Bethesda Sold More Than 3.5 Million Copies Of Skyrim In First 48 Hours

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim launched last week, and it's already being heralded as a success by Bethesda and its parent company, ZeniMax Media. According to ZeniMax, more than 3.5 million copies of Skyrim were sold worldwide in the first 48 hours it was made available. Seven million copies of the game have been shipped worldwide in total, and ZeniMax projects that sales from these launch units will exceed more than $450 million.

“We are grateful for the fans’ response to Skyrim,” said Robert Altman, chairman and CEO of ZeniMax Media. “Todd Howard and his team at Bethesda Game Studios have crafted a very special game. Anticipation for Skyrim has surpassed any game in our company’s history, and we are pleased that sales and reviews have reflected the quality and hours of amazing gameplay it provides.”

“Without a doubt, this has been our most ambitious project ever,” said Todd Howard, game director on Skyrim. “After over three years of development, we’re finally excited to get it into everyone’s hands.”

ZeniMax also says that the game has set a record on Steam, with more than 280,000 concurrent Skyrim players playing the game on the service so far.