Dave the Diver: Korea's Sushi-and-Scuba Hit Goes Into the Jungle, and Is It Indie?
Nexon's Mintrocket made one of the most charming games of the decade, then sparked a fierce debate about the word 'indie'. With the In the Jungle expansion out and a Bancho prequel announced, here is the full story.
By day, you dive into a mysterious ocean trench, harpoon in hand. By night, you serve sushi to demanding customers. It sounds like two games glued together, and it is, gloriously. Dave the Diver became one of the most loved games of the 2020s, and one of the most argued about.
Developed by Mintrocket, a studio owned by Korea's Nexon and led by director Jaeho Hwang, Dave the Diver left early access on 28 June 2023 and has sold more than 5 million copies across platforms. In 2026, it is growing again: the expansion Dave the Diver: In the Jungle launched on 18 June 2026, and a prequel, Bancho the Chef, was revealed on 2 June 2026.
Diving by day, sushi by night
Each in-game day, Dave makes two dives into the Blue Hole, catching fish and gathering materials with his harpoon gun and an expanding arsenal of weapons and tools. Oxygen is limited, and running out ends the dive early, leaving you with just one item from your haul.
At night, Dave helps the chef Bancho run a sushi restaurant: preparing dishes, serving customers and, crucially, keeping the wasabi topped up. Money from the restaurant buys better gear, better gear means rarer fish, and rarer fish mean better dishes. Deeper areas such as the Glacial Passage, the Glacier Zone and the Hydrothermal Vents hold the most valuable catches and the most dangerous creatures.
The "is it indie?" debate
In 2023, Dave the Diver was nominated for Best Independent Game at The Game Awards. That set off a heated argument: can a game made by a subsidiary of Nexon, one of Korea's biggest publishers, really be called indie?
The show's host, Geoff Keighley, offered a diplomatic answer: "independent can mean different things to different people." The game's own director was more direct. Jaeho Hwang said he does not consider Dave the Diver an indie game. Mintrocket became a wholly owned Nexon subsidiary in September 2024.
WGC includes it in our Indie section because the debate itself is part of indie history, and because its scale, style and spirit are so close to the indie games it was compared with. But the label is honestly contested, and the developer's own view deserves the last word.
A game made for crossovers
Few games have embraced collaborations as cheerfully. Over the years Dave the Diver has added free content based on Dredge (December 2023), Godzilla (May 2024), and Balatro, Potion Craft and musician mxmtoon (October 2024), plus a paid Like a Dragon pack in April 2025.
The Godzilla content had a curious life of its own: it was delisted in November 2024 and returned in June 2025.
What's new in 2026
The In the Jungle expansion, released on 18 June 2026, takes Dave away from the sea and into a village storyline, with an underwater lake, new fish, weapons, missions and minigames.
The game has also kept spreading across platforms. After PC and Mac, it reached Nintendo Switch in October 2023, PlayStation 4 and 5 in April 2024, and both Xbox and a Switch 2 Edition in November 2025. A mobile version for iOS and Android was scheduled for September 2026. And Bancho the Chef, a prequel starring the restaurant's chef, is planned for PC and PS5.
Why it matters
WGC's take: Whatever you call it, Dave the Diver is a landmark for Korean games. It showed that a Korean team could make a quirky, single-player, pixel-art game with worldwide appeal, far from the MMORPGs and mobile titles the country is best known for. For Korea's indie scene, studios like the makers of Shape of Dreams (read our story), it widened the world's idea of what a Korean game can be.
Dave the Diver is available on Steam for Windows and Mac, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox. For another life-sim loop with heart, read about Dinkum (here).