Support NeoGAF

[seb85]

Blades of Fire, the dark fantasy action-adventure from Metroid Dread studio MercurySteam, has "underperformed" following its console and Epic Games Store-exclusive PC release in May, contributing to a €10m loss for publishing group Digital Bros. The company has blamed the game's failure on "an oversupply of new releases and increasingly selective consumers".


Releasing a boring repetitive game , making it exclusive to Epic store, then blame it's failure on the market condition , typical ignorant publishers

Metroid Dread studio's recent console and Epic-exclusive action-adventure "underperformed" due to "increasingly selective consumers", says publisher

Blades of Fire, the dark fantasy action-adventure from Metroid Dread studio MercurySteam, has "underperformed" following its console and PC release.

www.eurogamer.net

 

[Branded]

Oh right, totally forgot this existed (due to it not being on Steam).

I'll bite once I can actually play it on the platform of my choice.

 

[Begleiter]

Consumers have to be more selective because of increased game prices. There's less to go around and you can't take a chance on something that only "might" be good.

 

[Holammer]

Publisher knew the game would underperform so they sold out and made it EGS exclusive.
I can't blame them, it was the logical thing to do. But don't expect me to pay full price for it when it hits Steam, I'll wait for a 66-75% discount.

 

[Sebastian1295]

I looked this game up and it looks and plays like an xbox 360 era game which isn't a good thing. It looks janky and unpolished and in an era where games are coming out frequently you can't be releasing games like this and expecting to make a profit.

 

[winjer]

So they made their game a Epic exclusive, then complain no one bought it. What a bunch of idiots.

 

[Luipadre]

Most of the steam playerbase doesnt even know about this game...

 

[drotahorror]

The first and only time I ever installed the EGS client was to play a demo of this dumpster fire of a game.

Deleted promptly.

 

[GrayChild]

"How dare you spend less money on videogames?!"

 

[Lokaum D+]

Man, i read Breath of Fire for a momento....fuck my life

 

[poodaddy]

These devs that go for the Epic exclusivity and then act surprised when their game doesn't sell.....

 

[linko9]

I have never heard of this game, did they do any marketing?

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Bitch please. I played the demo for two hours and while there was a lot to like, it was yet more Souls-adjacent fare but with a terrible aesthetic and promo art that makes it look borderline shovelware at first glance. Look at the game's logo. Literally nothing sticks out at first. Nobody will skim over this on the PSN store, or anywhere, and go hey...hmmmm.

MercurySteam really have a fetish for lame art direction.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Liked the demo.

It did came in between Clair Obscure, Oblivion R, Doom TDA release window.

Couldn't get into it.

 

[CliffBronger]

First i have heard of this game.

 

[Gonzito]

I hate epic store. When it comes out on steam I will get it because the demo was great

 

[The Cockatrice]

So they made their game a Epic exclusive, then complain no one bought it. What a bunch of idiots.

Every. Single. Time when Epic Store is involved. Nobody learns, they all want that quick instant buck and bail and they all underestimate the power of sales over time.

 

[Kataploom]

So basically, competition is a new trend in the market. Gotcha lol.

What about releasing games where people actually buy them?

 

[StereoVsn]

"Epic Store Exclusive". Hmm… I wonder why it didn't sell…

They only time I go to Epic is to:

a)Buy my kids some vBucks if they want to spend their money on it (very rarely) or
b)Add free Epic games to my library that I will never play.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The game is actually much better than it seems at first. Combat is complex and level design, intricate. Gameplay is its own thing, not a Souls derivative like others.

The problem is the weird old-fashioned aesthetics that gives it a generic look. They made some critical mistakes in the art direction and also in marketing.

 

[LordCBH]

Epic Games Store-exclusive PC release

Found part of the problem.

 

[touchfuzzy]

MercurySteam is one of those devs that seem to have some talented coders / designers but really need a bit of oversight. When they're working with a major publisher on a big IP the game turns out good, when they make their own thing it turns out kinda bad.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

The game is actually much better than it seems at first. Combat is complex and level design, intricate. Gameplay is its own thing, not a Souls derivative like others.

The problem is the weird old-fashioned aesthetics that gives it a generic look. They made some critical mistakes in the art direction and also in marketing.

Thank you, yes. It LOOKS a lot, and I mean a lot, cheaper and more generic than it actually is. The problem was even the damn demo has a shitty start. I don't know why they didn't just drop people into the village right away and let them mess around. A dull, super-narrow "tutorial" area with cutscenes followed by more cutscenes followed by an obtuse smithing mini-game is a baffling way to demo an Action game.

This was even the demo experience for me

 

[jshackles]

With OPs typo in the thread title I thought to myself "Maybe they shouldn't have named the game Balades of Fire, because that's a dumb name"

 

[_Idea_of_Evil_]

I played the demo on ps5 and liked the art direction and tone they were going for, but the crafting and combat isn't good.

 

[ungalo]

Releasing a boring repetitive game , making it exclusive to Epic store, then blame it's failure on the market condition , typical ignorant publishers

i didn't play this game specifically, but the market like boring shit games, they all succeed

 

[Sooner]

Sounds like he's saying, "There were too many better games".

 

[Generic]

The demo was great, felt like an old-school action-adventure.

 

[ssringo]

Most PC players when they see a game announcement or trailer that has EGS and no Steam will immediately forget about it. I certainly do until I eventually hear about how it underperformed or is finally coming to Steam. Be happy with your EGS payout because sales probably won't follow.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Blades of Fire got a 5/10 from IGN and got a 71 on PS5 on metacritic.

That 5/10 sealed its fate. It's known as a shit game now. I'm the biggest Dread fan here so I'm not sure what went wrong.

Then don't release on Steam? Let's see what we are talking about here.

 

[xrnzaaas]

The game seems to lack its own style and that's what I would expect from this studio. The title is also one of the most generic ones you can think of.

You need to have something special to attract people, especially if you don't have a big marketing budget and you're not representing a well-known IP. This game seems to be missing that key component.

 

[kevboard]

launching on Epic is a death sentence

 

[Pop]

Epic exclusive is what doomed the game

 

[March Climber]

MercurySteam is one of those devs that seem to have some talented coders / designers but really need a bit of oversight. When they're working with a major publisher on a big IP the game turns out good, when they make their own thing it turns out kinda bad.

Some other studios out there are like this, but they are simply seen as 'helper' studios, and they are fine with that.

 

[TintoConCasera]

launching on Epic is a death sentence

Yeah this kinda killed my interest in playing it on release. Will check it out once it eventually lands on Steam, and on a sale.

They should have known better.

 

[mayham2199]

He's not entirely wrong about there being so many games. I think a lot more devs are going to fail honestly. There's to many games and not enough consumers.

 

[Hideous Snake]

Right. Not because it's an EGS exclusive and maybe the game is mediocre

 

[El Muerto]

I'd buy it if it were on steam. Buying a game in the EGS is like buying a game on Xbox, you dont know how much longer they're going to stick around.

 

[Bonfires Down]

I already had more than my fill of God of War. I don't really need a second tier copy of it.

 

[Boo Who?]

Blades of Fire?

 

[calico]

If you're Epic exclusive and they didn't pay you enough to not have to worry about sales, you done fucked up.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

I wanted to like it, but the combat didn't work at all.

 

[RoboFu]

Wasn't on steam? Well that's why dummies.

 

[Team Skoda]

Because Mercurysteam has always been a very mid developer. They have some talent in there somewhere, But they have never been capable of putting out anything banger worthy. Not sure why they keep getting selected for handling big IPs like Castlevania and Metroid.

 

[lughnasadh123]

Didn't make it far into the demo. This wasn't about to light the world on fire regardless of platform.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

The game got torn to shreds in the Edge review. I've literally just read it.
Shame really because MercurySteam aren't without talent.

 

[yurinka]

I'm a Spanish gamedev and know people who works at Mercury Steam, so I was somewhat interested in the game. But didn't know it was releasing in May, casually missed its reviews and didn't see a single ad anywhere.

So if something more than blaming players, I'd blame first the publisher for not advertising more and better the game and making it Epic Store exclusive in PC. And second, looking at the Meta Critic reviews I think in the devs side it wasn't a great game (I don't know if it's the case, but I assume that as usual pretty likely extra funding from the publisher for extra improvements and polish would have helped a lot).

I think for Mercury Steam it would be better to go back with big publishers (so bigger budgets for both development and marketing) and use big and established IPs.

 

[chromatic9]

Not heard of the game before, just looked at some videos and it's got some impressive and detailed environments indoor and outdoor which don't tank the frame rate that people have been wanting.

No Steam but I would've thought the consoles would be doing the heavy lifting sales wise.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Poor man's Blade of Darkness and I don't support Epic Store.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Well besides being an idiot for Epic exclusivity. They probably only saw Doom out there when they picked the launch date. Claire had some interest but no one knew it would do the numbers it did. Then Bethesda came out of no where with Oblivion. Between those three and then the Switch 2 release they were sunk as far as media coverage.