The indie horror game Iron Lung has seen explosive sales in recent days following the tragic loss of the OceanGate submarine Titan while exploring the Titanic wreckage. Developer David Szymanski took to a social media platform to express his unease with this unexpected turn of events.
For those not up to speed with the traffic situation, the OceanGate submarine named Titan has been lost at sea while inspecting the Titanic wreckage at extreme depths of around 4,000 meters. The vessel, designed for conducting underwater surveys, accommodates a crew of five individuals. Unfortunately, less than two hours after it entered the water on Sunday, June 18, the submarine lost all communication with its support ship. In light of this, numerous rescue operations have been launched in hopes of locating the crew. Tragically, up to this point, neither Titan nor its occupants have been located.
Iron Lung Developer’s Response To The Increased Sales
As news of the submarine’s distress spread across various social media platforms, interest in Iron Lung soared. Responding to the sudden increase in sales, David Szymanski, the lead developer solely responsible for Iron Lung, shared a sales chart screenshot along with a poignant statement: “This feels so wrong.” Presumably, he was alluding to the unsettling correlation between the rise in the game’s sales and the real-life circumstances surrounding Titan.
This feels so wrong pic.twitter.com/SMAKC6sOfH
— David Szymanski (@DUSKdev) June 21, 2023
When Iron Lung launched, content creators said many positive things about the game’s captivating atmosphere. Iron Lung presents players with an intense scenario where they assume the role of a submarine pilot navigating a nightmarish, blood-infused ocean on an otherworldly moon. It’s something many eerily consider similar to the current unfortunate event surrounding the Titanic submarine.
Subsequently, Szymanski said that he crafted Iron Lung to be a terrifying experience, like other successful horror games. The worst that he could come up with. Nonetheless, learning that real individuals were confronted with such dire circumstances deeply disturbed him. Regardless of how it happened, it is an impossibly unfortunate situation that never should have happened.