We’ve got some news which will bring a twisted smile to the faces of horror gamers everywhere. Friday the 13th: The Game has now sold 1.8 million copies worldwide within the first two months of release, a number which will significantly expand when it receives a physical edition in October. That’s a lot of dead teenagers.

This news comes from an interview publisher Gun Media’s Wes Keltner gave to Games Industry.biz, in which he points out that the game had over 100,000 players 20 minutes after it launched, causing the servers to crash. This resulted in the staff working so hard to keep the game online that they didn’t even get to go home and had to sleep at their desks.

Aside from the $823,704 raised on Kickstarter, Keltner refused to share the game’s overall budget, although he did say that it was so low that it would only cover half the animation budget for an AAA game. The strong sales combined with the relatively low production costs mean that they were quickly in the black, with the profits going directly into the DLC and server costs.

He goes on to discuss how the game appeals to both newcomers and hardcore fans of the franchise, saying:

“[And] there does seem to be a large portion of younger players that are experiencing the IP for the first time via our game. They all know ‘Friday the 13th’ as well as Jason. His hockey mask is as recognizable as Mickey Mouse. However, we do get a lot of messages from players that are either watching the films for the first time, or are going back to watch them again. It’s rewarding when they mention how well we nailed the look and feel of those films, especially the first two to three films in the series. What I found most interesting was hearing from hardcore fans of the films, going back to watch them again after playing our game. They watch and enjoy the films in a totally new way thanks to the game. That warms the heart.”

I recommend reading the full interview to get the full measure of his experiences working on the game and how the team have kept it going since its launch.