The Witcher live-action adaptation has breathed new life into the game series. As most viewers know, the live-action adaptation itself was based on the novel series by Andrzej Sapkowski. The show expanded upon the backgrounds of Yennefer of Vengerberg and Ciri, two characters who had a major role in the third game.
NPD Group, a group that specializes in global analytics of consumer behaviors, recently released some surprising numbers measuring The Witcher’s impact in the entertainment industry.
Many fans of The Witcher series were skeptical of the Netflix adaptation, but overall it was a success. Before the first season aired, the second series was already greenlit.
The first episode was watched by 19 million people, which was an even stronger launch than The Umbrella Academy, which launched at 17.5 million viewers for the first episode.
More people stay tuned from the beginning to the end of the first season of The Witcher, as well. The show’s unusual jumps in time helped keep viewers watching each episode. It was reported that the show had an “above-average completion rate.”
According to the NPD group, the physical novel series’ sales rose 562% higher than in 2018. The game was also revisited on Steam, with more concurrent players than the game’s launch in May 2015.
By June 2019, the developer CD Projekt Red confirmed that the game had sold 20 million units worldwide since its launch four years prior.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released on the Nintendo Switch in October 2019. The release was considered a “Complete Edition” that included the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine story expansion packs and 16 free DLCs for over 150 hours of playtime.
All of these factors combined show that the game rose in sales in Q4 2019. Compared to December 2018, there was a 554% increase in sales. Even excluding the release of TW3 on Nintendo Switch, the game still rose 63% higher compared to the previous year.
Also recently released was Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales for the Nintendo Switch, which includes several digital bonuses such as a graphic novel and an art book featuring cards from the game, GWENT. The spin-off card game has also recently announced it’s moving to Android devices next month and will support cross-platform battles.
Although the novel series has been completed, there may be future plans with CD Projekt Red and series creator Andrzej Sapkowski.
