Fourteen years after its first reveal, Mewgenics finally launched and immediately turned a long-running indie legend into a sales juggernaut.
Mewgenics launched on Steam to instant momentum, but even before launch, the game had already carved out a rare “cult-AAA” status. First announced in 2012 as Team Meat’s follow-up to Super Meat Boy, the project vanished, resurfaced, and changed shape so many times that it became shorthand for development hell until Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel revived it in 2018.
A February 10, 2026 release date, locked during the PC Gaming Show, sharpened the “it’s finally happening” narrative. At $29.99, Mewgenics skipped preorders and pushed wishlists instead, funneling years of curiosity into day-one demand.
Mewgenics finally launches and the numbers hit fast
The payoff landed almost instantly: Mewgenics launched on Steam around 5pm UTC and shot to the number one global top seller on Steam, beating out Counter-Strike 2 and Helldivers 2 within hours.
Glaiel said it plainly on X: “We have made back our development budget after 3 hours. Thank you all :)”
Early reviews pushed the game to roughly a 90 Metascore, the highest-rated release of 2026 so far and a match for McMillen’s best work, including The Binding of Isaac. Reviewers praised its dense, generational cat-breeding systems, emergent tactics, and sheer scale, with several calling it a game that could absorb hundreds of hours.
Players showed up in force. Less than eight hours after launch, concurrent users passed 60,000 on Steam.
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