"If we could count on selling 5,000+ of a title physically on Xbox, we could justify the ports without a digital stake, but we only sell those kinds of numbers on PlayStation and Switch. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Xbox gamers are digital first."
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 launched last week to solid reviews from both fans and players. But its playercount? That's another story.
That's awful. This combined with the really low Steam numbers paint a disastrous picture imo. Really bad timing too because Tango was closed down for a similar thing. Great reviewed game, and low sales and/or player count. Hi-Fi Rush reviewed a hell of a lot better and it was widely loved by everyone, Hellblade 2 nowhere near that.
I know the rumor is that the studio has their next game already green-lit, but if I worked at Tango, I would be furious. "Why do they survive while we get binned?" I'd be telling myself.
But the suit woman will have you believe "Oh we have different metrics for the success of one studio compared to another studio. We judge each studio and game on their own set criteria" or something like that, I'm paraphrasing here but you get the idea. But no one who works there knows what the hell that even means. I mean the DLC for Redfall was getting worked on days before they even got the news their studio was getting dumped in the trash. So what are these mysterious metrics to let studios survive and others perish? I bet this is all hogwash, I bet MS don't even really know. They just had to make cuts and certain studios just found their way on the chopping block. Someone had to bite the dust, why not you?
Well I bet all this does nothing for the confidence of other employees in other studios. The truth is you have no idea where your career will be in a year from now working at one of their studios that aren't the mega big ones. MS just have too many studios to manage efficiently. "We'll just throw money at them and buy them and worry about the details later on. I mean we can do it, we're Microsoft."
...have you seen what the top 10 consists of? Its things like fortnite, roblox, CoD, apex... etc. This being a new game that has a niche appeal is actually surprising to see at 23. Its also the 33rd top paid game on the PC through the MS store.
Those are dreadful numbers any way you slice it dude. They hyped this game to hell for the last 4 plus yrs. It was supposed to be xboxs big game this yr. Ninja Theory is probably sweating right now.
And it's already slipped out of the Top 100 on Steam. Meanwhile a port of the 4-year old Ghost of Tsushima is sitting comfortably at #8.
One of the biggest games of the year, a multi million sequel and heavily advertised game, at 23 most played? There's no way to justify those numbers.
^^heavily advertised game...?
I mean, I knew the game was coming but outside of a boot screen ad for it, there has been little to no marketing. And yet it still managed 23rd. Make of that what you will.
Here in the East Coast on NY/NJ on cable tv Hellblade 2 has been advertised pretty well. I see the commercials every day at least 3 times a day for the past 3 weeks. It's even advertised as YT commercials.
What an idiotic comment. Let me guess the next comment would be GTA V outsold everything so....
Absolutely terrible numbers all round for this game. Ghost of Tsushima at number 8. Good games going to sell regardless of excuses
What a disaster, 2 failures in a row for Ninja Theory, first Bleeding edge, now Hellblade 2, any way you slice it these are not the numbers the most awaited game of the year for Xbox should show (before Activision purchase), also player numbers is extremely low and even more surprising considering is day 1 on gamepass.
If they worked on heavenly sword instead then they would have something worth playing and waiting for... unfortunately that won't happen.
If this game cost more and took longer to develop than Hi-Fi Rush, then I would worry if I were Ninja Theory. Projects may have been greenlit, but the increased scrutiny over at MS may very well put them on the chopping block. The incredible irony here is that it was PlayStation players that pushed the original game passed its 1 million copies sold milestone. With that purchasing power cut out, and the Game Pass effect having trained Xbox players to not purchase games, it seems that the sequel may have been set-up for failure.
And that's exactly what pisses me off about Hellblade 2 not being on PlayStation, Sony promoted the original game and I bought it basically on D1 back in the day because I liked what I saw and ended up really enjoying it!
I really hope Hellblade 2 is next on the porting list because I would buy it in a heartbeat, asshole microsoft robbed me of this game!
Just get an xbox. Then it will be YOU that is robbing Microsoft. Gamepass is a hell of a deal and an addictive one at that.
No darth, buying an Xbox only helps xbox lol he can play gamepass on com if he wants to take advantage of them destroying themselves.
If anything I would say that these sales figures and player counts may actually fast-track its PS5 port.
The new Emancipator Exosuit Mech has been added to Helldivers 2, but many players aren't impressed with how it performs.
Very loud minority is complaining. I see people using one in every round i play and they kick ass, have to remember there are tons of kids that play this game, and they complain about every single little tiny bad thing even if there are 10 pros and 1 con. Also, this is definitely not accurate. I’ve literally seen these mechs destroy chargers and titans, in the gate defense missions with this mech it literally makes it infinitely easier to hold the gates.
What a crock of shit, whoever wrote this just sucks at the game, they’re embellishing everything for some reason. Maybe they have a chip on their shoulder against the developers. Stop playing the game if all it does is make you angry, those of use that love the game will continue to appreciate their constant updates and toys to play with.
Matter of fact this post just made me want to play around, see you on the battlefield.
Are the number of shots required to kill the enemies outlined in the article incorrect?
I haven't tested it myself but this is a snippet from the article.
"Kills Bile Titans to the head in around 40-45 shots (Way more than the autocannon sentry for some stupid reason)
Kills Chargers to the head in 10 shots
Kills Chargers to the leg in 8 shots
Kills Bile Spewers in 4 shots
Kills Brood Commanders in 2-4 shots to the head"
Some support weapons can one-shot those enemies and I believe the argument is that the mech should be more powerful than it appears.
I personally think it is about using the right weapon for each faction. This new mech is more effective against the automatons while the first mech is stronger against the terminids.
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"Physical game sales are not high enough on Xbox to offset our development costs, so we have no option but to skip Xbox on these titles."
this right here
xbox has built their fanbase to be only interested in shooters or forza.
im not surprised by that statement at all.
we've seen that happen with aalot of other games aswell, were the fans are just not on xbox, but on playstion and switch.
To be fair on them they did start to do Xbox releases, a very few but it seems like we now know why they never did
They listened to complaints, they tried and it failed.
Finally some honest to God words from a company, clear as day and no PR mumbo jumbo.
Between 50% to 75% of Xbox Series Sales are the digital only Series S. That means the install base of disc playing Xbox’s is at WiiU levels. I don’t know the breakdown of PS5 to PS5 digital but the greater number of PS5s probably makes up for the difference.
Honestly, it's kind of funny because the usual issue with Limited Run or any of those other 'indie publishers' is that they typically produce so few copies that it's extremely hard to get one. So maybe reallocating those Xbox copies to the Switch and PS4/5 would be a good idea.