No Rest for the Wicked Surges Past 1.5 Million Copies Sold as Moon Studios’ Self Published ARPG Gains Momentum
Moon Studios has reached a major commercial milestone with No Rest for the Wicked, confirming the action RPG has now sold over 1.5 million copies. The update comes only 15 days after the studio previously announced it had passed 1 million copies sold, signaling a sharp acceleration in demand as the game’s early access journey continues to mature.
The studio shared the milestone directly on the game’s Steam page for No Rest for the Wicked, framing the jump from 1 million to 1.5 million as a correction driven by faster than expected sales. Moon Studios also highlighted what the number means internally, emphasizing that it is a small developer running internal publishing, and thanking players for support, word of mouth, constructive feedback, and patience around console versions.
It’s been only 15 days since our 1 million announcement, and we’re incredibly happy to share a small correction:
— No Rest for the Wicked (@wickedgame) February 4, 2026
We’ve now reached 1.5 MILLION copies sold!
Thank you all, you’ve been a huge part of this ❤️
Last day to get 40% off on Steam: https://t.co/X1teDv5Q4j pic.twitter.com/kc51LM4JRi
This surge lands after a critical period for the project. When No Rest for the Wicked entered early access in 2024 05, it was clear Moon Studios was deliberately stepping out of its Ori era comfort zone. Instead of staying in 2D platforming, the team opted to bet on an action RPG foundation with deeper systems and longer term live iteration. Early access, by design, is the proving ground for that kind of pivot, and over the past year plus, Moon has pushed meaningful updates to stabilize and expand the experience. The most recent inflection point is the co op update that went live last month, which is the kind of feature that can materially reshape player retention, content pacing, and community driven visibility.
The timing of the 1.5 million milestone is also commercially important because it follows a sale period where the game was discounted by 40 percent. That context matters because it suggests the spike was fueled by a combination of improved content readiness and an aggressive pricing lever that pulled new players into the funnel. When an early access title converts that kind of campaign into lasting momentum, it typically indicates a healthier long term trajectory, especially if concurrency and review sentiment hold steady post sale.
Beyond the numbers, the milestone also functions as a narrative stabilizer for the studio. In a market where smaller teams frequently face financial uncertainty, rapid sales confirmation can quiet speculation and reinforce that Moon Studios has runway to keep iterating, ship more updates, and eventually deliver on console plans without relying on external publishing safety nets. That matters because the broader industry has been trending toward concentration, with analysts regularly flagging how difficult it is for independent studios to break through. An indie team self publishing an ARPG and pushing it to 1.5 million copies is a strong signal that breakout outcomes are still possible when product direction, update cadence, and community engagement align.
If Moon Studios continues to execute, No Rest for the Wicked could become one of the more important case studies for 2026 around sustainable early access development paired with internal publishing, proving that mid sized independent teams can still scale a premium game without being absorbed into a larger corporate portfolio.
Do you think No Rest for the Wicked’s success is mainly driven by the co op update and steady improvements, or was the 40 percent discount the real catalyst that pushed it past 1.5 million?
