Mewgenics Sells 1 Million Copies in First Week

According to PC Gamer, Mewgenics has sold 1 million copies in just one week since launch. The cat breeding roguelike from Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel surpassed its creators' expectations by a significant margin. For context, this puts Mewgenics in rare company for indie launches - even McMillen's previous hit The Binding of Isaac took months to reach similar numbers back in 2011.

Unexpected Success#

Both developers admitted they were caught off guard by the game's performance. "We both got a bit blindsided by this," they told PC Gamer, indicating the sales figures far exceeded their internal projections. Given McMillen's track record with Isaac and Super Meat Boy, that's saying something. The game's quirky premise - breeding cats with randomized traits and abilities to tackle procedurally generated challenges - seemed like it might be too niche even for the roguelike-loving PC crowd. Turns out, the internet's love of cats combined with deep mechanical systems was exactly the formula players didn't know they needed.

The success is particularly notable given Mewgenics' long and troubled development history. Originally announced way back in 2012, the project was shelved for years before McMillen and Glaiel decided to revive it. Many assumed it would remain vaporware, making this launch feel like gaming's equivalent of a comeback story.

First Patch in Development#

The team is currently working on the game's first patch. According to the developers, this update will avoid making major changes to the core gameplay, suggesting they're satisfied with the game's current state and want to maintain what's resonating with players. This approach makes sense - when you've got a million players already invested in learning your systems, the last thing you want is to pull the rug out from under them with sweeping balance changes.

Instead, expect the patch to focus on quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes. The community has been vocal about a few UI quirks and some rare softlock scenarios in the breeding interface, so those are likely priorities. McMillen has always been responsive to player feedback without compromising his vision, and that philosophy seems to be carrying over here.

The strong launch week positions Mewgenics as one of the year's surprise indie hits. The game combines cat breeding mechanics with roguelike elements, an unusual formula that's clearly found its audience. It's the kind of weird, systems-driven game that thrives on Twitch and YouTube - watching streamers discover bizarre cat mutations and broken ability combos has become its own form of entertainment. The emergent gameplay possibilities, where breeding the right combination of traits can lead to wildly overpowered (or hilariously useless) cats, gives it that "one more run" appeal that defines the best roguelikes.

What makes Mewgenics stand out in the crowded roguelike space is how it marries long-term progression with run-based gameplay. Your cat lineages persist between runs, meaning selective breeding across multiple attempts creates a metagame layer that most roguelikes don't have. It's part Pokémon breeding, part Slay the Spire deck-building, and entirely its own thing.