In just over a month Atari's Enter The Matrix has sold more than 2.5 million units in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan). Despite enduring a critical panning from most sections of the specialist press, Atari's decision to release the game on all formats on May 15th, at the peak of the hype surrounding The Matrix Reloaded, appears to have paid off.
The game is now the most successful since Infogrames rebranded itself, and their fastest selling. It joins 13 other franchises in the Atari back catalogue to have exceeded 2.5 million sales, many if not all of which relied on more than one release over several years, for example Driver, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Civlization, Unreal, V-Rally and Deer Hunter - games with sequels, expansions, budget versions and spin-offs.
"Having a hit title right out of the box is enormously gratifying but seeing the steady worldwide demand for Enter The Matrix is even more compelling," said Bruno Bonnell, Chairman and CEO of Atari. "We have a long history of multi-million selling games, and our experience tells us that titles with this level of sales success typically have a long shelf life. From what we have seen to date, Enter The Matrix is right on course."
Atari shipped four million units of Enter The Matrix to retail, and many expect the game to go on selling even through the summer dry period. Certainly, its presence at the top of the games' charts over the five weeks will help sustain its sales momentum.
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Source:
GameIndustry
