The archive · Consumer Apps · Product decision · 2018–2025
Celeste paid for EXOK's independence: 1M sales, no publisher, then back to small
Two designers self-published Celeste, sold over a million copies, and funded an independent studio — until a bigger follow-up failed and they returned to small.
Extremely OK Games
What the business is
Extremely OK Games (EXOK), formerly Matt Makes Games, is a Vancouver indie studio founded by Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry that develops and self-publishes its own games, including TowerFall and Celeste.
Starting capital：No publisher or venture money is documented: Matt Makes Games self-published Celeste — co-founder Noel Berry said the label was simply the most direct path to publish on platforms — and the game's success funded the team's move into a shared Vancouver studio (IGN).
How it started
Celeste was released in January 2018 by Matt Makes Games, the studio of designers Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry, who lived together while developing it (VideoGamer, IGN). It sold over 500,000 copies during 2018, its launch year.
What happened
The game's success let the pair formalize what had been a remote collaboration: EXOK was incorporated in March 2019 and announced that September, bringing a six-person team — including artists from Brazil and an American 3D artist — into a two-room Vancouver office. Celeste passed one million copies sold by early 2020, and the free Chapter 9 DLC arrived during the transition (IGN).
How it ended up
EXOK then spent years on Earthblade, a bigger game, and on 2025-01-22 announced it was cancelled. Thorson wrote that Celeste's success had pressured the team to deliver "something bigger and better", that a split with a founding member had prompted a hard look at the project, and that "scaling the core team up post-Celeste has ultimately been a failure"; the studio is returning to small-scale prototyping at its own pace (EXOK).
Background
Celeste is a precise 2D platformer released in January 2018 by Matt Makes Games, the studio of designers Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry. The bet was that two people could self-publish a hardcore platformer — no publisher, no investors — and that its sales would then fund whatever they wanted to make next, at their own pace.
The bet paid quickly: Celeste sold over 500,000 copies in 2018, its launch year. The success let the team formalize a company: EXOK (Extremely OK Games) was incorporated in March 2019 and announced that September, bringing six people, including artists from Brazil and an American 3D artist, into a two-room Vancouver office. The free Chapter 9 DLC followed during the transition.
By early 2020 Celeste had passed one million copies sold, and Thorson told IGN the studio had no financial pressure: EXOK could avoid publishers, investors and arbitrary development milestones. The team then spent years on Earthblade, a larger game built under the weight of expectation that followed Celeste.
On 22 January 2025 EXOK announced that Earthblade was cancelled. Thorson wrote that Celeste's success had pressured the team to deliver something bigger and better, that a fracture with a founding member had prompted the decision, and that "scaling the core team up post-Celeste has ultimately been a failure". Thorson and Berry said they were returning to small-scale prototyping at their own pace, still independent.
What has to be true
- Self-publishing put every sale back into the studio, so a 500,000-copy launch was enough to fund a company with no external capital.
- Free DLC and continued availability kept Celeste alive between announcements, extending both goodwill and the game's commercial life.
- A small fixed team and no investors made "no financial pressure" a literal state, letting the studio choose projects by interest rather than revenue targets.
- When the big follow-up failed, the lack of outside commitments made cancellation survivable: EXOK could write off Earthblade and restart small without owing investors a return.
What can be applied
A hit can buy independence, not a model: Celeste's sales let EXOK ignore publishers and investors, but scaling up failed — the durable form was the small, self-funded team that made Celeste.
Aftermath
As of 2025-01-22 EXOK is still an independent studio. Thorson and Berry cancelled Earthblade in December 2024 and announced it on 22 January 2025, saying other team members had moved on and that founding art director Pedro Medeiros had split to work on his own game, Neverway. The pair plan to keep collaborating with former teammates and are prototyping smaller projects again, trying to recapture the approach they used at Celeste's and TowerFall's beginnings; Celeste itself remains on sale with over one million lifetime copies reported by early 2020.
Sources
- Inside EXOK Games: The Brand New Studio That's Already Sold a Million Copies
- Celeste has sold over 500,000 copies
- Extremely OK : Final Earthblade Update
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