Hellblade 2 failed to make Top 100 in Europe during May (launch month)

Jaybe

Jaybe

Member
Xbox is clearly determined to make Game Pass work. But there is a challenge. Game Pass numbers haven't grown much over the last 18 months, if at all. Meanwhile, premium sales of Xbox games have been disappointing. Hellblade 2 in May didn't even make the Top 100 in Europe.


www.gamesindustry.biz

Price hike shows Xbox is determined to make Game Pass work | Opinion

If there were any doubts about Xbox's commitment to Game Pass (and there was plenty of industry chatter earlier this ye…
www.gamesindustry.biz www.gamesindustry.biz


Finally Dring acknowledges HB2's failure.
 
Frustrated World Cup GIF
 
Whats the expectation for sales numbers when Microsoft is pushing the game as a reason to get game pass?

Hellblade is the perfect game pass game. Short play time, fancy graphics, not worth the retail price but hell yeah you can play it anyway with your subscription.
 
joeygreco1985 said:
Whats the expectation for sales numbers when Microsoft is pushing the game as a reason to get game pass?
Click to expand...
I think the problem is that, not only is it not selling copies, but it's not moving the needle getting people to subscribe either. It's just unsustainable, hence the recent price increases and expectation of more to come.
 
A game launched on GamePass, that took way too long, focused on a niche people, will have the big bucks?

Seriously?!
 
Sethbacca said:
I think the problem is that, not only is it not selling copies, but it's not moving the needle getting people to subscribe either. It's just unsustainable, hence the recent price increases and expectation of more to come.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, it's the proverbial rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic. People like Gamepass because it's inexpensive for what you get. Xbox needs a better cadence to make it worthwhile at higher prices. Right now, that's just not happening.
 
Jaybe said:
Game Pass numbers haven't grown much over the last 18 months, if at all.
Click to expand...
I don't even know how they wanted to achieve these target numbers to begin with. At one point almost every Xbox user has gotten the GamePass. Then what? It's still not going to be enough to be sustainable. Even if every PS5 user would convert over and got the GamePass – which is completely fairy dust and it's more likely for you to be struck by lightning – it still wouldn't be enough. They would need to get like additional 50 million non-gamer into video gaming and their ecosystem.

Completely blows my mind how they ever reached a point in their meetings and faithfully said, "that's achievable".
 
That game has the mainstream appeal of an Nvidia tech demo.
I´m a graphics whore and even I didn`t bother with this game when I saw that the interactivity was even worse than in the first game. At that point I can just watch a movie with even better "graphics".
 
Last edited:
deriks said:
A game launched on GamePass, that took way too long, focused on a niche people, will have the big bucks?

Seriously?!
Click to expand...
Some users like to shit on it no matter what.

It's a nice short experience, basically free for current subscribers. I guess that's a win.

On the other hand, subscription models are one of the worsts anti-consumer shit to ever come out of late-stage capitalism's ass: great in theory, terrible in their execution because of greed (oversimplified explanation that still holds true).

Every big service undergoes the same trajectory: first it seems like a great deal (because it actually kinda is: they need to build the base), and then it just goes downhill, one price hike at a time.

GamePass is no exclusion (see Spotify, Netflix and others for reference).
 
Last edited:
great game but why would you buy it? its on game pass, unless you are very anti subscription service or one of those steam only mentals.
 
It's sad to say but Ninja Theory as a creative studio is likely at its end.

Hopefully staff can be reorganized into the technological structure at MS, but reducing head count seems to be priority numero uno.
 
Jaybe said:
I honestly wonder if a PS5 version is even worth the port, but maybe they can position it as a showcase for the PS5 Pro if they can add more to its presentation or achieve 60fps.
Click to expand...
They just need to take the black bars off on the PS5 pro version and sell it as a massive upgrade.
 
Last edited:
acm2000 said:
great game but why would you buy it? its on game pass, unless you are very anti subscription service or one of those steam only mentals.
Click to expand...

How is success measured?

No one is buying it.
It's not generating or maintaining many subscribers.

It's not about being anti subscription.. people said this wouldn't work out after people were saying Sony is going to be in trouble if they don't put games day one on PS plus
 
Hrk69 said:
And they recently green-lit production of part three
Click to expand...
Kind of a silly term for a project for a company you own. It's usually used when outside contractors get funding for something (like in the TV/movie business.)

Of course your company of full time employees you pay gobs of money start working on the next thing.

It's not like there's a contract in place for their employees to get X amount of time and money. It can be quite easily cancelled early on.
 
Last edited:
IntentionalPun said:
Kind of a silly term for a project for a company you own. It's usually used when outside contractors get funding for something (like in the TV/movie business.)

Of course your company of full time employees you pay gobs of money start working on the next thing.

It's not like there's a contract in place for their employees to get X amount of time and money. It can be quite easily cancelled early on.
Click to expand...
fat bastard yes sir GIF
 
Hellblade is garbage
Game Pass is garbage

I'm glad gamers are responding accordingly. We don't want games like Hellblade and we don't like Game Pass because it is unfair to game developers.
 
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.
 
Jaybe said:
Xbox is clearly determined to make Game Pass work. But there is a challenge. Game Pass numbers haven't grown much over the last 18 months, if at all. Meanwhile, premium sales of Xbox games have been disappointing. Hellblade 2 in May didn't even make the Top 100 in Europe.


www.gamesindustry.biz

Price hike shows Xbox is determined to make Game Pass work | Opinion

If there were any doubts about Xbox's commitment to Game Pass (and there was plenty of industry chatter earlier this ye…
www.gamesindustry.biz www.gamesindustry.biz


Finally Dring acknowledges HB2's failure.
Click to expand...
What is that headline lmaooo
 
tommib said:
They'll make some money back when releasing it on the PSN store.
Click to expand...

Doubtful. Sure some will buy it, but not enough to make a difference.

If Microsoft wanted to make some serious money from Playstation players, they'd release Halo, Forza and Gears etc. Not Hellblade.
 
Yikes. After playing through the game you can definitely see why this wasn't a commercial hit. Happy that it was still made as it pushed the graphical boundaries probably the furthest any game has this gen.
 
Don't want to sound like a broken record, but they should've offered a disc release. Some people would be more than happy to have the physical copy on their shelf. 50$ for a digital copy of a game that's on Game Pass and can be finished in 1-2 evenings (and doesn't have replayability except for additional commentary) isn't an attractive offer.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Poll
PC Gamer: Top 100 PC Games of 2025
2
54
885
johnysands replied
Revisiting Hellblade 2
2
64
1K
Judge Magister replied
LTTP: Hellblade 2 (Xbox Series X)
16
293
Kvally replied
Chris Dring: Ghost of Yotei is the biggest 1st party PlayStation launch in Europe since Spider-Man 2, with launch sales in-line with Ghost of Tsushima
Sales-Age  5 6 7 8 9
448
979
Astray replied
  • Poll
What Month will the Switch 2 Launch?
2
57
3K
AJUMP23 replied
Top Bottom