The Walking Dead sells 8.5 million episodes

The Walking Dead has sold 8.5 million episodes, according to Telltale, and 25% of those sales were on iOS devices.

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The Walking Dead has been one of this year's surprise critical hits, reviving the adventure genre and the zombie trope that both seemed stuck in a rut. It's put a spring in Telltale's step with strong sales, too, after the Jurassic Park game was roundly panned. So just how much has Telltale's zombie-adventure game sold?

In a Wall Street Journal interview, CEO Dan Connors says the game has sold 8.5 million episodes. That "episodes" distinction is important, since the game's first season is split into five parts. That means the staggering number is inflated a bit since it's not a count of unique players. But even if everyone bought all five episodes (which is unlikely), it would mean 1.7 million people have played the game. Almost 2 million as a minimum number of unique players is nothing to sneeze at.

Connors noted that it's been on sale since April, but November and December were its biggest months due to critical buzz and the series finishing its first season run. It also had the advantage of entering Apple's "Hall of Fame" for gaming apps, and Connors says that's paid off. The game has earned about 25% of its revenue through the iOS platform, and that version is currently on the largest upswing of any platform.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 7, 2013 9:15 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, The Walking Dead sells 8.5 million episodes.

    The Walking Dead has sold 8.5 million episodes, according to Telltale, and 25% of those sales were on iOS devices.

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      January 7, 2013 9:42 AM

      Hopefully this sends a signal to industry bigwigs!

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      January 7, 2013 10:12 AM

      [deleted]

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        January 7, 2013 10:41 AM

        Walking dead teaches typing game should be even more fun

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      January 7, 2013 12:56 PM

      Grats to everyone at telltale. =D

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      January 7, 2013 9:39 PM

      maybe next season they will make a actual game.

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        January 7, 2013 11:32 PM

        [deleted]

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          January 8, 2013 12:01 AM

          not trolling. i really don't think it should even be called a game.

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        January 8, 2013 12:13 AM

        Is the country you live in called Wrongistan?

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          January 8, 2013 12:42 AM

          A story can enhance a game, i believe however it does not replace or excuse the lack of gameplay or challenge in which a GAME is known for. Please enlighten me in the gameplay this so called "game" offers. I am a fan of the point and click adventurer genre and when games from the 1980's are offering more interactivity then you probably aren't playing a game at all. This "game" had no real puzzles or ever presented you with any real challenges during the entire viewing of each episode. The puzzles aren't really even puzzles when you only have 2/3 things you can even interact with at a time and one of them solves the puzzle. If you actually consider this a game then you cannot deny it does a absolutely terrible job at being one.

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            January 8, 2013 1:49 AM

            No. Video games are merely digital, interactive story telling devices. I had dialog choices, could move my character around and had to solve puzzles, similarly to every other point & click adventure. The fact that my choices had no more effect on the eventual outcome than HL2, Mass Effect 3 or the majority of other video games has no bearing on me calling it a game. And I actually think it was a good game.

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              January 8, 2013 3:38 AM

              And you you would be dead wrong. The most popular video game in the world doesn't even have a story. TETRIS. Gameplay is required for a video game not a story. The walking dead does not have any real gameplay. There is the illusion of puzzles that are barley there. I have navigated DVD menus that presented more of a challenge.

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                January 8, 2013 3:58 AM

                This is a completely retarded argument.

                Who gives a shit if the gameplay in The Walking Dead lines up with what you consider to be a game or not? Why is this such an issue? Why are you even upset about this?

                So you didn't like the gameplay. The end. I couldn't give a fuck if you liked it or not, you're allowed to not like it, but to argue that the game isn't really a game is a completely stupid statement.

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                  January 8, 2013 10:52 AM

                  [deleted]

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                    January 11, 2013 8:17 AM

                    Fail states, like when you die and get "Game Over"? Lots of them, the first one a few minutes into the game..

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            January 8, 2013 2:53 AM

            [deleted]

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        January 8, 2013 2:57 AM

        I really hope they stick to the same formula actually.

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      January 7, 2013 9:40 PM

      Most excellent.

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      January 7, 2013 10:38 PM

      8.5 million episodes! I'm only up to #3 D:

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      January 7, 2013 10:41 PM

      Wow, well done guys!

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      January 7, 2013 11:58 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 8, 2013 12:40 AM

      lol at the "episodes" metric

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        January 8, 2013 2:19 AM

        They still sell episodes individually on iOS. It comes out to ~1.7 million complete copies... although not all of them will actually be complete.

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