Torchlight Sells Half a Million

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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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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Monshroud

Evil Overlord
Jul 29, 2009
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I don't know how far through I am, but it was not the game I thought it was going to be. I pretty much click the left mouse button to move and attack everything and I cast 2 spells total. I kill just about everything with that over and over again.

I haven't had the need to really upgrade any of my equipment or use any transmutations. Maybe the game gets better during the 1/2 half, thus far though I am not that impressed. I can't say the game is bad, just not what I was looking for.

I am really happy that they sold 1/2 a million copies though.
 

scotth266

Wait when did I get a sub
Jan 10, 2009
5,202
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TGBA said:
been thinking about getting it myself, should i?
This is a game which gives you Steam achievements for modding it.

Yes, you should get it. It's a really good dungeon-crawler, even with the lack of multiplayer.
 

TsunamiWombat

New member
Sep 6, 2008
5,870
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TGBA said:
been thinking about getting it myself, should i?
Depends...it's not what you'd call a serious game. more of a time killer. Something you multitask.

Focus on it and it's boring.
 

Slycne

Tank Ninja
Feb 19, 2006
3,422
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It's a wonderfully fun, simple and addicting game. If you haven't picked it up already I would recommend at least trying the demo. I'm happy to be one of half a million copies sold.
 

ProfessorLayton

Elite Member
Nov 6, 2008
7,452
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TGBA said:
been thinking about getting it myself, should i?
Do you like Diablo? Do you like clicking? If the answer to either of those questions was yes, then definitely.

This is really good news. Maybe this should be a message to Blizzard. A message that says "If this many people are willing to buy a Diablo rip-off, think of how many people would buy Diablo III!"
 

Marter

Elite Member
Legacy
Oct 27, 2009
14,276
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Good to hear that it's sold well. It's a really fun game.
 

Lord_Gremlin

New member
Apr 10, 2009
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I have this game on Steam. Well, nice dungeon crawler, but it's too long, I mean come on - it's really long and takes too much time to complete.
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Well deserved. Fingers crossed they can sell even more.

Monshroud said:
I don't know how far through I am, but it was not the game I thought it was going to be. I pretty much click the left mouse button to move and attack everything and I cast 2 spells total. I kill just about everything with that over and over again.

I haven't had the need to really upgrade any of my equipment or use any transmutations. Maybe the game gets better during the 1/2 half, thus far though I am not that impressed. I can't say the game is bad, just not what I was looking for.

I am really happy that they sold 1/2 a million copies though.
The difficulties can be a bit weird. What many gamers consider "Normal" is actually closer to Hard or Very Hard.

Switch it up and start a Very Hard Hardcore game with a new class, I know that made it more fun for me. Playing Easy/Normal does tend to get a bit boring.

Could download a mod to ramp up the difficulty even more as well.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
5,630
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For a small time title, to make that many sales, and that much money. Good work to them. Well deserved!
 

elvor0

New member
Sep 8, 2008
2,320
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They should be proud of them selves, I bought this back when it came out and it's a streamlined version of Diablo 2 in essence yes, but I loved D2, and this just fixes the problems it had, and it's great fun. The only MASSIVE FLAW, is the lack of bloody multiplayer. Ah well, it tides the time till D3.
 

Enigmers

New member
Dec 14, 2008
1,745
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Torchlight may very well be my favourite game of all time, because it's like a more streamlined, more fun version of Diablo II (albeit with simpler classes and no Nightmare/Hell difficulties.)
 

CoverYourHead

High Priest of C'Thulhu
Dec 7, 2008
2,514
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I'm one of those purchases!

I like to describe it as Diablo without all the really annoying parts, like the terrible death punishments and crappy inventory screen. It's a fantastic game, defiantly worth $20, hell, it's worth more than $20!
 

RanD00M

New member
Oct 26, 2008
6,947
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Well that's great.It's an awesome game,and a good warm up for D3,whenever that will be.
 

Nerf Ninja

New member
Dec 20, 2008
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I bought it direct on release, I found it to be a fun casual game that was definitely worth the price. If they ever get around to releasing the MMO they spoke of before, that will be a definite purchase on my behalf too.
 

VanBasten

New member
Aug 20, 2009
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Lord_Gremlin said:
I have this game on Steam. Well, nice dungeon crawler, but it's too long, I mean come on - it's really long and takes too much time to complete.
?
It takes 10-15 hours to complete the main storyline. Which is pretty standard really, if not even short.

Of course there's much more to do after that, and it does have a lot of replayability but the main story isn't that long.

Anyway, well deserved success, hopefully this showed them that, alongside the already planned MMO, there's room for Torchlight 2 with multiplayer support, nudge, nudge, wink, wink...
 

RanD00M

New member
Oct 26, 2008
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scotth266 said:
even with the lack of multiplayer.
Which is one of the reasons that I find it inferior to Diablo II.Because LANing in DII is awesomesauce.And Bnet can always be a blast.Also you don't feel as lonely while playing with friends/complete stranger in the middle of "I don't give a shit-stan".