The Witcher 2 sold 1.1 million copies in 2011

By Robert Purchese Published 21 February, 2012

The Witcher 1 sold 400,000.

Fantastic PC (and soon Xbox 360) RPG, The Witcher 2, sold 1,110,055 copies last year, developer CD Projekt Red has revealed.

hexer

There is an apparently rubbish Polish film based on The Witcher books, which were written by Andrzej Sapkowski. The film's called The Hexer.

Of those copies, 270,000 were sold via digital distribution platforms: 40,000 on GOG.com, which leaves the lion's share of the remainder presumably to Steam (numbers not disclosed).

But most "remarkable" to CDPR managing director Adam Badowski, was that 401,543 copies of The Witcher 1 were sold last year.

"I have to admit, though, that the sales results for The Witcher, five years on from the game's premier, are remarkable," he commented.

"If anything, they prove that the content we put into our games ages well.

"The Witcher will continue to generate buzz in the coming years."

Eurogamer recently cornered Adam Badowski for a lengthy chat. He and marketing manager Michal Platkow-Gilewski revealed that CD Projekt Red was already working towards the next generation of consoles. On those machines will be the developer's next two major new games: one a new IP, the other The Witcher 3. They'll arrive simultaneously for PC and next-generation consoles in 2014/15. Witcher those games will arrive when, and Witcher the platforms they'll be on, were questions that couldn't be answered.

Consider that the new IP is being built by a team that's only just being put together, though, and it's likely that project will take longer to make.

We also wallowed on the topic of The Witcher 2 for PS3; talked about how expensive that new CGI Witcher 2 trailer was; and discussed possible next-generation technology not allowing pre-owned games to be played.

That very impressive Witcher 2 cinematic.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (53) Latest comment 3 months ago

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  • hiddenranbir #1 3 months ago

    Woo! Great RPG. No silly karma system, woo!

    Proper rpg where not every bit of dialogue with supporting cast is rife with innuendoes!

  • Revnan #2 3 months ago

    Witcher WTF!

  • bad09 #3 3 months ago

    I think a lot of people were late to the Witcher party (myself included but in 2010 for me) which is why the first is selling after so long.

    It's certainly become a more well known series over the last couple of years mostly through word of mouth, bringing 2 to 360 will only help that growth. Go CDPR!

  • schnide #4 3 months ago

    What's wrong Rob, why none of this?!

  • Cjail #5 3 months ago

    I game on PS3 but I truly admire CD Project & the Witcher 2 so I am very happy for them: hat off.

    efg
    Edited by Cjail at 21/02/12 @ 12:41

  • Rogueywon #6 3 months ago

    Interesting to me in three ways:

    1) It proves that a PC only hardcore game can actually make the kind of sales numbers that developers tell us are necessary for a "triple-A" title to be a commercial success (which seems to be 1 million+) - at least at this point in the console cycle. There are lots of heavily advertised multi-platform console releases that would kill for numbers like those.

    2) A very strong suggestion, if more were needed, that while keeping your game DRM-free may or may not result in it being more heavily pirated, it doesn't do any harm to sales.

    3) The Witcher 1 sales are further evidence for my suspicion that download sales services are much better at keeping a viable "long tail" of sales. Try finding a game over 6 months old on the shops of your local Game (which is subject to stock and space constraints) and you're likely to be disappointed. Go to Steam or GoG and games released years ago are still there, available to purchase immediately, and usually with a price to suit.

  • uninspiredcup #7 3 months ago

    I wish they would make a proper isomatric strategy/rpg game. I love the Witcher but I think they could make a fantastic Warcraft III type game if they added the terrific story telling.

  • Stranded87 #8 3 months ago

    @hiddenranbir

    The dialogue may not have been rife with innuendos but I think the cards you could collect (at least in the first game, haven't played the second yet) more than made up for that in juvenile titillation.

    Awesome, awesome game though.

  • captainCandy #9 3 months ago

    Witcher 1 was much better than Witcher 2. I got stuck in W2's swamp boss and had to quit, too difficult, never went and will go back. I might play W1 again now though that it got the nice updates. Played through it during the 1st week after it came out.

  • Monstro #10 3 months ago

    Really torn on the Witcher (haven't gotten around to the second one yet). It's full of great ideas and seems to have the right idea about a lot of things. But then it shoots itself in the foot - for everything it does brilliantly, there seems to be something else it does terribly. No-where is that more true than in the dialog and character interactions, and I think that's the great frustration for me.

    The amount of times I said "That's bloody brillia-- oh." is... well, quite high.

    Glad to see it doing well though - it innovates and deserves good sales. CD Projekt are great, too, so hats off to the team.

  • addugg #11 3 months ago

    "Witcher those games will arrive when, and Witcher the platforms they'll be on, were questions that couldn't be answered. "

    ICWhatUDidThere!

    /Claps
    /LooksFantastic
    /AdDugg

  • Monstro #12 3 months ago

    @Rogueywon Re 3) Shelf space is surely one of the biggest problems the high street has. You're right, digitial distribution makes it much easier to get hold of old games, dramatically increasing their lifespace. Especially as this long console generation has plateaued graphics performance so that even a 5 year old game still looks great.

  • misinformed #13 3 months ago

    Ive never liked the Witcher, got some good atmosphere going on but i prefer my Role playing less linear thankyou very much.

  • gregski #14 3 months ago

    @Monstro well, you should really try the 2nd one, it improved on many, many issues Witcher 1 had. It requires some getting used to, especially in terms of combat, but after you get through that you're in for a treat.

  • megatronx #15 3 months ago

    Hehe, I've heard film wast $hit. There is a tv series from 11 years ago on youtube with english subtitles if anyone fancies seeing what happend before the games. It's not bad. Story holds it very well and there is some decent acting. But cgi sux.

  • munkayman #16 3 months ago

    @schnide I'd just about forgotten Grotbags and then you go and post something like that. She used to freak the living shit out of me as a kid.

  • Skyclad #17 3 months ago

    Let's hope the 360 version sells 1 million units as well.
    Not only will it help a great independent studio to pay the bills and to develop more great games, but it will also prove that platforms don't matter - the only thing that matters is the game itself.

  • Shikasama #18 3 months ago

    The Witcher 2 was the best gaming exeprience of last year, hands down.

  • FarbrorBaku #19 3 months ago

    1.1 million in sales and 4-5 million pirated copies.

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-29-the-witcher-2-pirated-4-5-million-times-reckons-cd-projekt

    Yeah piracy isn't a problem...

    Hopefully the 360 version will bring them a bit closer to the sales they deserve, doubt it but it would be nice to see a great developer like CD project actually get rewarded for their hard work.
    Edited by FarbrorBaku at 21/02/12 @ 13:55

  • Mindstorm #20 3 months ago

    lol at those who fell for misinformed's idiotic trollap (tm) (troll-trap)

  • bad09 #21 3 months ago

    @FarbrorBaku

    Ah there's always one in every EG PC article. Where are your friends, still under the bridge? ;)

  • FarbrorBaku #22 3 months ago

    @bad09 Not trolling in any way, just saying this game deserves to sell a hell of alot better than 1 mil.

    I am well aware that it will be pirated on the 360 as well.
    Edited by FarbrorBaku at 21/02/12 @ 14:12

  • michaelius #23 3 months ago

    @megatronx
    To be precise - movie is utter shit, TV series is utter shit too which isn't exactly suprising considering movie= 2 hours cut from TV series :D

  • Rattlepiece #24 3 months ago

    @FarbrorBaku In that article he says "Six weeks is 56 days"......... wait what?! 7x6=42, six weeks is 42 days not 56. Which means his entire calculation fails right there. And to think that nobody actually even cares about this, everyone just takes it for granted and I wonder if anyone reads the article at all, only the headline.

    That being said, there are many games that deserve better sales but don't get it. Games like CoD, imo, don't deserve the massive sales at all. But there you go.

  • bad09 #25 3 months ago

    @FarbrorBaku

    Please, it was a fairly core RPG on one platform. It did amazingly well for what it was, even the dev was happy with the good sales/pirated ratio and that was against a complete and over-estimated guess at the number of downloads.

    "it would be nice to see a great developer like CD project actually get rewarded for their hard work"

    You was trolling, at least be man enough to admit it.
    Edited by bad09 at 21/02/12 @ 14:12

  • marty_k #26 3 months ago

    "There is an apparently rubbish Polish film based on The Witcher books, which were written by Andrzej Sapkowski. The film's called The Hexer"

    The film's called The Witcher. It's difficult to translate Polish "Wiedzmin" and "The Witcher" is as close to the original as it gets.

  • DrStrangelove #27 3 months ago

    I was one of those who bought Witcher 1 on GOG last year, but the few minutes I played it I had the impression of an utter rubbish game.

    I must admit though that some of the games I loved the most made a very bad first impression to me. I think I'll have to give it another try when I'm finished with Skyrim (whenever that may be).

  • golem09 #28 3 months ago

    @FarbrorBaku
    those 4-5 million are NOT potential buyers.

    @DrSrtangelove
    Yeah, the beginning sucks balls. It's a LONG a game, and you go from the castle to a village to a city. Then the story starts.
    Edited by golem09 at 21/02/12 @ 14:36

  • Rogueywon #29 3 months ago

    Yes, the first game gets off to a very weak start. It does pick up, though.

    I'm put somewhat in mind of the original Baldur's Gate, which was utterly miserable for the first few hours, until you clawed your way to level 3 or so, meaning that random gnolls couldn't 1-hit-kill your characters any more. That doesn't prevent BG and its sequel from being among the best RPGs ever made.

  • bad09 #30 3 months ago

    @DrStrangelove

    W1 is hard to get in to at first but once you get out of the prologue and start exploring more of the world it gets better. Give it another try and stick with until chapter 2, if it hasn't got you by then it probably never will.

  • DrStrangelove #31 3 months ago

    Alright, I shall try again. Must 100% Skyrim first though...

  • des #32 3 months ago

    No wonder Steam never releases their numbers,retail is running circles around them.

    Anyway,those numbers are pretty meh if you compare it with Skyrim 10+ million sold.Witcher 2 certainly deserves more...

  • Smoped #33 3 months ago

    @golem09 To be fair, some of them are potential buyers. Certainly less than 50% though. 20% would still equal double the sales. But of course CDPR are on the record as being okay with that percentage, so what any of us think about it isn't really relevant.

  • overcorpse #34 3 months ago

    PC Elitist still burying their head in the sand regarding piracy,looking on the Bay there are over 600 people downloading Witcher 2 as we speak and how old is the game now?

  • sherpa1984 #35 3 months ago

    Aww only 1.1M? That pales in comparison to cross-platform (well, 360 and PS3) titles.

    A huge fan of the Witcher series despite its faults (notably the dialogue gets a little lost in translation from Polish, and I'm not just talking about the original version of Witcher 1. Whilst things tend to make sense, phrases are structured in a way that no native English speaker would ever use.)

    But as I was saying: I guess I can understand why consoles are the preferred platforms to use when a good game like W2 'only' sells 1.1M.

  • Rattlepiece #36 3 months ago

    @sherpa1984 It's not exactly final number. In the article they say The Witcher 1 sold 400 000 copies last year. It was released in 2007. It's sold quite a bit now, that shows how long games on PC sells.

  • bad09 #37 3 months ago

    @des

    It's pretty harsh comparing W2 sales to Skyrim sales isn't it?

    I know they are both RPG but Skyrim was always dead cert for those insane sales numbers and there is no way a 2nd game in a still fairly unknown series selling on one platform was ever gonna get near that, even when you throw in those 360 sales they have coming CDPR can only dream of those kind of sales...for now anyway we'll see what happens with W3 :)

  • juliankennedy23 #38 3 months ago

    Looking forward to increase those numbers when Witcher 2 releases on the 360.

  • v.profane #39 3 months ago

    @Rogueywon Good points, particularly the 3rd. I had a lot of trouble getting hold of The Witcher 1 a couple of years ago as all the major web shops didn't have any stock and unsurprisingly neither did any of the shops in my city. Ended up having to order it from a small independent shop through Play.com marketplace. Now I've given that copy to a friend and have it on my GOG account.

  • gregski #40 3 months ago

    1.1 million in 7.5 months is not bad for a PC-exclusive (exclusive @ that time, that is).

  • Gunship #41 3 months ago

    1.1m on PC alone - with such tough system requirements and no DRM - is phenomenal. Cross platform it will surely beat BioWare's best, and it was done at a fraction of BioWare's budget. Pity the combat was so frustrating until they released a tutorial, and that I had to spend 1,600 on a laptop that could run decent settings at more than 25FPS (despite the devs saying it would not need a 'supercomputer')

  • SuperFanBoy #42 3 months ago

    @des "Anyway,those numbers are pretty meh if you compare it with Skyrim 10+ million sold.Witcher 2 certainly deserves more..."

    This comparison makes absolutely no sense. The Elder Scrolls series is mainstream and pretty much everyone buys such games. Witcher 2 is a hardcore action RPG and its sales should be compared with other games of that type.

    Take Dark Souls of example, another hardcore action RPG. How much did sell totally, on both platforms? A bit over 1 million. Witcher 2 sales are fine for a game of its type.

  • iamtheoneneo #43 3 months ago

    witcher 2 - the best game I played of last year by far.

  • jogyourmind #44 3 months ago

    It's not an RPG.

  • bikmate #45 3 months ago

    @Smoped and some of them probably did buy it.

    The question now is whether it is fair to include those, in the # of pirate downloads, who first pirate and then purchase? What I'm trying to say here is this: 1 person pirates the game, that same person then purchases it, which means that the piracy count for that person becomes moot, effectively cancelling it out. You can't say 1 person pirated it and 1 person bought it if those persons are one and the same. I think they don't distinguish between converts and pirates and quite frankly any piracy number is an inflated guestimate at best if you ask me.

    Plus piracy doesn't automatically remove the money from the economy. It will just be spent in a different sector(people will spend their money, that's what it's for). But I think money is irrelevant; pirating something imo isn't related to your financial status(in Europe at least). I know people who are way poorer then me and are mostly legitimate or are at least trying to be, while I know people who have more then me but pirate the crap out of everything. It's a matter of how were you raised, how you appreciate things, your personality etc.

    Basically it comes down to psychology. Whether you think you are entitled or not, whether you are generous or avaricious and to some extent I'm sure your environment can influence you to be more appreciative for other peoples work and so on. Of course there is always the possibility for a change in your views, they don't stay the same through your life and if you ask me there is equal potential for a pirate to turn legit and someone legit to turn to piracy. There is no way to fight it, there will always be someone who will pay for something and someone who will go out of their way to get it for free. That's why I believe that going DRM free is the best possible choice any company can do. If they reward their fans and customers they will stay loyal and word of mouth is the best advertisement in the world.

  • Wot_the_Melon #46 3 months ago

    I bought both last year, through GOG. But if there was one company and game series that deserve higher sales numbers, it's this one! It really does some remarkable RPG-like things that other RPGs seem to have completely forgotten.

  • TrevHead #47 3 months ago

    Cool news and sets a good example that PC games have a much longer retail lifespan than consoles.

  • Dangerous_Dan #48 3 months ago

    @misinformed - Role playing? Role playing like in Skyrim? There is role playing and there is role playing, both are very different and the witcher does role playing and not role playing.

    I hope I am not confusing anybody.

  • craziii #49 3 months ago

    I wish it had sold more. I wish the numbers were close to 4 mil :(

  • Paul_cz #50 3 months ago

    Skyrim is McDonalds.

    Witcher 2 is a fine five star restaurant.

    Of course McDonalds will sell more meals.

  • Laythe_AD #51 3 months ago

    Hats off to them. The second is the best RPG I've played since the infinity engine and Planescape, so it deserves it's success.

  • jogyourmind #52 3 months ago

    @Paul_cz

    Skyrim is McDonalds, Witcher 2 is KFC.

  • Monstro #53 3 months ago

    @gregski I shall look into it :)

    I feel a bit dirty for saying it, but I think ME3 will be the immediate priority in a few weeks. I was thinking of waiting for a hardware upgrade before Ze Witcher II, anyway...