The Walking Dead Sells a Million Episodes

For as much as some people may want to bemoan the deluge of zombies running roughshod over popular culture, the fact remains that many people still enjoy bludgeoning, shooting, stabbing, and otherwise maiming the fetid creatures any chance they get--or, at the very least, take morbid pleasure in watching other people get eaten by said fetid creatures. Case in point: The Walking Dead, Telltale's episodic adventure game adaptation of Robert Kirkman's much-loved comic series. Not only was the game one of 2012's big surprises in terms of quality, it also managed to exceed expectations on the sales charts.

Telltale today announced that The Walking Dead has sold over a million episodes across all available platforms (PC, Mac, Xbox Live, and PSN), making it Telltale's fastest selling game of all time. Though it's somewhat unclear as to whether that million episode number pertains to multiple episodes sold as part of the full season pass or not (which would include episodes not yet released), the number is nonetheless impressive.

And frankly, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving game. I didn't really know what to expect going into it, and I was frankly pretty blown away by how well it integrated the morally ambiguous tone of the comics' human story with the looming dread of perpetual zombie peril. Episode 2, "Starved for Help", is scheduled for release next month, and I for one can't wait.

Good on 'em.

It's that Whitta touch.

I have to get this. It seems pretty awesome.

That's great!

@DrFlapjack said:

Good on 'em.

Glad this was a success since it was such a good game after Jurassic Park.

@Sin4profit said:

It's that Whitta touch.

Garry just racking in the dough right now.

Now they can put this farr farr behind them.

if you want another child you'd actually want to save play Nier D:

cool on them though!

The way things should be, their best game in a while is their most successful. Hopefully they can build on its success and make the rest of the series at least as good as the first episode.

With Jurassic Park I wouldn't necessarily have wanted Telltale to helm franchises' game forays, but the opposite is true for The Walking Dead game, I don't know anyone could have done the source material better justice. At first I was expecting to be disappointed but now I think the game is better than the TV show.

Best surprise I've had in gaming in a long time. Great writing, fun gameplay, outstanding job. W2G Telltale!

"Episode 2, "Starved for Help", is scheduled for release next month"

I thought it was coming near the end of this month. Yaknow, the whole 1 every month release thing?

Way to knock it out of the park, Video Games and Famous!

cause that shit is TITS!

Definitely getting this when all episodes have been released, I wouldn't want to wait a month every time to see how things turn out.

I love to hear Telltale doing well.

Great news, deserved.  
 
I'm sick of zombies yet I found great delight in Episode 1 of the Walking Dead. 

Good on Telltale! I really liked the first episode!

That's million bucks!

Or something like that.

So happy this sold well. I loved the first episode.

And Telltale's site says June for the next episode too. That's kind of a bummer.

They used to be so beloved. It was too bad when Jurassic Park was so terrible. Now it looks like they are back on track and succeeding while still trying something new (for them) with the genre.

@CreepingDeath0: Press release says June.

I personally kind of dislike episodic gaming because I have zero patience and hate cliffhangers, but I'll definitely pick this up once all the episodes are out.

Same goes for TV shows. I watched Lost for the first time once the series had ended and marathoned it in about a week. From what I can tell, a way better way to watch than having to wait 6 years for a lackluster resolution. For a week's investment, the resolution was perfectly fine to me.

@CreepingDeath0 said:

I thought it was coming near the end of this month. Yaknow, the whole 1 every month release thing?

Hopefully it just means they pushed the release back by like a week so it ended up in June

That's the GOOFIEST wording! A lot of the sales are the bundle of 5 episodes in one. I understand what they're doing, but 1 million upsells kind of overestimates EXACTLY what they did.

The first episode was really good, and I can't wait to get through the next ones.

I loved the first episode,cant wait for more

Looking forward to Episode 2.

So far at least Joystiq and Giant Bomb have gotten it right. I've seen a lot of headlines scroll by on twitter today along the lines of "The first episode of The Walking Dead sells 1 million copies."

Great to hear, I loved the 1st episode.

@Jaytow said:

At 400 MSP each it's not quite as great as it sounds but well done to them.

You realize that means the whole game would be 25 dollars right? That sounds like a sweet deal to me.

Good for them. It's well done, and the price is right.

This is excellent news! I loved it to bits, took the best bits of Heavy Rain and made exactly the Walking Dead game a fan could want. Goes to show, digital sales are a viable business model.

@Dtat said:

@Jaytow said:

At 400 MSP each it's not quite as great as it sounds but well done to them.

You realize that means the whole game would be 25 dollars right? That sounds like a sweet deal to me.

I think he means in terms of the profits Telltale has made from this. Though as Telltale has been able to stay successful with similar business models to this one for years, I think it's safe to say they have made lodsamoney.

Game is also great.

@EnduranceFun said:

@Dtat said:

@Jaytow said:

At 400 MSP each it's not quite as great as it sounds but well done to them.

You realize that means the whole game would be 25 dollars right? That sounds like a sweet deal to me.

I think he means in terms of the profits Telltale has made from this. Though as Telltale has been able to stay successful with similar business models to this one for years, I think it's safe to say they have made lodsamoney.

Game is also great.

Ah ok yeah. That makes a lot more sense. Sorry about that.

I do kind of wonder how well Episode 2 will do. How many people picked up the first one and were pissed they weren't just shotgunning zombies the whole time? How many people didn't realize what there were getting and actually loved that it was story-centered? How many hated it? Questions...

This is great to hear. I really, really enjoyed the first episode and I'm not a fan of Telltale nor The Walking Dead.

Still wishing for an "Invert Y" option

I still need to get this. Thanks for reminding me. =)

Excellent news. Me and the misses both loved the first episode and can't wait for the rest. Glad I got the season pass now.

Thats good news! 

@Alo81: I bought the season pass so I bought 5 episodes at once. I think that's the best way to word it when they are selling it in different ways.

@bkbroiler: I think you are forced to buy the whole season on everything but xbox (and maybe ios) so I don't think that really matters.

Pretty obvious they're counting all episodes.  Still good though.

"Shoot that guy!!!"

If someone doesn't say that in episode four, I will be a sad panda.

Yeah that's a weird point, if 200,000 people buy the full series of episodes on steam, does that mean episode 2 has already sold 200,000 copies?
Seems like cheating :P.

The latest Idle Thumbs podcast has a lot of The Walking Dead talk, if anyone is interested.