The Binding of Isaac is “closing in” on 450,000 copies sold, and such success has surprised creator Edmund McMillen, as he had convinced himself this “week-long project” would garner little interest from the public.
Speaking in an interview with IndieGames, McMillen said there was “no reason for this game to have done well,” because when he started the game, he wasn’t sure if he should even charge for it.
“I didn’t think people would want it, in all honestly,” he said. “I had to shop it around to a bunch of different developers, and say like ‘Do you think I could sell this?’, because I thought it was way too weird, I thought the content was too disturbing and creepy, I thought it would just rub too many people the wrong way, and I thought the design was just too hardcore for any kind of mass amount of people to enjoy.
“Permadeath is very discouraging, that’s why roguelikes are very niche and small. There’s very specific people who play them. There’s another key thing too, what traditional roguelikes, that use permadeath like that – most of those are free. I came to the conclusion that I’d put it up for $5, and if people don’t like it they don’t have to buy it. Then it just fucking blew up. I didn’t know, I didn’t expect it.”
McMillen said the popularity of Super Meat Boy “helped” sales of Isaac, which has also led him feeling a bit guilty ...
