Shovel Knight Sells A Massive Amount Of Copies, Get The Details

The Dynamic Digger, Shovel Knight has finally hit that coveted 1 million copies sold mark. Huzzah for shovel justice!

In case you’re one of the sinners who has overlooked Shovel Knight this past year, it’s the team at Yacht Club’s fantastic throwback to gaming of yesteryear. Unlike most nostalgic romps, however, Shovel Knight is a wholly unique experience that captures the essence of classic gaming without relying on references and sly winks to the player.

Originally launching on the Nintendo 3DS, Shovel Knight has since gone on to be published on the Wii U, Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as PC. The Blue Burrower earned such a fan following that he even got his own Amiibo, as well as an outpouring of support to see the character added to Nintendo’s mascot brawler, Super Smash Bros..

Now that this indie gem has made its way to just about every console imaginable, Yacht Club has announced that Shovel Knight has inched over its biggest milestone yet, selling 1.2 million copies.

Over on Go Nintendo, the team broke down its success, explaining that 32 percent of those sales are courtesy of Steam while 29 percent come from the 3DS. The Wii U accounts for 17 percent of Shovel Knight sales with the PS4 moving 10 percent of that figures. Both the Xbox One and PlayStation Vita ar at about five percent of the 1.2 million copies, with the PlayStation 3, Humble and GOG pushing one percent apiece.

Apparently 200,000 of that final figure are physical copies of the game, which was a move Yacht Club was able to make after the initial launch of the game met with such success. As the developer points out, Yacht Club’s other successful games usually top out at about 50,000 copies sold. In other words, Shovel Knight was a huge success for them.

And pardon the fanboy outpouring here, but the game absolutely deserves every bit of this success. Shovel Knight is reminiscent of classic games, though it stands on its own two legs thanks to great characters, tremendous level design, fast and fun combat and an absolutely killer soundtrack. The team even plugged in additional bosses from God of War and Battletoads when the game branched out to additional platforms, as well as a brand new campaign that lets you play as Plague Knight, one of the original game’s diabolical bosses.

If all of that isn’t enough to convince you to give Shovel Knight a gander, then maybe this will: In celebration of hitting the 1 million copies mark, Yacht Club has announced that Shovel Knight is now available at a discounted price. It’s only for a limited time, so you might want to dig in soon if you want to take advantage.

Ryan Winslett

Staff Writer for CinemaBlend.