While no official numbers have been released by Daum, Enzo over at the official forums has been keeping track of the order numbers since the BDO pre-order packages have been offered for sale. If the numbers are correct, the game has sold a respectable 332,268 copies thus far for the NA/EU release.
I predict that by the first week of launch, the number sold will exceed 500,000 copies. The game has gained quite a bit of momentum over the last few weeks from people looking for something different. Beta key giveaways last for only a few minutes before all keys are gone. Earlier today Daum gave out 10,000 keys through Facebook which were gone in an hour (and would've likely gone sooner, had the site not crashed a dozen or more times during the giveaway).
Whether Black Desert Online can satisfy these people I cannot say, but the game certainly does offer a different experience than what the typical MMO gamer is used to. If the game continues to attract new blood I could easily see the game selling 750,000 or more copies during the first quarter of its release. While Blade and Soul had 1 million accounts the first week of launch, the game released as free to play, whereas in Black Desert Online’s case, each of the 332,268 people had to pay at least $30 in order to play the game. These numbers are fantastic for an open world sandbox game, and I hope they serve as a wake up call for the industry in general.
I believe consumers want something different than the theme parks we have continued to receive that bear more than a passing similarity to the king of MMOs released over a decade ago. Not that I have anything against themepark MMOs, I have played many of them, but Black Desert Online is a refreshing change of pace, and I believe that it will make its mark on the Western MMO Industry.
If Daum can offer content updates frequently and keep the Pay-2-Win out, this game could become all I hoped in previous games that offered much but sadly lacked in their execution (I’m not naming names, but you all will know the list). Overall, I would say it is a good time to be a Black Desert fan–I think we are in for a very interesting time!
Tomorrow we are starting our week of Guides, where we will be publishing a guide a day from Monday thru Thursday, to get everyone prepared for CBT2. We will be doing key Giveaways Monday and Tuesday, so stay tuned. In addition, we are going to be doing a quick Beta Key Giveaway this evening. All you need to do is Tweet this Article (Twitter link is at the bottom of this page) and make sure you are following us, and you will be automatically entered. We will be announcing the winner at 11:00 PM EST. Come back after the Walking Dead (if you watch it) and see if you have won. Good Luck!
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