As a child he was mocked as a “fat nerd”, today 3 million people play his game

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A Swedish developer has just made a strong launch on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S with his survival game Core Keeper, despite apparently being ridiculed as a child for his passion for gaming.

What game is it? The survival insider tip Core Keeper celebrated its release at the end of August 2024 after two and a half years of Early Access and got off to a really strong start:

  • At launch, more than 34,000 players played simultaneously on Steam
  • In the first week, Core Keeper sold over 250,000 copies
  • On Steam, the survival sandbox also impresses with a rating of 91% positive from almost 30,000 reviews

    • Fredrik Präntare is the founder and CEO of the Swedish studio Pugstorm, which is behind Core Keeper. On X, he shared a new milestone in his game – and hinted that the road to this success was not always easy.

    Core Keeper: Launch trailer introduces you to the survival insider tip on Steam

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    Developer says: “This is completely crazy to me”

    What milestone has the game reached? According to a post from September 16, 2024, Core Keeper has broken the impressive mark of 3 million players. The official X account states: “We are so happy to have you on this journey.”

    Prantare shared the post and added some additional words.

    You can check out the post here:

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    Translation: “This is COMPLETELY crazy to me. From being called a ‘fat nerd’ as a kid, to making maps for Heroes 3 and WarCraft 3, to now having a game that has over 3 million players… Thank you, everyone – my amazing team and I are beyond grateful!”

    In the comments, many users congratulate Präntare, including other developers who recognize themselves in their colleague.

  • kinbdogz works on Minecraft at Mojang and writes: “As someone who made a bunch of maps for Warcraft 3 as a kid, which probably kicked off my journey into the gaming industry, I can relate to this very well. Congratulations!” (via X)
  • Jim T Myhre Kjexrud works as an artist on Terraria: “I also started playing around with the WC3 editor. Made a few maps that were circulating among my friends, but never posted them online.” (via X)
  • It’s not just the WarCraft 3 map community that feels addressed. One user writes: “As a former fat nerd:”, followed by a GIF of a saluting Jack Black (via X).

    • Prantare takes a bit of a dig at his younger self, but also shows that it can be worthwhile to follow your passion – even if others don’t always understand it. He also continues the trend that indie developers themselves seem to be the most surprised by their success: He thought 10 people would play it and he would have to go back to work normally: But a million people bought his first game on Steam

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