What were Torment sale numbers like?

[Gambler]

Can someone point me to a reliable source that states Toment sales?

http://archive.gamespy.com/legacy/articles/dnd1_a.shtm
60 thousand copies?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... deo_gaming
75 thousands?

http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=219
200,000?

http://poll.imdb.com/title/tt0187405/trivia
400,000 units?! Or do they speak about BG?

Also, is it true that Toment sold on par with Fallout 2?

 

[Drakron]

Well commercial failure means there was no return of investement within the expected time period.

PS:T did turn a profit ... after years, the same result could been achived by just letting the money in the bank.

Edit:

Its unlikely you find a number, the gaming industry does not like to reveal numbers expect when they are "milestone" numbers and serve as the game advertisement.

 

[Frau Bishop]

They wouldn't have earned our undying love with the money in the bank. That has to count.. something, somewhere?!
About sales, sorry, no clue.

 

[Drakron]

Not in a invester POV, consider that Interplay was (is?) a public company and so its magerment had to anwer board of directors that in turn had to anwer the shareholders that did not buy Interplay stock to "win undying love".

 

[MacBone]

It's sad that a game like Planescape was a commercial failure. The games on Wikipedia's list seem to either be really crappy games (ET, Pacman for Atari) or critically lauded games that didn't appeal to a majority of gamers (PS:T, Psychonauts).

 

[TheGreatGodPan]

It's sad that a game like Planescape was a commercial failure. The games on Wikipedia's list seem to either be really crappy games (ET, Pacman for Atari) or critically lauded games that didn't appeal to a majority of gamers (PS:T, Psychonauts).

So you're saying that critical reception varied and their common thread is commercial failure? You sir, are a genius.

 

[flabbyjack]

How many units of Torment sold?

5820 registered codex members
x average of 2 copies bought per member
= 11640 copies of Torment sold

 

[spacemoose]

I'm guessing that if you were a shareholder in Interplay, you could get your hands on that data. Their site is still up, so if you dig around the couch for some loose change, you can own a part of Interplay today!

 

[Vault Dweller]

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk ... -5156.html

We did sell-through around 400k worldwide on Torment. There seems to be an ongoing legacy that the game did very poorly at retail, which isn't true. It actually sold more copies than the Fallouts did.

Those aren't Final Fantasy numbers, but it certainly was profitable for the company.

For the record, Scott worked at Interplay and Black Isle, and was one of the first to leave.
Scott Warner's profile

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/archive/index.php?t-5156.html

We did sell-through around 400k worldwide on Torment. There seems to be an ongoing legacy that the game did very poorly at retail, which isn't true. It actually sold more copies than the Fallouts did.

Those aren't Final Fantasy numbers, but it certainly was profitable for the company.

For the record, Scott worked at Interplay and Black Isle, and was one of the first to leave.
Scott Warner's profile

Well, then ya should go ahead and edit the wiki

 

[Drakron]

Look at my first post.

You know how many units did FF X-2 had to sold to break even?

Only 20,000 units.

Also that post was written in 2003 and PS:T was released in end of 1999 ... several movies flop in box office to recover later in DVD sales.

Question is ... did PS:T sold enough in the first 3 months to turn a profit?

Besides at 40$ a unit it means PS:T sales were 16 millions liquid, now if we start to add costs how much of those 16 millions would be required to pay the development, production and shipping?

That PS:T sold enough to make a profit I do not dispute but that it sold enough during the expected commercial shelf life ... that I do dispute.

And that is what matters ... not the bargin bin or budget line sales.

 

[MacBone]

It's sad that a game like Planescape was a commercial failure. The games on Wikipedia's list seem to either be really crappy games (ET, Pacman for Atari) or critically lauded games that didn't appeal to a majority of gamers (PS:T, Psychonauts).

So you're saying that critical reception varied and their common thread is commercial failure? You sir, are a genius.

Only when it comes to failing organic chemistry, Pan.

While the list contains mostly poorly realized games, there are a few standout games included. Seems like word of mouth would have given these games the edge they needed to turn into successes. A game's poor game design will understandably keep it from succeeding commercially, but I find it unfortunate that poor marketing also plays a role in whether a game succeeds or fails. Richard Garriott's early marketing attempts consisted of asking local electronics stores to carry the little ziploc-bagged games.

 

[bryce777]

Not in a invester POV, consider that Interplay was (is?) a public company and so its magerment had to anwer board of directors that in turn had to anwer the shareholders that did not buy Interplay stock to "win undying love".

It's sad though, because it is just bad business sense.

A bad initial release followed by increasing sales points to bad marketing of a very good product. If they released a sequel, they would no doubt have much greater sales.

 

[Rat Keeng]

IPLY.OB is fairly stable at the moment, having settled at a couple of cents. Better buy now, before Herve announces his genius plans for a fantastic and awesome MMORPG, which will surely make the stock skyrocket a whopping cent.


PS:T could surely have benefitted from some campaigns focusing on it sporting the Infinity Engine and D&D rules, that alone could've generated more initial sales.

 

[Drakron]

It's sad though, because it is just bad business sense.

A bad initial release followed by increasing sales points to bad marketing of a very good product. If they released a sequel, they would no doubt have much greater sales.

That is because the business model is completly fucked up,currently pubishers issue quarter statements of profits/loss.

The model sould be akin to the movie industry, not the record industry ... expecialy now were budgets are equal to Hollywood movies.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

IIRC, Feargus said PS:T was a financial success and he would have liked to make a sequel. Black Isle's main problem was the fact it was propping up the rest of Interplay and its expensive flops from other divisions (Shiny seemed to be a real money pit from what I remember) and poor management as it was in its death throes (something like 3 games cancelled in their last stages), not that its games were critically acclaimed but commercially unviable.

 

[Gromnir]

"IIRC, Feargus said PS:T was a financial success and he would have liked to make a sequel."

your recollection is flawed. fergie said that ps:t Eventually made a profit. is not same as being a financial success. in point of fact, is pretty clear that ps:t were a failure. took years to break even and most units were sold after game had been much discounted.

*shrug*

as much as some of us really liked ps:t we should not imagine that such approval = financial success.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[FaranBrygo]

Eventually making a proft is more that can be said for most of Interplay's games.