Despite its crabtastic Soulslike hit, indie dev say funding for its 'best game yet' just fizzled: '2024 is really taking no prisoners'

Despite critical acclaim and commercial success, indie developer Aggro Crab struggles to secure funding for its third game, highlighting the current difficult climate for indie game development.

Another Crab's Treasure was undoubtedly one of this year's biggest (or smallest, depending on how you look at it) surprises, but despite selling well and getting love from all corners of the internet, its developer is struggling to get its third game funded. 

Developer Aggro Crab first made a name for itself with satirical dungeon crawler Going Under, a game about an unpaid intern who beats up corporate ghouls using random office junk left lying around. Then it continued its streak of quirky but smart genre remixes in Another Crab's Treasure, a soulslike that ditches the subgenre's usual self-seriousness in favor of a colorful underwater world and a crustacean hero dealing with a polluted kingdom.

"The crab is seeking treasure," the indie studio tweeted just yesterday as it made a public plea. "So our funding plans for Game 3 fell through. I guess 2024 is really taking no prisoners, but hey, interest rates are down so if you represent an investor/publisher and want to help us make our best game yet, our DMs are open!"

Another Crab's Treasure seemed like massive success for a small team. Within its first four days of release, the aquatic slasher sold over 100,000 copies, and that was despite launching into Xbox Game Pass on day one. Critic reviews were largely really positive, too, highlighting its fun new ideas, like the way you can recycle random plastic junk as a shell because, y'know, climate crisis. But players in general were just as smitten. "Just hit 10k reviews btw but who's counting?" the developer wrote alongside a screenshot of 'Very Positive' Steam user reviews.

Aggro Crab definitely isn't wrong in its assessment, however. 2024 has been brutal for indie developers, many of whom have had to shut down completely or lay off staff as investment in the industry seems to be drying up. Just last month, the indie team behind Paleo Pines had to ask the public for help to fund its sequel. GamesRadar's Austin Wood spoke to several indie teams earlier this year who all, largely, shared the same sentiment: "The game industry is f***ed." But there are still some bright spots. Breakout hits like Buckshot Roulette or Balatro are definitely rare, but at least they continue to exist. And the company behind Among Us is using its cash cow to fund other indie games, and the first fruit of its labour was weirdly wonderful.

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