# Crusader Kings II has sold over 1 million copies **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 19, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901 "2014-09-19T02:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/1 "2014-09-19T02:59:08Z")
[http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?801671-Crusader-Kings-II-Over-1-Million-Copies-Sold&p=18068618#post18068618](http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?801671-Crusader-Kings-II-Over-1-Million-Copies-Sold&p=18068618#post18068618) > [@](#): > > Paradox Interactive has also shared some data about Crusader Kings II to underline the scope of the game’s success. Not only has the base game itself sold over a million copies, but the catalog of DLC and expansions for Crusader Kings II have sold a combined total of approximately 7 million units. Crusader Kings II is played by an average of 12,500 players every day, and roughly 100,000 players in a month. The average Crusader Kings II player has a playtime of just over 99 hours. I think this is amazing for a game in a niche category, where you stare at little more than maps and spreadsheets. According to Steam, I’ve played it for 289 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/2 "2014-09-19T03:40:26Z")
One of my all-time favorite games :). I’m gratified it has found a substantial audience and profitable niche. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/3 "2014-09-19T04:23:25Z")
Well, it’s been in multiple bundles both “indie” and numerous Paradox bundles during Amazon sales. That’s not to belittle its popularity, just saying that its profitability might be over estimated by the “one million” number. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/4 "2014-09-19T05:23:13Z")
Cool, hope they celebrate with a 50% off sale so I can get it off my Steam wishlist already. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/5 "2014-09-19T09:01:17Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Cool, hope they celebrate with a 50% off sale so I can get it off my Steam wishlist already. I somehow acquired a gift copy of CKII (just the base game) that I can give to you. What’s your Steam username? ---
**Author:** ![Recusant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@Recusant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recusant)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/6 "2014-09-19T09:56:29Z")
Additionally, the base game and nearly all the expansions are on sale at Gamefly Digital, at least for now. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/7 "2014-09-19T14:05:27Z")
Congrats to them. I tried to get into the game, but it’s just too dense for me. I’l probably give it another shot over the holidays. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/8 "2014-09-19T14:54:35Z")
You don’t need to get into it and try to max/min it or anything. Just pick a place that sounds cool and go for a ride. Like they say elsewhere, losing is fun and all that. Pro-tip: Don’t bang your chambermaid if your wife is your spymaster. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/9 "2014-09-19T15:28:47Z")
It’s one of my favorite games all time. The basic gameplay is fun. It’s got war, politics and character interaction. You pick your own goals. There’s near infinite replayability because of the sandbox nature. Simply pick a start date and a ruler. Form some long-term plans or wing it. It’s all good. It’s also easy to mod, edit saves and/or cheat. So you can make the game harder or easier. You can fix situations to be more “realistic”. (I like to grant empire titles to NPCs, because they can’t seem to form empires very well.) Or you can set up very ahistorical scenarios and see what happens. It’s not a perfect game, but it’s probably the best strategy game out there. > [@Palooka](#): > > Pro-tip: Don’t bang your chambermaid if your wife is your spymaster. Better pro-tip: don’t make your spouse (or heir) your spymaster. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/10 "2014-09-19T16:34:37Z")
It’s certainly a game that lends itself to staring at the screen for hours, trying to figure out what you should do. Kind of like an endless game of Risk that you can never win, but OTOH it’s one of those rare games where “winning” isn’t really the point. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/11 "2014-09-19T17:27:32Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Better pro-tip: don’t make your spouse (or heir) your spymaster. 😃 I disagree. I’ve had some lemons for rulers. The sooner their reigns were over, the better. As long as my spymaster son was my heir and a good potential ruler, I was cool with a little nightshade in my wine. The other day, I was thinking just how ruthless and horrible the game inadvertently encouraged you to be. 60 year old kings marrying 16 year old princess because they needed an heir and alliance. Forced concubinage. Assassination and “suicide by spymaster,” as described above. I’m having a nice run as a Carpathian Emperor, but I somehow managed to get most of Catholic Italy as well due to some lucky inheritance and a convenient death. My current goal is to replace every non-Catholic Hungarian with a Catholic Hungarian, and I’ve come to realize how the game passively encourages you to go to war with anybody not of your race or faith due to the opinion penalties. The middle ages were ruthless the way I play them. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crusader-kings-ii-has-sold-over-1-million-copies/698901/12 "2014-09-19T17:48:22Z")
> [@HookerChemical](#): > > I disagree. I’ve had some lemons for rulers. The sooner their reigns were over, the better. As long as my spymaster son was my heir and a good potential ruler, I was cool with a little nightshade in my wine. Ah, the beauty of a sandbox game. Better is relative to your goals. I tend to play to maximize the power of my current ruler. Even if that means breaking an uppity son. So I typically don’t give much powers to any of my sons, especially my primary heir, so that they never challenge me. Of course that means succession gets to be messy. But it’s fun to kill brothers and uncles! If my current ruler is weak, they tend to die quickly, simply because I don’t play them as weak. They get into bad situations. 😃 Sometimes, I’ll switch who I’m playing to another member of the same dynasty. So I’ll play the heir to a lousy king. I’ve played whole campaigns where I’ve always switched to playing my first son, as soon as he’s of age. That’s especially fun in an elective empire.