CD Projekt revealed sale (and profit) numbers of The Witcher 2

[QUOTE="lundy86_4"]

[QUOTE="KungfuKitten"]

And DRM free...

dom2000

Which says a lot. Especially for the "PC is dying" naysayers.

I think its safe to say big console game vs big pc game = invariably more sales for the console gamedom2000

It was always like that and its no diferent this gen,though some people try to make it look otherwise.

well it was a big deal and the biggest pc exclusive of the year afaik. killzone 3 sold twice as fast.

Cranler

It was well known on boards and in gaming circles like ours here, but in terms of general population, nobody knew. Why? Due to little to no advertising.

KZ3 was far more advertised. In fact, I saw numerous adverts on TV (in Canada, so the U.S. was likely similar). Advertising does a lot for games (hence sales for games like Call of Duty, which receive massive funding from Activision).

True however I think I would be right in saying, on pc, hype on gaming specific sites as well as youtube videos can actually have a massive impact on sales...much more so than on consoles. Look at minecraft and amnesia!Websites, especially youtube, had a massive part to play in the success of those 2 games. And how many pc games have substantial marketing? Very very few! The only real pc exclusive "sales giants" with big marketing budgets would be blizzard gamesdom2000

It's certainly possible, though we'd have to attribute a large population to said sites. Unfortunately, it's proven that games with larger marketing budgets sell more, a la CoD, though it's not entirely down to marketing.

Otherwise, I mostly agree. Ask any marketing firm what word of mouth does, and you'll see. It's one of the reasons I attempt to push word of mouth to my employers, as it's a great way to advertise. However, it'll never attain the mass marketing appeal of most campaigns, as the majority of consumers are appealed to through visuals (i.e. adverts and covers, much of the reason magazines have heavily influenced graphical design on their covers).

Well DRM is pointless anyway, its at best a minor delay for the pirates! Witcher 2 was very heavily pirated though...i remember being awed by number of people pirating it when it first releaseddom2000

Absolutely. I hate DRM, and find it completely asinine. Newell just had an interview with a gaming site and specified that providing a good service is one of the best ways to combat piracy. He stipulated that Russia (a haven for pirating) has become a huge market for Valve and Steam simply because they started to localize games in Russian.

Impressive...although I would have expected more from one of the most hyped pc exclusives in recent years! Just goes to show you how few pc exclusives nowadays break a million (although of course a million is not necessary for a game to be deemed successful..no where near)dom2000

[QUOTE="dom2000"]Impressive...although I would have expected more from one of the most hyped pc exclusives in recent years! Just goes to show you how few pc exclusives nowadays break a million (although of course a million is not necessary for a game to be deemed successful..no where near)ferret-gamer

Or shadows of the damn being on PS3 and Xbox 360 and only selling 24k it's first month

Amazing that they're so willing to share their own figures, which really are great. Good for them, do hope they continue to grow, I'm really looking forward to the next large TW2 update.skrat_01

I think they are publicly traded so they in fact HAVE to revela their figures. Otherwise, how would investors have the necessary information to know whether to invest or not?

I think its safe to say big console game vs big pc game = invariably more sales for the console gamedom2000

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]Amazing that they're so willing to share their own figures, which really are great. Good for them, do hope they continue to grow, I'm really looking forward to the next large TW2 update.Kinthalis

I think they are publicly traded so they in fact HAVE to revela their figures. Otherwise, how would investors have the necessary information to know whether to invest or not?

[QUOTE="dom2000"]Impressive...although I would have expected more from one of the most hyped pc exclusives in recent years! Just goes to show you how few pc exclusives nowadays break a million (although of course a million is not necessary for a game to be deemed successful..no where near)ferret-gamer

No not at all. It depends on the market, the audience, and where development is concentrated. Games like BC2 sold better on the PC if we're comparing multiplatform games, and TW2 was a rather hardcore PC title, and a sequel to a hardcore RPG title; there's no wider appeal of lets say Blizzard's games. By selective logic we can say Xbox 360 exclusives sell terribly because of Alan Wake's massively lacklustre sales despite massive support from Microsoft, and marketing to back it up.skrat_01

Completely agree. Unfortunately, it's the attitude and perception that permeates much of society. It's way too one-dimensional to be the sole aspect behind the success/failure of a product. It's one of the reasons why marketing firms are still in business and are still so damn rich :P

thanks PC pirates

they are going to go bankrupt now

thanks PC pirates

they are going to go bankrupt now

HaloinventedFPS

:lol:

Pretty much hit the it on the nose. No DRM and the piraters are ruining it... Not!

No doubt piracy figures will be found by somebody and they'll scream how it's gonna ruin CD Projekt/RED, and only the 360 release will save them though :P

[QUOTE="dom2000"]I think its safe to say big console game vs big pc game = invariably more sales for the console gameskrat_01

Alan Wake sold poorly because it was mostly PC gamers that wanted to play it since 2005

when it became 360 exclusive, of course it was going to sell poorly when you cut off more then half the fanbase

it would be like making Versus 13 a 360 exclusive, when its only PS3 fans that want it

Alan Wake sold poorly because it was mostly PC gamers that wanted to play it since 2005

when it became 360 exclusive, of course it was going to sell poorly when you cut off more then half the fanbase

it would be like making Versus 13 a 360 exclusive, when its only PS3 fans that want it

HaloinventedFPS

It's a mistake to assume that only users of a particular platform are hyped about an exclusive game. Much of the population who buys these products don't understand the difference or do not care. It's why marketers invest millions in selling the product and the attached platforms.

The overall profit margin is probably comparable if not better than the big sellers on consoles.

The fact that they didn't spend tons of money on advertising only means that they could have profited just as well as a heavily advertised game that sold 3 million. The less money you spent, the faster you will see profits.

Also, games don't stop selling. This 1 million sales could increase to 1.75 million by Christmas and possibly more by next year. This is only a speculation, not a fact.

[QUOTE="HaloinventedFPS"]

Alan Wake sold poorly because it was mostly PC gamers that wanted to play it since 2005

when it became 360 exclusive, of course it was going to sell poorly when you cut off more then half the fanbase

it would be like making Versus 13 a 360 exclusive, when its only PS3 fans that want it

lundy86_4

It's a mistake to assume that only users of a particular platform are hyped about an exclusive game. Much of the population who buys these products don't understand the difference or do not care. It's why marketers invest millions in selling the product and the attached platforms.

dude, all Remedy fans were on PC, Alan Wake was hyped as a PC game for years

dude, all Remedy fans were on PC, Alan Wake was hyped as a PC game for years

HaloinventedFPS

Based on what? Remedy may have had fans with multiple platforms. It was certainly hyped as a PC game because it was a PC game, but that doesn't mean that other gamers (even those without the platform) were not hyped for it.

You are right...my statement was poorly worded and flat out wrong. What I should have said was a big console game with mass market appeal would sell more than a big pc game with mass market appeal. As you rightly put it, it all depends on the market. If game like Shogun 2 was on the consoles ( yea..yea i know, would never happen for sooo many reasons :P ) no matter how much money is pumped into marketing i highly doubt it would sell as well as on pc. It would be like a Alan Wake.dom2000

Completely agree. Unfortunately, it's the attitude and perception that permeates much of society. It's way too one-dimensional to be the sole aspect behind the success/failure of a product. It's one of the reasons why marketing firms are still in business and are still so damn rich :P

lundy86_4

so 20% sales are DD? i thought dd sold all the games now.

so 20% sales are DD? i thought dd sold all the games now.

dontshackzmii

so 20% sales are DD? i thought dd sold all the games now.

dontshackzmii

Good to hear that the PC community supported them and they made a nice sized profit. Hopefully the game will keep on selling well and do well on the 360. they deserve it. Heil68

You still haven´t added dat AAAE on the Wii yet. :evil:

[spoiler] :P [/spoiler]

[QUOTE="dontshackzmii"]

so 20% sales are DD? i thought dd sold all the games now.

Arach666

glad to see a great game sell well

so 20% sales are DD? i thought dd sold all the games now.

dontshackzmii

Who said that? Last I heard DD was around 50% of the NA market, and much of Europe is still heavily invested in hard copies, especially places like the second world.

so 20% sales are DD? i thought dd sold all the games now.

dontshackzmii

[QUOTE="Arach666"]

[QUOTE="dontshackzmii"]

so 20% sales are DD? i thought dd sold all the games now.

funsohng

And LA Noire on the other hand was just the manual lol.

absolutely pathetic sales for a game hyped so much, hopefully 360 version will make up for PC failure.

Harisemo

Really? Imagine how hard this game would flop without a huge advertising budget on consoles.

[QUOTE="funsohng"][QUOTE="Arach666"] With a retail version that is pretty much a special edition at regular price its no wonder that people prefer retail on this one,though for most games thee days it´s not really like that anymore.

Arach666

And LA Noire on the other hand was just the manual lol.

[QUOTE="Harisemo"]

absolutely pathetic sales for a game hyped so much, hopefully 360 version will make up for PC failure.

firefluff3

Really? Imagine how hard this game would flop without a huge advertising budget on consoles.

Are some of you haters serious??? Bad sales?
This is not Starcraft or WOW from Blizzard people... this is a much smaller company. The game also had very little advertisement, most of it was by word of mouth or reviews.

I wont say Witcher2 is a indie game, but at a time the devs were indie devs no?
They have built a nice little series here and they deserve the high sales.

For a non WOW/COD/Halo/Sims game with no marketting it sold VERY WELL.

The Witcher 1 was the same way, barely any advertisements, it sold well based on word of mouth amongst rpg fans.

[QUOTE="Cranler"]

well it was a big deal and the biggest pc exclusive of the year afaik. killzone 3 sold twice as fast.

Arach666

KIllzone 3 is still not even over 2M(1.7 I think and its the flagship FPS of the PS3,much more was expected with that kind of advertising,advertising TW2 did not have) though,and at some point Shogun 2 was outselling it,we had a thread about it a couple of months ago as well.

Besides,the first Witcher sold about 2M copies,this one will sell a lot more.

Also,FM 2011 is most likely already over 1M,like all other entries of the franchise do. It´s odd to see that two of the three best selling Sega franchises are PC only games.

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]Amazing that they're so willing to share their own figures, which really are great. Good for them, do hope they continue to grow, I'm really looking forward to the next large TW2 update.Kinthalis

I think they are publicly traded so they in fact HAVE to revela their figures. Otherwise, how would investors have the necessary information to know whether to invest or not?

absolutely pathetic sales for a game hyped so much, hopefully 360 version will make up for PC failure.

Harisemo

Oh really? They had a budget of 7 million. Even if each copy was sold at $20, they still made absolute bank on this. This is with little to no advertising also. I've never seen a TV ad and don't even remember internet ads. Not to mention it still is missing a few months worth of physical sales. I doubt it'll even sell well on the 360.

Considering the only advertising I remember seeing came from forum posts I'd say that's pretty damn good lol.

[QUOTE="Arach666"]

[QUOTE="Cranler"]

well it was a big deal and the biggest pc exclusive of the year afaik. killzone 3 sold twice as fast.

Cranler

KIllzone 3 is still not even over 2M(1.7 I think and its the flagship FPS of the PS3,much more was expected with that kind of advertising,advertising TW2 did not have) though,and at some point Shogun 2 was outselling it,we had a thread about it a couple of months ago as well.

Besides,the first Witcher sold about 2M copies,this one will sell a lot more.

Also,FM 2011 is most likely already over 1M,like all other entries of the franchise do. It´s odd to see that two of the three best selling Sega franchises are PC only games.

It´s not at all a mediocre shooter,it´s a pretty good game and again,the flagship FPS on the PS3 and with a ton of advertising,and you were the one that brought it up,don´t forget.

Should we talk about Demons Souls that sold much less than TW2 in a similar amount of time then? In fact,the overall sales of DS are almost the same as of TW2,and DS came out almost two years ago(GOTY and all),on the other hand these are just the sales of the first month and a half of TW2.

[QUOTE="dontshackzmii"]

so 20% sales are DD? i thought dd sold all the games now.

lundy86_4

Who said that? Last I heard DD was around 50% of the NA market, and much of Europe is still heavily invested in hard copies, especially places like the second world.

Link?

Yes, great game. Glad to hear their success with the title. I hope a Witcher 3 comes soon.

Granted, though CD Projekt is private, right? They do not necessarily have to disclose that information.

The_Capitalist

CD Projekt Red is game developer of Witcher that belongs to CD Projekt which is Polish software (mostly games) distributor (also heard that they expanded to more central europe countries, but not sure)

absolutely pathetic sales for a game hyped so much, hopefully 360 version will make up for PC failure.

Harisemo

I'm one of those sales. :) Well, assuming that they are counting Steam sales that is.

Link?

StrifeDelivery

My bad, it was a little less than 50, though for some reason I remember "over 50%".

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/21/npd-pc-retail-and-digital-distribution-sales-reaching-parity/

Glitchspot

[QUOTE="Harisemo"]

absolutely pathetic sales for a game hyped so much, hopefully 360 version will make up for PC failure.

kris9031998