We had a good time with Ascendant Studios' EA-published Immortals of Aveum when it launched in August of last year, but sadly it seems like it hasn't sold very well at all, especially considering how ambitious it ended up being.
Interestingly, an-ex employee on the project told IGN this week that it was a "truly awful idea" to make the game in today's market, calling it "massively overscoped" and criticising its "bloated, repetitive campaign that was far too long".
Here's more of the quote from the former Ascendant Studios employee:
"At a high level, Immortals was massively overscoped for a studio’s debut project. The development cost was around $85 million, and I think EA kicked in $40 million for marketing and distribution."
"Sure, there was some serious talent on the development team, but trying to make a AAA single-player shooter in today’s market was a truly awful idea, especially since it was a new IP that was also trying to leverage Unreal Engine 5. What ended up launching was a bloated, repetitive campaign that was far too long."
IGN also spoke to another anonymous employee who's actually still working for Ascendant Studios, and they pointed out that the game reviewed fairly well, had no microtransactions or "pointless grinding", and yet still nobody bought it.
It appears that the sales for Immortals of Aveum were only a "tiny fraction" of what was expected, which led to a fairly large number of layoffs shortly after launch. Just a few months later, the game was being sold at a 90% discount on the Xbox Store, and there have been suggestions it'll be heading to Xbox Game Pass sooner rather than later.
It's been a sad end for this one all around - but we still think it's worth playing if you get the chance!