Indie Game Amnesia Sells 36K In First Month As Dev Ponders Piracy Concerns

Swedish indie game developer Frictional Games this month said it was pleased with first-month sales of the unique Windows, Mac and Linux horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, selling enough units to continue with development of its next game.

Studio co-founder Thomas Grip wrote in an October 8 blog post that sales of the game were "Better than expected on all accounts! [Emphasis Grip's] As of today we have sold a total of 36, 000 units (including preorders, but excluding boxed sales in Russia)." He said the studio has recouped all expenses for developing the game.

[NYC_Gamer]

this game deserves to sell way more copies..

[Neckbear]

They got enough for their goal, wich is something to be more than happy about.

Now, this makes you wonder why some publishers expect to sell millions of copies, when with these numbers Frictional is more than happy.

Although I share the same feeling- this is a game that should have sold a ton of copies. It's not like it's an expensive game, either. Pretty cheap, in fact.

[kancerkid]

If you read the article, they are happy that they JUST broke even. According to another article, they actually need to sell 70 copies a month, on average, for a while just to pay wages that are quite low.

Everyone who pirated this game is an asshole. It is mad cheap, and very good. No reason AT ALL to pirate this game. I will admit I have pirated games before, but any argument for doing as such falls apart with a game of this caliber at that price point.

Just buy the damn game.

[jjank11]

Publishers expect to sell millions because they are public companies, for the most part, and need to make as much money as possible to appease their board and those who own shares in the company. Plus i'm pretty sure most of their employees make more than those who work at Frictional, let alone the executive level folks who make crap-tons more.

[STK026]

Well, maybe they expect to sell millions of copies because of higher marketing and development costs. When games like KZ2, GTA4 and GT5 are being developed for years and handled by a large team, you can't expect to break even with the same sales required for a smaller indy-developed game to break even, and you also have to consider that breaking even is not exactly what these companies are trying to do, they're in for the profit.

[Letros]

Good to see they sold well over their goal.

[gillri]

people are getting a few copies from piratebay, I reckon 5,000 odd copies have been dl'd from there

I sometimes pirate the odd PC game (although I buy lots of console games also) but I would never pirate this, I paid my £10 and it was bargain

[jimbojones99]

dunno why youd pirate an indie game. totally wrong. something big like COD yeah but indie titles is unfair.

[kancerkid]

You are right.

No argument at all to pirate this game. None,

[AssassinHD]

So one company deserves compensation for their product, but another does not? There is no justification for piracy in any case.

It really is simple. If a product interests you, and you decide to use it, then you should pay for it. If you decide that a product is not worth the purchase price, then you should simply not use it.

[kancerkid]

I wish it was so black and white, alas, it is not. I do not believe every company deserves 60 dollars, while I on the other hand believe some companies do, plus maybe even more.

[AssassinHD]

The publisher does not make $60. The retailers get a cut too. That being said however, if you do not believe a company deserves $60, then you always have the option of waiting for a price drop, or waiting for a sale, or even buying a game used.

[Tuxmask55]

I figured 36-thousand copies of an indy game would be pretty good. Are they not happy with that?

[TheIneffableBob]

The article says that they are happy with that.

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

Amazing game.

One of the top best you can find on PC (in scary genre).

[Blaster_Master]

And you guys wonder why pc games are coming to consoles? You know what they say. Numbers are a universal language.

[TheIneffableBob]

This is an indie game with a relatively low budget (low hundred thousands compared to the multi-million AAA games) and the only advertising it had was word of mouth. Even though 36,000 sales seems low, they were able to recoup their development costs and fund their next game... but you'd know that if you read the article.

[Charmers]

Yeah cos consoles don't suffer from piracy do they ? oh wait yes they do. I would say 36,000 is pretty good going for a niche indie game. I didn't buy it nor did I pirate it.

At the end of the day if you make a niche game then all the great reviews in the world won't get you blockbuster sales it's a NICHE game that the majority are not likely to be interested in, hell I wouldn't even say Amnesia is that heavily pirated either.

[solar]

i dont know anyone with a modded 360 who downloads SP games....oh wait i do.

[Letros]

You would never find this type of game, of this high of quality, produced by this small of a team on consoles, so I don't see your logic.

[solar]

because console gaming is shovelware to 12 year olds hanging on their mothers' legs begging for the new CoD or Halo.

i bought this game and waiting for a shipment of goods before i play ;)

[Letros]

I beat it, and have to say, easily the scariest game I've played, very satisfying purchase, enjoy!

[R_aVe_N]

I am glad they were able to pull it off with all the piracy now days.

[mrv321]

Isn't it true indie games have longer legs because of the way they sell?

One person tell another who tells another and so forth is how this thing gets passed on, while bigger games have big adverts and a small tail when it comes to sales.

Let's hope it break the 100,000 mark.

[kancerkid]

I hope so. Everyone cries about not getting enough new IPs while this developer pumps out new IPs that are great all the time and very few people buy them.

[mrv321]

I can see this game getting 36k, I mean all you need is one person to read the comments here and say hmm people seem to really enjoy this game... then go to a site similar to GiantBomb watch the quicklook they did for it

http://www.giantbomb.com/qu...

And from there decide whether or not buy it... if you like horror games have a decent enough PC then

http://www.amnesiagame.com/...

[josh14399]

people who pirate this game are assholes

[AssassinHD]

People who pirate any game, not just this one.

[Wolf873]

I sincerely hope they stay in business for they know how to make real horror games. Two years is too great of a waiting time for me sadly, I wish they would release new horror game each year. But I guess quality demands patience. O I so hope they will tackle an actual Lovecraft tale, not just the feeling.

I must admit at first I was very reluctant to buy this game because of no replay value, but I know that someday I might feel the need to return. I find myself replaying horror games more than any other even if they don't offer anything in return for replay. Plus, pre-order was cheap as heck, so it would have been indecent not to buy it.

[ct03]

Try out the Penumbra series. Those games are basically the predecessors of Amnesia.

[Wolf873]

well at least partly. I got stuck at some point and never looked back at that game. Not that the game is bad, but it completely slipped my mind. Now that Amnesia is here, Penumbra has taken a back seat, since the latter is a trilogy while this is a solo game. I'd rather finish this first as it seems much more interesting.

[comp_ali]

Tried the demo and it is one of the scariest thing I've played so far.

[solar]

support the game industry. support this developer and buy their game!!!

[TroyAndAbed]

I supported them! This is one of the best horror games ever. Period.

[floetry101]

A please to everyone who pirated this game and loved it, do Frictional Games a favour and buy this gem as well. I feel like they were short-changed a little with the number of sales.

[free2game365]

I don't think it was piracy that made it not sell much. I think it was the fact that it had no real publisher and nothing promoting it.