Haha true true, but Sega hasn't canceled CA's Total War yet (and though, sadly, I've played those more than the Endless series yet they're far behind Amplitudes games in quality and literally everything else) so I think their definition of reasonable is reasonable for now 

And yeah ! Can't wait to see what else they come out with ! 

13,2mil gross. Steam takes 30%. Just saying. Also, SEGA...  They bought Aamplitude, so they call the shots. Big publisher. They have their own definitions of whats reasonable :)

Let's say I just hope you are right, I want to play a sequel! :) 

I'm not sure on this, but I did read somewhere that Sega did own the IP, but you may want to message one of the DEVs about it if you really want to know. 

However, I do know that as long as Amplitude continues making the great (and successful) games that it has, there would be no reason for Sega to not continue publishing the brand. 

I'm sure that any publisher would be happy to take Amplitude under their wing if things didn't work out with Sega though. I mean their games have been spot on and award-winning which is just the kind of game a publisher wants to, well, publish. 

Well assuming that each of the 330,000 people that bought the game on steam only bought the standard edition, they stand to make about $13.2mil. But that isn't counting anyone who originally bought or upgraded to the Digital Deluxe (which can be assumed; is quite a few) which could jump the number another million or two. 

Also, did you account for people who bought the game during Early Access b/c that could also increase the amount of money they've made from the game so far ? 

The game did sell in stores/retailers and on other websites for prices that varied from $20-$50 which means there was a lot of money made away from Steam. 

And going on Lilyophelias point, Amplitude has done well for itself in the past, and there are no signs of them slowing down (it looks as if they're just getting started with the Endless Universe) + there'll be 4-6 DLC packages that could go from $10-15 + 1-3 other ones that are about $1-5 so it which makes the games total cost roughly range from $39.99-$80 (?) 

So funding-wise

They seem to be on track to making a successor game, whether or not this game will be tied to the Endless Universe is a different matter altogether though. 

Well, I didn't really question their capability nor their dedication to the product. I was just wondering how financially reasonable and viable it is. In the end, that is a decisive factor for any successor. 300k break even is what I would expect for them at least. Maybe 400k. So looking at the sales from gamespy, I think the game covered the cost and made a little bit of profit. But that's just total guesswork here based on some experience I have in the field. 

There are many talented developerse out there that make good games and polish them well, but it does not automatically mean that they are a financial success.

Amplitude is pretty amazing, and I'm sure they have a pretty good future ahead of them.

With many games--especially 4x games, which can be considered more niche--a lot has to do with the game's budget and how many units they need to sell to make a profit. It's apples and oranges between games.

ES2 is built on successive iterations of the same/similiar engine, and you can expect each new game to be even better. They have also been phenomenal about polishing their game, and if the past is a prediction of the future, we're looking at a library of interesting--super reasonably priced--expansion DLC that will flesh out this game even more.

Endless Legend at launch is very different from EL after Tempest (which was 5+ Expansions in).

I can only speak from my experience with Amplitude: they've always exceeded my hopes; and completely devastated my expectations!

So yeah, my guess is that we're going to get several ES2 expansions; and then maybe they'll revisit Endless Legend (or try out another game), before they eventually come back to another Endless Space title even further down the line.