Deus Ex: Human Revolution sells 2.18 million

By Fred Dutton Published 4 November, 2011

While Dungeon Siege 3 manages 820,000.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution sold 2.18 million copies between launch and 30th September, publisher Square Enix has revealed in its bi-annual financial report.

800,000 of those were bought in North America and 1.38 million in Europe.

The publisher also announced that Obsidian-developed RPG Dungeon Siege 3 has now sold 820,000 units, of which 20,000 were bought in Japan, 320,000 in North America and 480,000 in Europe.

Finally, Japan-only Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary Collection has moved 350,000 to date.

The wider financial picture was mixed, with Square announcing that net sales between April and September fell 15 per cent year-on-year to ¥57,516 billion (around £458 million). However, net profit for the period was up 115 per cent to ¥3704 billion (around £29.3 million).

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 (44) Latest comment 4 months ago

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  • epiazk #1 4 months ago

    Does that mean commercial success anymore?

    I have totally lost track of what is acceptable :/ 22 million MW units makes everything else seem crap.

  • thisisatempaccount #2 4 months ago

    I was wondering exactly the same thing, epiazk. Five years ago it would have been plenty. Perhaps even three. But now..?

  • M1chl #3 4 months ago

    Dungeon Siege III was success? I hope so, despite the fact, that everybody hating this game, I really love it in coop with my buddys. Went through for 4 times (all characters) and have a blast on each playthrough. Obsidian always delivers...

  • Belmonth #4 4 months ago

    Glad Dungeon Siege 3 did decent. Its not a very known brand , at least in america, so ofc it didnt sell like warm bread, but it will prolly reach 1 mil at a point which means it did ok.
    Deus Ex obviously did great and its barely 2 months since release, its a semi-slow burner also, so i expect even 3mil before end of year.
    Its good that square is investing in western devs.

  • TrevHead #5 4 months ago

    I love EIDOS' games, its good that they are sell decently.

    waits patiently for a new Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

  • patchbox360 #6 4 months ago

    39.99 X 2180000

    probably made by a team of no more than 100 people on an adverage of 30k over a 3 year max development cycle.

    after marketing and cost i'd think it was safe to say they made a healthy profit
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/11 @ 19:18

  • TrevHead #7 4 months ago

    @patchbox360 the publisher doesnt make anywhere near 100% of RRP

  • Goodfella #8 4 months ago

    @patchbox360

    Yeah but the publishers/developers don't get £39.99 per copy, amongst other factors there's the retailers cut which is the largest of all, something crazy like 50 or 60 percent.

  • Psychotext #9 4 months ago

    I really hope that's enough for another Deus Ex game int he future. I'm loving this one. :D

  • Grayvern #10 4 months ago

    At around this point in it's lifespan Dead Space had sold around 1 million copies.

    Added to that it's two predecessors have done half that in 10 years so I would say from a franchise point of view DX:HR is a resounding success.

  • apoc_reg #11 4 months ago

    DS3 got a bad wrap, I enjoyed it

  • xuiton #12 4 months ago

    maybe if the spent less on CGI movies, voice acting and marketing, games would make a profit with 100k sales like they used too.

  • makeamazing #13 4 months ago

    What I've played with DS so far, I've really enjoyed, and hope that its been successful enough to continue because it feels at least like someone is trying to make a baulders gate.

  • midnight_walker #14 4 months ago

    I thought Deus Ex was wonderful, I'm glad it sold well. Looking forward to more DLC and another sequel. Dungeon Siege III was also a great little game - I really enjoyed it and I hope that gets the same treatment.

    Although, most of the European sales for DSIII are probably down to it plummeting to about £12 within a month, and actually now that I think about it DE has gone the same way, so it will be nowhere near £39.99x200k anyway.

  • Kurli #15 4 months ago

    @midnight_walker

    The game went up fast and is full price where I live. I think that only counts for britian for some reason.

  • Alivada #16 4 months ago

    I guessing Dungeon Seige 3 selling 800,000 is great.
    I can't imagine they expected high numbers.

    And for Deus Ex to sell 2m as a niche title and an IP so old it's pratically original with the current generation is fantastic.

  • Kurli #17 4 months ago

    @Alivada

    I'd think so. The game itself and its advertising also seem to have focused on low costs/budget. No high profile voice actors, Cinematics were half-static drawings instead of CGI (albeit really well done and I actually prefered it to most CGI) and so on.

  • Hindle #18 4 months ago

    See publishers this is proof that people buy games that are not dumbed down.

  • epiazk #19 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:51:36 12-12-2011

  • LordMorpeth #20 4 months ago

    So pleased that Deus Ex sold well. I thought it was a fantastic game (boss battles aside). In my top 3 games of the year so far.

  • Lunatic4ever #21 4 months ago

    I liked Deus Ex. But in retrospect, I wish I hadn't shelled out 50€ for it just because I needed to buy it on day one liek an idiot. Solid Singleplayer and never went back...just saved my game before making the grand decision in the end and then loaded my save game to check out the alternatives. The end just ruined it for me. Your putting in so many hours and it just leaves you terribly unsatisfied when the ending seems rushed and incomplete...

  • ballshock #22 4 months ago

    Did any of you spot the final fantasy 23(I think) poster in the game?

  • syra #23 4 months ago

    800000 copies for a relatively well knwon franchise, particularly in its 3rd itteration is by no means a success, im sure it was enough to keep obsidian ticking over for a while, like all of their games do....

  • Kurli #24 4 months ago

    @syra

    ...what? That franchise was PC only and hasn't had a major game in 6 years. (Not to mention was never that high regarded to begin with apart from a circle of loyal fans) Do you even remotly know what you are talking about? And popularity doesn't even matter. Costs vs. Revenue do. -.-

    Not to mention Obsidian probably didn't get anything from that. Square Enix did. They are contractors.
    Edited by 2 at 04/11/11 @ 22:19

  • reeferchief #25 4 months ago

    12.99 on amazon at the minute for Deus Ex, I'll pick a copy up at the end of the month.

  • yoomazir #26 4 months ago

    Dungeon Siege 3 could have sold twice as many units if Obsidian had included a proper co-op multiplayer, not that gimmick that made you just an extra character without the possibility to save your own data if you joined somebody else.
    Oh, and also more loot...
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/11 @ 23:12

  • ic4ruz #27 4 months ago

    Wow, europeans dig Square-Enix games. usually it's americas that sells circa 25% more.

  • Softie2k #28 4 months ago

    Deus Ex '3' stayed true to the original with the craptastic ending.

    It was only a small studio though compared to other developers. I think it was a job well done.

  • gjgjg #29 4 months ago

    Good to see EU leading sales for once. Why no figures in €uro EG?

  • Crea #30 4 months ago

    Am I the only one who thinks that 2.2m for a multi-platform release of a franchise of the calibre of Deus Ex is actually a tiny bit disappointing?

  • repeater #31 4 months ago

    @gjgjg: Haven't you heard? There is no Euro anymore, and it's a bit of a pain reporting game sales in 20+ different currencies.. :)

  • Belmonth #32 4 months ago

    Lol at the ppl who think 2.2 isnt enough for DE. This isnt a very popular brand in the mainstream. The first game is the popular one and only among PC gamers usually and it was released in 2000. The sequel (Invisible War) was bad and only pc + xbox (no ps2 as far as i know) and released in 2003 or so. Kids these days never even heard of Deus Ex, you cant expect 3mil out of nothing lol.
    I think they did great and prolly Square thinks the same, i expect a new DE in 2013.

    Its good Square is investing in western publishers. I hope after Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics makes a new/or reboot of Legacy of Kain.

  • Crea #33 4 months ago

    It's not a case of whether I think it's 'enough', for me 10m sales wouldn't be enough because it's a franchise I'm very fond of and would like to see more.

    2.2m is decent, but that's probably a million or so 360 sales. I could name you a dozen entirely new franchises (or more) with less pedigree that sold more than that on their opening outing.

    That's why I think it's mildly disappointing. I'd have liked to have seen it do more - I think it DESERVED to do more.
    Edited by 1 at 05/11/11 @ 16:13

  • Belmonth #34 4 months ago

    Its not disapointing at all, u just expect too much without a reason. Just cause you are fond of the franchize isnt a reason/argument why it should have sold at least 3mil (which it might, its not the end of the year, just 2 months and abit since release, digital sales will prolly still continue strongly).

    May i remind you Dead Space 2 didnt sell much more? and Dead Space 2 had an insane amount of marketing, when Real Madrid and Barcelona played you could see on the banners advertise for DS2. So yea..lets be reasonable.

  • Crea #35 4 months ago

    Look, let's say it sells 1.5m copies on the Xbox 360 by Christmas (which might be pushing it, given that its sales will be mostly done by now). That would put it (according to VGChartz) at the 90th best selling game on the platform.

    Whichever way you cut it it's not a breakthrough. It's solid. It's profitable (depending on how much they spent). It's not a hit. It might have been 3 or 4 years ago, but we have 20 million extra 360s or so out there now.

    For a game with an 89 metacritic rating, scraping past a million units on the 360 can at best be described as modest success. You say I expect too much without reason, I'm sorry, but the evidence clearly puts this outside the first, second or even third echelon of franchises, and to me that's disappointing. It was never going to be a GTA, a CoD or a Halo in terms of numbers.

    But you can't tell me that Eidos Montreal are going to be absolutely satisfied to be outside the top 100 selling 360 games? Selling a fraction of other first-outing new IPs like Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Fable, Fallout (another resurrected IP), Bioshock, Force Unleashed etc have sold? That's their peer group in terms of quality! That's the numbers they would have hoped to get internally.
    Edited by 4 at 05/11/11 @ 17:23

  • Tomo #36 4 months ago

    I thought 1m+ is fairly good sales.

    I remember Enslaved did about 800-900k and that was considered mediocre. But DS3 is probably lower budget, so those figures seem alright if unspectacular. Deus Ex sales sound good though.

  • LordMorpeth #37 4 months ago

    You have to question how game studios such as Eidos Montreal survive, even with sales figures for Deus Ex of 2 million. Let's assume they receive max £10 from each sale. £20m doesn't strike me as a huge amount of revenue for a game that looks to have taken 3 years to make with - as the end credits photos show - a pretty large team. Their profit must be minimal. And I thought it was an error by Amazon when I received their latest 'cheap videogames' email listing it at £15. So cheap so soon. Should have held out longer...

  • SheffAl #38 4 months ago

    I love Deus Ex, I'm glad it's done well.
    Edited by 1 at 05/11/11 @ 20:12

  • Belmonth #39 4 months ago

    jesus christ ppl. Then if 20mil revenue for the studio isnt enough, something goes very wrong there. And if the team is too big, then again, something is wrong, look at New Vegas, insane game and was done by Obisidian who arent a HUGE team . And im sure they didnt get 20mil for making New Vegas. Its their problem if 2.18mil sales arent enough and they should look why it took so long to make and why it needed so much money. AGAIN, IF the 20mil isnt enough (speculated revenue for studio). Which I highly doubt.
    I mean you cant just run around hoping for 3-4mil sales just like that when good established brands are trying that ,look at freakin Dead Space 2 and Medal of Honor who both didnt do more than 2.5 and had huge marketing. Its Eidos's problem if 2mil isnt enough.

  • malloc #40 4 months ago

    Errrr, isn't this just sales between release (end of August) and 30th Sept. I.e. missing any sales during October, not to mention it wasn't even released in Japan until end of October.

    I'd be surprised if sales aren't a lot closer to the 3 mill mark by now.

    Do like the game, haven't been this engrossed in a game for quite some time. Please don't leave it 7 years before the next one.

  • makeamazing #41 4 months ago

    I think for games like DE 2million would be at least the lower end of the spectrum of whats thought of as a success.. I think it can easily make 4 million lifetime, which is pretty good. Probably not as high as they will want in the future, but I think a good starting point.

    Is the studio in canada? If it is, then the size of the team is mitigated by the great tax breaks of that country, which means teams can be anything from 20-50% bigger than say a UK team, at the same cost. So yes they may have had a bigger team, but it wouldn't have cost them as much as a team elsewhere. One of the reasons why THQ are going to make their Canadian studio bigger.

    I've enjoyed the game so far, haven't completed it yet (must get so many games finished).. but hopefully by xmas will be done with it.
    Edited by 1 at 06/11/11 @ 12:56

  • EMarkM #42 4 months ago

    @ballshock It was Final Fantasy XXVII (quite fitting for the year that DE: HR is set in!)

    Personally I loved the game, having finished it yesterday. I've only see one ending so far (the one where you have to walk somewhere else to do it...) and was not disappointed by it at all.

    I thought I was going to hate the bosses, but in the end I defeated them all really easily apart from the one where *that* decision you make earlier in the game completely screws it up for you - I must have had about thirty goes at him, and in the end just ran around the outside corridors using the revolver.

    Cracking game though: more please!

  • uzivatel #43 4 months ago

    Its nice to see they sold many copies, but I have to wonder about the revenues - both DS3 and DE:HR were sold at budget price short after the launch.

  • SaberEdge #44 4 months ago

    Deus Ex Human Revolution is easily one of the best games I have ever played. I hope that this success will lead them to continue with the franchise.