The British studio has a long history of good games that didn't earn a lot of money.
Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and
DmC: Devil May Cry all failed to meet the expectations and none of them managed to break-even. One would think that single-player only, "play it once" games aren't selling well, but
Hellblade's creators didn't give up on their vision and it finally paid off.
This time Ninja Theory were independently financing the game from their own budget and released it in the digital form only. Learning from the past mistakes,
Hellblede was created by a smaller, more flexible team. To ensure the success, the producers also decided to make it short, but with a goal to deliver an experience comparable to AAA games. According to Tameem Antoniades, the lead developer on
Hellblade, these smart decisions let the game to finally meet the expectations.
We don't know exact numbers, but the designer revealed that
Hellblade is on the edge of profitability in three months after its release:
I think it’s almost broken even, or it’s about to break even in the next couple of weeks. I’d have to check. We weren’t expecting to break even for six, eight, nine months on this game. It looks like within three months, it will have broken even and then some. Of course, because we self-published it, it’s the first time we’re getting the bulk of the money back, which is amazing. We own the IP this time. It’s opened up a bunch of doors and possibilities that we just didn’t have until this point. In terms of a model, I’d say it is a success.
It's excellent news for fans of linear, story-driven productions and should encourage more studios to take a risk and stand out against current trends in gaming.
From the makers of Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and DmC: Devil May Cry, comes a warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Set in the Viking age, a broken Celtic warrior embarks on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is available on digital distribution platforms NOW.