Castlevania: LOS ships a million

By Fred Dutton Published 22 November, 2010

Revamp scares up "remarkable" sales.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow has shipped a million copies in the US and Europe, publisher Konami has revealed.

Despite not breaking into the NPD US October top 10, Konami seems more than happy with how the Mercury Steam-developed reboot of its classic platforming series has fared since its release last month.

"Castlevania has truly reinvented itself with its move to next gen platforms and we're extremely pleased at the positive response we've seen toward Castlevania: Lords of Shadow globally, mainly due to the dedicated fans who have supported the series for so long," said Konami president Shinji Hirano.

"The remarkable sales achieved in such a short time are a true testament of the work and dedication that went into this project, and we're very grateful to have partnered with such fine talent in the rebirth of one of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.'s most successful franchises."

Hang on there Shinji. You did say "shipped" rather than "sold", so we're not sure that quite qualifies as "remarkable".

Still, it's encouraging news, especially taking into account producer Dave Cox's comments to Eurogamer last month.

"We didn't intend to create a blockbuster. That wasn't the plan. The plan was to reintroduce Castlevania. We didn't have a multimillion-dollar budget. We didn't have 300 people working on the project.

"We're a pretty small team. Not a huge budget – middle-size budget if you like. Nothing like the kind of titles we're compared to."

Eurogamer's Christian Donlan awarded Mercury Steam's adventure 8/10 back in September. A sequel is apparently already underway.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Triggerhappytel #1 2 years ago

    "Castlevania has truly reinvented itself with its move to next gen platforms"

    I just want to say (not relating to this news article) that I hate it when the PS360 consoles are referred to as 'next gen'. If they're next gen and they've been on the market 4/5 years, then what the Christ is current gen?!

  • sfp_noodle #2 2 years ago

    Excellent sales considering it's released at such a congested period in the calender. But I can't help but feel it would have shipped double that number had it been post Christmas.

  • SG79 #3 2 years ago

    Shipped, sell through, who cares? It's money in the bank for Konami and guarantees the continued work on a sequel. Great news, seriously.

  • gjgjg #4 2 years ago

    Good stuff, very much enjoying it :)

  • Batul #5 2 years ago

    Really pleased this game did the biz, i thought it was excellent! And developed by a small team? That suprises me because there's a boat load of content. After the unexpected ending the sequel can't come soon enough...

  • SteveHolt #6 2 years ago

    A well deserved success... Any news from the DLC front? I think they said they had something planned.

  • M1chl #7 2 years ago

    Triggerhappytel: Guess thats next consoles will be called "Revolutionary Gen", because next gen is now no matter what that means...

  • ToAks #8 2 years ago

    this is my 3rd party GOTY 2010, amazing game. Insane amount of details, insane amount of graphic styles.
    One would think it was created by a really huge team.

    This game has so many awesome puzzles which makes Prince of persia and God Of War pale in comparrisment.

    I Loved Darksiders but C:LOS is even better... a really good year for 3rd party top games (Assassins Creed:brotherhood, NFS:HP, Darksiders ,Just Cause 2, Alpha Protocol (yes i loved that for some odd reason),Reasonance Of Fate, Blur, Split/Second.

  • M1chl #9 2 years ago

    ToAks: Does it matter if its a 3rd party or 1st title?

  • ToAks #10 2 years ago

    m1chl:

    Ofcourse it does, i am a playstation owner so my GOTY so far is GodOfWar 3 or Demons Souls or Heavy Rain or Mag or Grand Turismo 5 or or or.. see my point?

  • kalinichenko #11 2 years ago

    release the damn thing on PC!!!!
    oops i almost forgot Konami doesnt release anything for PC except Pro Evolution Soccer.
    Edited by kalinichenko at 23/11/10 @ 07:55

  • M1chl #12 2 years ago

    ToAks: Unfortunatenly not. I own both "next-gen" systems and I make no difference between 1st and 3rd party games, because its games after all and I really don't think so that label " only on *insert name* " makes better or worse experince. And I really like titles that you mentioned (except GT5 of course - not out yet), but when I going to do my TOP list of the year I make no difference between exlusive and multiplatform titles, I don't see any point, why should I break list to 1st and 3rd party : )

  • evild_edd #13 2 years ago

    I shall be purchasing this in the New Year. Hopefully at a truces price, but deffo' a new copy (not 2nd hand!)

    Bodes well for the studio and perhaps a sequel which I imagine the Castlevania fans would like. Personally, the is the first Castlevania title I've been tempted by since 4 back on the SNES. I preferred the action orientated games and was always left a little cold by the GBA Metroid-style versions. Just a personal preference thing...

  • menage #14 2 years ago

    I'm in for the sequel, loved it.

  • Nodebug #15 2 years ago

    Really enjoying the game, about 3/4 of the way through and think its fantastic. Beautiful art work and word design and the combat is great, look forward to the sequel already.

  • Hobo #16 2 years ago

    You sorta figure that when sites like EG and VG247 are highlighting the word "shipped" that it's time for developers and publishers alike to start finding a new term to try and pull the wool over the consumer's eyes.

  • technicianTed #17 2 years ago

    It was a good game with some great graphics and music.

    Certainly one of the best games i've seen from a spanish developer.

    It got a bit samey for me as it went on though and i was slightly disappointed you couldn't use the right stick to pan the scenery around, but considering the framerate at times maybe that was a good thing.

  • Paulie_P #18 2 years ago

    I'm loving this game at the minute. It came out of nowhere for me and was the biggest surprise this year for me.

  • dadrester #19 2 years ago

    God... This game... What utter, utter drivel. Whoever cobbled together the "narrative" really needs to learn how to write. Easily the worst writing I've read/seen in any medium... ever. Just nonsensical. Game was okay, though I'd just played God of War 3 on hard (and hated every, last, masochistic second of it on that difficulty) so my enjoyment may have been marred by that.

  • IronGiant #20 2 years ago

    It's ok, well worth £17.99 but not a patch on God of War 3 by any stretch of the imagination.

  • Darren #21 2 years ago

    Castlevania: LoS was the biggest surprise of the year for me as I honestly never expected it to be as good as it is.

    I was never a fan of the earlier games and hated the recent XBLA release but this new game is just sublime. The sheer variety of environments and the length of the game married to gorgeous visuals and a great musical score makes for a very memorable experience. It might play more like God of War but that was a very good thing in by book and some of the boss fights are breathtaking; tough but very rewarding to beat. A very entertaining game indeed and one of the highlights of 2010 for me. I'm certainly interested in a sequel.

  • kincaide #22 2 years ago

    Currently £17.99 at Play - certainly worth it!

  • nova82 #23 2 years ago

    A very good game that deserves a sequel.It's one of the best reboots i've seen on a series of a franchise.

    Hope MercurySteam makes an even greater sequel although it could be best if they could add more from their own touch and be less influenced from other franchises just so that it could get a much more unique feel on its own while at the same time shut many holes who judged the first for it's unoriginal gameplay
    Edited by nova82 at 23/11/10 @ 16:39

  • menage #24 2 years ago

    @darester

    Come come now, yes it may have been drivel (i didn't think so), but you obviously have just discovered this entity called the media with that bold statement. Go watch Twilight.