2K Games has announced that Borderlands 3 has become its fastest-selling title in history, shipping over 5 million copies in just five days after launch.
Take-Two Interactive founded 2K Games in January of 2005 and since that time the company's subsidiary has gone on to publish a wide range of hit franchises including BioShock, Borderlands, XCom, NBA 2K, and Civilization. When 2K Games published Borderlands on October 20, 2009, it became a worldwide sensation almost overnight, shipping 2 million copies by December of that year.
The success of the series only continued with the release of Borderlands 2 in September of 2012, a game that would go on to ship 13 million copies by August of 2015, making it 2K's best selling title. It would continue to sell well over the years and as of August 2019, it has sold more than 22 million copies worldwide. Now, 2K has revealed that Borderlands 3 is on pace to surpass it, having shipped 5 million copies just five days after its launch.
News related to the sales record comes from Twitter user Nibel who goes on to say that Borderlands has become the second franchise in the company's history to surpass 1 billion in net bookings. Further information on the game's sales comes from Business Wire who revealed that Borderlands 3 sold five million copies in just five days, double that of its predecessor, helping it to become 2K Games fastest-selling title. Business Wire goes on to say that 70 percent of consumers purchased the game digitally, the highest percentage observed for any 2K title.
Despite the uneasiness surrounding digital-only content, it's clear from 2K Games' latest numbers that consumers trust the Borderlands brand enough enough not to abandon physical copies of the game. With the game already doubling the initial sales of its predecessor, it's safe to assume that Borderlands 3 has a real chance of eclipsing the sales of Borderlands 2 in record time.
While we still see a lot of companies releasing physical copies of their games, these latest numbers from 2K may cause more publishers to focus on digital-only. If Borderlands 3 continues to do well, it could serve as a blueprint for other publishers, giving them the tools necessary to improve their digital sales across all platforms.
Borderlands 3 is currently available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.