Hypercharge, a whimsical motion determine shooter, simply went from near-obscurity to changing into one of many prime 10 sellers on PS5 over the weekend, and it’s all because of the builders’ honesty. Every single day, 1000’s of latest video games are launched on main storefronts, and the unhappy actuality is that almost all gained’t make it. Reside service titles like Fortnite already hoard a lot of the consumer base on any given platform. Some video games earn properly under no matter it took to make them within the first place. And so we arrive at Hypercharge: Unboxed, a third-person shooter the place gamers management motion figures, which was ported on the finish of Might to Xbox and PlayStation.
Initially launched in 2020 on Steam, Hypercharge arrived on the scene with loads of fanfare. Footage of the sport periodically went viral on social media as onlookers have been delighted by the prospect of a sport that seemed straight out of Pixar’s Toy Story. Steam customers have granted Hypercharge a “Very Optimistic’” ranking, with one prime assessment on the platform declaring the expertise “pure childhood pleasure.” Not dangerous for a sport made by a crew of 5 folks.
However that was years in the past. In 2025, the shooter panorama is extra aggressive than ever, which signifies that success was not assured for Hypercharge. Regardless of launching with cross-platform help, evidently curiosity within the sport was minimal initially of 2025. On Steam, the top-voted assessment posted on Might twelfth of this 12 months declared, “Recreation is lifeless.”
Gamers on console quickly realized this was the case, with not less than one participant taking to social media to voice their dissatisfaction. This participant claimed there weren’t sufficient gamers to kind a full foyer, and that there have been “actually 5 folks on-line.”
This prompted developer Digital Cybercherries to reply, and the submit was surprisingly earnest. The makers of the motion determine sport acknowledged that there weren’t many individuals having fun with the sport, however that they have been OK with that as long as the sport introduced somebody, someplace pleasure.
The builders adopted up this submit with an extended clarification the place they stated that in the end, that they had made the sport they might have wished as youngsters.
“Making video games has by no means been about getting wealthy, changing into well-known, or having probably the most concurrent gamers”
“Making video games has by no means been about getting wealthy, changing into well-known, or having probably the most concurrent gamers,” the submit reads. “To us, being wealthy means waking up every single day to do what we love with the folks we love […] so long as we are able to pay the payments, feed our households, and maintain creating what we care about, then yeah, in our eyes, we’re already wealthy.”
The devs’ show of vulnerability exploded on social media, the place the submit has accrued over 600,000 views. This consideration was sufficient to catapult the sport into the highest 10 sellers on PS5 over the weekend.
“Picked it up yesterday to help you guys on PS5 myself!” one response reads. “I’m gonna get this sport after I receives a commission once more,” one other says.
Whereas Hypercharge appears to have fallen out that bestseller listing now, it’s nonetheless at quantity 5 within the bestselling new releases for PS5. The whirlwind of consideration was nonetheless welcome by the small developer.
“To be sincere, it has been surreal,” Joe Henson, head of selling for Hypercharge, advised gamexplore over e-mail. “We’re a crew of 5, with no writer, no exterior funding, and no massive advertising price range. Simply 5 pals who grew up loving video games and wished to make one which meant one thing to us. To see Hypercharge go viral and now stand alongside main AAA titles because the #5 bestselling new launch on PlayStation is one thing we by no means anticipated. It has genuinely touched us.”
Henson didn’t share particular participant base numbers with gamexplore, solely noting that the sport doesn’t have a “enormous” participant base however that there are literally thousands of gamers throughout all platforms. He additionally reiterated that the builders contemplate the sport extra of a co-op expertise, and the net performance is extra of a bonus.
“I utterly perceive it may be irritating should you’re making an attempt to leap into on-line matches and may’t discover anybody,” Henson says. “I hear that. However I don’t suppose it’s truthful to name a sport a failure when it’s doing precisely what it got down to do: provide a stable offline and native co-op expertise, with on-line as a pleasant further, not the principle focus.”
As for what’s subsequent, it’s enterprise as traditional. There are bugs to repair, and updates to dole out to make sure cross-platform is working as meant. However the crew remains to be taking a while to bask within the accomplishment.
“It has been a monumental job, however one we’re extremely happy with,” Henson says.
Hypercharge: Unboxed is offered on PC, Xbox Collection X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Change.
