Magicka sales near 800K, Vietnam expansion a financial success
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Last we heard, Paradox Interactive's publishing deal for Magicka with Arrowhead Games was working out pretty well. This morning, just after a GDC Europe presentation by the niche Swedish publishing house, Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester further added to the game's history of financial success, when he told me that the title has now sold nearly 800,000 units.
"It's gonna pass that [sales milestone] in the next week, week after or so," Wester said. "We're still doing between five and seven thousand a week, so it's a great sales number." He also added that Paradox hopes to pass the one million sales mark by the end of 2011 -- a major achievement for a small team like Arrowhead.
As for the much-loved Vietnam expansion, I wondered if it had achieved the same success that both Paradox and Arrowhead had hoped for. "It's done a few hundred thousand, so the attachment rate is really high," Wester explained.
With those kinds of numbers, it's clear why Paradox is interested in fostering and furthering the relationship with Arrowhead. Back in May, Wester told me that sequels for Magicka are a lock.
"It's gonna pass that [sales milestone] in the next week, week after or so," Wester said. "We're still doing between five and seven thousand a week, so it's a great sales number." He also added that Paradox hopes to pass the one million sales mark by the end of 2011 -- a major achievement for a small team like Arrowhead.
As for the much-loved Vietnam expansion, I wondered if it had achieved the same success that both Paradox and Arrowhead had hoped for. "It's done a few hundred thousand, so the attachment rate is really high," Wester explained.
With those kinds of numbers, it's clear why Paradox is interested in fostering and furthering the relationship with Arrowhead. Back in May, Wester told me that sequels for Magicka are a lock.
Reader Comments (12)
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 7:06AM DJ Kenneth A said
I'd love to see this on consoles too
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 9:23AM Dao Jones said
@DJ Kenneth A
It is a wonderful game and should be enjoyed by many more! The PC version already supports the Xbox controller so hopefully the console version comes true for you.
Though, I had 1000x more fun playing with friends! You can see a video of Total Biscuit's where the Magicka devs play the game with Xbox pads!
http://youtu.be/aYkAKqys6Ds
Reply
It is a wonderful game and should be enjoyed by many more! The PC version already supports the Xbox controller so hopefully the console version comes true for you.
Though, I had 1000x more fun playing with friends! You can see a video of Total Biscuit's where the Magicka devs play the game with Xbox pads!
http://youtu.be/aYkAKqys6Ds
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 7:07AM Faenix said
*stares at image*
Dev + Publisher = partnership? I had no idea.
/sarcasm
Dev + Publisher = partnership? I had no idea.
/sarcasm
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 9:59AM Xoonaka said
@Faenix
That's not really how it works 90% of the time. It's not a partnership. Studios RELY far too heavily on publishers, so if the publisher cares to, they can make pretty large demands and the studio has to acquiesce.
This slide is more to brag on what a great relationship they had with each other, and that it was more of a partnership and less of a publisher dominated relationship.
To be fair though, lots of studios brag that... but I question how often they're sincere.
Reply
That's not really how it works 90% of the time. It's not a partnership. Studios RELY far too heavily on publishers, so if the publisher cares to, they can make pretty large demands and the studio has to acquiesce.
This slide is more to brag on what a great relationship they had with each other, and that it was more of a partnership and less of a publisher dominated relationship.
To be fair though, lots of studios brag that... but I question how often they're sincere.
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 7:40AM (Unverified) said
The shadow of the podium across his legs makes it look as if that guy's wearing thigh-high stockings... Caused me to do a double-take, or rather, several of them in fact.
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 10:53AM Prince David said
It's a really fun game, although I prefer a more serious game to some of the silliness.
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 11:29AM (Unverified) said
@Apakal
Did you play the game co-op? I think experimenting with different spells and crossing beams with different spells is pretty innovative.
If only sniper bullets and shotgun bullets did the same in shooter games.
Reply
Did you play the game co-op? I think experimenting with different spells and crossing beams with different spells is pretty innovative.
If only sniper bullets and shotgun bullets did the same in shooter games.
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 11:41AM Apakal said
@(Unverified)
Yes, and though there are a seemingly endless combination of spells, it all boils down to which handful are most effective. For such a potentially deep system, it really boils down to pretty shallow gameplay.
You can go out of your way to use a wide variety of combinations, but you're only making things unnecessarily harder, which to me makes the system largely meaningless.
Reply
Yes, and though there are a seemingly endless combination of spells, it all boils down to which handful are most effective. For such a potentially deep system, it really boils down to pretty shallow gameplay.
You can go out of your way to use a wide variety of combinations, but you're only making things unnecessarily harder, which to me makes the system largely meaningless.
Posted: Aug 15th 2011 11:35AM SpecBlank said
As much as I would like to celebrate, I'm disappointed with the game. I spent a month trying to find a game online, and the servers are just awful. Between that month, I uninstalled four times. Every time I just hoped that I would be able to play with other people. Either the game never started, servers never appeared or it crashed.





