Editing Descent (video game) (section)

===Sales===
On ''Electronic Entertainment''{{'}}s charts in March 1995, the PC and CD-ROM editions of ''Descent'' appeared as Nos. 5 and 8 of the top-selling PC and CD-ROM titles before climbing to Nos. 4 and 3 the next month, respectively.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Leader Board|magazine=Electronic Entertainment|date=September 1995|volume=2|issue=9|page=18}}</ref> The game first appeared on ''PC Zone''{{'}}s charts of the top-selling games in May 1995, landing on Nos. 4 and 2 on the top full price and CD-ROM titles, respectively. The shareware version appeared as No. 3 on the top budget games.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Gallup Charts|magazine=[[PC Zone]]|date=May 1995|issue=26|page=18}}</ref> In June 1995, the CD-ROM version dropped off, and the shareware version fell to No. 6 of the budget games and the full game to No. 9 of the full price games<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Gallup Charts|magazine=[[PC Zone]]|date=June 1995|issue=27|page=18}}</ref> before dropping off next month. The full game rose back up in August 1995 to No. 19 of the top full price games, while the shareware version fell down to No. 7 of the top commercial titles.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Gallup Charts|magazine=[[PC Zone]]|date=August 1995|issue=29|page=16}}</ref> The game dropped off ''PC Zone''{{'}}s charts altogether the next month.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Gallup Charts|magazine=[[PC Zone]]|date=September 1995|issue=30|page=20}}</ref> The Macintosh port also landed on No. 10 of the top Macintosh games in December 1995.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Leader Board|magazine=[[PC Entertainment]]|date=April 1996|volume=3|issue=4|page=20}}</ref>

Interplay estimated in March 1995 before ''Descent''{{'}}s full release that shareware copies of ''Descent'' were distributed 900,000 times via online services, on the Internet, or at retail.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-03-13-1995072109-story.html|title=A game that two comouters can play|last=Himowitz|first=Michael J.|work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=March 13, 1995|access-date=June 29, 2019|archive-date=June 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629231327/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-03-13-1995072109-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Official global sales of the game, together with its sequel, surpassed 1.1 million copies as of June 1998,<ref>{{cite report | date = June 22, 1998 | title = Interplay Entertainment Final Prospectus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226210148/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057232/0001017062-98-001416.txt | url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057232/0001017062-98-001416.txt | archive-date=February 26, 2017 | location=[[Irvine, California]] | page=36 }}</ref> while [[VentureBeat]] estimated in 2015 that the actual sales figure of the original was as high as 25 million copies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://venturebeat.com/2015/03/10/sci-fi-game-makers-aim-to-bring-back-the-3d-space-combat-of-descent/|title=Sci-fi game makers aim to bring back the 3D space combat of Descent|last=Takahashi|first=Dean|work=[[VentureBeat]]|date=March 10, 2015|access-date=July 2, 2019|archive-date=July 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702075825/https://venturebeat.com/2015/03/10/sci-fi-game-makers-aim-to-bring-back-the-3d-space-combat-of-descent/|url-status=live}}</ref>