Sales Figures

Last updated: May 13, 2026

Overview

This page aggregates publicly-documented commercial sales figures for Sierra games. Computer-game sales data is notoriously fragmentary — pre-2000 figures are mostly self-reported by Sierra and rarely audited; post-2000 figures rely on NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track, or developer disclosures. Treat every number on this page as approximate-and-as-of-disclosure-date unless specifically cited to an audited source (e.g., a 10-K SEC filing).

For the corporate-financial context (Sierra On-Line’s IPO, acquisition prices), see Corporate Lineage. For year-by-year release context, see Timeline 1980-1999.

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Mega-sellers (≥500,000 lifetime units)

These are the Sierra titles with the strongest documented commercial performance.

Game	Lifetime sales	Source / context
King’s Quest V	500,000+ worldwide	Sierra confirmed by 1993; ~160K in first 3 months, 300K within 15 months1
Phantasmagoria	~1,000,000 worldwide	Roberta Williams interview, 2022 (Kotaku)2
Half-Life	9,300,000+ retail (pre-Steam)	Valve disclosure 20083
King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity	~750,000	Louis Castle (Westwood) estimate 20024
Hoyle Official Book of Games: Volume 1	250,000+ in first year	Halcyon Days interview with Warren Schwader5
Multiple Half-Life expansion packs (Opposing Force, Blue Shift)	1,000,000+ each	Valve / Gearbox disclosures6

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Strong commercial titles (100,000–500,000 units)

Game	Lifetime sales	Source
King’s Quest (1984)	800,000+ across series by 1988 (IBM PCjr + ports)	Sierra Newsletter Winter 19887
King’s Quest IV	300,000+	Sierra Annual Report 1989
King’s Quest VI	300,000–400,000	Estimated from Sierra’s late-1990s acquisition-target retrospectives8
Quest for Glory I	~250,000	Cole interview retrospective
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers	~300,000	Jane Jensen interview9
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery	~250,000	Jane Jensen interview
Betrayal at Krondor	~250,000	Dynamix-era retrospective
Caesar II	~200,000	Impressions-era documentation
Caesar III	500,000+	Sierra/Vivendi sales disclosure10
Homeworld	500,000+	Relic/Sierra disclosure11
Homeworld 2	250,000+	Relic disclosure

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Mid-tier (50,000–100,000 units)

Many SCI-era Sierra adventures fell in this range — commercially viable but not mega-hits.

• 1991 - Space Quest IV - Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
• 1991 - Police Quest III - The Kindred
• 1991 - Leisure Suit Larry 5 - Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
• 1995 - Torin’s Passage
• 1995 - Police Quest - SWAT
• 1996 - Lighthouse - The Dark Being
• Most Hoyle volumes (volumes 2-5)
• Most 3D Ultra titles
• Most Dr. Brain titles

Specific figures for these are largely undocumented in primary sources.

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Development budget data

Where development costs are publicly documented:

Game	Budget	Source
King’s Quest	~$850,000 (1983-84 dollars)	The Digital Antiquarian12
Phantasmagoria	$4,500,000	Sierra disclosure; major contributor to the 1995 fiscal year13
The Beast Within	$2,500,000	Jane Jensen interview
Mask of Eternity	~$3,000,000	RPG Codex retrospective
Homeworld	~$3,000,000	Relic disclosure

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Corporate sales / market-cap data

For context on Sierra’s overall scale:

Year	Annual revenue	Notes / Source
1985	~$3.5M	Sierra Newsletter, pre-IPO disclosures
1988	~$25M	Sierra IPO prospectus (SEC EDGAR)
1992	~$70M	Sierra Annual Report
1995	~$120M	Sierra Annual Report
1996	~$150M	Pre-CUC acquisition financials14

CUC International paid approximately $1.06 billion in stock for Sierra in July 1996 (deal closed February 1997).¹⁵ At the time, this was one of the largest video-game industry acquisitions on record.

After the various ownership transitions, individual Sierra-title revenue is not consistently broken out in parent-company filings.

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Sales-data caveats

• Self-reported Sierra figures (1980s-1990s) were not third-party audited until the company went public in 1988, and even then SEC filings disclosed aggregate-not-per-title sales.
• “500,000 units sold” press claims were sometimes lifetime worldwide figures and sometimes North American first-year — context matters.
• Modern digital re-release sales (GOG, Steam) are rarely disclosed publicly by Activision Blizzard / Microsoft.
• Hoyle franchise sales are particularly opaque — Encore Software (the 2007-2016 publisher) did not disclose unit figures.

For the most accurate single-title sales context, the Sierra IPO prospectus and 10-K filings (1988-1996) on SEC EDGAR are the canonical primary source.¹⁶

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See Also

• Corporate Lineage — Acquisition prices and corporate financials
• Timeline 1980-1999 — Year-by-year release context
• Bibliography — Primary-source verification protocols

References

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — King’s Quest V — Sales documentation ↩

2. Kotaku — Roberta Williams interview 2022 — Phantasmagoria sales recall ↩

3. Valve press release 2008 — Half-Life 9.3M sales — Valve sales disclosure ↩

4. Game Studies — Louis Castle interview — Castle estimate of Mask of Eternity sales ↩

5. Halcyon Days — Warren Schwader interview — Hoyle V1 250K first-year ↩

6. GearboxGearbox Software — Opposing Force sales — Half-Life expansion sales context ↩

7. Sierra Newsletter — Winter 1988 — KQ series sales documentation ↩

8. The Digital Antiquarian — Sierra under CUC — Pre-acquisition sales context ↩

9. Adventure Classic Gaming — Jane Jensen interview — GK sales recall ↩

10. GameSpot — Caesar III sales — Vivendi sales disclosure ↩

11. Relic Entertainment press archive — Homeworld sales ↩

12. The Digital Antiquarian — King’s Quest budget — KQ development cost ↩

13. Sierra annual report 1995 — Phantasmagoria budget impact ↩

14. LA Times — CUC acquires Sierra — Pre-acquisition revenue context ↩

15. NY Times — CUC buys Sierra — $1.06B deal documentation ↩

16. SEC EDGAR — Sierra On-Line filings — Primary financial filings ↩