Game News Divinity: Original Sin has sold 160,000 copies, already approaching profitability

[Zeriel]

I read somewhere that dolphins are a cetacean.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I want a Morrowind successor.

 

[RK47]

I think that their sale numbers are in the goldilocks zone. If they would be too high then Larian might lose the ground under their feet, and they would drift away.

Uh what? I have no idea what you mean by that statement. How could sales possibly be too high for Larian? That makes no sense.

bethesda, bioware, molyneux, garriot. give a dev too much money and they'll start pumping out shit. the best games come from having a good idea and trying to fit it within some constraints that force the developers to focus on what they think are the most important parts. remove those constraints and they'll end up focusing on target demographics instead (bioware) or make unfocused bloated crap like amalur.

I think Larian has integrity though. If Divinity sells 500k to a million, I think it would just reinforce their thought that gamers want this type of game, and they would produce more of them.

I highly doubt they would go from D:OS back to a Divinity II type ARPG.

Just fix the UI.
Please.
There's no reason it should have just 10 slots of hotbars on display.

 

[Shannow]

I think Larian has integrity though. If Divinity sells 500k to a million, I think it would just reinforce their thought that gamers want this type of game, and they would produce more of them.

You guys have become so damaged, it's scary.
Sales and target demographics are more or less irrelevant. If you are an independant dev that produces the kind of games that you yourself - as the developer - like.
Sure, making lots of bucks off of what you love is great. Making too many might be a problem. But the only neccessary things are the budget and enough sales to clear your debt (and optimally help finance your next game). For Div:OS this was estimated in this thread to be between 180k and 230k sales. So anything over 250k in a discrete timeframe - lets say in this year - should be a great success. And Larian has already stated that they'd like to make a big Ultima-like (with speculations that they're trying to get the IP). So no matter if "gamers want this type of game", it's the devs who need to want this type of game and the resources to do so. Following target demographics has always led to crap. (And don't bring up the co-development with fans, that's not what I'm talking about.)

@Volly: (Lets just pretend I'm a noob, and don't know that talking to you is even more pointless than talking to a wall.) Stop comparing apples and oranges, you dumbfuck. If you want to compare Div:OS to Daatoo, then compare sales in the same timeframe. (The first year or so should seem sensible.) Then compare the budgets and profits after publishers and shareholders have gotten their greedy hands on them. Then you can compare how successful the games have been for their respective devs.

 

[dukeofwhales]

Sales are incredibly important, not for Larian (though having heaps of coin certainly helps with being able to make games that they like in the future) - but for people who like RPGs. The genre was more or less dead for 10 years because publishers thought that no one wanted that kind of game anymore. The longer D: OS stays at the top of the steam charts, the better PoE sells, the more hype these games have, the more likely publishers are to greenlight RPGs in the future. And most of them will probably suck, but it's much better to have companies trying to make great games than just giving up on them under the assumption that no one wants them.

 

[JarlFrank]

Shouldn't the fact that D:OS can be played without Steam running also be considered? Could Shadowrun also run without Steam?

Yes. Shadowrun has a GOG DRM free version (for backers only).

Doesn't look backers only to me: http://af.gog.com/game/shadowrun_returns?as=1649904300

 

[Paul_cz]

Can it be worse?

160k is only impressive if you hate Larien and have no expecattions for them. Youa re liek the morans on the Obsidian boards who say they would be 'happy' if PE reached 100k sales. LMFAO

1mil. oR. GTFO


Jade Empires nearly 2mil copies in less than a year = not enoguh for a sequel but 1mil sales over a lifetime next DD 1000 games in the same series. HAHAHAHA!

People with low expecations are losers. And, i should know since I ahev low expectations for myself and for the Codex.

What the fuck ?

The game sold 160K in FIRST THREE DAYS.

It has been a top seller on steam for the last SIXTEEN days. So the game is much higher thank 160K already and we have no idea how high until Swen releases some numbers.
Of course it would be nice to sell million or more, and I suspect they will easily reach it before the year ends. But that post of yours makes no sense.

Also, Larian gets 70% of each copy sold on steam, whereas with previous games they got mostly fuck all since they were "work for hire". Success of DOS will give them the exact independence they wanted, which makes me happy.

 

[WhatsHisFace]

Belgian newspaper just posted an article with more recent numbers: http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/5402/G.../2014/07/16/Is-dit-de-game-van-het-jaar.dhtml

Quick translation of important bits:

- Sold a quarter of a million units.
- Sales curve is still rising because of word of mouth
- Production budget was 3 million euros, a third of which was made up by crowdsourcing
- They broke even
- Industry has noticed the game's success; Swen has had offers to buy Larian
- They don't know yet what they are going to do yet for their next project, first a holiday

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

I'm very happy for them, especially given what Swen said about the risk they were taking. They basically "went all in" and bet the company on this game.... a turnbased RPG with no romances and quest markers.

Now they've already covered their production costs and everything from here on is profit and funds for future games. They deserve every bit of success they've had. Congrats Larian.

 

[Kirkpatrick]

So, another 250,000 units + a Kickstarter would be enough for a next game?

They could do an expansion for much cheaper I guess.

 

[Zed]

- Industry has noticed the game's success; Swen has had offers to buy Larian

Would be hilarious if Activision buys Larian expecting to get their slamdunk "RPG" Bioware/Bethesda-like developer.

 

[Spectacle]

I think that their sale numbers are in the goldilocks zone. If they would be too high then Larian might lose the ground under their feet, and they would drift away.

Uh what? I have no idea what you mean by that statement. How could sales possibly be too high for Larian? That makes no sense.

Suppose they manage to sell 2 million units at an average price of $30. Minus gaben's cut that is 42 million dollars. If Larian were to spend all that money on their next game, things could easily go very wrong. Companies and development processes can't just scale up on demand, it has to be done carefully.

 

[Paul_cz]

Now that Larian finally achieves independence, I think Swen's desire to sell the company is at its lowest it has ever been.

 

[Sitra Achara]

Think they'll license the engine to anyone? Wonder if they've had request for that yet.

As for scaling, I think they have an incentive to spend in order to pay less taxes. (may I suggest investing in Full Control's JA:F? ForkTong )

 

[Infinitron]

- Production budget was 3 million euros, a third of which was made up by crowdsourcing

Hmm, Eurogamer said it was 4 million. Some "creative accounting" there, perhaps?

 

[DwarvenFood]

- Industry has noticed the game's success; Swen has had offers to buy Larian

 

[Azrael the cat]

I think that their sale numbers are in the goldilocks zone. If they would be too high then Larian might lose the ground under their feet, and they would drift away.

Uh what? I have no idea what you mean by that statement. How could sales possibly be too high for Larian? That makes no sense.

bethesda, bioware, molyneux, garriot. give a dev too much money and they'll start pumping out shit. the best games come from having a good idea and trying to fit it within some constraints that force the developers to focus on what they think are the most important parts. remove those constraints and they'll end up focusing on target demographics instead (bioware) or make unfocused bloated crap like amalur.

I think Larian has integrity though. If Divinity sells 500k to a million, I think it would just reinforce their thought that gamers want this type of game, and they would produce more of them.

I highly doubt they would go from D:OS back to a Divinity II type ARPG.

If they're smart, they'll make both. After all, they've shown that they don't need a publisher-backed budget for D:OS. So why not make another D:OS with a similar budget, while putting money into a new action-rpg?

 

[Hassat Hunter]

- Production budget was 3 million euros, a third of which was made up by crowdsourcing

Hmm, Eurogamer said it was 4 million. Some "creative accounting" there, perhaps?

3 million of their own, 1 million of KS.
So the article is incorrect there.

klassiekers uit het RPG-genre, zoals Fallout: New Vegas, The Witcher en Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Mhuhahah... seriously, RPG-classic? Heh...

EDIT:
And I seriously though the RPG Codex couldn't surprise me more, then I read this page... seriously. You don't want RPG's to sell well? You want the genre to stay dead (or mutilated like modern BW-games)? What are you doing here then?

 

[Roguey]

I highly doubt they would go from D:OS back to a Divinity II type ARPG.

Having read the book that came with the Divinity Anthology you're way off if you think Swen Vincke's ultimate RPG wouldn't have real-time combat.

 

[Haba]

You don't want RPG's to sell well? You want the genre to stay dead (or mutilated like modern BW-games)? What are you doing here then?

Please tell me one good thing that came of something becoming super popular and selling really well.

 

[Rake]

And I seriously though the RPG Codex couldn't surprise me more, then I read this page... seriously. You don't want RPG's to sell well? You want the genre to stay dead (or mutilated like modern BW-games)? What are you doing here then?

Who said that? (Volourn and Roguey don't count)

I highly doubt they would go from D:OS back to a Divinity II type ARPG.

Having read the book that came with the Divinity Anthology you're way off if you think Swen Vincke's ultimate RPG wouldn't have real-time combat.

How did you understand that from the book?

 

[Rake]

You don't want RPG's to sell well? You want the genre to stay dead (or mutilated like modern BW-games)? What are you doing here then?

Please tell me one good thing that came of something becoming super popular and selling really well.

The problem is that the things that are super popular and selling really well are shit.
If PS:T, Fallout and BG were the billion dollar hits, instead of Diablo, CoD and Oblivion, the Industry would be a better place.

 

[Roguey]

How did you understand that from the book?

Based on Div 2's design docs and Swen Vincke's blog entries he wants to beat Bethesda and Bioware at their own game, i.e. doing what CD Projekt is doing with Witcher 3 but with even more. Open world fully voice acted cinematic RPG with a lot of freedom, reactivity, and interactive elements.

 

[Rake]

How did you understand that from the book?

Based on Div 2's design docs and Swen Vincke's blog entries he wants to beat Bethesda and Bioware at their own game, i.e. doing what CD Projekt is doing with Witcher 3 but with even more. Open world fully voice acted cinematic RPG with a lot of freedom, reactivity, and interactive elements.

Shit, count me in the club of people NOT wanting DOS to became a HUGE success.
Haba You were right bro

 

[Irenaeus]

Only 250,000 copies sold? I thought they would have reached 500,000 easily.