‘The Witcher’ show prompted big book, game sales

“The Witcher” arrives almost seven months to the day after epic fantasy “Game of Thrones” concluded. Image: courtesy of Netflix via AFP Relaxnews

In the two weeks after “The Witcher” debuted on Netflix, book sales for the fantasy saga rose by 562% in the United States, according to specialty site NPD.

Short story collection “The Last Wish”, which provided full or partial basis for five of eight episodes, was the primary driver of that growth, the data tracking group reported. A special tie-in edition was the fastest-selling series title for the whole of December.

Sales of physical editions of “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”, the May 2015 video game inspired by Sapkowski’s work, rose by 554% in the U.S. in a year-on-year comparison between December 2018 and December 2019.

Much of that is due to the game’s debut on Nintendo Switch (491%), with other platforms responsible for 63% of the overall bump.

Digital game sales data was not included in the assessment.

Previously, data from digital PC gaming retailer Steam had shown that sales of “The Witcher 3” had reached an all-time high, surpassing even launch day uptake, following the release of the Netflix show and the beginning of a store-wide year-end sale. CL/JB

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