Video game publisher Bethesda Softworks has announced that its latest release, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, has managed to sell more than 3.5 million copies across all platforms during its first 48 hours of presence on store shelves. 7 million units of the game have been shipped to retailers during the first week of the title's life, playable on the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360 and the PC. The launch copies of Skyrim are expected to bring in more than 450 million dollars (333.11 million Euro) in revenue for Bethesda. More than 280,000 gamers played the PC version of the game at the same time during launch day. Bethesda has not made it clear whether digitally distributed copies have been included in the sales statistics. Robert Altman, who is the Chife Executive Officer at ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda, stated, “We are grateful for the fans' response to Skyrim. Todd Howard and his team at Bethesda Game Studios have crafted a very special game. Anticipation for Skyrim has surpassed any game in our company's history, and we are pleased that sales and reviews have reflected the quality and hours of amazing gameplay it provides.” Success for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was not just commercial as reviewers have almost unanimously praised the game and it has one of the biggest Metacritic average ratings for titles launched during 2011. The developers at Bethesda have promised to provide support for the game, with a new significant patch expected soon in order to fix the biggest problems that the player base has reported since launch, although the open nature of the game makes it difficult to eliminate all glitches. This being a Bethesda made game a string of downloadable content will probably be launched starting in early 2012, expanding the game with new quests, new areas and new skills.