Following on from our earlier story, we can happily reveal that the former EA Redwood Shores title, Dead Space, has sold 1.4 million copies, according to Glen Schofield, general manager of Visceral Games. “I’m happy with that, based on the economy,” Schofield said speaking to GameSpot. “Last year could’ve been one of the greatest launch years in the history of video games around October time, but it was a year where people bought less games than they normally would.”
Naturally Glen wishes the game had sold more, but seems happy with the critical acclaim and the number of awards – “we’re at 75 and counting now”, he said. “If you look at used sales and rentals, we’re looking at probably three or four million people who have played the game.” If you’ve not yet bought Dead Space, you’re crazy – it’s an utterly brilliant, claustrophic and scary as hell third person adventure.
cc_star | 05/05/2009 16:02
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Good stuff, glad its turned out a success in the end, it really is a great game.
citizeninsane45 | 05/05/2009 16:04
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Is this the day of EA news?
Really good news for Dead Space. The game is amazing and is really worth the acclaim
Watchful | 05/05/2009 16:22
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It’s the day EA released their financial results, so there’s lots of stories that are coming out of analyst conference calls and EA press releases to do with past performance and future forecasts.
Lorcan | 05/05/2009 16:06
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Wow. That’s a big jump between sales and rentals.
I always thought it was pretty bad, but I never realised just how big it was! That’s more than double the sales!
Only an estimate I suppose, but still…
cc_star | 05/05/2009 16:07
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2nd hand market as well though….
RocketSOL | 05/05/2009 16:07
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This game is excellent. Ive yet to finish it, I can only play for about 5 mins before I end up needing to leave it due to fear/nerves. God, how embarrassing.
Paragonknight | 05/05/2009 16:33
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No doubt.
Triggerhappytel | 05/05/2009 16:10
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I do kind of feel that figure is a little fabricated – do rentals really generate that much business?! And his figure for pre-owned buyers is inherently flawed, unless 80% of people who bought the game traded it in.
Anyway, it’s irrelevant because it’s a great game. If you like horror games and haven’t played this yet, do so as soon as possible. Much, much better than Resi 5.
Watchful | 05/05/2009 16:27
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Why does the figure seems fabricated? If half the 1.4m buyers traded their copies and each of those copies was re-bought twice, that’s 2.8m players of the game. And retailers have said before that they might sell one copy of a game 3 or 4 times.
Triggerhappytel | 05/05/2009 16:42
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True enough; I had never considered those buying pre-owned might later trade it in again.
But one thing – how could a retailer possibly sell one copy of a game three or four times?! How would they even know it’s the same copy, unless I have misunderstood your comment…?!
stu | 05/05/2009 16:23
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£15.95 from Zavvi website or apparently £14.99 in store in HMV.
Worth a punt, I brought it ages ago played it once but never really got into it. Will give it another go at some point.
stu | 05/05/2009 21:23
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Actually according to hotukdeals its now £10 in Currys.
XIIITI | 05/05/2009 22:02
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Ah shoot. Just bought it from Zavvi.
Paragonknight | 05/05/2009 16:34
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I’m playing on impossible mode to get the last trophy but right now I’m playing DQVIII on the PS2. It’s an awesome game that’s for sure and more fun than RE5 to play.
TheMightyRogue | 06/05/2009 01:28
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DQVIII is awesome. I got up to the last boss but he handed me my arse so I started to level grind and got bored. maybe one day I’ll start again and finish that sucka.
LiquescentShadow | 05/05/2009 17:00
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Dead Space is one of the best games I’ve ever played. It deserves every award and sale that it gets.
jimmy-google | 05/05/2009 17:04
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Sales of games like dead space (which have no multiplayer in particular) are the reason developers will be hoping digital distribution really takes off as it’ll be an end to the 2nd hand and rental markets where they recieve little or no income. They are also the markets which will keep prices high so developers can take as much as possible.
There’s a reason cod 4’s price stayed above £40 in the shops for over a year (the complete lack of 2nd hand copies).
LFC-FANATIC | 05/05/2009 19:24
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I rented this just before my PS3 YLOD’d so i’ve not had a good go at it yet. Hopefully soon though/
TheMightyRogue | 06/05/2009 01:26
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Why do people think this game is scary?
Sure I jump when an necromorph comes out of nowhere but that’s because of surprise not fear. Hell, I’d jump if my nanna came up behind me out of nowhere.
Watchful | 05/05/2009 18:02
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I expect they’re talking generally rather than about the exact same copy of a game.
Say they buy 50 copies of a game from their wholesale supplier. Then including pre-owned sales that title goes through their tills 150 times.
They probably won’t all be their original 50 copies, but conceptually they have sold each one 3 times. Does that make sense?