Diving by day, sushi by night: a Korean game with 10 million copies sold is now on phones

The first Korean single-player game to sell 10 million copies

"DAVE THE DIVER" is a game made by MINTROCKET, a subsidiary of Nexon. During the day, you dive into the Blue Hole to catch marine creatures, then run a sushi restaurant at night using the ingredients you caught. It first came out in early access on Steam in October 2022, followed by its full release in June 2023.

On September 9, MINTROCKET announced that the game had passed 10 million copies sold worldwide. It's the first single-player, buy-once game made in Korea to do so. A single-player, buy-once game is one you purchase once and play on your own all the way to the end.

Sales have kept growing steadily. The game passed 1 million copies about 10 days after its full release, then 5 million copies in November 2024. After reaching 9 million copies in June this year, it hit 10 million just two months later.

The "In the Jungle" expansion, released in June, also sold 1 million copies in a little over two months. The game has more than 160,000 user reviews on Steam, and 96% of them are positive.

The mobile version launched in China first

The mobile version first came out in China in February this year. It sold more than 1 million copies in China alone and reportedly reached No. 1 on the paid game charts of both the App Store and TapTap, a Chinese game app store.

The worldwide launch was on September 17, with the game arriving on the App Store and Google Play at the same time. MINTROCKET said it adapted the PC and console game for phones. You can control it by touching the screen or tilting your phone, and switch between 3 viewing distances on-screen.

Content made in collaboration with the fishing game "DREDGE" and the "In the Jungle" expansion are playable on mobile from day one. People who buy the base game also get a separate "Digital Extra" pack, which bundles a boat skin, a digital artbook, and a soundtrack.

Check your phone before downloading

On the Korean App Store, you can download the game for free and try the opening part. To play the whole game, you need to buy the base game through an in-app purchase, and the expansion costs extra. The game is rated 12+.

According to the App Store description, the game only runs on devices with at least 6GB of RAM. There's a separate list of supported iPhone models, so check whether yours is included first. The app is 3.7GB.

In its launch-day announcement, MINTROCKET said it would take part in the international game showcase The Triple-i Initiative on October 8 and reveal new information about Dave.

If you liked the tension of going a little deeper at a time, try "DoYou Moon Landing". It's a game made by DoYouBox, with no connection to Dave. You need to descend the remaining 150m to the moon's surface while saving fuel, then touch down gently on the landing pad. If watching Dave do different jobs by day and night made you wonder what kind of work suits you, go through six school-life scenes in "What Kind of Work Suits You?". It'll even tell you which jobs suit you.