14 DAY TRIAL // Update:
Wasteland 2 made $1.5 / €1.17 million in revenue from sales on Steam since its launch, and did not sell 1.5 million copies, as previously reported. We apologize for any inconvenience this report might have caused.
Original article:
Developer inXile Entertainment announces that its post-apocalyptic role-playing game Wasteland 2 has managed to sell over 1.5 million copies on Steam since its launch on September 19.
The long-awaited sequel to the 1988 classic that inspired Fallout and many other games was just released this Friday, and apparently the developers did a very good job, as evidenced by the impressive sales the title pulled off.
An indie best-seller
In just four days, Wasteland 2 managed to sell over 1.5 million copies across Windows PC, Mac and Linux, which is an astounding feat for AAA games, let alone an independently developed, crowdfunded classic role-playing game geared toward hardcore audiences.
"We are ecstatic that the style of game we love so much has been embraced so well," inXile founder Brain Fargo commented on reaching the milestone.
The game started out in 2012, as one of Kickstarter's huge success stories, raising close to $3 million / €2.3 million in its campaign. After an extended stint on Early Access, the game is now out, and it's doing pretty good, so far averaging a review score of 80 on Metacritic, and a lot of excited fans giving it user reviews of 9 or 10.
Our own review of Wasteland 2 is on its way, so stay tuned.
A bright future
inXile Entertainment still has a lot of work to do and bugs to squash, as the forums are full of people unearthing various issues, but it seems that continued support for Wasteland 2 won't be a problem, with this level of sales.
Basic math points to the developer making €60 / $77 million from the game's sales on Steam, which is roughly about ten times more than the reported development cost for the game.
Furthermore, the company is also working on another Kickstarter star, Torment: Tides of Numenera, meant to continue the adventures started with the legendary role-playing game Planescape: Torment, with the team aiming to recreate the rich role-playing experience of the original.
Wasteland 2 is not alone
This goes right next to Larian Studios' Divinity: Original Sin, which managed to sell well over 500k units at launch, showing that independent big-budget classic-inspired PC games have a prosperous future ahead of them.
Two other big Kickstarter games from celebrity developers and tie-ins to big past franchises are also on the way, in the form of Pillars of Eternity and Shroud of the Avatar.
Pillars of Eternity is a classic role-playing game coming from Obsidian Entertainment and made in the image of the Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate.
Shroud of the Avatar comes from the legendary designer of the Ultima series, Richard Garriott, and is slated for release sometime in 2015. The game has just been greenlit on Steam, two days after being submitted.
