If you told us years ago that a video game that involved playing as a Goose and messing with people and their everyday activities would end up being one of the most popular titles ever, we probably would’ve laughed at you and walked away. Well in 2019, that’s exactly whats happening as Untitled Goose Game has literally taken over the video game community. This is especially evident on the Nintendo Switch, where it has officially been ranked the number 1 selling digital game on system for the year so far.
The chart topper was tweeted by Cabel Sasser, one of the founders of Panic Inc. and the game’s publishing company. Panic is no stranger to success, as they’ve also published another indie hit back in 2016, Firewatch. Untitled Goose Game was released on September 20 of this year. That means in just over two weeks it was able to generate more than enough in terms of sales/units to claim the top spot digitally on the Switch, which is an amazing achievement for such a small studio.
Now this normally wouldn’t be looked at in such a huge way, but we need to put this in a much bigger perspective. In this month alone, the Nintendo Switch has had new, big AAA titles released such as the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, the re-release of Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and the long awaited Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition. The Goose beat out all of these behemoths to claim the top spot in the eshop for the North American market.
In the game, you play as the Goose, stealthily making your way around town and ruining people’s day with traps and pranks.
Of course it also helps that the game was only distributed as a digital title, for PC and MAC as well. The developers, House House, only consists of a few people and haven’t been forthcoming with the media on what their sales numbers are. Whether we find these numbers out or not, there is little doubt that House House is making their budget back, and then some. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if they decided to release some potential DLC to keep the title going.
This is without a doubt one of the biggest stories in 2019 for video gaming, as the titular Goose has already transcended into a mega star in pop culture. There’s the never ending stream of memes, videos, and other hilarious internet gags that have been brought about since. One person on Twitter even came up with a chart of special moves for the Goose should he ever be added into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. We dream of such a thing coming to fruition, and hope that Sakurai see’s the potential there.
Untitled Goose Game is now available for the Nintendo Switch, as well as PC and MAC through the Epic Games Store. It will be available on Steam later in 2020.