After Years Of Legal Limbo, Brutal Indie Rain World Is Almost Free

Key Points:

• Rain World, a challenging and unconventional game about a vulnerable slug cat, was released in 2017 by developer Videocult and initially published by Adult Swim Games, but suffered from inconsistent updates and limited reach across platforms.
• Akupara Games took over publishing in 2022, unifying the game's versions and revitalizing its community through DLC releases, events, merchandise, and finally launching on Xbox, leading to a significant increase in player counts and sales.
• The first DLC, Downpour, raised peak concurrent players to 8,500, and the second DLC, The Watcher, boosted it to 15,500, with combined sales reaching hundreds of thousands of units and total game sales surpassing 3.5 million since Akupara's involvement.
• Despite the game's difficulty and niche appeal, the Rain World community is highly engaged, including many who watch streamers and support the game through merchandise, generating over seven figures in revenue from merch alone.
• Akupara is working towards resolving remaining publishing rights issues with Adult Swim Games/WB, aiming for full independence, and while a Rain World sequel is not confirmed, the team plans to continue supporting the franchise in some form.