Torchlight Sells Half a Million
Indie darling Torchlight [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=76330] isn't just a cult hit anymore: It's an actual hit, reaching "Gold" status with half a million units in the hands of gamers.
Last November, after Runic's several members of the development team [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=17294] about the game. When I asked if they thought that lower-budget, lower-priced games like Torchlight would become the norm as opposed to big-budget games that needed to sell a million copies just to break even, Runic CEO Max Schaefer responded:
"If we sell a million, we will have more than broken even - we'll all be very, very happy."
According to a post on the Runic Games Twitter account [http://twitter.com/runicgames/statuses/14104605272], the game is halfway there: As of Sunday, Torchlight has sold half a million copies, giving it "Gold" status. I'm not sure exactly what metric they're using, but it's still a landmark for a small indie title all the same.
Part of the appeal is undoubtedly the price: Torchlight is normally $20, but sees frequent sales on Steam as with the sale celebrating the service's Mac launch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100605-Steam-Comes-to-Macs-Tomorrow-With-Portal-Torchlight].
"We could have sold copies for more, but I think that $20 was the right price," said Lead Designer Travis Baldree. "It lets us recoup our expenses, and it's sort of a 'magical' price where people can just make the buy without having to fret so much. If their friends tell them, 'Hey, this is a great game,' they can make the decision then and there. It's the cost of a DVD; it's the cost of a large pizza."
By the looks of it, plenty of people are finding Torchlight worth the price of a large pizza. Congratulations, guys!
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Indie darling Torchlight [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=76330] isn't just a cult hit anymore: It's an actual hit, reaching "Gold" status with half a million units in the hands of gamers.
Last November, after Runic's several members of the development team [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=17294] about the game. When I asked if they thought that lower-budget, lower-priced games like Torchlight would become the norm as opposed to big-budget games that needed to sell a million copies just to break even, Runic CEO Max Schaefer responded:
"If we sell a million, we will have more than broken even - we'll all be very, very happy."
According to a post on the Runic Games Twitter account [http://twitter.com/runicgames/statuses/14104605272], the game is halfway there: As of Sunday, Torchlight has sold half a million copies, giving it "Gold" status. I'm not sure exactly what metric they're using, but it's still a landmark for a small indie title all the same.
Part of the appeal is undoubtedly the price: Torchlight is normally $20, but sees frequent sales on Steam as with the sale celebrating the service's Mac launch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100605-Steam-Comes-to-Macs-Tomorrow-With-Portal-Torchlight].
"We could have sold copies for more, but I think that $20 was the right price," said Lead Designer Travis Baldree. "It lets us recoup our expenses, and it's sort of a 'magical' price where people can just make the buy without having to fret so much. If their friends tell them, 'Hey, this is a great game,' they can make the decision then and there. It's the cost of a DVD; it's the cost of a large pizza."
By the looks of it, plenty of people are finding Torchlight worth the price of a large pizza. Congratulations, guys!
Permalink
