It Takes Two has now sold over five million copies since its release in March of last year, marking yet another milestone.
On Twitter, Hazelight Games announced the excellent news, noting that the team is “totally shocked” by the success. This comes on the heels of its massive win at The Game Awards last December, where it beat off famous names like Deathloop and Metroid Dread to win Game of the Year.
It Takes Two’s success isn’t solely determined by sales. Since November 2021, the popular platform game has been available on Xbox Game Pass, implying that the true number of gamers is substantially larger.
Additionally, it does not include players that completed the game in a duo utilizing the Friend’s Pass feature. Even if only one of them owns the full edition, this allows two players to beat the game together.
5… that’s FIVE million copies of #ItTakesTwo sold! 😳💥🥳
Our team is absolutely stunned just thinking about how many players have now enjoyed our game! 😍
— Hazelight Studios (@HazelightGames) February 4, 2022
Director Josef Fares also spoke about the achievement, saying it went “far beyond expectations.” Many people applaud the developers for making such an enjoyable game in their responses.
A recent 60 percent off promotion, as well as the game’s recent triumph at The Game Awards, are likely to have helped sales. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s still 50% off on Steam at the time of writing.
This isn’t the only reason for excitement at Hazelight Studios. It was stated earlier this week that It Takes Two will be adapted into a film, with the developers partnering up with dj2 Entertainment to make it happen. Fares expressed confidence in the film at the time, citing the narrative possibilities of It Takes Two’s array of characters.
It Takes Two is the most successful Hazelight game of all time with 5 million copies sold, surpassing 2018’s A Way Out, which sold over 3.5 million copies. It Takes Two performed admirably in our 2021, garnering a nomination for Best Platformer, second place for Best Multiplayer, and top position for Best Co-Op. It Takes Two has a built-in Friend Pass feature, which means you only need one copy of the game to play online with someone else. It’s also been noted that selling 5 million copies indicates the game has at least 10 million players, which is an excellent argument.
Given the game’s Friends Pass feature, which allows owners to play with a friend even if the game doesn’t belong to them, plus the fact that it’s now available to EA Play or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate customers, there are likely a large number of people who have already played it. Personally, I’m hoping that It Takes Two’s popularity will show the industry that gamers still prefer smaller, more focused games, as few firms produce titles like this in the AA and AAA categories.
Hazelight may have had to drop the game’s branding due to publisher Take-Two’s statement, but that hasn’t stopped people from finding and playing the game. The joyful notion for fans of the game and Hazelight is that, as a result of the high number of copies sold, there may be a low-key puzzle game in the works. It also gives strong faith that “adventure together is here to stay.” Now it’s just a waiting game to see how it’ll be adapted to another medium. It’s exciting to watch where the studio goes next after reaching such a significant milestone.