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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Sells 5.7 Million Units Worldwide
by Eric Caoili
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February 11, 2009
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LucasArts's Star Wars: The Force Unleashed sold 5.7 units worldwide across all platforms since releasing in September, making it the fastest-selling Star Wars game in history.
Several versions of the title were shipped, with LucasArts developing editions for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; Krome Studios for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii; n-Space for DS; and Universomo for iPod Touch, iPhone, N-Gage, and other mobiles.
The non-mobile releases immediately established The Force Unleashed as the fastest-selling Star Wars game in history, moving over 1.5 million copies globally in just its first five days of sale.
The title's demo also received a record number of downloads on Xbox 360, with over one million gamers grabbing the trial in just eight days. Likewise, the PlayStation 3 version was the most downloaded game demo for the PlayStation Network.
The Force Unleashed also recently won the second annual Video Game Writing Award from the Writers Guild of America, an award seeking to "encourage storytelling excellence in video games, improve the status of writers, and foster uniform standards within the gaming industry."
The overall Star Wars brand was so successful in 2008, Lucasfilm says its toy and product line experienced its strongest holiday sales in the 31 years since the theatrical debut of the first Star Wars movie, despite the currently challenging retail economy.
According to consumer research firm The NPD Group, the brand's toy retail sales in 2008 exceeded $450 million, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars was the single most popular licensed toy property last year.
The brand is also celebrating the success of 14 different Star Wars titles appearing on the New York Times best seller list (including a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed novelization). The Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon also scored as the most-watched series debut in Cartoon Network's history, and the StarWars.com site saw a 30 percent jump in traffic.
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Have you actually played the full game? The PS3/XB360 versions were actually very well made, with incredible art direction and some amazing physics and graphical assets. The ability to mix the different Force powers and manipulate the environment was a blast and I’ve literally found infinite ways to go through the game and dispatch enemies using the vast toolset of techniques. It had some flaws to be sure but the overall quality made it one of the better action/platformers of 2008 in my honest opinion.
Lucas Arts is a soulless shell of its former self. Everything that was good about that company moved on more than a decade ago.