Steam game made in two months by one developer nets nearly $10 million

Meccha Chameleon is a hide-and-seek game in which players paint themselves to blend into the scenery while opponents try to find all the concealed players. The Steam page looks rough around the edges—the characters resemble placeholders, the UI is basic, and the visuals give a whiff of Microsoft Paint—but the gameplay has captured a large audience.

Released on June 9, the game sold 2 million copies in less than a week. It was still on a discounted $4.99 price at the time, which works out to about $9.98 million in gross revenue; after Valve’s 30 percent cut, developer lemorion_1224 is taking home roughly $6.9 million.

The title was made in two months by a solo developer. The success did not come from a single lucky idea. The developer spent years iterating on hide-and-seek concepts in Fortnite, experimenting with mechanics such as razor-thin hiding, disguising as NPCs, Prop Hunt-style play and mini-games that recalled Dead By Daylight and Peak.

meccha chameleon, lemorion_1224, steam, hide-and-seek, solo developer, 2 million, 9.98 million, valve cut, microsoft paint, prop hunt