The developer of Hypercharge: Unboxed has announced the indie toy soldiers shooter has sold 50,000 copies on Xbox in five days.
Digital Cybercherries, a small UK studio made up of just six people, said it had achieved the sales milestone “without publisher support or Game Pass deal.”
“I’m really overwhelmed by the success of our game on Xbox and can’t thank everyone enough for buying the game,” said creative gameplay and marketing director at Digital Cybercherries Joe Henson.
“50,000 sales might not mean much in the realm of AAA, but for our small team of six, in a tough time for the industry, with no support from a big-publisher, selling 50,000 on Xbox in only a few days is really a big deal! Thank you again to everyone who has supported us!”
Hypercharge: Unboxed is inspired by films like Toy Story and Small Soldiers, and comes with a story campaign mode that can be played solo offline or with up to four players in online co-op. It also supports splitscreen play locally and online. There are PVP modes, too.
The game launched first on Steam back in April 2020, where it was met with a ‘very positive’ user review rating. But the Xbox release has gone viral on social media with a number of gameplay clips enjoying millions of views.
The viral game where you play as action figures in a toy store is officially out on Xbox, selling over 40,000 copies in it’s first 4 days, a dream accomplished for the lead of this indie dev project pic.twitter.com/KFjo6tkfBx
— Jake Lucky (@JakeSucky) June 3, 2024
Henson has been vocal about his journey from running a family business to getting into designing and marketing games, and proclaimed Hypercharge: Unboxed’s modest success significant for the tiny team behind it.
Anything is possible if you believe and work hard enough! It took me and our team of six a long time to get where we are! If you’re struggling, please know that you are good enough and you can achieve great things! Success is subjective – find what makes you happy! 💚
— Hypercharge | Out Now on Xbox! (@HyperchargeGame) June 3, 2024
But it’s the specific mention of Hypercharge: Unboxed’s Xbox success without a Game Pass deal that has caught the eye. Over the years many indie developers have bigged up Game Pass, with money paid by Microsoft taking much of the risk out of launching new games across multiple platforms. Day-one Game Pass deals are even more lucrative. Hypercharge: Unboxed, it seems, has achieved relative success on Xbox without either.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].