Shovel Knight sales pass 1.2M, sold best on Steam and 3DS

Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight has sold 1.2 million copies, the developer confirmed, and it's celebrating the milestone by revealing several other notable stats about the 2014 indie hit. These include sales breakdowns by platform, sales of its amiibo figure and just how many people have managed to finish the challenging side-scroller.

More interesting than the hard sales figures — including 180,000 Shovel Knight amiibo sold — are the completion stats available based on Steam user data: Just 32 percent of players finished Shovel Knight on Steam, with even fewer beating its New Game Plus mode (two percent). Only six percent of those who played last year's free downloadable content, Plague of Shadows — an expansion that cost Yacht Club $1,000,000 to develop and earned no profit from — finished it, according to Yacht Club Games.

Also notable: Shovel Knight has sold the majority of copies digitally, according to an infographic created by the developer. Only 200,000 of its total sales have been physical, with the majority sold on Wii U. At 37 percent, its sales are just one percentage point greater than those on Nintendo 3DS.

Overall, however, Steam is Shovel Knight's most popular platform. Thirty-two percent of Shovel Knight owners bought their copies of the game from the service, followed by 29 percent on Nintendo 3DS.

"We're still in a bit of shock here!"

In an article on Gamasutra, programmer David D'Angelo goes further in-depth about the game's sales performance.

"Steam is our best seller, but it's also benefited the most from discounted sales," he wrote. "In an average month, Nintendo 3DS almost sells twice as much as Steam."

Shovel Knight will go on sale on Steam, 3DS and other platforms in honor of its millionth sale throughout the month, D'Angelo said. The PlayStation Store is currently holding a sale until April 21. Shovel Knight for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita is now 33 percent off, or $10.04.

D'Angelo expressed enthusiasm about how Shovel Knight performed overall. It's the studio's most successful release by far, he said. "We're still in a bit of shock here! Previously, a successful game in our portfolio would barely break [50,000] copies sold."

Going forward, Yacht Club Games plans to add more content updates to Shovel Knight and finish production on its final Kickstarter reward: a hardcover art book.

"We hope to finally conclude Shovel Knight's long development journey at the end of this year," D'Angelo added. "It's been a really fun few years, and we couldn't be more grateful that you've all supported us through this time."