How many copies does it take?

[sbarrier]

How many copies do you have to sell for an A-list game such as JK2 to be considered successful? 50,000, 100,000 or 500,000?

 

I saw somewhere the other day that the Sims was the most popular game every, having sold over 6.3 million copies. Surely you can sell a number that is much smaller and still have a successful game.

[Rogue Nine]

Is it just the basic version of Sims or is that figure including the bajillion expansion packs it has?

[txa1265]

I remember reading something that said that Return to Castle Wolfenstein sold more than 1 million copies between release (just before Thanksgiving, around Nov 20) and ~January 9th (the date of the press release, IIRC). Of course, that sales rate figure is artificially large because of the Christmas holiday (i.e. I severely doubt that they have now sold >3 million copies, based on 1 million per 6 weeks ... in fact I'd be surprised if they have hit 2 million).

 

I wouldn't be surprised if, based on the hype for this game (admittedly not up to the RtCW hype ... maybe that's a good thing) and the Star Wars license, as well as the mega-hype for EPII, if they sell more than a million by the end of May.

 

Mike

[SenseiFrog]

I've never really been affected by the hype wich all the previous Star-wars titles has produced... Untill JK2:JO's Hype suddenly hit my face harder than a runaway train.

 

I dunno about how much this game has to sell, in order to become a successful-game, but i do know that it's probably gonna reach the stage of Successfulness Hail JK2.

[Denise]

This is dated information from semi-dubious sources, so if anyone wants to correct me on it go right ahead:

 

Most computer games start to pay for themselves at 100,000-250,000 copies. When MechWarrior 4 sold 500,000 its team seemed pretty excited, even though other games (as seen in this thread) sell quite a bit more.

 

Now, as a Star Wars game (huge name recognition draw all by itself) getting decent reviews I would expect JK2 to sell very well. Doubly so since it's a FPS title. It's not likely to beat out The Sims or even Quake III/Unreal Tournament, but it'll doubtlessly be very profitable.

[JPMaximilian]

I don't have anything against The Sims, it seems like a cool game from watching it, though I've never played it myself. I think its cheap that its the highest selling game though, it must be because of a wide Audience range. I'd like to see a more intense sort of game break The Sims record. If you like The Sims, don't get mad, a lot of people agree with you.

[FunClown]

I am led to believe that 500,000 units shipped makes a game A list. Not too many games sell this many. Obviously games like RTCW and The sims did. 1 million is even rarer to give you some idea.

 

I also think that Playstation games become platinum once they sell 500,000 or 1 million games. It used to be one of them but they changed it to the other. Once a game becomes platinum on the playstation the game is sold for less.

[toolboi]

The fact that the sims is the highest selling game of all time is definitive proof that man kind needs a swift kick in the head.

Im sorry folks, the game was crap after the first 2 days. Its less productive than progress quest, and eats a lot more time.

[txa1265]

Does anyone know a place to get stats on game sales?

 

To me, as someone who has never been in the mainstream of pop culture, I don't judge something by how popular it is, but I like to see people rewarded for their efforts. So I'd like to see JK2 seel well to reward Raven & LEC.

 

OK, there's another reason - incentive. Remember all the Doom-clones that came out? Many of them sold like they deserved - like crap. In that case there was no incentive to make a 'Crap II'. However, Dark Forces was a hit (for good reason), and thankfully has spawned 3 follow-ups (counting JK & MotS separately as each is longer than most other FPS)

 

... if anyone knows where sales numbers can be found, let me know ...

 

Mike

[SNaray8442]

I think the Sims is opular because i runs on the CENSORED machines they advertise on TV for 599$. Its probably the only game that runs on the 4x video cards sent on those stupid computers with itty bitty hdds and cheapo monitors. "Look at this, this game expansion just came out yesterday, and my machine can run it perfectly", while the other guy who has no idea what comptuers are runs JO like CENSORED CENSORED, and thinks his machine is CENSORED.