Mouse: P.I. For Hire Surpasses One Million Players Across All Platforms
Noir cartoon shooter Mouse: P.I. For Hire has officially passed one million players across every platform it’s launched on, developer Fumi Games and Melbourne-based publisher PlaySide Studios announced on July 13. The milestone lands just three months after the game’s April 16 debut on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.
One Million Players, Split Evenly Between Console and PC
The studios confirmed the news via the game’s official social channels, with a celebratory post reading in part: “MOUSE: P.I. For Hire has officially reached over 1 million players across all platforms! A handcrafted tale born of ink, sweat, and stubborn dreams. From the bottom of our grinning hearts, thank you so much for all of your support.”
According to reporting corroborated across multiple outlets, console units make up about 50% of total sales, while the remaining 50% came from PC via Steam, suggesting an unusually even split between the two audiences for a genre often dominated by console players. GamingBolt further noted that the game had already made back its costs early on, reporting that it sold 730,000 units within its first month of launch, recouping all expenses for publisher Playside Games, though the outlet cautioned that the newer, broader “players” figure could include those who accessed it via Xbox Game Pass rather than a direct purchase.
Physical Launch and Update 1.2.0 Set the Stage
The seven-figure tally arrives days after two separate pushes to grow the audience. Physical copies of the game reached shelves worldwide on July 10, 2026, in both a Standard Edition and a Deluxe MOUSE: P.I. For Hire – Mouseburg Edition, giving retail shoppers their first chance to pick up a boxed copy.
That followed the release of Update v1.2.0 on Switch 2 on July 9, which Fumi Games described on its own website as its biggest update yet for MOUSE: P.I. For Hire on Nintendo Switch 2, introducing the highly requested Level Revisit feature, which provides the ability to replay previous levels, allowing players to grab any missing collectibles and finish incomplete side quests. Alongside Level Revisit, the patch added Uncapped Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), a new “Balanced” graphics mode with 40 FPS framerate, performance optimizations throughout the game, enhancements to the Weapon Wheel, horizontal axis inversion, and improvements to both settings menu navigation and controller rebinding.
Nintendo Life, which has closely tracked the Switch 2 version’s rocky launch performance and subsequent patches, framed the timing plainly, noting the milestone came following a 40fps mode update last week, the new noir-style cartoon detective FPS Mouse: P.I. For Hire has now hit a major milestone, with Fumi and PlaySide revealing the title has officially surpassed one million players since arriving on the Switch 2 and multiple other platforms in April 2026.
Fumi Games’ Mateusz Michalak on a “Simple Concept” Gone Global
Fumi Games founder and CEO Mateusz Michalak put the achievement into perspective in a statement distributed alongside the announcement. “MOUSE: P.I. for Hire reaching over 1 million players has filled the team with an immeasurable amount of gratitude and appreciation for our community,” said Fumi Games founder and CEO Mateusz Michalak in a press release, adding, “From what started as a simple concept of a 1930s themed cartoon shooter, the game has reached more players than we could have possibly imagined.”
Michalak also used the moment to look ahead, saying “our priority has always been to put players first, and we have worked incredibly hard to continue to achieve that goal, both throughout the game’s development and also post-launch,” before adding, “with our recent major update introducing Level Revisit, release of physical editions, and also upcoming story [downloadable content], we hope that players are excited about all things MOUSE: P.I. for Hire.”
A Win for Melbourne’s PlaySide Publishing Arm
The milestone is also a notable moment for PlaySide Studios, which operates out of Port Melbourne and is recognised as Australia’s largest independent game developer and publisher, having listed on the ASX under the ticker PLY back in 2020. Mouse: P.I. For Hire represents one of the highest-profile releases yet from PlaySide Publishing, the division the company built to back external development teams like Fumi Games rather than only ship its own original IP.
For Australian and New Zealand players who picked the game up at launch on the eShop, PSN or Steam, the milestone doubles as a reminder that a home-grown publisher helped carry a Poland-developed noir shooter to a seven-figure global audience within three months, a rare crossover hit for the region’s indie publishing scene.
Story DLC Still to Come for Detective Jack Pepper
Fumi Games has confirmed story downloadable content is still in the works, though details remain scarce. When pressed for specifics on social media the day after the milestone announcement, the developer offered only a brief update, writing “we’re working on it! We’ll share news when we can 🙏” on July 14.
The game casts players as Jack Pepper, a hard-boiled private investigator voiced by Troy Baker, navigating the corrupt, rubber-hose-animated streets of Mouseburg. With physical retail now live, a smoother Switch 2 experience thanks to the 40fps Balanced Mode, and story expansion content still to be detailed, Fumi and PlaySide appear intent on keeping Mouseburg’s case files open well beyond its first million players.
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