Publisher Devolver Digital will be focusing more on expanding its existing franchises alongside its brand new games, according to slides from a presentation to investors.
Shared by mauronl on Bluesky are a couple of graphics that tell of the company's highest earning games, as well as a trend discovered that players are more inclined to stick to established series than buy new, unknown titles.
Cult of the Lamb is Devolver's best seller, with lifetime revenue over $90 million. It's followed by Astroneer, which is over the $80 million threshold.
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Other top-earning IPs include Stronghold, Serious Sam, Gungeon, Shadow Warrior, and Hotline Miami.
Again, the main takeaway for Devolver is that most of its top money-makers are established IPs, and players are "spending more time" on these rather than new games.
Cult of the Lamb was a new IP when it launched in 2022, but since then it's been updated many times and has received several DLCs and expansions, extending its lifespan far beyond that original release.
Astroneer has also benefitted from similarly strong post-launch support, and a spin-off, Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions, has been announced for 2026.
The second slide shared on social media that reveals sales/player counts for three Devolver titles — GORN (over 1.5m units sold), Astroneer (over 13 million players), and the Gungeon series (over 5m units sold).
Due to the success of each, they're all getting sequels or follow-ups.
It sounds like we can expect Devolver Digital to place a little more importance on building recurring franchises with sequels or expanding its titles further with post-launch additions.
That being said, the publisher does still seem to be in the business of bringing fresh games to market, with Baby Steps, Skate Story, and Possessors all in the pipeline.
What do you think of these new Devolver Digital details? Are you surprised to see Cult of the Lamb as the publisher's highest-earning game? Tell us in the comments section below.
[source bsky.app, via pcgamer.com]
Comments 24
I thoroughly enjoyed Cult of the Lamb. Not sure I’d want a sequel, but my time with it was fun as heck.
Honestly, I’d never have tried it until I saw it on deep discount at Walmart on disc. But I was very pleasantly surprised!
I feel like Devolver Digital released so many other games that should be in their top ten. Like where is Fall Guys? Inscryption? Deaths Door?
....and after all these years, still no Katana Zero on PSN
Saw the picture and thought Astro had turned Evil!
A bit disappointed that The Talos Principle wasn't up there.
Nevermind, just seen that it's made over $20m which is pretty good for a puzzle game where it's story is all about philosophy.
Give us a new hotline Miami you cowards lol
@JAMes-BroWWWn Inscyprion and Death’s Door were both mentioned in their financial report but apparently neither were in their top selling list, implying neither made over $20m, which is maybe not that surprising.
Deaths door was fantastic
Could do with more cult of the lamb. Had to stop with the original though because of the ridiculous number of crashes, so maybe better play testing is in order.
Please give me hotline Miami 3 or a hotline prequel.
People need to stop leaning into things. If they're not careful they'll fall over.
Sort of a bummer. The best thing about Devolver is that they publish dozens of unique games, so it’s antithetical to what has made them such a compelling publisher, hitting flash in the pan critical hits over and over again. Between 2017-2023, I would hazard to guess I’d bought 3-6 Devolver published games a year.
@JAMes-BroWWWn inscryption was such an incredible surprise when I first played that game. What an experience!
I hope they are doing this to get some surefire wins to help fund what they do best, giving us off the wall indies.
I could go for another cult of the lamb but I wouldn't want a direct sequel as such.
Love this publisher but feel their priority lies to Steam/Switch before anything else.
Time for another Broforce?
Huh…I thought their bestselling game was Red Dead Redemption 2?
Bit worried about Gungeon 2 going 3d, I really liked the top down view of the first game
If this is in addition to them continuing to publish wild, experimental stuff, then great. Otherwise, it's a bit alarming to hear one of the main indie pubs is focusing on franchises and established IP.
Then again, the cynic in me wonders if they think they need safer bets in the new economy we see taking shape every day. With so much uncertainty a lot of organizations are plotting safe routes ahead.
Skate Story looking mad good.
Devolver one of the best companies in the industry.
Hoping for a Shadow Warrior 4 🙏
Disappointing that their biggest seller, seemingly by a large margin, was a new IP. And their response to that is not to make more new IP but to double down on farming the successful IP. Had they done that earlier they may never have got Cult of the Lamb.
Feels like the first step to Devolver becoming the very thing they used to oppose.
A modern Serious Sam would be nice. Hopefully Devolver keeps the budgets reasonable so the expectations aren't "sell a hundred million copies". Not sure their corporate set up but that variety of IP would be really good for some devs from different ones to work together to expand knowledge from within. Eurogamer had a recent article on building in studio talent actually
Enjoyed cult of the lamb and would like to see a sequel but im a bit surprised its their most profitable game. It wouldn't be close to number 1 for me if I'm ranking developer published games. Hotline Miami, olli,olli, my friend Pedro, talos principle, shadow warrior, inscryption and deaths door I think were all better.
I trust devolver to continue making good choices.
More Broforce please! Best game in ages, that.
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