He made a viral horror game in 2 months – it sold 6 million copies, and now he can make whatever he wants for the rest of his life: "My final theory is that gambling is very fun"

Split trailer screenshot of man sitting at computer desk.

There's a clear before and after moment in the career of (mostly) solo game dev Mike Klubnika. He's been making short, grungy games for years, but it wasn't until the 2024 release of Buckshot Roulette, a Russian roulette-style gambling sim where you let a shotgun decide your fate in a wager with a monstrous underground casino dealer, that he saw massive commercial success. And it was massive.

With a game made in two months, first launched on Itch.io and then on Steam, and later expanded with a hotly demanded multiplayer update, Klubnika sold over 6 million copies, putting him in the coveted position of essentially never again needing to worry about what he creates or how it performs. On top of that, Buckshot Roulette has put millions of eyes on his next game, Split (or s.p.l.i.t), a short psychological horror game where you navigate hacker terminals, which is out on Steam today, July 24.