Survival city builder Frostpunk 2 sells 350,000 copies in 3 days, immediately covering its development and marketing costs: 'The work doesn't stop here'

Frostpunk 2, the city-builder sequel, has recouped its development and marketing costs after selling over 350,000 copies in just three days, demonstrating strong player interest in the niche genre and ensuring future profit for developer 11-bit Studios.

Just three days after launch, city-builder sequel Frostpunk 2 has already recouped its development and marketing costs.

In a tweet earlier today, developer 11-bit Studios said it was "super happy to announce that we've already exceeded 350,000 copies of Frostpunk 2 sold." The tweet came early this morning, so that marks more than 100,000 copies per day since Frontpunk 2 launched on September 20.

That's an impressive figure for any indie, let alone a sequel in what remains a relatively niche genre, but more important than that specific sales figure is what 11-bit says next. Namely, that "the total estimated sales revenue has already covered the costs we spent on producing and marketing the game."

We are super happy to announce that we’ve already exceeded 350 000 copies of #Frostpunk 2 sold!What’s more, the total estimated sales revenue has already covered the costs we spent on producing and marketing the game.Big, big thank you to you all for your support! It (almost)… pic.twitter.com/7sa9qVe4fvSeptember 23, 2024

That's huge news, meaning that from here out, Frostpunk 2 is in pure profit territory. Obviously, that's not how these things work out in reality, and while the studio has broken even, it still has to fund whatever comes next. Nevertheless, this does still count as a substantial hurdle, which it's good to see Frostpunk 2 overcome. 

As for what comes next, 11-bit has another game due to release this year - cloning-themed sci-fi survival game The Alters - but the studio isn't done with Frostpunk yet. In that tweet, it also confirms that "the work doesn't stop here, we are continuously working on improving your experience with hotfixes and patches, and your feedback here is invaluable." It'll be interesting to see whether the team sticks with Frostpunk now, however - it's clearly a recipe for success, but it's also been the brunt of the studio's output, development-wise, for the last decade, whereas The Alters could spell the start of a whole new era.

Check out our Frostpunk 2 review - or another of the best city-building games.