Vanishing of Ethan Carter sales on pace with Gone Home

Though that comparison is a bit disingenuous amidst some otherwise cool straight talk

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, which Alasdair quite liked in his review, has sold 60,000 units in its first month. Not a lot compared to usual sales stories that make headlines, like, “Rust sells a million in its first month,” or “Steven Hansen’s A la cartrdige – The second seasoning sells 69 million in its first month,” but it’s also a more typical story.

That’s why I appreciated this blog post from the folks that made the game, which gets into some behind the scenes sales stuff. And of course paints 60,000 sales as more than feasible, putting them on pace with Gone Home, though I’d say Gone Home had itself a longer tail than Ethan Carter might unless it also generates a boon of critical coverage and hateful “not-game” arguers. 

Also interesting is this bit:

“On top of that, some of our sales are from retail, from which we get less money than from digital platforms. And even from digitals platforms it is not the 70% [profit] for the developer as some people believe. Remember that in countries like Russia the price is lower, so the revenue per copy is lower. From the units sold in Europe, subtract VAT. Then subtract the US tax from the entire revenue. Then subtract the engine license. Then subtract the Polish income tax from that.

“Yeah, forget the 70% dream. Not even close.”

Also that, “the PS4 version will also boost the PC sales (confirmed by talking to devs with similar history).” Apparently games being free on PS+ tends to (positively) affect their sales, too, presumably on other platforms, but maybe in total. Would be interesting to know more.

They also made a nifty infographic if you want pictures words.