Given the promotion of the game and the promise of experiencing futuristic combat with robot dinosaurs, Guerrilla Games’ new IP Horizon: Zero Dawn has managed to move 2.6 million copies in physical SKUs, digital downloads and consumer sell-throughs within two weeks of launching.
Sony sent out the word via press release, indicating that the third-person action-adventure title had managed to shift millions of units since launching on February 28th.
They claim it’s the best-selling new first party IP in the launch of the PS4’s system to date. It also happens to be Guerrilla’s biggest game launch to date, exceeding even the very hyped release of Killzone 2 on the PlayStation 3.
Guerrilla Games managing director Hermen Hulst commented about the sales achievement, stating in the press release…
“We’re thrilled that Horizon Zero Dawn has been embraced by critics and players alike. Developing the game was a labor of love, so it’s extremely satisfying to see that it elicits the same passion and enthusiasm from the gaming public that we felt during its development,”
“This is only the beginning of Aloy’s story and our exploration of the world of Horizon Zero Dawn, with the team already hard at work on an expansion to the story.”
It’s interesting that he mentions that the game will have an expansion to the story but not a sequel.
Previously, one of the game’s producers, Samrat Sharma, had recently mentioned that Guerrilla was still undecided as to whether or not a sequel for Horizon: Zero Dawn was happening, which seems odd given the early strong sales for the game.
Nevertheless, Hulst seems to be indicating that they will continue the story through DLC expansion packs, presumably spaced throughout the year. I’m guessing they’re going to gauge interest to see how well they can capitalize on the property depending on what the feedback on the DLC will be like.
Some controversy had broken out early on before the game’s release, as many gaming websites had touted Horizon: Zero Dawn as a feminist game. Not a lot of people took kindly to this given the push back against identity politics in the gaming industry.
Nevertheless, regardless of the politics, a lot of people did enjoy the robosaur combat and the world exploration. There have been some complaints and growing discussions about Horizon: Zero Dawn’s feminist slant, which has put some gamers off but was also brushed off by others.
Early launch week sales aren’t always the best indicators for a game’s overall potential, though. Usually big budgeted titles have their strongest sales front-loaded into the first eight weeks of release, so we’ll see later on how well Horizon: Zero Dawn does by the time the quarter wraps up and summer begins to roll around.
