“Substantially more” than 100,000 copies sold.
The Witness has been available for one week, and today developer Jonathan Blow penned a blog post to detail how the game has been doing. According to Blow, The Witness has earned gross revenues of over $5 million so far, and has sold “substantially more” than 100,000 copies. Blow also stated that The Witness has brought in more in its first week than Braid did in its first year, although The Witness is $40, while Braid was $15.
Despite the earnings, Blow is quick to state that the team did not make the game in order to make money. “We were trying to build a beautiful / interesting / intricate thing, first and foremost,” he wrote. “The money just helps us stay in business in order to build new things.”
Blow then indicated that, while Thekla has not yet broken even on the development cost of The Witness, “it is looking like, as time goes on, we should break even and make a comfortable safety margin on top of that, which will allow us to make more nice games in the future – unless some kind of world economic disaster happens.”
Blow also stated other platforms are being considered for the game, with Xbox One, iOS, Android, and Mac currently under “serious consideration.”
The Escapist’s Marshall Lemon reviewed The Witness, writing “The Witness is a beautiful, brain-tickling, “puzzle-adventure,” that will manage to both frustrate and awe you at the same time.”
