Amnesia earns Frictional Games over $3.6 million
Title has made over ten times its production cost
Frictional Games has revealed details of its success with horror game Amnesia, and the ongoing sales of the Penumbra series.
"I think we have never disclosed how much we Amnesia cost to make, so might as well do that here," blogged Frictional Games co-founder Thomas Grip.
"The (exactly) three years of development cost a total of $360,000. It has since earned more than ten times that. Take that investors we talked to in 2009!"
He admitted exact sales numbers were trickier to pin down, thanks to the games inclusion in the Humble Indie Bundle and Potato Bundles. But even factoring in bundle sales where someone may have already owned the game, it has still shifted an impressive number of units.
"So saying that we have sold a million units seems fair. Wait... a million units! Oh s***!" remarked Grip.
"What I think is more interesting is how good the monthly sales still are. Not counting any discounts, the monthly full price sales lie at over 10,000 units. This means that less then every 5th minute someone in the world is buying a copy of Amnesia."
Grip attributed the ongoing success to the lack of horror gaming competition on PC, as well as the efforts of modders and the popularity of videos of the game on YouTube.
He also noted that Frictional's Penumbra games were still selling at 900 units a month, which supported the company, allowing it to try riskier projects. And as for piracy?
"It has been over a year since we even thought about piracy. With sales as good as above we cannot really see this as an issue worth more than two lines in this post, so screw it."
The 11 man team is currently working on a horror themed, first person, "new super secret project"
"After the successes we have had, I think it is our responsibility to use our money and independence the best way possible."