Black Salt Games’ Dredge has made a big impression despite its release in a packed year. The fishing-meets-cosmic horror title garnered critical acclaim shortly after launch and has received significant updates. In a new interview with Game Developer at PAX Australia, producer Nadia Thorne and 3D artist Mikey Bastiaens confirmed it sold over one million copies.
To say that this went beyond internal expectations would be an understatement. “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. We smashed through those targets,” per Thorne.
Back then, selling one million copies within a year felt like a “crazy” target. When Dredge launched, it sold over 100,000 units in the first 24 hours. Bastiaens revealed, “We actually had our launch party on a boat,” says Bastiaens, “and we were just refreshing the [sales page] going ‘oh my god, oh my god.'”
Black Salt Games’ next major update for Dredge is a paid expansion, The Pale Reach. It’s out on November 16th and introduces a new icy biome with 11 fish and crabs with new aberrations. As for The Iron Rig, it’s planned to release in 2024. Stay tuned for more updates and check out our review for the base game, which is available now for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch.
