L.A. Noire Sells More Than 1.6m Copies in Week One - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 23 May 2011 / 15,648 Views
Following up on the huge success of Red Dead Redemption exactly 12 months ago (which sold over 1.9 million units in week one and 8 million in total), Rockstar have done it again with L.A.Noire selling an estimated 1.6 million units in the week one (5 days in the Americas, 2 days in Europe).
L.A. Noire is the second-biggest game of the year so far in week one behind Pokemon Black / White, and has more than doubled the week one retail sales of other major PS3 / Xbox 360 releases this year such as Homefront, Portal 2, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat and Brink.
Despite starting life as a PS3 title, the Xbox360 version saw the slightly larger sales - about 55% worldwide. Over 900,000 units were sold in the Americas and more than 250,000 in the UK.
L.A. Noire managed to comfortably outsell similar titles such as Heavy Rain (comparing just the PS3 versions) in the same timeframe and has exceeded most analyst expectations. Strong review scores for the title combined with some heavy marketing are the two main reasons behind the success (much as with Red Dead last year).
Stay tuned to VGChartz for the full charts on Thursday.
More Articles
In the PS2 days, I thought Rockstar was overrated. This gen, I've been proven wrong--and I couldn't be happier. Great game, so far!
In the PS2 days, I thought Rockstar was overrated. This gen, I've been proven wrong--and I couldn't be happier. Great game, so far!
wonder how the witcher 2 sold.. new ips rockss
well selling so well on new IPs all the time... they have to be doing something right.
Yes! Great news. This game is awesome.
@klumminati Not fighting, just trying to give credit where credit is due for this game, that's all :)
@jester2358 Disproving my own point? I said they DID help with it and had assistance. My point was that people are saying that Rockstar co-produced it (implying that did a lot of dev work and carried about half the load). My point, if you read it, was that Rockstar was more of a guiding hand. Helped with a few things here and there and the overall direction but the vast majority of the work was Team Bondi.
I went to buy it today, sold out at both my local Game Store and JB HIFI :(
Off topic but seeing as though developers are really getting the PS3 down and Naughty Dog is at the top of the list, it makes you wonder what ND could do on the 360. Also seeing as good as this game looks on both systems, I wonder why people fight about what is the best when clearly with these two systems being developed literally right next to each other why is there a fanboyish aurora at all. Btw regardless how much Rockstar helped or not they are good even through their "children". Why fight about that?
It comes down to 3 things and I may be wrong: 1. A solid product, 2. Salient marketing, and 3. Brand. Ever since GTA 3, Rockstar Games has rarely failed to disappoint and in their failures such as Red Dead Revolver, the failure is not only better than most THQ/Midway type publisher games, but it results in an 8 million seller. Rockstar Games and Blizzard, the best of the third parties. I would put Bioware in there, but Dragon Age 2 is a disappoint both critically and commerically and The Old Republic is going to be a flop.
lol @ encodednybble disproving his own point. They clearly stated that to a certain extent they assisted. helping with mo cap, music etc. Lets be clear here: this game is team bondi's vision and they developed it but they had assistance thats all I'm saying.
i beat it two days ago. the story was pretty good, just the way they ended it was lame. now im sorta bored now since thier isnt as much things to do beside collecting the collectables you need to get. i wish their were mini games to do like being able to play pool or box, or race just more things to interact with pretty much.
@Boutros but we do know that they didn't really. At least according to this interview http://www.1up.com/previews/la-noire-interview-why-seven-years Notable quote: "Yeah. To a certain extent they do. Then the bits toward the end of the game, and if you need help, they'll bring in animation resources to clean up all the mo-cap, music, or anything like that. I have to say that Dan [Houser, VP of creative] -- who has his own writing team -- pretty much, in my case, gave me enough rope to hang myself"
As far as we know Rockstar co-developed the game so we sure can call it a Rockstar game.
raider84, rockstar assisted with all aspects of development including publishing, story development, funding, quality testing and engine work. I'm not trying to diminish the fantastic work team bondi did but dont shrug rockstar off as "just a publisher". on topic: fantastic sales, above my expectations!
@Raider84 Yeah all of the "Rockstar with another classic!" type comments crack me up. I won't say they did 0% of the development, but from interviews I read it wasn't much, more of a guiding hand. Sort of like how Kojima was involved with Castlevania: LoS but with a sprinkle of dev work.
Umm Team Bondi developed the game. Rockstar simply published it. I don't know if you understand what that means, but I can give an explanation if you'd like.
I bought LA Noire yesterday, and the last game I bought before that was RDR. Rockstar owns me this gen
@FattyDingDong I will agree the voice acting could have been better (though maybe it was much better in French?). My comment was that HR was more gripping and emotional IMO and, I assume that, most people would probably agree with me.
Amazing game so far. Absolutely loving it! Played about 35% completion so far and I haven't had this much fun with a game in a very long time. It is so refreshing, it's something I haven't experienced since (like the article says) Heavy Rain. It is truly a unique experience and something we have rarely seen before in gaming. Team Bondi did a great job with this game and they deserve every last sale they get. @fatty you must not have played the same game as me. Heavy Rains voice acting was damn near oscar worthy, and the game itself was one of the most emotionally engaging games ever made. Millions of people will attest to that.
No offense but i thought Heavy Rain was terrible, the voice acting in that game was one if the worst.
About 1/3 of the way through so far. It's an ok game, I pretty much agree with the GamrReview review. Animation is nice and the story so far is ok, but the controls are a little awkward and nowhere near as gripping and emotional as Heavy Rain.
Can't wait for a sequal, spiritual or not.
Rockstar - Team Bondi - LA Noire - History has just been made. Fantastic, original game.
deserved, I couldn't let my hands off the controller. I nearly came late to work because I played the game. :D
good game and well deserved.
Good to see a developer who took lots of risks to make a unique, fantastic game get rewarded with such great sales. It is a fantastic game and deserves every last bit of it. Rockstar is really showing other publishers, that great games is what provides large sales. And good job Team Bondi who are the masterminds behind this as well.
Sweet, congrats to R* and TB.
http://www.deagot.com/su/C449 if you like to order anything you like. More details, please just browse our website Quality is our Dignity; Service is our Lift. enjoy yourself. thank you!! http://www.deagot.com/su/C449
it sold based on uniqueness.... what other detective title is there? anyone wanted to search to clues around a crime scene will get the game... personally im extremely disapointed, glad i only borrowed disk 1 from a friend
I would buy this if it had MP
I think Rockstar is one of the very few developers that can sell a game on their name alone. (I know they didn't develop LAN but they're name's there).
Heavy Rain (for PS3) is the better game, but L.A.Noire is a good game too. The Story is nice, the caracters interesting.
Awesome!
Nice sales all around there! I'm well and truly amazed, I must say. I never expected it to do THAT well. Will it reach 6mil though?
Oh it said over 1.6 million, so both should be higher than that. That would be the minimum then.
Going by the 55%, that would put 360 sales at 880k and PS3 sales at 720k. Nice sales overall!
Very impressive, and the game certainly deserves it. It took some risks, but really pulled them off well. It also deserves more credit than it gets, as I have had an audience of 5 people watching the game it is so fascinating to gamers and non-gamers alike. One suggestion was to do a Sherlock Holmes based game next, but I would guess a New York set one would be more likely, despite the inevitable comparisons with Mad Men
Also, a similar debut to Red Dead, can it really surpass 7/8 mill lifetime though? I don't see this having the same legs tbh. 6 mill is a good target though
wow, nearly 1 mill on 360 first week, hugely impressive!!
great news for Team Bondi, now they will get funding for an new title from either take two or other publisher and will expand its studio to an larger studio resulting in more jobs for currently unemployed Australian game developers.
I know that :) I'm just making fun of fanboys :)
disc swapping is not a hassle. it occurs after you finish a case
But but but DISC SWAPPING !! ;) Great for Team Bondi.
Nice
Hugely impressed for this new IP!
Essay Pro