It was a hopping week for grizzled gumshoes, swanky dames and 21st century facial mocap technology. After netting over550,000 sales (opens in new tab)on day one in North America, analysts are reporting Rockstar and Team Bondi’s L.A. Noire has moved an estimated 1.6m units worldwide in just under a week, becoming UK’s fastest-selling new IP along the way.
As outlined in VGChartz’slatest report (opens in new tab), ending Sunday, L.A. Noire has become the second-biggest release of 201l so far (behind Pokemon Black/White) selling 900,000 copies in North America, and 250,000 copies in the UK alone. The report also indicated that global sales were split between Xbox 360 and PS3 at 55% and 45%, respectively.
Perhaps the biggest win for L.A. Noire is its performance overseas. According to the entertainment sales analysts atChart-Track UK (opens in new tab), the 1940s-era detective game has become the fastest-selling new video game IP ever in the UK; additionally debuting as the 13th fastest-selling Xbox 360 title and the 11th fastest on PS3 in the region.
Naturally, L.A. Noire’s success all but guarantees there will be a sequel in Team Bondi’s future. Predicting such in aninterview with GamerLive (opens in new tab), studio co-founderBrendan McNamara’s said a follow-up would not take nearly as long to develop as the first, noting: “We developed a lot of tools to make this kind of game, so I think that part of it will be shorter. The writing part you can’t really make any shorter. You can make it shorter than five years, but we’ve also now started working on technology for fully body capture.”
[Source:Chart-Track (opens in new tab),VGChartz (opens in new tab),GamerLive (opens in new tab)]May 23, 2011
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