most uncompromisingly brilliant games I've ever played, among those rare games where everything just feels right. Every part of it, from the simple yet groundbreaking gameplay mechanics, to the critical message of its perfectly-told story, is pure perfection to me. Can't wait to torture myself with those new farewell levels!

I just recently got the game and I love it! I was on the fence about it because I wasn't sure that I would like the art style, but it's actually surprisingly beautiful.

I absolutely loved Celeste. I can’t remember the last time a game gave me the feels like Celeste did.

I wonder if the lrg physical edition will include the extra levels?

Waiting for the Physical version............

It released on my birthday (January 25th) and I spent all day playing it 😎

I bought it in the Black Friday sale, and what an experience!! I hope it sells at least 2-3 million copies. Phenomenal success in game design this is.

Celeste is awesome. I hope that Matt and Matt Makes Games make a lot of more games!

Looking forward to finally getting this one from LRG as I’m only buying physical now. All the good games eventually get a cartridge.

@FlimFlam it's very likely, he's been making games for many years.
you could also check out some of his early work like "jumper".

i got it recently and beat it, wasn't crazy about it. the narrative is pretty good but i got annoyed how precise they wanted me to do everything, it's a real 1 solution kind of game, felt like i was trying to get a perfect on a rhythm game.

Unbelievable that Xbox Live users are getting this for free in next months games.
Fingers crossed for the switch.
Ohh wait, no.
More NES non classics on the way for us.

I bought it based on the Nintendolife review and played it at hospital whilst waiting up with my newborn boy. Such good memories and such a fantastic game.

does anyone know what the revenue breakup is on the eshop? what is nintendo's split?

Honestly it deserves a higher number

I watched Raocow play through this game. Raocow is perhaps one of the best platformer gamers around. And he still had to really fight his way through the game.

I understand why games like this exist, to challenge the hardcore players like him.

But I would not be able to do it. This style of "die 38 times on each screen until you master the pixel perfect timing required to make it through" hold no appeal to me.

That said, I loved the story, aesthetics and concept. It's just too brutally hard for me to ever enjoy the gameplay.

@thedicemaster Oh, I know that. I was just going for the shameless pun.

I enjoy reading all the praise the game gets as I have yet to get it. But I'm still trying to figure out if it gets most of its praise due to the difficulty or what. From what I remember, you can scale the difficulty so some of us not-so-hair-pulling-difficulty-lovers (like me) can enjoy the game for all it's worth. I'll watch a playthrough and see if I can find myself in Celeste...

@MeloMan There's a lot of stuff to praise in Celeste. The difficulty is steep, but everything feels very fair and well placed. In some ways, it's like a puzzle game. All of the levels are broken down into individual screens, and it's often in your best interest when entering a new screen to plan how you want to approach the challenge before proceeding. If you would prefer a more relaxing time, the developers put in a pretty robust Assist Mode that lets you adjust things like the speed of the game and how many dashes you have. You can read more about it here:

https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/26/16935964/celeste-difficulty-assist-mode

The pixel art and music are also really good. I don't have any nostalgia for retro games since I didn't grow up with that era, but the pixel art and music here are very nice.

Finally, the story and characters have much more depth than they do in most platformers. Celeste would still be a terrific game without a good story, but having one helps it stand out in a crowd of other platformers with amazing gameplay on Switch.

@MeloMan It’s not just the difficulty that makes it a praiseworthy game. It’s true that even on the side A levels, it’s pretty challenging all the way through, but never feels punishing. It never makes you feel cheated. It's like every mistake you make (and you will make many) presents you with an opportunity to learn something new. Mistakes aren’t punished harshly, like in many difficult games, so you feel motivated to keep trying until you get it.
Besides all of that, this is a really beautiful game. The story, the visuals and the music are all well worthy of awards. But to really understand why, they really need to be experienced in context with one another.

Not for me, but good to hear. Hopefully Battle Chaser did OK on Switch

That said, 500k over every platform at a budget price of $19.99. Shows how niche indie games really are.

Hoping to play this soon, I only heard good things.

I actually think it deserves better, I can’t remember the last time I rooted for my character so much. Wonderful gameplay, visuals and story it’s the complete package for me.

Just here to say I'm glad it is doing well. Celeste sticks with me and I always think I'll go back for the extras some day.

Many complain about the challenge and dying multiple times without considering the reward and excitement at performing feats you may have never thought you could. (It's actually a bit meta with the story and probably one of the reasons many gamers feel so invested in it — besides relating to the story in a more direct way).

I mean, I have never pulled off the awesome types of moves I did in this game ever before in my long history of gaming and only looked at speed runners and other experts in awe, thinking I'd never be able to play like them. It's very rewarding to have those types of moments attainable through a game that makes it easier to try crazy stuff until you succeed.

I wish they had a demo.

And at those numbers you mean they can't give us a Physical Edition? I know it is coming out in LRG and possible Amazon JPN.

Great for them. I still haven’t beaten it, as it was ‘shelved’ for other games. But it’s a good game. I look forward to the additional content and potential sequel reveal next year..

This was one of the first Switch games I purchased, and I don't regret it (and I beat it too!)

It's a 10/10

If you look at each section of a level as a puzzle, it'll start to click and everything will be in synergy (due to the fantastic music).

@Agramonte I’d say it shows how profitable and potentially lucrative they can be now.

It’s a game that can’t have cost more than a million to make. A AAA game can cost 50-100 times as much with no realistic chance of selling more than 10 million units.

@StuTwo Seeing how the top publishers all report billion dollars worth of revenue and multi millions worth of profit. That is untrue.

And whatever the "profits" are it still does not change my point. After release in every platform, top reviews and awards... it still limited in sales. Even being 3X more affordable than those "10million unit games"

More people rather pay $60 to play top AAA games than 19.99 to play this.

@Agramonte I think you’ve missed the point.

Games that sell 10 million units typically have to sell 10 million. They might make big profits in absolute terms but the actual margins are often wafer thin.

Games like Celeste are vastly more lucrative for creators at this moment in time. They don’t have to sell comparable numbers for that to be the case.

The ultimate result is that the “niche” of indie games is more than just viable - it’s thriving and set up to continue growing.