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[Heisenberg007]

I don't know what they were expecting to be honest.

The game just doesn't have broad appeal.

Hellblade was the 2nd most purchased game on PSN when it was released.

https://www.dualshockers.com/playstation-stores-top-downloads-august-hellblade-madden-nfl-18/

The problem isn't that "Hellblade doesn't have broad appeal."

The problem is how Hellblade 2 is made, Xbox's marketing, Xbox's console market share, Xbox customers not buying game, and Xbox's decision to not release the game on PlayStation.

 

[Elios83]

Detroit: Become Human did pretty good though

Better marketing, a more appealing concept with more actual "gameplay" and variety compared to "hallucinating girl in barren rocky environments".
Still it didn't end well, after that game Quantic Dream joined Ready at Dawn in the list of developers dumped by Sony and their next game funded by chinese money has yet to materialize.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Better marketing, a more appealing concept with more actual "gameplay" and variety compared to "hallucinating girl in barren rocky environments".
Still it didn't end well, after that game Quantic Dream joined Ready at Dawn in the list of developers dumped by Sony and their next game funded by chinese money has yet to materialize.

Quantic Dream was dumped by Sony because of the problems associated with David Cage, not the commercial or critical performance of the games.

 

[thief183]

No marketing, sequel to a lackluster game, less popular console, and honestly, non that good of a "game". What did they expect? I think the knew and there was no marketing to minimise the backlash.

 

[GymWolf]

It could be that Microsoft was so excited to have Ninja Theory on board, that they threw all sorts of money and creative freedom that probably the developer was not initially expecting and Ninja Theory just ran with it.
The first Hellblade had a lot of positive buzz and Microsoft must have believed that throwing money and time at the project would deliver a monstrous blockbuster that would in turn lead to a monstrous franchise. I think Microsoft did not really pay attention to what the first game really was. I bet they thought Ninja Theory was going to deliver the next God of War.
It's telling that Microsoft announced the game would only be $50 bucks, at some point they even came to the conclusion this is not the game everybody was expecting after so much hype.

I think it's telling that most hold the game's overall quality to the length of development. Maybe if Ninja Theory just delivered such a small game within a reasonable time frame people would not harp on this fact. Realistically they should have had 3 out by now and starting to work on 4.
Aren't most survival horror games capable of being finished within a couple of hours if you know what you are doing? No one dogs those games for that because they did not take 7 years to make.

Fucking why? They are the quintessential 6-7\10 game studio...

 

[Elios83]

Quantic Dream was dumped by Sony because of the problems associated with David Cage, not the commercial or critical performance of the games.

The game with Ellen Page was a total bomb, Detroit did better but it ended at a 78 metacritic.
We can only speculate on what impacted on the decision the most, but imo they thought that after Heavy Rain there would be an upward trend and not a downward, the legal issues with QD and David Cage were the icing on the cake.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Detroit is by far the best QD game, whatever the fucking woke media says. The controversies made Sony pussies chicken out the same as with Days Gone.

Fucking why? They are the quintessential 6-7\10 game studio...

Because the thinking heads at MS thought this studio looked very much "Sony-like" and were easily fooled. It's what happens with non-gamers appointed as executives, they don't have a clue.

 

[Sorcerer]

Fucking why? They are the quintessential 6-7\10 game studio...

I'm guessing they got Ninja Theory for a bargain. They had some cache in the action realm of games. Heavenly Sword, DMC, positive buzz on the first Hellblade (which is okay for a unique one and done experience most likely, but doesn't really lend itself to a franchise in my opinion). Senua's story was complete after the first game, and to go from that and try to make her a kick ass action hero like Kratos, just feels weird.
Microsoft just figured with unlimited funds Ninja Theory could only hit it out of the park and Microsoft would have their God of War. From my previous post, it seemed Ninja Theory went in with the promise they would not be interfered with during the process of making the game, and it seems that is the case for the most part. Probably Microsoft stepped in way too late, after seven years it's way too late to change course, but enough to anger Tameen and he bailed.
If this is a team that truly thrives on autonomy, then I can only imagine the remaining team is going to miserable under Microsoft's guidance and watchful eye. (If the team doesn't disperse or get dispersed). A lose/lose situation for everybody involved.

 

[anthony2690]

No marketing, no playstation release (yet)
I honestly feel like this is one of them games where the fan base started on playstation, it should've been revealed and released on playstation at the same time along with a physical release for both platforms.

What I imagine will come later via lrg when the playstation port gets announced.

Also their non existent marketing especially in the UK/EU, said it before and I'll say it again, the only Xbox advert I ever get on YouTube is usually a smiths toys one

To my surprise though, as someone who really didn't like the first game at all, I enjoyed this one a lot more than expected, it still has the slowest of slow moments ever like the first game, but I actually enjoyed the game this time around

 

[Heisenberg007]

The game with Ellen Page was a total bomb, Detroit did better but it ended at a 78 metacritic.
We can only speculate on what impacted on the decision the most, but imo they thought that after Heavy Rain there would be an upward trend and not a downward, the legal issues with QD and David Cage were the icing on the cake.

Can't say for sure what goes behind closed doors, but considering that Detroit Become Human sold 9 million copies as a PS4 console exclusive, my guess is that Sony would be pretty happy with its performance.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I'm guessing they got Ninja Theory themselves for a bargain. They had some cache in the action realm of games. Heavenly Sword, DMC, positive buzz on the first Hellblade (which is okay for a unique one and done experience most likely, but doesn't really lend itself to a franchise in my opinion). Senua's story was complete after the first game, and to go from that and try to make her a kick ass action hero like Kratos, just feels weird.
Microsoft just figured with unlimited funds Ninja Theory could only hit it out of the park and Microsoft would have their God of War. From my previous post, it seemed Ninja Theory went in with the promise they would not be interfered with during the process of making the game, and it seems that is the case for the most part. Probably Microsoft stepped in way too late, after seven years it's way too late to change course, but enough to anger Tameen and he bailed.
If this is a team that truly thrives on autonomy, then I can only imagine the remaining team is going to miserable under Microsoft's guidance and watchful eye. (If the team doesn't disperse or get dispersed). A lose/lose situation for everybody involved.

Microsoft actually paid $117 million for Ninja Theory.

That is an awful lot for a failed studio that doesn't even have its own game engine and has never produced a smash hit. For comparison, Sony bought Insomniac games for $229 million.

Insomniac was 3x bigger than Ninja Theory, had 2 different studios at 2 locations, 4 independent teams in place, their own game engine, and owned multiple IPs. And instantly delivered a huge hit in Miles Morales that alone recovered the acquisition cost and then some.

 

[Sorcerer]

Microsoft actually paid $117 million for Ninja Theory.

That is an awful lot for a failed studio that doesn't even have its own game engine and has never produced a smash hit. For comparison, Sony bought Insomniac games for $229 million.

Insomniac was 3x bigger than Ninja Theory, had 2 different studios at 2 locations, 4 independent teams in place, their own game engine, and owned multiple IPs. And instantly delivered a huge hit in Miles Morales that alone recovered the acquisition cost and then some.

It just goes to show that Microsoft can acquire everything and the moon, but it does not matter if you have no clue how to manage your studios.
Does Microsoft believe that just the name recognition of having studios is magic fairy dust that will produce hit games?
The more they acquire the less control they have, no way to manage all the madness I suspect.
I wonder if they can somehow manage to kill Call of Duty. LOL!!!

 

[Dirk Benedict]

They really should have waiting for some of these games to come out, before dropping the game pass guillotine. They are basically nosing diving into 3rd party, at this point.

 

[Sorcerer]

I think Gamepass also makes one more blasé when evaluating games. Hellblade 2 probably suffered even more because everybody on Gamepass was able to jump on try it out for a half and hour and decide and report that it was not a good game. Games have less value when you can just acquire them risk free decide they are crap, and move on to another game in Gamepass. There used to be some mystery when you had to pay for the game. You had to be more careful in your choices. But now it's instant death, within 5 minutes with Gamepass. Imagine what the team at Ninja Theory felt when there game was being shredded apart within a half hour of release. That kind of new reality must be devasting for a developer. Of course it can work the other way around too, but the negative seems to outweigh the positive in most cases

 

[PeteBull]

I think Gamepass also makes one more blasé when evaluating games. Hellblade 2 probably suffered even more because everybody on Gamepass was able to jump on try it out for a half and hour and decide and report that it was not a good game. Games have less value when you can just acquire them risk free decide they are crap and move on to another game in Gamepass. There used to be some mystery when you had to pay for the game. You had to be more careful in your choices. But now it's instant death, within 5 minutes with Gamepass. Imagine what the team at Ninja Theory felt when there game was being shredded apart within a half hour of release. That kind of new reality must be devasting for a developer. Of course it can work the other way around too, but the negative seems to outweigh the positive in most cases

In this game's case gamepass didnt kill it, it is simply bad game, amazing visuals but bad gameplay, its not like ppl play it on gamepass and not buying, ppl dont give a damn about it even on gamepass.

Luckily for us capitalism and competition solves that problem- bad games bomb hard and are followed by lay off/studio clousure, and we know very well MS isnt shy about this stuff, just wait few more months and i bet we gonna hear more news about how phil "has to run a business here"

 

[Sorcerer]

In this game's case gamepass didnt kill it, it is simply bad game, amazing visuals but bad gameplay, its not like ppl play it on gamepass and not buying, ppl dont give a damn about it even on gamepass.

Luckily for us capitalism and competition solves that problem- bad games bomb hard and are followed by lay off/studio clousure, and we know very well MS isnt shy about this stuff, just wait few more months and i bet we gonna hear more news about how phil "has to run a business here"

I agree with you 100%. I think one must also factor in that people who probably would never have any interest in the game at all, fire it up for 5 minutes and review bomb it. Must be devastating. Oh yeah, let me give this a spin, sucks, next game. The feedback is so instant it must be devastating to take in after years of work on the game.
I'm not defending Hellblade 2. Just how much the world has changed but I am rather ancient.

 

[Heisenberg007]

In this game's case gamepass didnt kill it, it is simply bad game, amazing visuals but bad gameplay, its not like ppl play it on gamepass and not buying, ppl dont give a damn about it even on gamepass.

Luckily for us capitalism and competition solves that problem- bad games bomb hard and are followed by lay off/studio clousure, and we know very well MS isnt shy about this stuff, just wait few more months and i bet we gonna hear more news about how phil "has to run a business here"

• Step 1. Ninja Theory finishes the PS5 port of Hellblade 2.
• Step 2. Xbox closes down Ninja Theory.
• Step 3. Phil releases a statement, "I have to run a sustainable business."

 

[Elios83]

Can't say for sure what goes behind closed doors, but considering that Detroit Become Human sold 9 million copies as a PS4 console exclusive, my guess is that Sony would be pretty happy with its performance.

9 million is on PS4+PC by the end of 2023 and obviously including all the deep sales, discounts (<20$) and bundles:

Detroit: Become Human hits 9 million copies sold: how it compares to other Quantic Dream games | Game World Observer

Detroit: Become Human remains the best-selling game developed by Quantic Dream. According to the French studio, the game has now sold over 9 million units globally across PS4 and PC.

gameworldobserver.com

Sony dumped them much earlier, Detroit didn't do bad at all sales wise but the critical reception was mid and that's after a total bomb with Beyond Two Souls. Adding the allegations against the studio it's easy to understand that Sony wasn't happy.

Going back to topic since this is about Hellblade I think the market for these interactive graphical experiences is limited.
We're in a world where even the sense of single player games is being questioned, let alone watching 5h movies pressing up on the left stick or the X button.

 

[Sorcerer]

• Step 1. Ninja Theory finishes the PS5 port of Hellblade 2.
• Step 2. Xbox closes down Ninja Theory.
• Step 3. Phil releases a statement, "I have to run a sustainable business."

I wonder when Microsoft will release the following statement:

"We had to shut down Phil. We have to run a sustainable business"

 

[PeteBull]

We're in a world where even the sense of single player games is being questioned, let alone watching 5h movies pressing up on the left stick or the X button.

U damage controlling like microsoft's emlploye of the year, bro, reality is simple- bad games dont sell, plenty singleplayer games that sold gangbusters, and they werent even crazy high quality, to not go far lets check on latest harry potter game

Hogwarts Legacy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

game got 83 metacritic on pc, 85 on xbox and 84 on ps5 so decent but not some crazy high score, yet:

On 23 February 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that the game had sold more than 12 million copies and generated $850 million in global sales.[99][158][159] On 5 May 2023, the game had accumulated a total of 15 million copies sold worldwide and crossed $1 billion in total revenue.[160][161] By the end of 2023, Hogwarts Legacy achieved a sales milestone of 22 million copies, with around 2 million units sold during the December holiday season.[162] As of January 2024, the game crossed 24 million copies sold, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time.

And that is all despite alphabet/transformers community(+ their woke lapdogs) doing their best to cancel/boycot the game too

 

[hemo memo]

The game was good. Is it full price good? No.
Is it a month GP subscription to play it good? Absolutely.

 

[Elios83]

U damage controlling like microsoft's emlploye of the year, bro, reality is simple- bad games dont sell, plenty singleplayer games that sold gangbusters, and they werent even crazy high quality, to not go far lets check on latest harry potter game

Hogwarts Legacy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

game got 83 metacritic on pc, 85 on xbox and 84 on ps5 so decent but not some crazy high score, yet:

And that is all despite alphabet/transformers community(+ their woke lapdogs) doing their best to cancel/boycot the game too

Lol me doing damage control for Microsoft?
I'm just saying that the market for things like Hellblade isn't really there, the game was destined to bomb.
A 5h graphical demo with really limited gameplay is not what people want to see in a game.
I'm not saying that Hellblade flopped because it's single player.

PS: Hogwarts Legacy deserved much higher scores, if it wasn't for some "controversies" about JK Rowling that ended up impacting the game unfairly at least with certain critics ...

 

[PeteBull]

PS: Hogwarts Legacy deserved much higher scores, if it wasn't for some "controversies" about JK Rowling that ended up impacting the game unfairly at least with certain critics ...

I remember one of the reviews was superlow and made by a guy(hard to say, looks fugly and manly but u never know ;p) who normally reviews dildos

Review: There Is No Magic in 'Hogwarts Legacy'

The game is mid at best, and its real-world harms are impossible to ignore.

www.wired.com

 

[SJRB]

Still not sure what the hell they were thinking with this one. What was the end goal here? What did they think was going to happen?

Never should've made it past the concept phase.

 

[Sorcerer]

Still not sure what the hell they were thinking with this one. What was the end goal here? What did they think was going to happen?

Never should've made it past the concept phase.

I'm starting to think Microsoft doesn't even require a concept phase. Here's some money, go make the game. See you when it's done. It seems that way with Redfall. It seemed Phil was acting like it was the greatest game on Earth weeks before a release. Did he even bother to check in the game? I know he is a salemsan but did he really feel the game was presentable at $70 dollars and people were going to be happy about it? Or it's on Gamepass no one cares if they didn't pay retail for it?

 

[Heisenberg007]

I'm starting to think Microsoft doesn't even require a concept phase. Here's some money, go make the game. See you when it's done. It seems that way with Redfall. It seemed Phil was acting like it was the greatest game on Earth weeks before a release. Did he even bother to check in the game? I know he is a salemsan but did he really feel the game was presentable at $70 dollars and people were going to be happy about it? Or it's on Gamepass no one cares if they didn't pay retail for it?

Yep. Satya Nadella even name-dropped Redfall to investors right before its release lol.

 

[PeteBull]

I'm starting to think Microsoft doesn't even require a concept phase. Here's some money, go make the game. See you when it's done. It seems that way with Redfall. It seemed Phil was acting like it was the greatest game on Earth weeks before a release. Did he even bother to check in the game? I know he is a salemsan but did he really feel the game was presentable at $70 dollars and people were going to be happy about it? Or it's on Gamepass no one cares if they didn't pay retail for it?

Those suits arent gamers, they wouldnt be able to differentiate good game or at least game with potential from totally useless crap, thats understandable tho, whats surprising is- they dont hire ppl in the know to do it for them, there is tons of very experienced beta testesters in the industry who got plenty know-how to recognise good game from bad ones.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Deserved. When I look at this kind of game interactive movie I just want to dust my old 3DS off and play some good old Animal Crossing.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Those suits arent gamers, they wouldnt be able to differentiate good game or at least game with potential from totally useless crap, thats understandable tho, whats surprising is- they dont hire ppl in the know to do it for them, there is tons of very experienced beta testesters in the industry who got plenty know-how to recognise good game from bad ones.

We got a great video on Youtube about Xbox culture and how it changed with Don Mattrick, by a woman who was on the team back then. Sadly I failed to find it. It seems that when Phil Spencer got in charge he never got to change that. We also have quotes from people here in Neogaf about how at the top of Xbox Mike Ybarra was "the gamer" and seen as such by the other top members. For me, Xbox is just spread too thin, and have not enough people to handle the studios they got. I remember a quote from Matt Booty, where he said that each time he was going to visit studios, they asked him for more ressources. He should have people under him to handle such things, not be so out of touch that each time he got to see a studio they use the occasion to beg for help. Phil Spencer even admitted that for Redfall they saw the problem too late to be able to help Arkane. How can you let a studio in deep shit until you have to give them 1 year delay? And still have it not ready for release? No beta tester can say something at this level that could change things. At least not in the way Xbox operate.

 

[Darkness_Arises]

We got a great video on Youtube about Xbox culture and how it changed with Don Mattrick, by a woman who was on the team back then. Sadly I failed to find it. It seems that when Phil Spencer got in charge he never got to change that. We also have quotes from people here in Neogaf about how at the top of Xbox Mike Ybarra was "the gamer" and seen as such by the other top members. For me, Xbox is just spread too thin, and have not enough people to handle the studios they got. I remember a quote from Matt Booty, where he said that each time he was going to visit studios, they asked him for more ressources. He should have people under him to handle such things, not be so out of touch that each time he got to see a studio they use the occasion to beg for help. Phil Spencer even admitted that for Redfall they saw the problem too late to be able to help Arkane. How can you let a studio in deep shit until you have to give them 1 year delay? And still have it not ready for release? No beta tester can say something at this level that could change things. At least not in the way Xbox operate.

Poor righteous Phil could not change the foul atmosphere created by baddie bad bad Don. I hope that those who sold this retarded narrative lay down the damn crack pipe. Corporate decisions and culture are not driven by a single person. Phil was head of Xbox studios then not some lowly peon. He was fully onboard with Don's vision and helping to drive it.

 

[PeteBull]

Poor righteous Phil could not change the foul atmosphere created by baddie bad bad Don. I hope that those who sold this retarded narrative lay down the damn crack pipe. Corporate decisions and culture are not driven by a single person. Phil was head of Xbox studios then not some lowly peon. He was fully onboard with Don's vision and helping to drive it.

Indeed, at least with jim ryan u knew from the get go he was cold hearted bastard, phil tried to play pretend for so many years and deceive every1, especially xbox community

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Poor righteous Phil could not change the foul atmosphere created by baddie bad bad Don. I hope that those who sold this retarded narrative lay down the damn crack pipe. Corporate decisions and culture are not driven by a single person. Phil was head of Xbox studios then not some lowly peon. He was fully onboard with Don's vision and helping to drive it.

100% agree. Phil was head of studios when Don Mattrick got in charge. I did not intent to reduce his responsibility in Xbox. But it is curious that Xbox went from being overly strict with their studios to seemingly overly permissive when Phil spencer got the job. So he did change things, and we are more than a decade later looking at a very experienced gaming executive that should know better than allow failures like Redfall and Hellblade to happen. And the quote about Don's was not about his vision, but more so his style of leadership. The woman if I remember it right, talked about how Xbox was more collegial in nature and Don was more of a patronage one. Found the video by the way, it was posted on Neogaf last year.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

What went wrong?

 

[winjer]

What went wrong?

They forgot to make a game. Instead, they made a tech demo.

 

[VAVA Mk2]

Was really pretty but I just wasn't having fun.

 

[Agent_Nobody]

What went wrong?

Honestly the original was basically a tech demo, and the second is in a sense the same as the first but except they went all in on time and budget…on an 8 hour game with a plot few people care about or follow actively.

It's a great game but it can't justify it's budget and length of development.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Microsoft actually paid $117 million for Ninja Theory.

That is an awful lot for a failed studio that doesn't even have its own game engine and has never produced a smash hit. For comparison, Sony bought Insomniac games for $229 million.

Insomniac was 3x bigger than Ninja Theory, had 2 different studios at 2 locations, 4 independent teams in place, their own game engine, and owned multiple IPs. And instantly delivered a huge hit in Miles Morales that alone recovered the acquisition cost and then some.

And ratchet sold like 2 million copies on a platform that sells north of 8 million for most titles.

They literally turned them into a spider man / marvel churn out studio. You are comparing apples to oranges.

I do agree that Ninja theory don't have the chops of insomniac but buying an entire studio for 100 million isn't that much. Insomniac was a steal but comes with no ip or anything.

Didn't Sony also buy bungie for like 4 billion? and it's been pretty terrible.

 

[N30RYU]

Ninja Theory should take all the time of the world to port it to PS5... it may be their last job.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

And ratchet sold like 2 million copies on a platform that sells north of 8 million for most titles.

They literally turned them into a spider man / marvel churn out studio. You are comparing apples to oranges.

I do agree that Ninja theory don't have the chops of insomniac but buying an entire studio for 100 million isn't that much. Insomniac was a steal but comes with no ip or anything.

Didn't Sony also buy bungie for like 4 billion? and it's been pretty terrible.

You trying to somehow downplay Insomniac to prop Ninja Theory is both comical and telling. Last I checked, Ratchet isn't a failure.

Then to throw Bungie in there? Hilarious. Tell us, how has Bungie "been terrible" and how does that equate to the known, monstrous, failure that is Hellblade II.

 

[Humdinger]

I'm starting to think Microsoft doesn't even require a concept phase. Here's some money, go make the game. See you when it's done.

Part of what I think happened with Hellblade 2 is that MS acquired them as a way to boost their portfolio of "artistic" games. They were known as the Halo/Gears/Forza machine, lacking in originality, lacking in interesting creative indies. Buying Ninja Theory - a studio that had just produced a highly original, creative, and successful indie project - was a way to boost their profile as a company that promoted creative, artistic games.

At the same time, Microsoft had also been roundly criticized for meddling too much with their game studios. Lionhead would be the most obvious example there. "Suits" came in and ruined the developer by laying goals on them that didn't suit their talents and by being overly intrusive. Both Spencer and Bond talked about how they'd learned their lessons and had decided that a "hands-off" approach was best. You heard that when Ninja Theory was acquired: we will not interfere. We trust them to make great games.

So those two factors - acquiring Ninja Theory to boost MS's portfolio of artistic/creative games, and adopting a hands-off approach - contributed to what happened with Hellblade 2. Ninja Theory naturally decided to follow-up on their earlier success with a sequel. Microsoft, not being exactly "creatives" themselves, trusted them to do it. They indulged a very long development period.

In the end, the game was a flop. Clearly, GamePass, Xbox, and marketing played a role, as many others have pointed out.

However, I want to highlight another factor - the fact that it was Hellblade 2; it was a sequel. The first game got plenty of hype and good sales because no one had made a game like that before. Whatever you think of the first game, it was an original concept and creative approach. Hellblade 2, though, was just more of the same. It wasn't original or surprising. It lacked what made the first game special: originality. If you're trading on creativity, you aren't going to impress people by doing more of the same.

 

[Chronicle]

Wasn't this supposed to be another big hitter for Microsoft like Starfield?

Heck I'll play it on PlayStation if it's short and pretty. My kinda game.

 

[Alan Wake]

We got a great video on Youtube about Xbox culture and how it changed with Don Mattrick, by a woman who was on the team back then. Sadly I failed to find it. It seems that when Phil Spencer got in charge he never got to change that. We also have quotes from people here in Neogaf about how at the top of Xbox Mike Ybarra was "the gamer" and seen as such by the other top members. For me, Xbox is just spread too thin, and have not enough people to handle the studios they got. I remember a quote from Matt Booty, where he said that each time he was going to visit studios, they asked him for more ressources. He should have people under him to handle such things, not be so out of touch that each time he got to see a studio they use the occasion to beg for help. Phil Spencer even admitted that for Redfall they saw the problem too late to be able to help Arkane. How can you let a studio in deep shit until you have to give them 1 year delay? And still have it not ready for release? No beta tester can say something at this level that could change things. At least not in the way Xbox operate.

It's Laura Fryer. The video is worth a look and explains a lot about culture and what happens when it changes.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

It's Laura Fryer. The video is worth a look and explains a lot about culture and what happens when it changes.

Yes. I found it later but thanks for putting it.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Part of what I think happened with Hellblade 2 is that MS acquired them as a way to boost their portfolio of "artistic" games. They were known as the Halo/Gears/Forza machine, lacking in originality, lacking in interesting creative indies. Buying Ninja Theory - a studio that had just produced a highly original, creative, and successful indie project - was a way to boost their profile as a company that promoted creative, artistic games.

At the same time, Microsoft had also been roundly criticized for meddling too much with their game studios. Lionhead would be the most obvious example there. "Suits" came in and ruined the developer by laying goals on them that didn't suit their talents and by being overly intrusive. Both Spencer and Bond talked about how they'd learned their lessons and had decided that a "hands-off" approach was best. You heard that when Ninja Theory was acquired: we will not interfere. We trust them to make great games.

So those two factors - acquiring Ninja Theory to boost MS's portfolio of artistic/creative games, and adopting a hands-off approach - contributed to what happened with Hellblade 2. Ninja Theory naturally decided to follow-up on their earlier success with a sequel. Microsoft, not being exactly "creatives" themselves, trusted them to do it. They indulged a very long development period.

In the end, the game was a flop. Clearly, GamePass, Xbox, and marketing played a role, as many others have pointed out.

However, I want to highlight another factor - the fact that it was Hellblade 2; it was a sequel. The first game got plenty of hype and good sales because no one had made a game like that before. Whatever you think of the first game, it was an original concept and creative approach. Hellblade 2, though, was just more of the same. It wasn't original or surprising. It lacked what made the first game special: originality. If you're trading on creativity, you aren't going to impress people by doing more of the same.

Great post. And the last paragraph is spot on. Hellblade is a prime example of something that doesn't need a sequel. It tells a lot about the creativity of the studio that decided to go that route (they had nothing back then, according to their own words).

From MS statements it's clear that they thought this could turn into a saga, an idea that only somebody clueless would come up with.

 

[mayham2199]

In the end, they bet they could make GamePass Netflix. Unfortunately, the studios that they bought to create the content couldn't quite come up with enough good games to support that model. Games are way more expensive to make than some trash show that may or may not hit. If one fails, Netflix can just move on. In the gaming space, failures are devastating.

They just couldn't come up with enough big time content consistently.

I'm not even sure it would work if they could. I just think that gaming is one of those mediums where sub services wont work at least not the way Xbox is doing it. It doesn't help that pretty much all the tops games in the industry now are F2P games with MTX.

 

[Alan Wake]

Great post. And the last paragraph is spot on. Hellblade is a prime example of something that doesn't need a sequel. It tells a lot about the creativity of the studio that decided to go that route (they had nothing back then, according to their own words).

From MS statements it's clear that they thought this could turn into a saga, an idea that only somebody clueless would come up with.

It's a bit baffling all of it, honestly. And Microsoft bought into it even unveiling the game with its new console. There and then I thought the sequel would be something more. More like a traditional adventure game, longer, bigger and speaking to a broader audience. None of it turned out to be true.

 

[PeteBull]

Wasn't this supposed to be another big hitter for Microsoft like Starfield?

Heck I'll play it on PlayStation if it's short and pretty. My kinda game.

I see u like ur games like u like ur girlfriends- short and pretty