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A Way Out Sells 1 Million Copies

Publisher Electronic Arts reportedly gets $0 from sales.

32 Comments

A Way Out, the new game from the outspoken creator of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, is selling well. The prison escape co-op game has sold more than 1 million copies, developer Hazelight announced recently. Josef Fares, the game's creative director, responded to the news with his usual amount of enthusiasm, exclaiming, "HOLY SHIT."

Fares pointed out that A Way Out has in fact reached 2 million players because the game requires you to play with another human. To play, only one person needs to have purchased the game, with the other getting a free copy. Before launch, Fares discussed how this works, and you can watch his cheeky video about it embedded below.

A Way Out is published by gaming giant Electronic Arts. According to Fares, his studio, Hazelight, gets 100 percent of the proceeds from the game; EA doesn't get a penny.

Fares is already working on his next game. He is very excited about it, but since it's so early, we don't know much at all in the way of specifics about it.

GameSpot's review of A Way Out scored the game a 6/10. Reviewer Oscar Dayus praised the game's set pieces, diverse environments, and puzzles that make use of co-op, while lamenting the game's QTEs and varying tone.

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teppolundgren

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Forced co-op is rape.

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Pyrosa

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I applaud the dev for trying something new and succeeding, even if it's not my cup of tea.

Their last game was an absolute masterpiece of artistry and storytelling, without a single line of dialogue.

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mundus

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Why doesn't EA make anything? They are publishing the game. Surely they have to take out something. At least the costs for publishing.

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lambomang

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Edited By lambomang

@mundus: EA takes a cut to cover marketing costs, nothing for a profit though. But any games Josef Fares makes over the next 4 years EA gets first pick for publishing rights. Those would be more traditional publishing deals where EA takes a proper cut. The idea behind this program is to help build up smaller studios into bigger ones EA can publish with/potentially buy.

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Pooya1881

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@mundus: its just a good will project to EA, so people get past "you're evil, EA".
but methinks they have to try so hard and show so much goodwill that they make actually end up meaning some of those, for people to forget the shitty things they did

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gamingdevil800

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@mundus: I imagine it's one of those things where EA has so much cash/profits made every year in reserve that they decided to fund smaller projects through this initiative. Not sure if it looks good to investors or something. However Take Two recently set up their own one too to fund some studios with Obsidian being one of them.

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silv3rst0rm

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@mundus: I hear EA dealed with the Devs to leave them all the profit in exchange for a kidney of both of them...

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Pyrosa

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Edited By Pyrosa

@silv3rst0rm: souls and firstborns

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Smackybumbum

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Id imagine a butt load bought the game not realizing that its coop only.

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mal123456

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Just think how many more could have been sold had it been a single player game!

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Acillatem1993

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@mal123456: Go back to the 90's and play ur dungeon crawlers u fossil. God forbid someone tries something new eh?

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deactivated-5b5dcc8ab71f9

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@Acillatem1993: Go back to reddit where you belong, troll.

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Acillatem1993

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@fivepercent: How am I a troll? We get some innovation in a genre (coop) that has been slowly dying over the years and the first thing people say is stuff like "well if it was SP...". How about no.

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deactivated-5b5dcc8ab71f9

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@Acillatem1993: The game is great I own it and I supported them because of innovation and having something new to give to gamers.

The reason called you a “troll” is because you insulted the guy. Sure you disagree with what he says but is it really necessary to be an ass though?

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Acillatem1993

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@fivepercent: I find his comment insulting though. He quite simply shits all over the creators vision, who worked hard to make it a unique coop experience by going all "ye ye whatever, wont buy it unless its sp" Idk it just annoys me lol.

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silv3rst0rm

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@mal123456: Had there been a single player mode, the AI of the other dude might have been stupid and there wouldn't be this kind of "bond" present. I might have ended up being just another of these action/shooters with nothing standing out for them...

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ender003

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Edited By ender003

That doesn't mean 2 million people have played it. It would only be 2 million people if every person that bought a copy only played with someone who hadn't. Surely most people played with other people who owned it.

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chopsbenedict

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@ender003: no one else reminded of Mom? some of the twits might be following Fry and Bender, so all we know is its somewhere between 1 and two million zombies!

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Pooya1881

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@ender003: if a million is sold it means 2million can experience the game, but because its co op only whatever the number of those purchases that are active, is double.

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silv3rst0rm

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@ender003: ?!

You think so?

TBH I don't own the game yet but I will sometime down the road and I already made sure my brother-in-law (The one I'm hoping to play with) doesn't get it and we'll be splitting the bill!

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RUMADBRAH

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Quick maths

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aiyobro

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It's almost like game journalism is in it's own bubble or something and has nothing to do with gamers

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videogameninja

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Edited By videogameninja

As "enthusiastic" as the creator's comments have been in the past a part of you can't help but root for him. Congrats to the milestone and the vision he had of a concept often overlooked, if not completely forgotten, in todays gaming landscape.

Perhaps this will mean more in the way of coop games from other publishers in the future.

-COOP NINJA APPROVED-

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BLiTZ_156

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Yes!

Being a gamer isn't all about online competitive multiplayer.

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kanekan-slaugh

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EA expected 700,000 copies in it's entire lifespan. blew that away in two weeks, EA should but wont learn from that.

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meedokicky

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Great game, sh** ending(s).

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KiddKaos

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@meedokicky: How? The game had a great ending! Great twist and final showdown.

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darkelf83

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I find this whole situation very ironic as this isn't the kind of game we would expect from the current form of EA. Which I guess is part of why it is doing as well as it is. Imagine that, you let a studio make something they're passionate about. Sure you get a lot of odd games but you also get these gems.

This also is the next form of couch co-op. Buy a game and play with friends regardless of where they are. You get the whole experience for one price.

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gamingdevil800

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Haha, EA probably thought this game would flop making a forced buy out of the developer Hazelight possible/easier and they would of gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling gamers. I'd say they've got enough funds now to help fund their next project.

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Pyrosa

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@gamingdevil800: LOL -- loved the unexpected reference:"... they would of gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling gamers..."

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kanekan-slaugh

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@gamingdevil800: it was leaked EA expected 700,000 copies for this game to be sold in it's entire lifespan

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SuperKlyph

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@gamingdevil800: yeah...

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