Studio MDHR, the team behind the highly acclaimed indie darling Cuphead, recently confirmed that the game’s DLC, The Delicious Last Course, has sold over 2 million copies across all platforms since its June launch. The Delicious Last Course provided a respectable amount of new content for the title, in the form of a new island with multiple new bosses, new gun types, new perks, and a new playable character, Ms. Chalice.
Cuphead first released in 2017, but even before it came out, it accrued a massive following due to its art style and animation, which was, and still is, distinctly original in the gaming space. Cuphead’s visuals are inspired by the “rubber-hose” animation style that’s immediately reminiscent of old-school cartoons from the 1930s to 1950s.
Following the game’s release, it only received more praise, as the visual style was just as detailed as advertised, but moreover, the gameplay was highly satisfying, albeit crushingly difficult.
The Delicious Last Course was also very well received, so its success is no surprise. However, though its sales are respectable, it likely had a much worse return on investment than the original, given the price and development time. The DLC was originally slated for 2019 but ended up coming out in 2022, an unusually long five years after the base game. In an interview with DualShockers back in June, Executive Producer Maja Moldenhauer stated that the animation frames were “comparable to the full base game.”
Despite having the workload and development time of a complete title, it only released for $7.99, as opposed to the original Cuphead, which was priced at $19.99. Fans of Studio MDHR can only hope that the team has remained small enough so that it has turned a decent profit with this DLC, and thus can put all of its focus onto its next full release. Given that they’re celebrating this milestone, that is likely the case.
In the previously mentioned interview, Moldenhauer did confirm that they are working on another future project and that it will also be a 2D-animated title. “We’re not going anywhere, we love 2D animation, we love pencil to paper and, for the foreseeable future, we’re gonna continue with that.” When asked if this next project will be Cuphead-related, she answered, “You’ll have to wait and see.”
