Cheesemaster Games‘ Spirittea launched earlier this month to significantly acclaim. It seems that such praise was enough to convince the gaming public, as Spirittea surpassed $1m USD in revenue within it’s first week on sale. Moreover, the game now has 150,000 players across PC, Nintendo Switch and Xbox Game Pass.
Spirittea is a the rural life sim inspired by Studio Ghibli classic Spirited Away. The game follows a writer who has escaped to the countryside in order to clear their head, as they attempt to find inspiration for their next novel. Upon drinking from a ghostly teapot, they gain spirit vision, and can start helping the local spirits with their problems.
Players live day to day. You can find local NPCs and spirits to help. Or you can take part in tons of different hobbies, ranging from bug catching to karaoke. Every spirit you help will then turn up at your bathhouse, where you can offer them towels, salts, snacks, and a lovely hot soak. Upgrading your bathhouse with new furniture, rooms and baths is key to attracting the most exciting spirits, including elusive Lord Spirits, who take up an entire room each.
Spirittea Success
The game was developed by Cheesemaster Games, which is in fact solo developer Dan Beckerton aka Cheesemaster Games. It was published by No More Robots, and together they have recouped all development and marketing costs to make the game profitable from day one.
According to No More Robots, strong Nintendo Switch sales have contributed to this success. The game appears in the ‘Top Sellers’ charts in nearly every region on the Nintendo eShop. Meanwhile, Spirittea‘s inclusion in the Game Pass subscription service has provided 10,000s of additional players. However, no information on how much revenue – nor if any financial advance from Microsoft was received – has been made available.
According to No More Robots, Spirittea will now go through a period of constant updates. These will initially fix any issues found by the community. Subsequently, the plan is to develop new free content for the game.
Are you one of the 150,000 playing Spirittea? Are you enjoying the game? Let us know in the comments below!
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