While 2025 will forever be known as a massive year for indie games between Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight Silksong, 2026 is already starting to be a strong year for smaller-scale titles with games like Slay the Spire 2 enjoying incredible success right at launch.
That's according to video game industry data firm Alinea Analytics and analyst Rhys Elliot, whose latest newsletter points to Slay the Spire 2 reaching an estimated 4.6 million copies sold as of March 19, 2026, which, at $25 USD a pop, has brought in about $92 million in revenue for developer MegaCrit.
We already knew it had a big launch based on its Steam concurrent numbers alone, which eclipsed 574,638 concurrent players at their peak, just three days after its launch on March 5, 2026. You could've guessed from those numbers alone that it had sold well, or that at least 574,638 players had bought it. That sales margin would've also made it a success, but as it's always worth remembering, Steam concurrent numbers are never the whole picture.
Alinea Analytics describes it as "one of the best indie Steam releases of all time," as it beats out Hades 2 and Silksong in terms of revenue generated from Steam sales and is about as big as Palworld was when it launched.
What's also impressive is how players cannot stop playing Slay the Spire 2, just two weeks later. Alinea Analytics adds that half of its players have spent at least 20 hours playing. While a solid 14% of Slay the Spire 2 players have spent 50 hours in the card-based rougelike. 1% of players have already dug 100 hours into it since launch. When you consider how few players actually beat some of the best-selling games each year, any game able to hold hundreds of thousands of players attention for that long is an impressive feat.
Even in early access, it's clear that Slay the Spire fans are loving this sequel. It'll be interesting to see where it lands once we're towards the end of 2026, and game of the year discussions start to really kick into high gear.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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