PC1 Project Cars breaks 1 million sales

[Alex Franchini]

Bandai Namco has announced that Slightly Mad Studios' racing simulator Project Cars has sold one million copies worldwide.

The news comes from an official press release, and presumably counts sales from all three platforms (PC, PS4 and Xbox One). According to the press release, PCars is also the "best-rated racing game for Playstation 4" - which we assume is talking about the Metacritic rating, currently sitting at 84.

Slightly Mad Studios head honcho Ian Bell declared: "throughout the development phase, the community has been fundamental - giving us daily feedback, telling us what needed to be improved, highlighting what they wanted the most and ultimately making it one of the racing games of their dreams". The press release ends with Bell saying that the studio "will be talking more about that future very, very soon", substantially implying that a PCars sequel is in the works.

What do you think of Project Cars and its success? Let us know in the comments below!

The cover image has been taken from our Racetube: check it out for more Project Cars screenshots and videos!

 

[vee10]

Looks like they have sold a million copies, so fair play to them for that milestone. It's good news for racing titles and I bet Kunos now they are also releasing on consoles are ordering their Yachts as we speak.

I like this little quote that made me chuckle.

“Throughout the development of Project CARS the community were instrumental in guiding the game – giving us feedback daily on each build iteration, telling us what needed improving, highlighting what they’d like to see included, and ultimately approving it as the racing game of their dreams”, Ian Bell, Head of Studio at Slightly Mad Studios commented.

Now that you are rolling in cash get spending some on a QA and R&D department pronto.

 

[Lawndart]

Kunos? I assume you meant SMS... Is this NPD data or was there an anouncment?

I'm guessing any real numbers can only come from SMS due to digital versions being available well in advance of the retail box copies.

 

[Dinca Andrei]

Well they pushed ALOT of hype and it got them what they wanted...i say they made more then they thought they will make...thats alot of money!!!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Great piece of selective news spreading by the publisher distributor by only naming the PS4 results and leaving the other platforms out.

The overall Xbox One metascore (heavily influenced by main stream reviewers) still shows a solid 8.1 behind both Forza Horizon 2 games however the user scores only show a disappointing 5.9 far behind most other racing titles on the Xbox One.

On the PC side the game is only listed on page two with an average user score of 7.0

From the same press release:

Project CARS has firmly positioned itself as one of the greatest driving experiences ever made - created by the fans, for the fans!

Yeah that's indeed a solid claim to make with 5.9 (Xbox One), 7.2 (PS4) and 7.0 (PC) user scores.

Come on, stop this misleading marketing hype and focus on patching the current issues with the game first before shouting from the rooftops that you are the best thing ever. Once the bugs are fixed and the missing features have arrived I am sure the user scores will go up but this claim is premature now.

Spoiler: Click here for the original press release

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe and Slightly Mad Studios are proud to announce that Project CARS has already sold more than one million units around the world! With this huge success and the accolade of being the highest-rated racing game on PS4, Project CARS has firmly positioned itself as one of the greatest driving experiences ever made - created by the fans, for the fans!

When asked about this success, Ian Bell (Studio Head of Slightly Mad Studios) says: “Throughout the development of Project CARS the community were instrumental in guiding the game - giving us feedback daily on each build iteration, telling us what needed improving, highlighting what they’d like to see included, and ultimately approving it as the racing game of their dreams. Even with this amount of early indication that the bold, ambitious vision we had was on track to be something that would truly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the existing leading titles in the genre, it wasn’t until the first review scores came in that we truly realised how much Project CARS had resonated with both media, racing professionals, and gamers alike around the world. To now stand here having reached over a million players in such a short time really justifies the work both the team and the community have done over the years and solidifies Project CARS’ future as the multi-platform racing experience of choice for fans around the world. And we’ll be talking more about that future very, very soon"

Get behind the wheel of one of the greatest racing games of its generation today on PlayStation®4, Xbox One and STEAM®.

 

[Piotrek Blaszczak]

And what now with refunds ? for all junior , team etc. members ?

 

[vee10]

Kunos? I assume you meant SMS... Is this NPD data or was there an anouncment?

I'm guessing any real numbers can only come from SMS due to digital versions being available well in advance of the retail box copies.

I did mean Kunos in relation to their impending release on console, after seeing what PCARS has done you would expect AC to do equally well. I will edit my post so it makes sense

 

[yusupov]

i just hope they follow kunos lead in terms of reinvesting the cash into the game instead of stockpiling it. i think its such a great platform, just too rough right now (for most, i know some will never accept it as a decent sim, w/e) to be on the next level.

 

[Kurei]

Meh, not that interested in P.CARS anymore, they had their chance and delayed too far.

How do the PC sales compare to AC based on time available ? (Genuine question, not hating)

 

[Andreas Knöpke]

I dont care for critics, I want my fair share from the sale cake

 

[Sabine Schmitz]

they promised monthly new content for the people who pre-ordered... I haven't got **** ever since

 

[vee10]

they promised monthly new content for the people who pre-ordered... I haven't got **** ever since

I remember you Sabine at Top Gear live you had a right potty mouth there too. It is true that we have not seen any new content in a month.

 

[Peter Stokman]

yeh they make it look much better then it is its much worse then they predicted (nice graphics but not the best game) they even have that codemasters idiot penalty system make 2 mistakes in one lap and not only the current lap is not valid also the next lap YEH thats REAL simulation .

 

[Torcano]

Wow... no wonder AC wants to try their luck out with the console market. They sold about 300k on steam alone, which is an absurd amount for a PC sim to sell, they might even surpass the PCars sales figures if ever Kunos ends up tidying all the badly dangling loose ends of AC. :o

 

[Kurupt CDN]

As an "investor" this makes me very happy, as for this so called hype build up prior to release......as a Canadian I never once saw any advertising for this title during the 4 yrs of development and when talking to ps4/xbox1 users very few knew anything about it. The only so called hype I saw came from the small community of hard cores sim racing forums like ours arguing the fact it will never be a sim and nothing more than another arcade racer in the shift series to me that's negative hype which makes the million sales in less than a month quit an achievement!
I don't know what the pc sales were but if you use steam stats which I've been monitoring since release pcars has the highest ingame users of any racing title on steam nearly tripling Assetto corsa which was the former champ.
I know I sound like another wmd member, creating hype and protecting my investment but trust me there are some bugs and other issues and like you I am eagerly awaiting a patch tho for the pc version when I hear people say it's broken or unplayable I'd have to disagree as it was no more of a mess than any of the other Sims apon release lol

 

[vee10]

As an "investor" this makes me very happy, as for this so called hype build up prior to release......as a Canadian I never once saw any advertising for this title during the 4 yrs of development and when talking to ps4/xbox1 users very few knew anything about it. The only so called hype I saw came from the small community of hard cores sim racing forums like ours arguing the fact it will never be a sim and nothing more than another arcade racer in the shift series to me that's negative hype which makes the million sales in less than a month quit an achievement!
I don't know what the pc sales were but if you use steam stats which I've been monitoring since release pcars has the highest ingame users of any racing title on steam nearly tripling Assetto corsa which was the former champ.
I know I sound like another wmd member, creating hype and protecting my investment but trust me there are some bugs and other issues and like you I am eagerly awaiting a patch tho for the pc version when I hear people say it's broken or unplayable I'd have to disagree as it was no more of a mess than any of the other Sims apon release lol

Out of interest as a investor, is that like a shareholding? Do you get a financial return depending how much you invested and how many copies sold?

 

[Ryan Soucy]

they promised monthly new content for the people who pre-ordered... I haven't got **** ever since

You mastered championships in all 40+ cars included already?! I wish I had that kind of time. Or did you spend $60 on the hopes of a car (as-then unannounced) worth driving would DLC?

 

[Sabine Schmitz]

You mastered championships in all 40+ cars included already?! I wish I had that kind of time. Or did you spend $60 on the hopes of a car (as-then unannounced) worth driving would DLC?

At first sight, the game looked very promising. the graphics were amazing, some said the physics were top notch and from gameplay it certainly seemed good, so I pre-ordered it not knowing they were going to delay the release... but since the game kinda let me down in almost every aspect, I am eager to know what they'll do to make this game better. why, because I do agree that pCars has something more to offer than AC atm. most primarilly: races based on a time limit, night racing, rain racing. then again, AC has things to offer rather then pCars.

so to answer yo question: no, I have not played the career mode in any way, I am only interested in mp.

 

[Dinca Andrei]

As an "investor" this makes me very happy, as for this so called hype build up prior to release......as a Canadian I never once saw any advertising for this title during the 4 yrs of development and when talking to ps4/xbox1 users very few knew anything about it. The only so called hype I saw came from the small community of hard cores sim racing forums like ours arguing the fact it will never be a sim and nothing more than another arcade racer in the shift series to me that's negative hype which makes the million sales in less than a month quit an achievement!
I don't know what the pc sales were but if you use steam stats which I've been monitoring since release pcars has the highest ingame users of any racing title on steam nearly tripling Assetto corsa which was the former champ.
I know I sound like another wmd member, creating hype and protecting my investment but trust me there are some bugs and other issues and like you I am eagerly awaiting a patch tho for the pc version when I hear people say it's broken or unplayable I'd have to disagree as it was no more of a mess than any of the other Sims apon release lol

Anyone who has a Twitter account or FB and visited sites like at least NoGrip or VirtualR,knows that they were flooded with pictures,positive reviews and statements...the hype was astronomical,for real i never seen something like this...i got more than 20 tweets a day from random people hyped to death and RT by pCars...people almost acted hysterical and pee in the pants just watching screenshots alone...thats a next level of hype...imagine a concert of Michael Jackson in his prime but instead pCars were on the stage monitors...and people fainting and crying...
And now,after they got a taste,some were stil convinced by SMS and others have seen through..
If i say to someone ...""For x amount of money i can give you somthing good...something really really good""
People pay the money to receive ""something really realy good"" and when they got ""something good"" was not enough because its not what they paid for,and in my eyes thats a scam,simple as that..

 

[Kurupt CDN]

No offense but you choose to surround your self with all that multi media cap I have fb and twitter and the only time I saw pcars ads were ones from sms and pc gamers and Rd all of witch I choose to follow none of them promoted any more or less than any of the other sim title.
As for people getting all hysterical over non official pretty pictures by random wmd members I really can't reply to that with out coming across as sarcastic ass
The only advice I can give is don't judge a book by its cover and don't fall for the hype!

when the project was first announced I followed it and read there "goal" for the project before joining. As a former forza/gt fan looking for more than what they offered and not a full blown hardcore sim I was intrigued that they wanted to lose the publisher and develope a racing experience simulation based on the communities feedback and bring it to all the platforms, something in which had never been done in a racing title.
Pc sim racers often feel the world revolves around us but unfortunately the money is in consoles and in pcars case all future licenses and development is based on the success of console sales.
what I categories as a sim may be different than your opinion just like ffb settings.
Yes the game has bugs as does every game, how ever going back to what they set out to do I feel they released a well rounded product asides from the xbox version with more content and features than any other titles which also set a new bar for console racing games going forward.
There for I don't see how sms scammed you?