Aggro Crab

Last updated
Aggro Crab Games
Company type Private
Industry Video games
FoundedJanuary 1, 2019;6 years ago (2019-01-01)
Founders
  • Nick Kaman
  • Caelan Rashby-Pollock
Headquarters
Seattle, WA
,
United States
Number of employees
12 [1]
Website aggrocrab.com

Aggro Crab is an American independent videogame developer and publisher based in Seattle, WA, best known for their video games Going Under (2020), Another Crab's Treasure (2024) and Peak (2025), a collaboration with Swedish game studio Landfall Games.

Contents

History

Aggro Crab was founded January 1, 2019 by Nick Caman and Caelan Pollock after having worked in game development together for around three years. [2]

After almost two years of development the studio released its first game, the beat 'em up roguelike Going Under , in 2020. A satire of Big Tech and start-up culture, Going Under uses the Alegria artstyle to poke fun at corporate aesthetics. [3] The player controls an unpaid intern at a "soylent-themed" company, having to fight with the employees-turned-demons of previous failed start-ups. [4] Upon its release Going Under was favorably compared to The Binding of Isaac. [3] It was made by six people and published by Team17. [2] While Going Under was featured on the Xbox Game Pass it didn't turn out to be as successful as the studio hoped, leading to the cancellation of a planned expansion. [4]

With promotion for the project starting in 2022, Aggro Crab's second game Another Crab's Treasure was eventually released in April 2024. The game follows a hermit crab who in addition to using different weapons can wear different types of trash as its shell, influencing gameplay. Nick Kaman, the art director of Another Crab's Treasure, revealed in an interview that they wanted the art style to look as little as possible like a typical Soulslike, aiming for a Nintendo-inspired look. [5] Another Crab's Treasure's narrative revolves around environmentalism and marine pollution. [1] The game was initially set to release in 2023 with the financial help of Kowloon Nights. [5] In early 2025 a final update to Another Crab's Treasure released, introducing New Game Plus. [6]

In 2025 Aggro Crab shared in an update that they officially shelved Going Under 2, the major project they had been working on since Another Crab's Treasure, due to lack of funding and occupational burnout. They announced that they would pivot to smaller games in the near future and already have two games lined up, the sleeper hit Peak and the upcoming Crash Out Crew. [6]

Peak is a cooperative multiplayer climbing game released in June 2025. Up to four players can take on the challenge to reach the eponymous peak of the mountain. [7] Peak's development started when three developers from Aggro Crab joined four Landfall developers at a game jam in Seoul, mirroring the development of Landfall's Content Warning the year before. [8] Peak was a surprise hit, selling more than two million copies in the first nine days after its launch. [9] Following a series of small updates the game's first major update got released in August 2025, adding a new biome, the mesa, to the players' journey. [10]

Ludography

YearTitlePlatform(s)PublisherRef(s)
2020 Going Under Windows, XBox One, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch Team17 [2]
2024 Another Crab's Treasure Windows, XBox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo SwitchAggro Crab [5]
2025 Peak WindowsAggro Crab & Landfall Games [7]
TBACrash Out Crew [6]

References

  1. 1 2 Kaman, Nick (23 April 2024). "Another Crab's Treasure Dev Says We've Only "Scratched the Surface" of Soulslikes". Inverse (Interview). Interviewed by Madsen, Hayes. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Going Under PressKit" (Press release). Aggro Crab. 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  3. 1 2 Porfiri, Steven (16 October 2020). "GOING UNDER Reclaims Corporate Aesthetics". Merry-Go-Round Magazine. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  4. 1 2 Gach, Ethan (25 May 2022). "Soulslike Dev Explains Nintendo World Showcase 'Selling Out' Joke". Kotaku. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 Kaman, Nick (19 May 2022). "Feature: Aggro Crab Tells Us All About Their Clawsome New Game, 'Another Crab's Treasure'". Nintendo Life (Interview). Interviewed by Gray, Kate. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 Mankar, Sahil (5 June 2025). "Indie Game Studio Aggro Crab Cancels Major Project, Shifts to Smaller Games After Funding Loss". Gaming Amigos. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  7. 1 2 Gould, Elie (26 June 2025). "Peak review". PC Gamer . Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  8. ↑ Carpenter, Lincoln (24 June 2025). "Peak devs say the hit comedy climber was pitched in a Swedish hot tub and developed in a frantic 4-week Korean game jam: 'We brought our computers to an Airbnb in Hongdae and locked tf in for a month'". PC Gamer . Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  9. ↑ Gould, Elie (24 June 2025). "Peak has now sold 2 million copies in just 9 days, as the devs reveal what's next for this co-op climbing game: 'Let's talk about what we're cooking'". PC Gamer . Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  10. ↑ Franklin II, Anthony (12 August 2025). "PEAK Just Got Its First Major Update: Here's Everything You Need to Know". Vice Media . Retrieved 18 September 2025.
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