Hellblade Final Dev Diary – The Launch

Fran Mead writes: " It is 3 months since the launch of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and today we are happy to be sharing the final development diary in our 30 video series. In the diary we discuss how the Independent AAA model has turned from experiment into proven model, detailing key numbers from Hellblade’s launch:

* Over 75k pre-orders across PC and PS4 before launch.
* 250K units sold in the first week at $29.99.
* Over $13m in revenue generated in 3 months.
* 500k units sold in 3 months, which puts the project beyond breakeven and into profit. Our prediction was to be at this point in 6 months from release.
* Development took 3 years and with an average team size of 20.
* Game sold as digital-only."

[ccgr]

Nice!

[UltraNova]

They can add 1 more, I'm buying it finally.

[EatCrow]

Same

[NewMonday]

a publisher would have taken 4 million of that, but since its self published it all goes to devs.

4 million can pay 40 developers a full years work, this is not small

[S2Killinit]

Fully deserved

[DarXyde]

Just be aware that the game is an acquired taste.

I personally didn't care for it as a game, but I thought it did a fascinating job of exploring mental illness. If you play the way it's recommended (using binaural headphones), you will begin to feel yourself going slightly mad. It's genuinely interesting. Gameplay is polished and it runs very well, but I don't know. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

So, in short you may or may not really like the gameplay, but the way it explores mental illness is intriguing and at times scary.

My two cents.

[UltraNova]

Darxyde

I will be playing it with my 7.1 surround TXH/Dolby certified heatset thanks.

[DarXyde]

Then I'd say it promises to be quite an experience.

Enjoy, mate.

[BLow]

Yes I almost forgot about the game. I was waiting until I got my new TV. Now I need to pick this one up. Love Ninja Theory games.

[Babadook7]

Great game. So sales are split evenly pc and PS4

[Obscure_Observer]

So it only sell 250k on Playstation 4 after 3 months? So much for "we care for single player games". Gamers should put their money where their mouth is. Congrats to Ninja Theory, though. Hellblade is a great game which deserves more recognition.

I´m sure they will get their GOTY prize this year.

[MrVux000]

Have you considered that game being digital only might be a deal breaker for some people?

I for one prefer buying retail game versions rather than digital, as do a great number of people on both Playstation and Xbox.

[P_Bomb]

@obscure
I platinumed it. What more d’ya want?

[Damthatsword]

This game wasn't meant to sell that much to begin with. Did you suddenly forget the many single player games this year that sold millions upon millions? Let's be real man.

[moegooner88]

Game also sold 250k on Steam, which has double the install base of PS4. A testimony to how well PS4 owners support SP games. Thanks for proving this with your comment.

[UCForce]

The thing is that you are blinded about this. Ninja Theory never think their game to be sold that a lot in first place. But 500.000 units are still a lot for NT. Horizon Zero Dawn sold about 2.6 million units alone. Hellblade is digital only, so I do hope they will have physical release. One more thing, 250.000 PC + 250.000 PS4 = 500.000 units.

[Obscure_Observer]

@UCForce

"Horizon Zero Dawn sold about 2.6 million units alone."

That´s only retail.

[Hungwu]

so disgusting

[aaronaton]

I wanted Heavenly Sword II for starters.._

[BLow]

This game didn't really get heavy marketing so this is fine. Way to downplay the news. This is great for a small studio.

[DarXyde]

Did you see the commercial?

Me neither. Probably something to do with the limited exposure it got prior to release.

[Sevir]

They are ahead of estimates by 3 months. I'd say we've done a pretty good job supporting them.. 3 months to profitability across two platforms.. they have paid back the investors who helped them fund this.

It probably didn't sell as much because people still give them crap for DmC... Even though that game is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining experience!

Just shows the AAA game space is make or break. That game is polished and well made, but a ravenous fanbase squandered any chance of them being trusted. Which is a shame because there were fans who said they'd never touch a Ninja Theory game after DmC.

Hellblade should sell more. And it will in time but it's just a shame people spite them for a game that's really good

[Veneno]

You think you can go from trashing the game and then congratulating the dev in the same sentence? Screw you !

[fenome]

Half the total sales were on PS4, it was pretty split even, so I fail to see your point. Regardless, the developers are happy with it as they weren't expecting to sell that many copies for 6 months, let alone 3.

How about we just be happy for them without the bullshit?

I bought it, did you?

Edit:
Nevermind, I shouldn't even have wasted my breath you're just "concern" trolling.

[WelkinCole]

You are a sad little person

[notachance]

uh, that's exactly why many games steer clear from XB1

[UCForce]

Well, that’s freaking good new.

[Alexious]

Indeed. These developers were always underrated (yes, that includes DmC).

[Diffraction_Fos]

I agree, except for the DmC part. They should never have touched it. They should've known something was amiss when Crapcom approached them with the concept of "surprise us, shock us". It wasn't going to go down well with consumers when the IP owners themselves don't even know what the hell they want to do with it.

[FernDiggidy]

As a fan of DMC, I enjoyed DmC a ton. I don't understand the hate.

[Damthatsword]

Disagreed with the dmc part. I Found that game to be pretty bad in dmc standard.

[TheOttomatic91]

@Alexious I thought DmC was trash not because the combat wasn't as good as the OG series but because it was clear NT were limited with what they could do with the story and characters.

[Eidolon]

I thought DmC: Devil May Cry was a good game, but maybe not a good DMC game, don't know if to hold them accountable, or Capcom.

[KaiPow]

What a well deserved win for the studio!

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Amazing news

[PrinceOfAnger]

give me a sequel!!

[zivtheawesome]

congrats! you proved that low budget AAA isn't immpossible!

[justsomeoffdude]

well, let's hear those idiots that keep saying, making games are expensive!!! ninja theory spent 3 years on a tiny budget and are now reaping their reward... kudos Ninja theory!! We'll keep supporting you.

[Donnie81]

Amazing game deserves to sell a ton during its lifetime

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Revenue is not profit. How much did it cost to make and how much did it net.

Good game but $13 million doesn’t seem like a lot for a game with those production values.

Hellblade's budget is low by AAA-development standards, but very high compared to the average indie game. Whereas a typical AAA game "is going to be $50 million upwards," explained Matthews, Hellblade comes in "way below $10 million." And that budget's funded almost entirely by the studio itself. "We've put in our money; we've got loans and some support from the Wellcome Trust. ... By and large, it's our own money. That allows us to maintain creative ownership."

I’m assuming 8-9 million add in licensing, publishing, advertising, yea idk

[Goldby]

its an estimated 300k copies needed to make back the cost of developement.
it was a 12 person team, using their own office as the motion capture studio. they did everything they could to save money and i believe they have already broken even and then some.

they did also give 1Million dollars to a mental health organization in the UK

[Malphite]

Yeah it's in the article: "500k units sold in 3 months, which puts the project beyond breakeven and into profit. Our prediction was to be at this point in 6 months from release."

That's definitely good but I'm surprised it "only" sold 500k by now. It's an excellent game and should be supported more especially in a time where the big publishers are trying to suck as much money out of our pockets as they can.

It would be a great win for the creativity of the game devs and a big middle finger towards the corporate greed of the publishers if more dev-teams would embrace this approach.

[MasterCornholio]

@Malphite

Thanks for posting that since it makes it pretty clear that it did well for them. Congratulations Ninja Theory on the success of this new IP.

[Cyborgg]

Sucks that this game didn't release on XBOX

[Goldby]

i hope they do bring it to all platforms, even switch as its not just a great game, but may help people dealing with mental health see that there is a light at the end.

but if you have a PC, definitely look into it cyborg

[Cyborgg]

Yeah I'll do that. Waiting to get my 1070ti on Black Friday or Christmas. Or I might just get it on the PS4 since it's cheaper

[Kribwalker]

they said early on it was launching first on PS/PC so it could be another PS timed exclusive

[andrewsquall]

It could easily happen though, just when they have the time to. Its on Unreal Engine 4 so a Switch release is also easily possible.

[SurgicalMenace]

No it doesn't, exclusives are meant to draw people to the desired medium. Only sucks that people aren't willing to support what's needed to play what they want.

[Goldby]

@Surgical

in this case, though it does suck as this could be shedding light on a topic that not alot of people and companies are willing to tackle, and the more exposure the better it is for everyone

[Malphite]

Make your voice heard. If enough people show interesst in an Xbox port they might do it.

[SurgicalMenace]

Guilty, you're throwing numbers out based on what? You're shrugging at 13 million as though you've made that in a few months time yourself. It's not hard to congradulate someone, without trying to show that you know better then they do.

All your words mean, NOTHING, if you're not replicating their successes or better. You're basing your comment on assumptions, but let me ask, can you pony up 8-9 dollars personally or collectively? If you can, okay, but I doubt you'd be on N4G instead of whatever allows you to have it.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Love seeing ya so amped up. Going to buy Helpblade soon for the Pro

[maybelovehate]

Why on earth would it cost 8 to 9 million? The art and coding was created in house. Unreal licensing is 5% of gross. The voice actress probably got like 40,000.

[Goldby]

they had to pay their employees for 3 years, had to create their motion capture studio inside their office, had to pay the bills for the office, marketing, and the voice actress is one of the employees actually, has they gone with a true voice actress (as in their main job) it would have cost them alot more.

This about it this way, if each of their employees was payed 40,000 for the year.
40kx3(years)x12 employees = thast nearly 1.5Million there alone

[maybelovehate]

1.5 million sounds much more reasonable lol. And yes of course the developers had to get paid but they made and published the game themselves. The payment is the profits. All of it.

Also I think your idea of what voice actors get paid is probably way off haha. Unless you are a top billed actor you don't get paid much. My 40,000 estimate was actually really high. A voice actor for a 30 hour audio book which is a ton more than any game makes around 5000 dollars.

[Goldby]

She wasn't a voice actress though, she was standing until they fell in love with her performance. She is a normal ninja theory employee meaning 40k is probably closer to the actual salary

[rainslacker]

I wouldn't be surprised if they had some sort of profit sharing involved if the employees took a lower salary. A lot of smaller indie devs work on that premise.

I'd say given it was a small team, very dedicated to making it work on a small budget, that they were on board for that. If so, they're likely getting paid a nice bonus.

[kevnb]

i bet those pc sales put more money in their pocket compared to console.

[ShadowWolf712]

I bet you also think PC gamers are above trying to start flame wars.

[SurgicalMenace]

Bet based on what knowledge? Are those just your hopes to justify your preference? PC master race, huh? Well they been with PlayStation since their inception, and they've been consistent. Why don't all companies screw off consoles for PC only, huh?

Can I interest you in some numbers? How many graphic cards needed to play AAA games, sell, compared to just PS4 consoles? Now take that 13 million cards, combining AMD and Nvidia, and it only accounts for a 5th of PS4, alone.

https://www.extremetech.com...

Here is an article to put things in perspective for you. PC master racer, lol. Dude you should just enjoy gaming.

[kevnb]

because sony sells their consoles at either a loss or very little profit, they make the money from software sales. Nvidia/AMD make money from hardware and whatever other services they offer, not games. Valve charges to sell games on steam, but their overhead is lower since they arent forced to deal with all the hardware.

[SurgicalMenace]

You speak as though you work for or own Sony, MS, AMD, Nvidia, or Valve. Do you have numbers, sir, or are these just speculations? How do you know their profit margins, last I checked the report that would allow that to be seen is in the range of $15,000.00? What do you do for a living? Smh

[starchild]

That's 13 million for that year alone. I guarantee if you count the sales of all graphics cards equivalent to the PS4 or XB1's power or higher there would be more than the number of PS4s sold.

But what point did your comment have anyway?

[rainslacker]

The cut on both Steam and PSN are both the same. Actually a bit less on Sony's side with smaller indie devs. Console licensing fees, and dev kits licensing, does eat into the profits though. The actual cut for that can vary based on the price of the game.

In any case, the revenues would have been the same assuming it was exactly 50/50 split in platforms. I'm sure NT isn't lamenting an extra 250K sales just because they had an additional licensing fee.

[jaycptza]

Wrong, Console version is more expensive as they have licensing fee which is SONY's income. Everything else is theres.

It's widely known that the PS4 is profitable.

STOP talking shit.

You also forgot to factor in loss of sales on PC from piracy since you're trying to be all high and mighty.

[kevnb]

studies show piracy helps sales, but thats an entire other topic. https://www.engadget.com/20...

[Why o why]

Sometimes risks just pay off when hard work is the foundation. Well done, I hear it was on a shoestring budget too.

[Jivesh]

So happy for them. They should do a physical release, it'll sell so much more

[kevnb]

they would probably have to raise the price of a physical version.

[SurgicalMenace]

Okay, and they should.

[Jivesh]

Not sure about that, Ratchet and Clank and The Lost Legacy performed quite well as $40 games

[rezzah]

Overall I think they should leave it as it is unless they are sure producing physical copies will benefit them.

[lellkay]

Fair play, much deserved.

[mochachino]

Have a steam sale and probably get another 50,000.

[Automatic79]

Congratulations. Top notch developer.

[andrewsquall]

That Live motion capture stuff they did with the actor, who wasn't even going to play the lead as she was a temp stand in, was also incredible. https://youtu.be/JbQSpfWUs4...

[Team_Litt]

Interesting. Lemme go have a look at what yall were saying when Cuphead sold 1 million in 2 weeks vs what yall are saying now about this game selling half as much in 6 times as much time.

[Goldby]

two very different games. one is a retro style run and gun game and the other is a single player narative driven game.

then the art direction is also very different, and its safe to say Cuphead drew on the nostalgia stings.
also, has Cuphead donated any of the money they ahve made towards a charity or research center? because ninja theory has done that.

[P_Bomb]

Who’s “y’all”? I’ve never said a damn thing about Cuphead!

[SurgicalMenace]

Some of you guys really need to find something of value because your constant trolling only shows that you're gaming for the wrong reasons. Team_Litt

[ShadowWolf712]

OK, and one had a mega publisher's Marketing and Funding $$$ behind them, the other self-published, self-funded, and mostly self-advertised.

[Team_Litt]

Bottom line remains. Yall jeered at 1 million in 2 weeks and now you are cheering at half a mill in 14 weeks.

[ShadowWolf712]

I ain't jeered at nothin' son. Fact remains, however, that this is still a more impressive feat.

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

This doesn't seem all that good to me considering Sony has a user base of over 60 mil. This game was hyped up yet very few people bought it. And I don't wanna gear it's a new IP because Horizon was a new IP and it sold well.

[Goldby]

Sony also funded and marketed the shit out of Horizon. they only real marketing for Hellblade was the developer Diaries.

[P_Bomb]

In what universe do you live where everyone buys the same game at the same time, multiple times? You want me to buy it twice (once for the OG and again for the Pro)?

[SurgicalMenace]

Just say congrats, BLKxSEPTEMBER, as I am more than sure you don't have one accomplishment that could match this achievement. What have you contributed to all of our love for gaming?

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

I purchase thousands of dollars of games per year, I buy consoles DAY ONE, I bought ALL mid gen updrages. So don't ask me what do I for gaming. I SUPPORT devs with my hard earned money so they can continue to make the games I love and I have been doing this for over 20 years. Don't ever presume you know how I move. Now that I've explained to you what I contribute to gaming what exactly do you do? And as far as my accomplishments I give dozens of people jobs because I am in a position to do so. There's more to life than gaming. You know nothing of me but are quick to question my accomplishments. Gtfo

[SurgicalMenace]

Lmbo, BLKXSEPTEMBER, so you purchase but you've not created anything to be measured, outside of being a sheep? Smh As far as my accomplishments go, I've achieved well enough to NOT dismiss the accomplishments of others. My profession, video game store owner, business consultant, public speaker, career coach, analyst, accountant, shall I continue? Doesn't really matter, but since you asked. Lmbo

Giving people jobs is the equivalent to sending them an invite to the plantation, not sure if I'd say that out loud. Rofl. My life is dedicated to showing individuals how to attain financial freedom, ultimately, freeing them from the shackles of needing jobs. So in short, freedom is my contribution.

Thousands of dollars a year on games. Hmmm? Sound like a bad vestment, as the R.O.I. wouldn't even equal the margins that you thumbed your nose at Ninja Theory for. JS LMBO

[BenjaMan64]

Awesome. Well-deserved... I should get back to this game, I haven't really played it much... but so far what I've played has been great.

[FernDiggidy]

ouuuu!!!

[TheColbertinator]

Great game. Well deserved for Ninja Theory.

[masterfox]

that's awesome to know!!

[Pancit_Canton]

This game is probably better on VR

[AnubisG]

The only reason I'm not buying this is because there is no physical copy. If they release one, I'll buy day one. Maybe Limited Run Games could release it.

[Vizigoth04]

Just think how many copies would still of commonly good games if not always pushing for the $60 price tag. Let alone some developers to sacrifice micro-transactions for and $80 title. $40-$50 is a much more appetizing price and I think you'll have double the initial sales launch. It's taken Rise of The Tomb Raider 2 years on Xbox One to reach 1.5 million copies and PS4 1 year for the same amount. But had it launches with a better initial price I think the devs will have gotten that money sooner and to sooner being working on the next title.

[sprinterboy]

Not picked it up yet, but will do over Xmas

[DrumBeat]

I chose the higher res mode on Pro, but the 60fps was good too. The game itself was a great little playthrough and I loved the narrator. Great lore. Great lore stones.

[Critic4l_Strik3]

Thats great news. I wonder how much money they put in development

[Goldby]

hey have made back the cost to develop the game, so it would be somewhere around 10-15Million i presume

[Wotbot]

That’s not success for such a large install base.

I’d be hugely disappointed

[rainslacker]

It's a success because it made money twice as fast as the developers expected.

before you cite what people say about other games, know that I'm one of those people that says that a game was probably successful if it only sold around 1-2 million on a competing console.

Ultimately, what people say is successful is meaningless to if the dev/pub considers it successful. They have their own projections about what they expect to sell, and what they have to sell. As it stands, it's selling better than expected...or at least twice as fast as what they thought it'd sell in 6 months.

[Wotbot]

Keep dreaming son, that’s not successful in anyone’s books, half a million sold and half of that on PC. They could have projected that few being sold.

Like I said, I’d be hugely disappointed and review what went wrong for such a good game.

[rainslacker]

It's not successful to a bunch of fan boys on forums who want to play the "it has to sell 10+ million copies to be a success" line.

I'm not one of those people. For the most part, publishers and devs aren't like that either...particularly for a game with the scope of this game.

The dev stipulated what they'd consider a success, and apparently they've met that criteria. Since they didn't have a publisher, they only have to be accountable to themselves.

Thus, the game was a success. Not just critically, but in terms of sales.

They also didn't project that it'd only sell 250K on PC. They projected that's what it would sell in 6 months. They've sold that many in 3 months.

I'm not really sure what people think most games sell on PC, or console, but most games don't sell in the millions. It's usually only the AAA blockbusters which break 2 million, and only the most heavily marketed and long standing IP's which break 5+ million. Then you have the rarer games which get upwards, or exceed 10 million.

If I made a game with a razor thin budget like these devs did, and it was of the quality that this game is, and it sold half a million copies, I'd be elated. I wouldn't care what percentage of the user base played it, I'd just be happy half a million people played it. The only time I would worry about attach ratios of software is when determining which platforms to release on....and that would be more during pre-production.

[ooquis]

Just waiting for HDR support.

[CP_Company]

at least for me, there is two deal breakers for this games, first, the game is digital and i love to get a Box, second, on PS4 there are so many games, that i have not time to play it + i have gaming PC.

maybe down the line, when i have more time and when the game hits the sale, i take it.

they started to make a profit after 3 weeks after game hit the market and the game cost 30$, can someone imagine if the game would had been 40$ or more? that proves that many studios just trying to be greedy.
+ this studio donated 1 Million dollars to a mental health organization.

[Youngindy21]

It's on sale on Steam for 22 bucks. I plan on picking it up at that price.

[Jinger]

Fantastic game

[mokkeyrg2]

Shocks me it sells 250k with 60plus mill ps4s out there jheeze

[CP_Company]

Shocks me it sells 250k with 500plus mill PCs out there jheeze

[TheOttomatic91]

Damn that's awesome. I'm happy to say I contributed to this I hope the same can be happen to Ready at Dawn, so we can get an Order 1886 sequel or another unique game like it

[Blu3_Berry]

Well deserved. I'm glad they managed to make alot of revenue. Looking forward to their future projects.

[jc12]

Great graphics, horribly basic, dreadfully boring gameplay.

[spunkee311]

I'm playing the game now, and i'm glad I took the plunge. This is a very unique game. I really love this developer and have been a fan of all their works.

For all you PC players, this game is 25% off right now!

[BABI-PANGPANG]

Perhaps it's time to finally put it on a disc, yes? I wouldn't think twice of buying this game again.