Subnautica tops 5 million sales worldwide

The underwater survival game from developer Unknown Worlds, Subnautica, has sold 5 million copies worldwide. The news comes from Charlie Cleveland, Founder of Unknown Worlds Entertainment.

This detail was revealed in a recent interview between Cleveland and GamesIndustry.biz during an interview with Giant Games. The website actually reached out for some clarification on the figure, and Cleveland responded by explaining that so far about 5.23 million copies of Subnautica have been sold in total.

This figure includes versions of the game sold across PC through both Steam and the Epic Game Store, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Cleveland added that the figure doesn’t include free downloads. Subnautica was a free game for PlayStation Plus subscribers a few months ago, so a number of sales will have been lost through that promotion, though the game’s overall sales have clearly not been affected. In addition, the game was free on the Epic Game Store for two weeks in March 2019.

The total free downloads for Subnautica has reached 4.5 million, showing that almost 10 million copies of the game have been distributed so far. The game launched in December 2014 in early access, and has grown alongside its community since then to see a full release in January 2018, and a sequel last year called Below Zero.

In Subnautica players are stranded on an ocean world, almost completely devoid of any land. They must survive by gathering food in the form of alien wildlife in the water around them, and gradually build a base in order to find a way off of the planet.

The world of Subnautica includes a number of biomes, all of which are explored as players unlock new technology to delve deeper into the surrounding ocean. Alien secrets can be uncovered, and there are even puzzles for players to solve that may lead them to a solution to their current predicament.

Below Zero starts players off with a number of advantages that they didn’t have in Subnautica, but the world is far more dangerous. Players will follow a story, exploring the world in a similar manner, whilst also trying to build a base and survive.