The Ascent pulls in largest ever opening weekend sales for Curve Digital

The Ascent co-op

The multiplayer cyberpunk shooter garnered $5 million, while launching on Game Pass

Recommended Videos

Curve Digital launched The Ascent last week, and it sounds like it had a solid launch weekend. The publisher confirmed today that The Ascent set its largest-ever opening weekend sales revenue, generating over $5 million.

The Ascent also topped the Steam Global Charts over the weekend. In today’s statement, Curve Digital says this positions the indie game as a “AAA competitor.”

The Ascent is the first game out of Curve where our new team has been able to substantially make their mark, working closely with the developer and our platformer partners,” said Curve CEO John Clark in a statement.

What’s interesting, to me at least, is that it garnered this amount of sales while launching on Xbox Game Pass. Xbox has been saying for a while that Game Pass leads to more sales, which can seem counter-intuitive on its face. Game Pass is a subscription service, essentially a Netflix-for-games, and paying the entry fee gives you access to the games.

Where it seems to work is the power of word-of-mouth. Game Pass makes it easy for one person in a group to test the waters, and since The Ascent is a co-op game, then one advocate might turn more onto the game. If they don’t have Game Pass, that means picking up Game Pass—or just buying the game on Steam.

Xbox Game Pass has already been a really good deal as far as building up a library of games goes. It’s been really nice to see big games I missed go onto Game Pass a few months later, giving me an excuse to dip my toe in, or a cool new game from a smaller studio hit the service at launch, encouraging me to try something I otherwise might not have. The Ascent seems to be another story of sales success while still launching on the platform, and it will be interesting to see how this pans out over the generation to come.

If you’re interested in The Ascent, make sure to read our review.


Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article Helldivers 2 players receive Quasar Cannon and Heavy Machine Gun Stratagems to support Automaton obliteration
helldivers 2 heavy machine gun HMG quasar cannon stratagems unlocked
Read Article The Witcher 4 development is forging ahead at CD Projekt Red
The Witcher 4 update
Read Article Bungie reveals Into the Light weapons are time-gated and Destiny 2 players aren’t happy
Related Content
Read Article Helldivers 2 players receive Quasar Cannon and Heavy Machine Gun Stratagems to support Automaton obliteration
helldivers 2 heavy machine gun HMG quasar cannon stratagems unlocked
Read Article The Witcher 4 development is forging ahead at CD Projekt Red
The Witcher 4 update
Read Article Bungie reveals Into the Light weapons are time-gated and Destiny 2 players aren’t happy
Author
Eric Van Allen
Senior Editor - While Eric's been writing about games since 2014, he's been playing them for a lot longer. Usually found grinding RPG battles, digging into an indie gem, or hanging out around the Limsa Aethryte.