'We have made back our development budget after 3 hours': Mewgenics explodes to number one Steam seller 14 years after its announcement

Mewgenics art — (Image credit: Edmund McMillen/Tyler Glaiel)

Mewgenics is a hit. The cat breeding tactics game from Edmund McMillen, creator of Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac, and Tyler Glaiel released on Steam today and instantly shot up the charts. It's the number one global top seller on Steam, beating out Counter-Strike 2, PUGB, Helldivers 2, and Arc Raiders.

Or put another way: "We have made back our development budget after 3 hours. Thank you all :)" Glaiel wrote on Bluesky today.

For as hotly anticipated as Mewgenics was among ball knowers, its warm welcome wasn't always a certainty. First announced an unbelievable 14 years ago, back when McMillen was still flying the Team Meat flag, Mewgenics was once a very different sort of game with Pokémon-like combat. That version was eventually cancelled, Team Meat broke up, and Mewgenics became the stuff of development hell legend. The project was only picked back up by McMillen in 2018, who teamed up with Glaiel and committed to a turn-based combat format in 2020.

and we have made back our development budget after 3 hours. Thank you all :)
— @tylerglaiel.com (@tylerglaiel.com.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T20:05:48.692Z

Even if the final incarnation of Mewgenics only goes back six years, it's the sort of game that's so expansive and surprising that you'd believe someone's been plugging away at it since the first Obama administration. No two runs are the same, which is a thing devs like to say about their roguelikes, but only occasionally holds up to scrutiny. With hundreds of items, abilities, synergies, mutations, and secrets to find, Mewgenics is truly a special one.

McMillen, ever the chill dude he is, is enjoying Mewgenics launch day by watching people play Mewgenics.

"Thanks everyone :) Hope you are enjoying what we made. Gunna watch you guys play it all day."

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.