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While 2023 has produced a bumper crop of excellent games so far, one particular title rocketed to success seemingly out of nowhere: Dave the Diver, the charming fishing/life sim-RPG hybrid from Mintrocket. The game launched on Steam from early access on June 28 and became one of the top-selling titles within a week. Within a month, it’d sold over one million units. Most recently, Nintendo revealed during its September Direct that it’s launching on the Switch in October.

GamesBeat spoke with Dave the Diver’s director, Jaeho Hwang, about the game’s development and how its creators have responded to its meteoric rise in popularity. According to Hwang, the team responded to their viral success by making sure the game was as good as possible: “We began the early access in October last year, and during that time, we made numerous improvements thanks to open communication with the community. After launch,...