Manor Lords has sold over 2 million copies in under three weeks

Medieval city-builder Manor Lords has topped 2 million sales in under three weeks.

The latest figures come from publisher Hooded Horse, which praised the early access PC title for delivering a "sensational debut" across Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, and The Microsoft Store.

Manor Lords is developed by Slavic Magic and has stormed out of the gates. The project became a record-breaker after amassing over 3.2 million wishlists on Steam (a platform record) and topped 1 million sales within 24 hours of its early access debut.

Hooded Horse co-founder and CEO Tim Bender said the title has exceeded the company's wildest expectations. "It's been wonderful to see so many players give Manor Lords a try," said Bender. "We had some pretty optimistic expectations and even some wild hopes, but reaching two million copies on Manor Lords so quickly has exceeded even those."

Manor Lords' Steam Next Fest success

During a recent interview with Game Developer, Bender explained Hooded Horse began to suspect Manor Lords might do well after a Steam Next Fest demo generated around 500,000 wishlists during the event. Another 800,000 wishlists arrived in the two weeks prior to Manor Lords' early access launch thanks to an upswing in press and influencer coverage, but still, Bender refused to get carried away.

"As much as I'd like to say 'I saw it coming.' Anybody would have to be absolutely arrogant to expect that. It gained a higher launch peak [player count] than Total War: Warhammer III and Civilization VI. If I expected that I would have been insane. I was hoping for half of that," he added.

As of May 11, which is when we spoke with Bender, Manor Lords had a lifetime wishlist conversion rate of 26 percent. Bender clarified that percentage was different on launch day because more players have wishlisted the title since, but it's a metric that's indicative of the title's colossal success.

"The great thing is, you'd think because we launched with little over 3 million wishlists, that would mean we now have less than 3 million wishlists. But the wishlists have been increasing with the sales, so we still have over 3 million," added Bender. "It has basically built wishlists back up as quickly as it's converted them, so it's going to have a long future."

For Bender, fostering longevity is about encouraging players to hop aboard when the time is right—even if that means waiting for future discounts or the full launch. "I did the thing in business school they tell you not to do, but I told players more discounts are coming," he said. "But we don't mind [customers] waiting. We don't want them to experience regret."

You can hear more from Bender, including his thoughts on the use of "fundamentally stupid" recoup clauses in publishing deals, by checking out another excerpt from our interview.