Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Techland: Dead Island "probably" the best-selling new IP of 2011

Ships three million units worldwide.

Polish developer Techland reckons Dead Island is the best-selling new IP of 2011.

The co-op zombie kill 'em up is the best-selling Polish-developed game ever, Techland told Polish website giernik.pl.

"In this year there weren't a lot of big, new IP in games," Techland PR Tomasz Gawlikowski said.

"In the Autumn there was Dead Island and Rage. I don't remember any other new franchise, but there were a lot of big sequels. And Dead Island sold very, very well.

"I don't have accurate data but I think that we probably made the best-selling new IP in year 2011. Also Dead Island is the best-selling game in history of Polish game development."

Dead Island, which launched in September for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, was the surprise hit of 2011. It went straight in at number one in the UK chart in September, knocking Deus Ex: Human Revolution off top spot.

Its success was fuelled by an eye-catching announcement CGI trailer that showed a reverse-time account of a young girl on a tropical holiday island being torn away from her parents, become a zombie and eventually be flung out of a window.

The trailer went viral - and sparked movie company Lionsgate to option film rights from publisher Deep Silver to make a Dead Island film.

Read this next