One cannot understate how important the decision was to release The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion near the launch of Xbox 360, whose ensuing popularity changed the whole trajectory of Bethesda Game Studios.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was hedging a different bet, launching an ambitious fantasy RPG not long after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Remember, this is the series that most other games have famously changed their release dates to avoid competing against, and Skyrim was flying head-first into the firestorm.
It worked, and parent company Zenimax Media announced today more than seven million copies of the game have been shipped worldwide (shipped, not sold), and the game’s “expected” to generate more than $450 million in sales from “launch units.”
By comparison, Modern Warfare 3 generated $400 million in just 24 hours. It’s unclear what timeline Bethesda is referring to, but it’s most likely over a several day period. Either way, it’s ridiculously impressive.
I already have this and now you don't. Haw haw.
It's already got my $60.
Good edit. XD
$400 in 24 hours. So about 6 or seven copies then. (I kid!)
Never mind, looks like he already changed it!
In related news, 3.5 million units sold in 48 hours! http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-16-skyrim-sells-over-3-5-million-in-48-hours (Not a big Eurogamer fan, but a big fan of good Skyrim news!)
Best $60 I've spent this year. Skyrim is fucking incredible and it's great too see Bethesda rewarded for the enormous efforts they've put into the game. I shouldn't even be here typing this. I should be playing.
Since Syrim's launch, friends on my steam list have accumulated over 350+ hours of playing time and a regularly see between half and a dozen people playing it nightly.
I'm still waiting for the bug fixes, mods, and dlc to be bundled. It took a year for new vegas, but there's plenty in the meantime to keep me busy.
Also, when I see big sales numbers these days I say "big woop" because there's about 20 million more gamers in the world now than a decade ago. What frightens me is as these AAA titles pull in some real digits, greedy corporate types who were never interested in games (only making money) will swarm the industry and try to take it over hostilly.
Its about to make some more money, cause I'm buying it tonight.
Thats ridiculous, I made a joke before waiting in line on Thursday night that I would have liked to see the difference in people waiting on midnight for MW3 and people waiting for Skyrim. Of course I also didn't expect more than 20 or so waiting for Skyrim, I was wrong.
Now I'd really like to notice the difference because there has to be a split at some point. The same guys waiting in line for an 60 hour game couldn't be taking breaks to play a few rounds of MW3 could they? It is comforting to know that the MW3 sales won't rule the industry and something like Skyrim will have other developers thinking twice about making their 1st person shooting clone.
@Sankis said:
Screw you Sir.
If you "cannot understate" something, that means it wasn't really all that important.
I love Elder Scrolls, and I think Bethesda deserves all this success! This is the sign of more games yet to come, no doubt! :)
I give double thumbs up to all Skyrim-is-doing-well news.
i am convinced being finished with Skyrim is a decision not an outcome of gameplay.
Even if you don't like Skyrim, this is fantastic news for the gaming industry as a whole. Hopefully other publishers will take note that you can be more creative and different, you don't have to be a generic 1st person shooter to be successful.
Shipped doesn't mean much. I don't doubt that it will sell but saying that it has shipped so and so just tells you how many copes they think it will sell. Many games have shipped a lot and then not sold and been placed in bargain bins. People should just stop using the term shipped and stick to sold, but since sold is always lower they won't. Just like the bogus "dynamic contrast" of 20 million:1 on TV's these days when the true contrast is maybe 1000:1.
I heard Skyrim has sold 3.5 million copies in 48 hours...
Give them more money! Seriously if there is any company out there that deserves it, it´s Bethesda. I hope they spend all the money they make on developing a new framework for TES 6. Make it BIG, triple the world building staff and make the biggest game they´ve ever done. Even if it takes them 10 years, I don´t care.
You can always release a Fallout 4 to bridge the gap.