Early access pirate sim Windrose has hit two million sales, pretty much exactly a month after its April 14 release date. That’s a big number, and to contextualize it with another sales milestone announced this week, it took Silent Hill f more than six months to sell the same amount.
These games are obviously very different but it’s still interesting to look at them side-by-side: Silent Hill is a decades-old heritage franchise, and its most recent installment released not just on PC but PS5 and Xbox Series X as well. Two million sold is a positive outcome, according to Konami.
Windrose, on the other hand, is PC-only and early access to boot. No one had heard of it this time last year, nor the Uzbekistan-based studio making it. Under these circumstances, selling two million units in a month is no small feat. It goes to show that the hunger for a properly good pirate game is huge.
“When we first set sail, we could only hope that our game would find such a passionate and dedicated community,” studio Kraken Express wrote on Steam. “Seeing so many of you exploring the seas, sharing your stories, creating content, reporting issues, and supporting us every step of the way means more than we can properly express.”
The studio also used the announcement to give an update on development. “In terms of development updates, we’re planning to release another patch soon to address several common issues reported by the community. After that, we begin full production on the next major update. We’re still discussing the scope of that update internally, so it will take some time before we can share more details. However, our goal remains the same: to continue expanding the experience in meaningful ways and make the wait worthwhile.”
I’m glad the pirate fanatics among us finally have their game. Skull & Bones certainly didn’t end up being the pirate sim everyone wanted, but I’m sure Ubisoft is pleased to see Windrose’s success given the imminent launch of its Black Flag remake.
