In the wake of OceanGate's Titan submersible going missing, the submarine-based horror game "Iron Lung" has experienced a notable increase in sales.
David Szymanski, the game's developer, took to Twitter and shared a graph illustrating a significant spike in "Iron Lung" sales starting on June 19, coinciding with the media coverage surrounding the missing submersible.
"This feels so wrong," Szymanski remarked in the tweet.
Later, he added: "I definitely see the dark humor in this whole Titanic sub thing, it's just... like, I made Iron Lung the most nightmarish thing I could think of, and knowing real people are in that situation right now is pretty horrific, even if it was their own bad decisions."
"Iron Lung" is a first-person submarine simulation horror game that follows an unnamed convict who explores a blood-filled ocean on a desolate moon using a small submarine. It was initially released for Microsoft Windows on March 10, 2022, and received positive reviews from critics. The gameplay revolves around controlling the submarine using navigational instruments within its confined space.
On June 18, the OceanGate-operated submersible, Titan, was reported missing in the North Atlantic Ocean, specifically in international waters off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The submersible was engaged in a tourist expedition to observe the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, carrying a total of five individuals.
On Thursday, June 22, OceanGate released a statement that the lives of those individuals — CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet — "have sadly been lost."
“These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans,” according to the statement. “Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.”
Debris, believed to be of the submersible, was found near the Titanic site, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Communication with the submersible was severed approximately one hour and forty-five minutes into its descent to the wreck site. Authorities were alerted when the submersible failed to resurface at the expected time later that day. It is estimated that if the submersible remained intact, its oxygen supply, which was designed to last for approximately 96 hours, would have been depleted by the morning of June 22.
Previous concerns regarding the safety of the vessel had been raised. The search and rescue operations are being conducted by an international team comprising the United States Coast Guard, United States Navy, and Canadian Coast Guard.
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