The Witness launched last week after seven years of development, and it seems all the hard work and toil to ship the game are paying off. On Sunday, Jonathan Blow announced via Twitter that The Witness is on pace to sell more copies in a week than Braid sold in its entire first year. As Gamasutra noted, Braid sold over $4 million in revenue.
It’s hard to talk about numbers without breaking NDAs, but The Witness is on track to sell more in a week than Braid sold in its first year,
— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) January 31, 2016
Just a few days earlier, Blow was lamenting the fact that his game is “the #1 game on a certain popular torrent site.” This worried many fans about whether or not Blow and Thekla would be able to produce another game with the size and scope of The Witness.
It seems The Witness is the #1 game on a certain popular torrent site.
Unfortunately this will not help us afford to make another game! 🙁— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) January 28, 2016
Luckily, despite piracy troubles, the game seems to be selling well enough to support a new project. Blow followed up on his Sunday tweet by explaining that the money influx could be enough to support a project just as if not more ambitious than The Witness.
The Witness launched last week, and due to its mazes and labyrinths of shifting puzzles and complex rules, has had a bit of a polarized reception. Players and critics alike took the launch as a chance to criticize both Blow and his project. Despite some outcry about the game’s $40 price tag, it seems the gaming world has taken a liking to Blow’s Myst-inspired island adventure.
Keep an eye out this week for Gameranx’s review of The Witness, along with any other updates surrounding the game or its creator. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait another seven years.
