When a game from a big publisher sells 26,000 copies, it's a failure. But when an obscure Japanese role-playing game that's been localised by three fans sells 26,000 copies, it's enough to warm the darkest recesses of your heart.
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is a quirky little game which puts you in the shoes of a girl running an RPG item shop, who must also go on a bit of questing herself.
Originally released in 2007 in Japan, the game was brought to the West by Carpe Fulgur, a "publisher" that's really just three guys who wanted to break into the game localisation business, a field so niche (and yet so vital) that it's hard not to wish them the best.
Wishes it seems they won't need, as 26,000 sales for a project so small in scale meant all three made, in a month, "wages comparable to 'proper' jobs in the industry for an entire year". This kind of cash not only means the team are eating steaks this weekend; it means that they can continue work on "other" projects of a similar ilk without having to worry about ending up on the street.
Capitalism, ho!