Skyrim is Bethesda's Biggest Game Ever

[Andy Chalk]

Skyrim is Bethesda's Biggest Game Ever

With 3.5 million units sold in just 48 hours, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is officially Bethesda's biggest game ever.

The question was never whether or not Skyrim [http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-Xbox-360/dp/B004HYK956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321472260&sr=8-1] would be a hit, but just how big a hit it would be. The answer, it turns out, is pretty damn big: Bethesda announced today that of the seven million units shipped worldwide for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, more than half sold within 48 hours.

"We are grateful for the fans' response to Skyrim," said ZeniMax Media Chairman and CEO Robert Altman. "Todd Howard and his team at Bethesda Game Studios have crafted a very special game. Anticipation for Skyrim has surpassed any game in our company's history."

"Without a doubt, this has been our most ambitious project ever," added Howard, the game director on Skyrim. "After over three years of development, we're finally excited to get it into everyone's hands."

It's not quite in the league of Modern Warfare 3, which Metacritic [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114162-Modern-Warfare-3-Blows-Up-Single-Day-Sales-Record].


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[dragongit]

With the hype it generated from it's first trailer, no big surprise. I love the game, I've already clocked in over 50 hours and there is still much to do.

 

[dubious_wolf]

I picked mine up Monday night and I've gone through 10 hours. it is amazing and hardly a surprise it is doing so well.

 

[vrbtny]

'tis good too see. I need to get around to getting it, I gave up on Oblivion after 30 minutes due it having no pacing or coherent story. It just sort of dumped you by a river in a enormous world with no indication as to what you were supposed to do next and said "Deal with it."

I really hope Skyrim doesn't do that.

On a side note, File size Skyrim is actually rather small. Only about 6 gigs, which is nice compared to the recent slew of games which have chewed up my Internet connection and my hard-drive space. (Modern Warfare 3(13 gigs), Battlefield 3 (14 gigs) and Rage(20 gigs)

Curse you, overcrowded steam/origin download servers!!

 

[imnot]

YOu go Bethesda, Skyrim deserves to sell several million times better than MW3. So yeah MW3, FUS RO DAH TO YOU

 

[thiosk]

sorry no time to comment i'm busy collecting all the brooms and skulls in the game bbl.

ohmigod so many brooms and skulls *(they're EVERYWHERE)*

 

[vrbtny]

MW3, meanwhile, remains a loathsomely uninteractive shooting gallery padded out with pre-scripted and altogether dull cinematic events, reducing the player to the level of mere spectator in a series which started out kind of alright.

You haven't played Battlefield 3's single-player campaign yet, have you? That abuses the un-interactive scripted sections to no end. I didn't actually think Modern Warfare 3 was that bad on that front, although I still hated any bit of the game where you played as the Americans.

Playing as the Brits was far more fun.

Spoiler

As what is funner that telling a International Terrorist in control of a nuclear detonator to "sod off"

I got sick of American patriotism half-way through the first Modern Warfare.

 

[Senaro]

'tis good too see. I need to get around to getting it, I gave up on Oblivion after 30 minutes due it having no pacing or coherent story. It just sort of dumped you by a river in a enormous world with no indication as to what you were supposed to do next and said "Deal with it."

I really hope Skyrim doesn't do that.

On a side note, File size Skyrim is actually rather small. Only about 6 gigs, which is nice compared to the recent slew of games which have chewed up my Internet connection and my hard-drive space. (Modern Warfare 3(13 gigs), Battlefield 3 (14 gigs) and Rage(20 gigs)

Curse you, overcrowded steam/origin download servers!!

They do a good job of giving you a nice line of quests to follow if you don't feel like exploring, and it's certainly not as vague as "I should probably take this amulet to some monastery somewhere." However, I've all but ignored the main quest, because I find exploring the world on my own and having my own adventures far more interesting for now.

 

[blackdwarf]

yep, this is good news. but not really a suprise. it will probably get a GOTY award which it does deserve.

 

[dmase]

I wish Wikipedia would make the cost of development of games and the amount made clearly on the page like they do with movies. I wanna compare MW3 with skyrim's development cost and money made, after playing the two games skyrim just feels like it had much more money sunk into it. Thats probably just because MW3 is so shallow though.

 

[Leviathan_]

Bethesda did an excellent job marketing wise and hyped the game very well. I haven't bought it myself yet, but I will in a few months when I've actually got more spare time.

 

[Lost In The Void]

sorry no time to comment i'm busy collecting all the brooms and skulls in the game bbl.

ohmigod so many brooms and skulls *(they're EVERYWHERE)*

In case you go to the broom dungeon?

 

[Spud of Doom]

I wish Wikipedia would make the cost of development of games and the amount made clearly on the page like they do with movies. I wanna compare MW3 with skyrim's development cost and money made, after playing the two games skyrim just feels like it had much more money sunk into it. Thats probably just because MW3 is so shallow though.

I'd like a better look at this sort of thing too. It just doesn't seem like studios release game budgets.

 

[teh_Canape]

inb4 people reading the title only and rushing here to post "EXCUSE ME BUT DAGGERFALL BEGS TO DIFFER"
eh, can't say I'm too affected by the news, as I didn't care for the game

 

[Wolfram23]

Good job Bethesda! I'm enjoying Skyrim a lot (~17hrs?).

One thing I find hard to understand though is how MW3 did so well. $60 expansion pack seems a tad over priced...

 

[Tanis]

sorry no time to comment i'm busy collecting all the brooms and skulls in the game bbl.

ohmigod so many brooms and skulls *(they're EVERYWHERE)*

If you're gonna do that...might as well get the 90 on Speech.
This way you can sell to just about anyone 'STOLEN' good.

It's not ethical, but I'll be damned if it ain't great for my coinage.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

I'm glad it's been such a massive hit, especially considering all the effort Bethesda obviously put into making it a great game.

Call me unoriginal, but this is a game that most certainly deserves to be twice as big as MW3. The team at Bethesda are obviously an extremely dedicated lot who love the fantasy universe that they build more of with every game, and their work on the Fallout series, while divisive, was great.

Don't forget that MW3 came out before Skyrim, so the people interested in both would probably not buy Skyrim just a few days after getting their insipid shooting gallery fix (not single player, obviously; my totally real GF would be quite disappointed if I lasted as long as that). I don't think those people constitute a large number of "lost sales," but it's worth noting.

That said, Skyrim is amazing! What I appreciate the most was the dedicated dungeon team. Shadowgreen Cavern with its meadow was just gorgeous looking, not so much from the somewhat dated graphics, but the style, and how well it all fit into the fantasy setting...lightyears better than the copypasta of Oblivion's underworld. I love it, I love the quests, I love the voice actors (notice how it's plural now!), I love the setting, and I love the story. It's certainly not perfect, but it is the best game I've played this year. If you haven't tried it yet, go get it! You won't regret it. This game deserves the sales, Bethesda did a superb job!