The latest installment in the Total War series sold over 1m copies within a week since its launch. That makes it the fastest selling game in the history of the franchise.
It even leaves behind Total War: Warhammer which sold 500,000 copies in just three days.
“We knew we had something special with Three Kingdoms but the response from players, old and new, has exceeded all expectations.”
Rob Bartholomew, Creative Assembly’s chief product officer, in a statement, via gamesindustry.biz.
The success of the release comes down to two primary factors.
First, the timing was right. It’s been six years since a major historical Total War game came out. The last one was Rome II. After that, there was a standalone expansion Total War Attila and spin-off Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia. But the mainline franchise in recent years have focused on the Warhammer universe.
However, even more important than the timing is the subject matter. The new game is set in the Three Kingdoms period of the Chinese history. So it’s no surprise that the Chinese market received the title especially well. Given the growth that Valve’s distribution platform has had in the country, China became the biggest market for Total War: Three Kingdoms.
VG247 reported that the title had 190,000 concurrent players on Steam this weekend. That’s more than any other strategy game has ever had on Valve’s storefront.