Wed, Apr 20, 2011 | 14:53 BST
Portal has sold nearly 4m, Steam sales not included
Valve’s announced that sales of the original Portal sit at almost 4 million units, and that’s not including one or two copies that may have been sold via Steam.
Portal had humble beginnings, starting its digital life as a DigiPen Institute of Technology student project titled Narbacular Drop. After it won the Independent Game Festival’s Student Showcase Award in 2006, the game and its student creators were signed up by Valve.
Originally released as an unassuming part of Valve’s super-value blockbuster The Orange Box, Portal was gifted a standalone release in 2008. Add all these sales together and you reach that magic almost 4m unit milestone, in addition to the copies sold via Steam – which are unknown as Valve doesn’t release Steam sales figures.
Portal 2 released on PC on Tuesday 19 April via Steam. High street retailer GAME has also started selling the PC version in store today. It releases on PS3 and 360 tomorrow, April 21.
A review round-up can be found here.
Thanks, Gamespot
13 comments
#1
Lounds
20/04/11, 3:06 pm
I think tax man needs a word with valve
#2
runbmp
20/04/11, 3:07 pm
You mean they still sell videogames in retail stores? Its been years since I’ve stepped into a retail store to pick up my PC titles.
Friend of mine bought a 2pack offer, ended up costing 40$.
#3
Lounds
20/04/11, 3:17 pm
if i remember 2008 yeah they used to sell TF2, Portal separate for about £15-20 in GAME
#4
Maximum Payne
20/04/11, 3:39 pm
Portal 3 in 2012 no doubt!
#5
Edo
20/04/11, 3:53 pm
#4 Why not Half -Life 3 or Episode 3 or whatever….
#6
M. K.
20/04/11, 3:56 pm
@4: Yep and why not? They did the same thing with L4D. Everyone moaned, but everyone bought it
#7
Maximum Payne
20/04/11, 4:03 pm
^^ exactly that is why i said that
Also for record I think Portal 2 is huge profitable game because around 30 people worked on and if it is already sold 4 mil in retail then JESUS!.
#8
Heinekeno
20/04/11, 4:14 pm
More than 100 people worked on game. But still it is great success for Valve that players are satisfied and that they made some money. Who gets the most cut doesn`t concern you as a buyer, because this is not stock market.
#9
Maximum Payne
20/04/11, 4:45 pm
From WIKI:”Compared to the previous Portal team that consisted of about 8 people, Portal 2 had a dedicated 30-person staff working on its development.”
#10
Phoenixblight
20/04/11, 4:57 pm
@9
when sourcing wikipedia go to the source. Any person can edit it.
Anyways:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6141/synthesizing_portal_2.php?page=3
Erik Wolpaw: “Well, Portal was seven or eight people. This one’s probably, right now, 30 people working on it. It’s weird at Valve, though, because you get to poach somebody from another team for two days to give you a particle effect. We have these resources that. They’re not full time team members, but they’re just there, ready to do something.”
#11
DSB
20/04/11, 5:35 pm
I think it’s pretty comforting that so many people are playing Portal 2. Considering how many samey, poorly written, clichéd games are being put out today, this is definitely something that people should be exposed to, just to see how to really build a game the old way.
I’m not saying that your average modern consumerist game venture isn’t entertaining, but there really aren’t a lot of memorable ones in there, mostly because they never really try to be.
#12
xxJPRACERxx
20/04/11, 6:35 pm
4m sales is for Portal 1, not 2.
#13
DSB
20/04/11, 6:59 pm
My bad.
The same thing goes for the first one, even though that was more of a pilot of sorts.