Key Takeaways
- Yacht Club Games has confirmed that most of its developers are now working on a new 3D game — almost certainly Shovel Knight 3D
- The confirmation came via a Reddit AMA, where designer Alec Faulkner said: “Most of us are currently working on a 3D game, yes!”
- Faulkner stopped short of naming the project, only adding it’s going to be “soooooooo awesome”
- Co-founder Sean Velasco previously told Bloomberg the 3D Shovel Knight game was halfway done before the entire studio pivoted to finish Mina the Hollower
- Mina the Hollower sold over 500,000 copies in its first two weeks — hitting the target Velasco said would make the studio “golden”
- Co-founder Nick Wozniac confirmed that splitting the team was a mistake — keeping focus on one game is what helped Mina land
- The team is continuing to support Mina with post-launch updates including expanded randomizer options, enemy randomization, speedrunner features, and more
- Mina the Hollower was one of 2026’s best-reviewed games, scoring around a 91-93 Metacritic average
There’s a happy ending for one of indie gaming’s most beloved studios — and a very intriguing hint at what comes next. Following the commercial success of Mina the Hollower, Yacht Club Games has confirmed in a Reddit AMA that most of the team has now turned its attention to a new 3D game. Given everything we know about the studio’s history, that almost certainly means the long-paused Shovel Knight 3D project is back in full swing.
Mina the Hollower Saved Yacht Club Games — For Now
To understand why this news matters, you have to understand how close Yacht Club Games came to the edge. Before Mina launched on May 29, 2026, co-founder Sean Velasco had publicly described the game as a “make-or-break” moment for the studio. A global pandemic had disrupted operations, and an ill-fated attempt to run as a multi-project studio — splitting the team to work on both Mina and an unannounced 3D Shovel Knight game simultaneously — had burned through most of the studio’s available capital. By the time Mina was approaching release, Yacht Club Games had already shrunk its workforce and had put the 3D project entirely on hold.
The goal Velasco had in mind to feel “golden”: 500,000 copies sold. Mina hit that number within its first two weeks, having already sold 300,000 copies in just the first three days. In the Reddit AMA, when asked directly whether Mina secured financial stability for the company, Velasco simply answered: “yes… for now!”
The “for now” is doing a lot of honest work in that sentence. Mina’s success bought the studio breathing room, not permanent security. But it was enough to get the team back on its feet and pointed toward whatever comes next.
“Most of Us Are Currently Working on a 3D Game”
The most exciting revelation from the Reddit AMA came from designer Alec Faulkner, who was asked directly about the unannounced 3D Shovel Knight game that Velasco had referenced in a Bloomberg interview earlier in the year. Faulkner didn’t confirm the name — he kept his secrets — but he did confirm the project’s existence and the team’s current focus.
“Most of us are currently working on a 3D game, yes!” Faulkner said. Then, when pressed for more, he simply added: “Not sayin more! Other than that it’s gonna be soooooooo awesome.”
That’s not a formal announcement, but it’s the clearest confirmation yet that Yacht Club’s 3D project — which was reportedly halfway complete before being shelved when the studio consolidated around Mina — is now the primary focus for most of the development team. Velasco previously told Bloomberg the game was “not far from being showable,” which suggests it could be closer to a public reveal than the total silence around it might imply.
Why Splitting the Team Was a Mistake They Won’t Repeat
Co-founder Nick Wozniac used the AMA to reflect honestly on the period where Yacht Club tried to run as a two-game studio, and the lessons they’re taking forward. What he said is worth reading in full:
“Sales are the things that keep the company afloat so it’s not born from greed (mostly) that we say we’d love to see more sales, it’s all about continuing to work together and make great games and reaping the rewards along the way. We are doing ok and learned a lot this cycle. I think we learned mostly that keeping the team tight and focused is what helped Mina land. Splitting the team up to work on two games was something we could have corrected a long time ago but I’m glad to be where we are now. Just gotta pocket those lessons and use them to drive you forward.”
It’s a rare, plainly stated admission from a studio founder that a strategic decision was wrong — and that course-correcting it, even late, made the difference. The team that made Shovel Knight great was a focused, cohesive unit working on a single vision. Mina the Hollower thrived for the same reason. The implication for the 3D project is clear: Yacht Club isn’t going to dilute focus again.
Mina the Hollower Isn’t Being Abandoned
Before the full weight of the team shifted to the 3D project, the devs were clear in the AMA that Mina isn’t done getting love. Post-launch updates are in the works, and they include some genuinely substantial additions: expanded randomizer options, enemy and boss randomization, more gameplay modifiers, speedrunner-focused features, and broader ways “to do even more in Mina.” Whether this eventually scales into the kind of extensive DLC and spin-off ecosystem that Shovel Knight enjoyed for years, the team isn’t saying yet. But they’re not treating Mina as a one-and-done release either.
Given that Mina the Hollower was one of 2026’s best-reviewed games — sitting around a 91-93 Metacritic average — and comfortably cleared the half-million mark that Velasco described as the threshold for survival, it seems fair to expect Mina to have a longer life ahead of it. Yacht Club has compared Mina to their own “Zelda” — if Shovel Knight was their Mario, Mina is the adventure series they want to grow alongside it.
What We Know About the 3D Project
The evidence pointing toward Shovel Knight 3D is substantial even without a formal confirmation. Velasco told Bloomberg it was a 3D Shovel Knight game. It was reportedly halfway done before being shelved. The studio had been quietly hiring for 3D programming roles in previous years. And now most of the team is on it.
What it will look like is still a mystery. Shovel Knight’s DNA is in tight, character-focused platforming and rich world-building — translating that into 3D could mean anything from a collectathon to a Souls-adjacent action game to something nobody has quite seen before. Faulkner’s teasing “soooooooo awesome” is, unfortunately, the full extent of what we’ve got to work with for now.
For Yacht Club Games, this is the best possible position to be in: a successful new IP in Mina, a beloved franchise to return to, a focused team, and lessons learned from the hardest stretch of the studio’s history. The 3D game reveal, whenever it comes, is going to be one of the more anticipated announcements in indie gaming.
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