If you said VR would never make it, it’s time to eat a slice of humble pie: Beat Saber sales have reportedly crossed 1 million units in total. Beat Games co-founder and CEO Jaroslav Beck has stated that the rhythm-based laser sword game crossed the one million units milestone back in February 2019. If this is true, Beat Saber would be the first virtual reality title to sell 1 million copies. That would also happen to make it the best-selling VR game so far.
“We did zero PR whatsoever,” Beck said to Variety. “We didn’t expect that it would blow up that crazy.” Whatever his expectations may have been, Beat Saber sales have shown that there’s a market for VR gaming out there. SteamSpy estimates place it at 200,000–500,000 sales on that platform alone; Beat Saber is also available on the Oculus Store for PC and on the PlayStation Store for PSVR.
If you haven’t played Beat Saber for yourself, the premise is pretty simple. The player gets one virtual laser sword in each hand, one red and one blue. A series of boxes will scroll towards them with arrows on them. The objective is to swing the correct color of saber at each of the boxes and in the correct direction in time with the music. It’s proved to be an interesting experience to spectate with a growing niche following on Twitch and its fair share of hardcore fans.
Beat Saber sales are likely to climb even higher with the recent release of the game’s first DLC pack. Titled the Music Pack Vol. 1, it contains ten tracks brought to the game in collaboration with Monstercat. Here’s the tracklist:
- Till It’s Over – Tristam
- We Won’t Be Alone (feat. Laura Brehm) – Feint
- Boundless – Aero Chord
- EPIC – Tokyo Machine
- Stronger (feat. EMEL) – Stonebank
- Overkill – RIOT
- This Time – Kayzo
- Emoji VIP – Pegboard Nerds
- Rattlesnake – Rogue
- Feeling Stronger (feat. Charlotte Colley) [High Maintenance Remix] – Muzzy
It seems like things are looking up for the folks behind Beat Saber. If you don’t already own this fine VR title, you can get it on Steam or the Oculus Store for PC at a price of $19.99 or your regional equivalent. Console gamers can get it on the PlayStation Store for PS4 at a price of $29.99.