News
Orange Box PC Outsold Console Version
I Owe Someone An “I Told You So”
by Coop
I remember a while back, Veggie Jackson posted his list for Game of the Year, 2007. He, being the savvy gamer he is, actually had a list for every single system and picked games based multiplatform games on their main system. For the most part it was fine, but I remember specifically taking up issue with him putting Orange Box’s primary console as Xbox 360. When checking online websites for sales such as VGChartz.com they revealed that they do not always follow PC charts due to downloadable sales. Seeing as nearly all of the PC sales of Orange Box were through digital distribution, I dropped the problem and went on with my life.
Finally, after two long months, I can tell Veggie Jackson “I told you so,” and there is nothing I enjoy more.
In an interview with TomsGames.com, Valve Exec Doug Lombari detailed the sales of the game across all platforms.
Rob Wright: You released The Orange Box for both the PC and the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. Were you happy with the business the console versions did, and how did it compare to the game's PC sales?
Doug Lombari: We were very happy with both the Xbox 360 and PS3 sales. I think the Xbox 360 version did just over a million, while the PS3 [released later in December] version did a few hundred thousand copies. So I think when all is said and done, The Orange Box will have sold about 1.5 million copies on the console, which is great. But the game's PC sales were much stronger.
Rob Wright: How much stronger, exactly?
Doug Lombari: I'd say significantly stronger, at least a two-digit percentage increase over the console sales. And that includes Steam sales, retail sales, and now individual sales of Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode 2. So when you take the PC numbers for The Orange Box a la carte, they're significantly higher.
No matter what, those are impressive numbers. Overall sales for the Orange Box were nearly 3 million copies, which does rank it as one of the best selling games of 2007. This is a great testament to the relevance of PC gaming in a console world. There still seems to be a place for the platform out there, and if this trend continues we will at least see Valve continuing support.
Oh, and Veggie, I TOLD YOU SO.
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Comments
Win one for the PC guys. It's just better to have a mouse to aim. admit it.
um...this never was news to me. Doesn't surprise me at all.
Henceforth, new-gen console versions of PC titles should be referred to as "PowerPC versions."
Also, don't use vgchartz.com for anything. The obsessive wackos over at GAF have proven ioi (vgchartz owner) will frequently make up numbers that have no basis in reality, based on his weird formulas. Anything on that site is highly suspect.
I think when everyone found out you could mod the portal gun into Half Life they ran out and bought it.