Yacht Club Games

Yacht Club Games

Founded	2011
Headquarters	Valencia, California
Key people	Sean Velasco, Ian Flood, David D'Angelo, Nick Wozniak
Number of employees	5 (July 2014) 16 (Currently)
Website	YachtClubGames.com

Yacht Club Games is an American independent video game development studio and publisher founded in 2011 by former WayForward Technologies director, Sean Velasco,^[1] and is located in Los Angeles, CA. It is also best known as the creator of the Shovel Knight series.

History[]

Yacht Club Games was founded by former developers from WayForward Technologies who wished to work on their own titles. The company announced their first title, Shovel Knight, on March 14, 2013. They financed its development through a successful Kickstarter campaign, and released it on June 26, 2014.^[2] Following the stretched goal of the Kickstarter campaign, the developers added more content to the base game from 2015 to 2018. With each new campaign being as large as the original main game, the developers decided to change the economic model of Shovel Knight. The original game, which includes all content, was renamed Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, and all campaigns and the Battle Mode are available to purchase separately.^[3]

In addition to their own title, Yacht Club Games also published Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack in North America, an enhanced collection of the first and second Azure Striker Gunvolt games developed by the Japanese studio Inti Creates.^[4]

Yacht Club Games are very active on Twitter, where they constantly post, updates, events of interest, sales in the digital shops, as well as jokes such as the Shovel Knight IRL: Physical Game Cameo Extravaganza!!.

Games[]

Games Developed and Published[]

Title	Co-Developer(s)	Genre(s)	Platform(s)	Original Release	Note(s)
Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope	N/A	Platformer	Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Fire TV	March 14, 2014	The base game and campaign as a part of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows	N/A		Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Fire TV	September 17, 2015	DLC campaign as a part of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment	N/A		Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Fire TV	March 3, 2017	DLC campaign and prequel to Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows, and a part of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
Shovel Knight: King of Cards	N/A		Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Fire TV	December 10, 2019	DLC campaign and prequel to Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope and Plague of Shadows, and a part of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
Shovel Knight Showdown	N/A	Fighting	Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, Wii U, 3DS, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Fire TV	December 10, 2019	DLC and competitive multiplayer battle mode as a part of Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon	Vine	Puzzle, Roguelite	Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, PS4, Nintendo Switch	December 13th, 2021	An entry in the Shovel Knight series, with DLC packs in the works.
Shovel Knight Dig	Nitrome	Platformer, Dungeon Crawler, Roguelite	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, iPhone	September 23 2022	An entry in the Shovel Knight series.
Mina the Hollower	N/A	Action-adventure	Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch	TBA	The first title of a brand new IP series, inspired by the games found on the Game Boy Color system.

Games Published[]

Title	Developer(s)	Genre(s)	Platform(s)	Original Release	Note(s)
Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack	Inti Creates	Action, Platformer	Nintendo 3DS	September 29, 2016 (NA)	A compilation of Azure Striker Gunvolt and Azure Striker Gunvolt 2. Physical release
Cyber Shadow	Mechanical Head Studios	Action, Platformer	Windows, Mac, Linux/Steam OS, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch	January 26, 2021

Side Projects[]

Title	Co-Developer(s)	Genre(s)	Platform(s)	Original Release	Note(s)
Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels	Panda Cult Games	Board game	N/A	August 19, 2022 (website pre-orders)	A Shovel Knight-themed board game, developed with Yacht Club Games permission by Panda Cult Games.