HL2 Only Sold 4 million?

[Ricgar]

On the Episode One thing it says "The continuation of the HL2 franchise, which has sold 4 million units.". This is kind of sad, considering *edit*, and HL1 also sold a lot more than HL2 has sold thusfar. What do you guys think?

 

[$kelet0r]

The official figures will never be released and for a pc developer those numbers are insane - VALVe are not complaining
What did disappoint was HL2 on the Xbox and that was Valve's fault by not making the game as a flagship Xbox360 title - they made a substantial loss I imagine on that venture

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

The PC and Xbox markets are entirely different beasts, and can't be realistically compared.

Look at it another way - how much did Bungie get for each copy of Halo 2 sold? Bear in mind that Valve got a 100% royalty on every copy of HL2 sold via Steam.

 

[Ricgar]

The official figures will never be released and for a pc developer those numbers are insane - VALVe are not complaining
What did disappoint was HL2 on the Xbox and that was Valve's fault by not making the game as a flagship Xbox360 title - they made a substantial loss I imagine on that venture

It's an official advertisment, meaning that these are probably the real figures. 4 Million sounds official.

That being said, if we removie the whole Halo 2 factor and consoles, it still sold A LOT less than Half Life 1 did.

And when HL2 was repackaged as CS:S, HL2 GOTY, etc, those sold almost nothing.

 

[Pesmerga]

So... HL2 sold less.. what's your point? HL2 hasn't been out nearly as long as HL1 has been. HL1 still sells.

 

[giant384]

umm wouldnt "units" in 4 million units be the boxed product? because there is still steam sales.

 

[Hypnosos]

Yeah... right.. "only 4 million". It doesn't seem so "only" to me.

 

[Ricgar]

So... HL2 sold less.. what's your point? HL2 hasn't been out nearly as long as HL1 has been. HL1 still sells.

HL1 and HL2 have already flatlined in sales. Sure they both sell some units here and there, but they are no longer in any charts, you could say they are done with their sales history. I don't anticipate HL2 to hit up the top 10 charts any time soon. HL1 sold very well, and actually had a big comeback in sales after the release of some mods, where it literaly came back from the dead. This isn't going to happen to HL2.

For a game like HL2, yes, 4 million IS only 4 million, considering that it follows one of the best selling games (console and PC), and took so much time and money to create.

 

[drunkymonkey]

Me neither. 100,000 thousand constitues a 'Sold Out' tag, as far as I know, so 4 million is excellent. But as Pes says, Half Life 1 has been constantly bought, because of not only it's excellence, but also the low specs. Why do you think CS 1.6 is still popular?
Also, Half Life 1 came out in a time where nothing like it had been seen before, and it was a beacon, really. Rising up amogst the rest. Half LOife 2 didn't have quite that big a difference on the rest of the market.

HL1 and HL2 have already flatlined in sales. Sure they both sell some units here and there, but they are no longer in any charts, you could say they are done with their sales history.

Not true. Half Life still sells very well. The charts are packed with lots of sales. You don't actually know how far off the charts they are. And plus, I don't know for sure, but I think there's a seperate chart for budget games. Also: Half Life 2 came third in the most sold PC games in 2004, and ninth in 2005, which is a tremendous achivement, considering Football Manager's and Sims 2's success.

I don't anticipate HL2 to hit up the top 10 charts any time soon. HL1 sold very well, and actually had a big comeback in sales after the release of some mods, where it literaly came back from the dead. This isn't going to happen to HL2.

No, but perhaps Half Life 2 Episode 1 will. I dunno if expansion packs are included in the process, and as someone said, it isn't entirely clear if Steam sales are counted too (Half Life 1 wasn't distributed through Steam at first, for obvious reasons).

For a game like HL2, yes, 4 million IS only 4 million, considering that it follows one of the best selling games (console and PC), and took so much time and money to create.

Um, marketing and things with a number on the title are what most people want, and while Half Life 2 is a sequel, it's not exactly classed as a 'cool' game. Come on, it's got a goateed bespecled scientist on the front.

 

[Cole]

Let me see: How many Great FPS's were released within a year of when Halo 2 was releasd on the Xbox. Meaning FPS's that are on par with it. How many FPS's are considered on par with Halo 2 for the Xbox? The only FPS on par with Halo 2 in the xbox world that xbox gamers consider on par with it is Halo 2.

Now PC you got: HL2, FarCry, and Doom 3 all coming out roughly in a year, Doom 3 only several months before. The PC market is also signficantly smaller. So now you have 3 great FPS's on the Pc. One great FPS on the Xbox. Xbox has bigger market.
Halo 2 should sell more, infact if it didn't I would be extremely confused. Also what one got advertised more!!!!! I didn't see ONE HL2 TV advertisment. I can't remember how many times I see Halo 2 being advertised on TV.


Now in terms of $$, depending on if Bungie is funded by Microsoft(?) I could be wrong, but lets go with they arn't. Bungie makes $7-$10 off each copy sold. Microsoft and retailer each take the rest. Valve makes $7 - $10 off of each retail copy sold and $35 off of each Steam copy sold.

I also do not believe Steam Figures were ever released.

 

[Megalomaniac]

So, who cares? I really don't, I love the game, does it matter that other people don't? No, i feel bad for them, but it doesn't change the fact that it is a great game.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

On the Episode One thing it says "The continuation of the HL2 franchise, which has sold 4 million units.". This is kind of sad, considering Halo 2 sold over 11 million units, and HL1 also sold a lot more than HL2 has sold thusfar. What do you guys think?

Steam sales weren't in the figure, I am willing to bet. And it isn't "sad" it sold less than Halo 2, two entirely different platforms.

 

[Asuka]

HL2 did very well. I just hope the eps do great so Valve invests in HL3.

 

[Ennui]

Half-Life 2 is a better game than Halo 2.
There are more idiots in the world than cool people.

Thus, it makes perfect, logical sense for HL2 to not sell as well.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

HL2 did very well. I just hope the eps do great so Valve invests in HL3.

I really think they will do well no matter what, if there is enough people like me wanting to know what happened after the explosions they will make enough. What also helps out is that Episode 1 doesn't require the core HL2 game.

 

[Dalamari]

Half-Life 2 audience: People who like games

Halo 2 audience: Console fanboys and people who wear shirts that have stupid little sayings on them in white lettering, usually along the lines of "I'm using this funny little sentence to show how cool I am for spending $25 on a black shirt with white letters"

 

[Megalomaniac]

Half-Life 2 is a better game than Halo 2.
There are more idiots in the world than cool people.

Thus, it makes perfect, logical sense for HL2 to not sell as well.

So very very true! :cheers:

 

[Sparda]

I would not say Half life is better than Halo (though i did like HL more) Halo is a X-Box logo sort of thing, every one knows the game and alot of people like to by X-Box/PS games more than a PC games (Gets me a bit XB/PS games are $20 more than a PC version of the same game) Valve would have made more money by making Half life an XB/PS game only, but Half Life selling only 4M... bleh its still selling and always will be as long as steam is around unlike Halo that dose not sell anymore.

 

[Ricgar]

Guys, this isn't a "Halo Sux" thread. Please stay on the point at hand. I wish that I never even mentioned Halo because that's all your focusing on.

Compared to HL1, HL2 sold VERY poorly.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Guys, this isn't a "Halo Sux" thread. Please stay on the point at hand. I wish that I never even mentioned Halo because that's all your focusing on.

Compared to HL1, HL2 sold VERY poorly.

HL1 has also been out for a very long time....

 

[Pesmerga]

Halo does suck, though.

 

[giant384]

I would not say Half life is better than Halo (though i did like HL more) Halo is a X-Box logo sort of thing, every one knows the game and alot of people like to by X-Box/PS games more than a PC games (Gets me a bit XB/PS games are $20 more than a PC version of the same game) Valve would have made more money by making Half life an XB/PS game only, but Half Life selling only 4M... bleh its still selling and always will be as long as steam is around unlike Halo that dose not sell anymore.

yea but mods where mainly where the selling point was

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Halo does suck, though.

Compared to HL2, yes it does. But alone tis a very good game.

 

[Pesmerga]

Compared to HL2, yes it does. But alone tis a very good game.

imo Halo 2 had a much better Single Player

 

[Sparda]

You can't realy say Halo sucks, because it dose not, if it did suck no one would by it and Half life would have sold more than it, Halo is alright i liked it (not as much as Half life)

 

[giant384]

more younger kids have an interest in halo for xbox then pc's, because consoles are just easy and no upgrades needed

 

[Ricgar]

Please, just shut up about HALO. This thread isn't about Halo.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

lol bunch of Halo haters, go figure.

 

[Sparda]

more younger kids have an interest in halo for xbox then pc's, because consoles are just easy and no upgrades needed

Thats dead right, kids play games more than adults, "how many kids played HL1 and know about 2?"

 

[Llama]

4 million x most of them steam sales = ****loads of money for Valve

 

[$kelet0r]

Guys, this isn't a "Halo Sux" thread. Please stay on the point at hand. I wish that I never even mentioned Halo because that's all your focusing on.

Compared to HL1, HL2 sold VERY poorly.

Very poorly? What are the figures for HL1?
edit - i thought so HL1 = 8 million sales since 1998 vs HL2 = 4 million since Nov 2004
If that's considered a failure I don't know what to think :|

 

[Sulkdodds]

Steeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaam!

 

[Ricgar]

Even if they did make the same amount of money, there is still LESS people playing HL1 than HL2, less customers.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Even if they did make the same amount of money, there is still LESS people playing HL1 than HL2, less customers.

Yes because the 6 million people with Steam accounts is soooo much less.....:|

 

[drunkymonkey]

Even if they did make the same amount of money, there is still LESS people playing HL1 than HL2, less customers.

Well of course, because of the combination of how long HL1 has been out and its hardware specifications! CS 1.6 is still more popular than CSS.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Even if they did make the same amount of money, there is still LESS people playing HL1 than HL2, less customers.

I'm beginning to wonder what your point is. People have repeatedly shown that you can't compare PC and console markets, and that HL has been on sale for 4 times as long as HL2. Yet you're still clinging to this "HL2 sold poorly" thing.

 

[A True Canadian]

On the Episode One thing it says "The continuation of the HL2 franchise, which has sold 4 million units.". This is kind of sad, considering *edit*, and HL1 also sold a lot more than HL2 has sold thusfar. What do you guys think?

Perhaps those figures are only the Steam sales. I would think it would be a lot easier to pull up Steam sales figures in-house at Valve rather than contact Vivendi/EA about retail sales for boxed copies (which are likely released every quarter).

Even then, like many others have said, Half-Life has been out since 1998 while Half-Life 2 is only a year and a half old. I didn't discover Half-Life until 2001, nearly 4 years after the game was released. What's to suggest that other gamers won't discover Half-Life 2 until years later?

Now if we were to compare the sales figures for Half-Life and Half-Life 2 based on how they did in their first years, respectively, I think you'd find that Half-Life 2 outperformed it by more than half. Wouldn't that be a success? Wouldn't Half-Life 2 be on pace to surpass Half-Life in sales?

 

[Llama]

I seem to remember that thats 4 million in retail, Steam sales have never been given.
Still, if you consider Valves takes 100% of the cash from every Steam sale, Theyd need to sell, what...1,000,000 copies (roughly) to COMPLETLY cover all the development costs, which isnt a lot considering the popularity of the games. If you add into that the 4 million retail Valve have made a lot of money with the game.
And, even if they hadnt, 4,000,000 copies is a huge amount of games.

 

[Opheli@r]

The first game i have ever played was HL. It is burried inside my hearth for all eternity. Halo sucked. No depth in the strory, and it kept repeating itself over time. Now, HL2 was THE game of 2k4. Doom 3 sucked, Far Cry had a pathetic story, and at that time, i thought Halo 2 was crappy.
I bought a XB360, and a friend of mine gave me Halo 2 for my birthday. I gotta say, i was surprised. The story was way better than Halo (c'mon, it was an HL ripof), and it had a more dinamic gameplay. I am a HL2 hardcore fan, and i dont give a sh*t about sales. And that is all i need to know.

 

[$kelet0r]

The first game i have ever played was HL. It is burried inside my hearth for all eternity. Halo sucked. No depth in the strory, and it kept repeating itself over time. Now, HL2 was THE game of 2k4. Doom 3 sucked, Far Cry had a pathetic story, and at that time, i thought Halo 2 was crappy.
I bought a XB360, and a friend of mine gave me Halo 2 for my birthday. I gotta say, i was surprised. The story was way better than Halo (c'mon, it was an HL ripof), and it had a more dinamic gameplay. I am a HL2 hardcore fan, and i dont give a sh*t about sales. And that is all i need to know.

how is that relevant :upstare:

what would be interesting is a point of comparison like how well did/does the like of Doom3, Far Cry, BF2 sell