Braid's been out for a week, but the Internet is still talking about it. Having become a critical darling for his evocative puzzler, creator Jonathan Blow also has good news in the sales department, and confirmed that it looks like he can afford to make a new game thanks to sales of Braid continuing steadily since launch.
Sales are now slower than they were on launch day, but not too much: the sales didn’t just die after the first few days, as they do with some games. As a result, it looks like I will be able to make the next game, without needing to get a job that would interfere with that. (The estimated sales so far of 55,000 are not enough for this, but extrapolating into the future, the situation looks safe). Thank you, once again, for making that possible.
Blow also had some numbers for anybody interested in Braid stats:
As I write this, there are 62,242 entries on the main leaderboards. I don’t have official sales numbers for the full week, but I would guess about 55,000 people have bought the game so far.
18,141 have completed the game (or at least gotten 60 puzzle pieces, since that is what the leaderboard shows).
528 people have completed the Full Game Speed Run. Of these, 238 have beaten the challenge time, and thus gotten all 200 Achievement points that you can get from Braid on Xbox Live.
Thousands of people have been playing the single-level speed runs. There are 5,098 people on the Leap of Faith speed run leaderboard, for example.
This is great news all around, and it's encouraging to see that in this era of childish mainstream novelties, a game that dares to be different and provide an intellectual challenge (in more ways than one) can manage to stand on its own two feet. Hopefully Blow can start work on a new game soon ... if only so I can stop talking about bloody Braid.
Contest:
9:41 PM on 08.13.2008
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Just replayed the demo again, and actually got all the pieces in the first area.
I seriously can't wait.
MS Points, here in Chile, cost like twice of what they should, so it's better to just get it off Steam, or something, where the price is actually fair..
Maybe something with Paris Hilton.
Considering this ia a small operation, and that he's not getting a regular paycheck like normal folk, that is, surprisingly, doing well.
Noting also that Microsoft is getting a hefty cut of the take home, and Blow is recouping the costs of production with his cut. The fact that he's at least broken even is pretty excellent.
Considering the game is doing well with Zero market exposure beyond blogs, game journos and XBOX Live hype ads . . . trust me, this is good news. :)
I mean, this is a great game. Just like any other release, MS should be getting the word out.
I don't really know how (as advertizing would surely cost a ton), but there's got to be a way to get more poeple in the know.
I hope he doesn't commit suicice. That would be bad.
Hey Mr. Blow, come over to the dark side of the PSN and you will be able to make a couple more games without having to work for the man!
That's probably because Braid and Penny Arcade were at the rip-off price of 1200MS Points.
Braid could have done so much better if it came out at a normal price
Maybe it's just an old shot, from before the game was finished. Or is the demo different from the full game? I never tried the demo.
That's in the game, I can't remember the exact world though. :(
Also, happy to hear about Braid's success. The game is well worth the $15 price tag.
I wonder if his next project will be a 2D puzzler/platformer or something else entirely? Hmmm..
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