Runic employee speaks about Torchlight sales figures

[tviceman]

It's here at the steam forums:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1038396

A user by the name BrockDiesel claims to be a Runic employee posts a few times in that thread, and in reference to "hundreds of thousands sold" he says that although Torchlight is selling well, it's not selling that well.

Let me preface everything I'm saying with this: Yes, I'm aware that official sales figures have not been released and thus I have no idea how it's doing other than not "hundreds of thousands sold."

I know the game has only seen a digital release thus far, and it's getting the retail treatment in January, but I think much of this goes to show that digital sales likely aren't as high as everyone (including myself) likes to think they are. With everything going for it, the incredibly low initial price of $20, extremely low system requirements, decent reviews, great word of mouth, and overall community enthusiasm for the game, if the guy really is an employee of Runic and is telling the truth, it's both disheartening and disappointing.

I hope this continues to stay in the top ten at various digital outlets and I really hope it does well at retail. I know hack n' slash games aren't for everyone (not a huge fan myself) but this is a highly polished, fun game with lots of replayability and definitely at a price point that is more than worth it's dollar value.

 

[LumbergTech]

if it had multiplayer it would have sold at least double

that was their mistake

its quite simple

I didn't buy it for that reason. I don't buy single player only games except for very rare exceptions.

to put it into perspective, its a clone of a game that was and continues to be successful because of how fun the multiplayer is/was

I have no idea why they thought that diablo fans would accept that. Sure some people like to muck around in single player, but not nearly as many people as there used to be

 

[brblx]

i think people either want 'timewasters' like world of goo or plants vs zombies, or full-on story-driven (or multiplayer) games. torchlight fell somewhere in the middle and got lost.

 

[Dumac]

If it had multiplayer, it would have done a lot better.

 

[Rifter]

what they all said X4

 

[Spoooon]

Just bought it for my brother and myself. Looking forward to it despite lack of multiplayer.

 

[duragezic]

If it had multiplayer, it would still be in development. And they would have had a harder time coming up with money for a game promising more but would take longer, especially coming from some of the people who made Hellgate: London, which promised so much and took so long but didn't deliver on a lot.

It surprises me it's still on the Steam top 10 (has been since release except a few days maybe) but maybe Steam doesn't move as much as people think, at least outside of the first few spots (taken up by AA games or killer deals).

Because I've been following the stats of Torchlight players on Steam and it's generally peaked around 1400 since I've been watching it for the past month. However, Torchlight was released to 6 different distributors online, though I'd expect Steam and direct from Runic to make up the bulk.

Anyway, no idea if that's really a Runic employee. But a couple hundred thousand units is what I've had guessed. Basically what I think he alludes to about it's hard to make tons of money on PC only but that it's paying the bills.

 

[tviceman]

To all the multiplayer comments:

I no doubt agree that longevity is potentially much longer with a multiplayer aspect, but I often find my enjoyment living and dieing by who I'm playing with in a multiplayer game. There are some real idiots out there who generally just ruin the experience for everyone they're playing with. As a result, I will always enjoy a story driven single player experience most.

 

[Zenoth]

I'm not sure if my analogy is good enough, but the devs played a big gamble by releasing a car without wheels, and then said: «Alright, for now it should be enough to attract attention and sell enough so that we build a solid base, get funds and then add the wheels later on». As someone else said, and I agree with that, that they released it without multi-player (and not just "basic" multi-player, but proper dedicated, closed and open on-line servers à-la Battle.net) was a mistake. It's obvious to me that they won't sell enough to support it long term and turn it into a mini MMORPG or anything even remotely similar to Diablo II, and so far everyone who tried to imitate either DII or Battle.net miserably failed, two of which went bankrupt (Iron Lore and Ascaron).

 

[SZLiao214]

It's a fun game if you really like searching for loot but i wish they had included lan coop. Even if it was just 2 people, i would have loved it.

 

[lupi]

haven't seen a box for it on the store shelf so I don't care about it yet.

 

[spacelord]

It needs a better story. I got bored after a couple of days... of killing and looting.

 

[Dumac]

To all the multiplayer comments:

I no doubt agree that longevity is potentially much longer with a multiplayer aspect, but I often find my enjoyment living and dieing by who I'm playing with in a multiplayer game. There are some real idiots out there who generally just ruin the experience for everyone they're playing with. As a result, I will always enjoy a story driven single player experience most.

The thing is, this game isn't a great story-driven single player experience that draws the player into the world. It is a dungeon crawler with lots of loot and action - which would benefit greatly for multiplayer.

As for having your fun ruined by others in multiplayer, that is what private games are for. Just invite your friends.

 

[fatpat268]

Because I've been following the stats of Torchlight players on Steam and it's generally peaked around 1400 since I've been watching it for the past month. However, Torchlight was released to 6 different distributors online, though I'd expect Steam and direct from Runic to make up the bulk.

Isn't Torchlight played through steam no matter who you buy it from?

 

[frozentundra123456]

i think people either want 'timewasters' like world of goo or plants vs zombies, or full-on story-driven (or multiplayer) games. torchlight fell somewhere in the middle and got lost.

I tend to agree. Looking at the low price and system reqiurements makes me wonder how good the graphics are and if the game really is long enough and well developed enough to have a good storyline. I also think some people (including me) wonder if it isn't too much like Fate, which I have played and liked, but ultimately got bored of.
I know I am in the minority, but I really don't buy a game for the multiplayer aspect. The only games that I really liked online were MW1(not MW2) and the old Battle for Middle Earth games and Titan Quest. Some of my favorite games (KOTOR 1 and 2, Mass Effect, Neverwinter Nights) have been single player. So for Torchlight, I would really like to try it, but wonder if it can have enough of a story to make it worthwhile.

 

[CPA]

if it had multiplayer it would have sold at least double

that was their mistake

its quite simple

I didn't buy it for that reason. I don't buy single player only games except for very rare exceptions.

to put it into perspective, its a clone of a game that was and continues to be successful because of how fun the multiplayer is/was

I have no idea why they thought that diablo fans would accept that. Sure some people like to muck around in single player, but not nearly as many people as there used to be

I'm the exact opposite. Other than TF2, I couldn't give a rat's ass if a game has mp. I prefer sp. Am only waiting to snatch up torchlight until it goes on sale at D2D later this month.

 

[brennok]

Isn't Torchlight played through steam no matter who you buy it from?

No actually they are all separate versions.

The retail release is supposed to be Jan 5 and should be up for preorder soon on Amazon I believe. I think Gamestop is also taking preorders.

While I would have liked having multiplayer, they would have to lock down the game more so it wouldn't be as open to mods and personally for me this is why I keep playing. Also I would still be waiting for another year to play and this is one of the few games I am playing right now.

 

[mikelish]

if it had multiplayer it would have taken atleast 6monthes longer to complete. they wanted multiplayer but needed $ from single player to keep them going

multiplayer will be out in about a year or more

 

[slayer202]

this is the worst post i've ever seen. calling out digital sales because it hasn't sold hundreds of thousands of copies? it was a very low key release on basically a preview of the mmo. I think it is probably doing well and the creators are probably happy with how it is doing...

 

[Gothgar]

I played the demo... fun game, I would buy it for under 10...

If it had multiplayer I would pay the full 20

 

[brennok]

Keep your eyes on the Direct 2 Drive sale since it is one of the games that is supposed to be on sale for 24 hours. No one knows how much but I know some people think it might be for 50% off based on some image files.

 

[Maximilian]

I know multiplayer was left out deliberately but its 2009 and not many games can do well without a good multiplayer component. Its like playing diablo II single player, you are left with the feeling of "whats the point?" you will never kick anyones ass or trade your junk for better gear etc, its a complete waste of time. People who play single player exclusively are a minority and generally arent that clued up on gaming anyways so they shouldve had a basic multiplayer component to appeal to a broader range of gamers.

 

[waffleironhead]

I am left wondering the amount of digital sales versus B&M sales across the market. I know quite a few people who do not purchase digitally. I guess it is a wait and see as far as total sales go.

 

[sticks435]

I know multiplayer was left out deliberately but its 2009 and not many games can do well without a good multiplayer component. Its like playing diablo II single player, you are left with the feeling of "whats the point?" you will never kick anyones ass or trade your junk for better gear etc, its a complete waste of time. People who play single player exclusively are a minority and generally arent that clued up on gaming anyways so they shouldve had a basic multiplayer component to appeal to a broader range of gamers.

Umm, no. Some of us just don't like playing with idiots, or have friends who don't have gaming PC's to play multiplayer with. I refuse to play multiplayer with anyone I don't know nowadays. Trust me, I'm in no way "not that clued up on gaming."

 

[ivan2]

what do they expect, millions flying off the shelves?

it is a fun game but it only has 3 characters, although it has 3 trees per character, i reckon that most people will end up with the similar build after they found the respec potion mod because they kill stuff much quicker. I have a amber lance alchemist with full on pet, but i soon changed back to just 1 point pet and full parry because pets don't kill as quick as the lance. similarly i went with the berserk skill at the end of the offensive tree of the barb, once i saw it's potential i ditched all of my AoEs and went fully weapon mastery/dual wield/etc.

and it got old quickly from there