Dave the Diver could become a game franchise, as its creator wants to focus on other characters across multiple genres. The success of the first game was key to this vision.

Dave the Diver Game Franchise

Dave the Diver on PC, Steam Deck, PS4, PS5, and Switch was a hit at The Game Awards despite some controversy, which is why its creator is considering turning the IP into a series of games, similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “the Dave Cinematic Universe.”

Jaeho Hwang is now the CEO of Mintrocket after Nexon decided to spin off the studio into its own independent division. This move helped Dave the Diver sell over 4 million copies and win a BAFTA.

In an interview with VGC during Gamescom Asia in Singapore, Hwang said that Mintrocket’s independence would allow him to focus more on creating games—specifically for the Dave the Diver IP—rather than on ideas and business matters at its parent company. “I really want to expand the Dave the Diver IP,” Hwang said when asked about Mintrocket’s future. “I think it’s every director’s dream since we have a relatable character.

Even though we didn’t delve too deeply into the personal stories of Dave the Diver, that was because we wanted to keep the game very casual.”

Hwang then mentioned his desire to tell a deeper story, one that explores the origins of the main and secondary characters.

“That’s why, as a director, in addition to the story DLC we are currently working on, I also want to create separate games about each character, showing how they met and what they did before coming to the Blue Hole.

In that sense, the games’ genres could be different. Maybe one day, if we make a game about Dave’s story, we could give him a different profession.

He’s always been a diver, so we never thought about how we should develop Dave,” the Dave the Diver creator explained.

“I really want to show how he grew up, became a diver, and ended up at the Blue Hole,” he said. “I think it’s very interesting. Cobra, one of the four main characters, comes from my previous project: Evil Factory.

The Dave Cinematic Universe

He was an arms dealer who lost his license, and after that, he retired and enjoyed life until something happened, and he decided to go to the Blue Hole. So, I’m really excited to tell these kinds of stories in other games.”

Despite being given his own subdivision at Nexon, Hwang said he wants Mintrocket to stay small. “I think we’ll continue to stay small.

I mean, the definition of small can vary,” he said, citing Dredge as an example. “They only have four people on their development team. But I think a team size of 20 to 30 people is ideal.”

He added, “It’s easier to communicate and stay on the same page. I think Mintrocket could grow in the future in terms of size if we trust in what we’re doing now.”

However, he acknowledged that this growth “might mean we’ll have more similarly-sized teams or that we might start doing publishing work,” but not that “we’ll end up with a huge 100-person team.”

It’s clear that the creator of Dave the Diver is looking to expand the IP with new games in a “Dave cinematic universe.”

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