Hellblade 2 Apparently Failed To Crack Top 100 Game Sales In Europe Last Month

Make games people want to play.

its a boring game. walk around with voices whispering constantly annoys me.

Didn’t they also not really market the game at all nearing its release? I have a feeling that could have also played a role into how it performed commercially and some might not even know it got a sequel.

@Pastellioli Yea. Microsoft is starting to feel like Square Enix tbh. Setting games up for failure then moaning about it.

looking forward to playing it via GP when I finish the first game, but who pays £50 for a 6-7 hour game??

I'm sure it'll sell when they drop the price but it's very expensive for a weekend game!

That’s what you get when you release games on Game Pass day 1 and decide not to market it at all. The people that were excited for it likely played it on Game Pass and those that weren’t likely didn’t even know about it.

Oh well… I loved it and look forward to playing it through a 2nd time at some point. And this will definitely get some press at this years game awards. That should help to sell some copies and it will have come down in price by then as well.

Well gamepass would of had a lot to do with that

@InterceptorAlpha I didn’t even come across any ads or posts for it on any websites like YouTube. I was aware of the game releasing, but they didn’t even try to make more people aware of it.

Shock horror. Game that is available day one on GamePass doesn’t sell very well… I expect Ninja Theory will be up ***** creek without a paddle after this news.

Four main things.
On game pass.
Zero advertising.
Not a main stream game.
Not that great a game.

This is how NOT to spend 6 years and hundreds of hours of resource and of millions pounds, if you want to make money or gain momentum for the brand Xbox.
I see absolutely no point to this game at all as business or brand gainer.

The first was never a big seller, the second that was extremely similar, no marketing, missing one of the bigger install bases (especially as this is Europe, barely anyone owns an Xbox). Was never going to set the world alight?

A better barometer would be the US where the install base is much better.

It's a niche title and on gamepass. It's not the major 1st party title people seem to think it is.

I expect to see avowed articles about "low sales" too just to keep the gloomers clicking. Sales numbers are not the best metric to use.

Well it failed to crack the top 20 most played on Xbox as well so people can't say it doesn't matter if it flopped in sales because of gamepass because it flopped on there as well.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
On a positive Xbox studio note.
The IGN vote is in for summer game fest most wanted list.
Nintendo and Microsoft dominate and only one for Sony in the top 10.
That really shows me how Sony have somehow doing something different from their normally great AAA offers.

anybody who says xbox do advertising is deluded...

countless PS and Switch ad's on TV. reddit ads are irrelevant

so many great games coming from xbox, why no avowed or indy ads on telly???

Was more of a “Tech” Demo to show off Unreal 5 than game… add the comments from the community and viola … no interest or word of mouth.

@OldGamer999 for me a wanted list means nothing.

The game has to release and deliver in a good state. How many times have gamers been shown great looking trailers and a game be nothing like it? (Across every publisher)

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
Totally agree, only time will tell.
They I do feel more recently we have been let down more often than not.

Digital only without almost no marketing. It's really not surprising. Xbox set Hellblade 2 up to die, and now they're probably going to close the studio and layoff a bunch of more people.

It was always going to be more popular on Gamepass. It's a short niche game with a price tag that doesn't match. I'm not even sure marketing would have helped it that much as it's probably a grab it half price or less type game for a lot of people.

@OldGamer999 not really sure a most wanted list for game fest says much when Sony didn't really turn up in any real meaningful way.

It's been two weeks and I can barely even remember anything shown

I love how Hogwarts Legacy keeps selling.

"After all this time?"

"Always".

😂

Maybe word got out that it's little more than a tech demo with unbearably slow and tedious "gameplay" (if you can even call it that.)

The game started out too slow for people to get into it. Also, the schizophrenic voices aspect lost it's luster from the first one. And there was like zero marketing for the game at all...

If the game was good it wouldn’t need ‘marketing’.

@Doomcrow Tell that to Enslaved

1) physical provides marketing lack of that= lack of marking
2) lack of matketing = lack of marketing

Almost like MS forgot how to market things because they are so big. Social media doesn’t make up for marketing it just doesn’t. It’s a trillion dollar company that doesn’t like to spend money. Then can’t figure out why they can’t make money.

@mousieone

They might not make a ton of money on each individual game released, but they are still making plenty of money. The additional amount they are making off of Bethesda and Activision alone is significant.

My cousin was begging me to buy this when it came out, straight up begging, telling me it was gonna make live service games likable for us old heads that mostly only play single player games. As far as I know, he played for a day and then never touched it again. Perspective the same cousin told me Battlefield 2024 was gonna change the world as well.

…a day 1 gamepass game that’s an XBox exclusive not making a sales chart is one of the least surprising things ever.

I mean steam charts had under 200 players a week later lol it’s sad that people argued how this game is good and Xbox is doing a good job on release not accepting that Xbox needs to do more than cater to a small demographic who wants these type of games

I loved the game i finished it 2 times with totat time of 15 hours, i consider to play it 3th time (every run with different narrator) in future, best psychological horror ever tried, when the prise will go down it will sell a lots, important is in game pass and people can play it for free, specially cause is not a game for everyone, i won't be surprised in future they will release it on ps5, to cash from Sony

I’m about to finish it on Game Pass. I’ve been forcing myself to play it really and at this point I think this is a pointless sequel. No wonder nobody bought it- poor reviews and Game Pass day 1 title. To think I love Hellblade 1 and was so hyped for no 2…

I don't play games to bore myself or to know what it feels like to have mental health 😐 this game wouldn't fly on PlayStation let alone Xbox where it's users are known to prefer FPS and fast action games.

I got attacked for saying if they took the franchise towards god of war or assassin creed it would’ve been bigger

@Tecinthehead xbox has plenty of fps (a huge one coming later this year) . Hellblade provides diversity to their lineup, it shows the console is capable of the best graphical experience currently available in gaming.

Everyone got mad that they closed tango. Now they are saying xbox should only focus on making one kind of game. Xbox has the weirdest fanbase.

The "wouldnt fly on playstation" is also funny since they money hatted the first one.

I think it is cool that xbox makes some of the most popular games (cod, sea of thieves, doom, etc) but also makes awesome games that only a small fan base adores (flight sim, hellblade, pentiment, etc.)

@BacklogBrad "The "wouldnt fly on playstation" is also funny since they money hatted the first one"

I meant by that comment is that even if it was ported to PlayStation tomorrow it still wouldn't sell despite the fan base liking these movie type games. Hellblade 2 appeals to such a small audience despite costing similar to any AAA game! hopefully this is the end of that series and NT can make fun games again like DmC🤞

Lots of emotive and narrow minded comments here. If the game wasn't for you that's fine but remember to use 'imo'. Video games are most certainly an art form now and this is a very unique game with beautiful graphics and a rare take on mental illness. Yes it could be considered a walking simulator with rather basic combat but it's a narrative heavy game and it's executed brilliantly imo. I can tell you that from thousands of reviews on Steam, this experience meant something to a lot of people. I personally wouldn't have considered games like this a few years back but it's good to try something outside your regular genres, you never know what might appeal.

@Pastellioli Same. Only reason I knew it existed was this website. Then, very shortly at release, a multi box ad for it for maybe a week or two?

Hogwarts Legacy still doing well in sales!

Subsidized GamePass really takes away from revenue of new games. They are losing money with day one releases. With that said no one was expecting this game to be a knockout with the mainstream fans. One of my favorite games from the X360/PS3 era “Heavy Rain” is a niche game. Didn’t become mainstream and was a work of art. Doesn’t mean it was a bad game.

@Tecinthehead i agree that the Xbox crowd tends to prefer action games. If this was a PlayStation studio that made this game people wouldn’t complain. As Sony was always know to invest in unique games that weren’t mainstream. I.e. Heavy Rain. But this isn’t even an organic MS IP.

I think people forget that Microsoft don't disclose there store sales like Nintendo. So of course a niche title releasing digitally only wasn't gonna crack the top 100 when both Xbox & Microsoft PC store sales are missing.

@cragis0001 Exactly! It wasn't released physically and Microsoft hasn't revealed how many digital copies have been sold. Of course it won't be on the charts, not even at the bottom.

@cragis0001 While it's true that they don't disclose sales information, the one thing they are usually very vocal about is download numbers and engagement stats. It's the lack of any of this that I find more telling than any sales figures.

Difference between a Game like Starfield for example is that is 100's of hours worth of playability, replayability too with different specs and options to try etc compared to a very short game with 'little' replayability and arguably not much 'game-play' at all.

Without Game-Pass, I'd not buy Hellblade 2 at all - despite its 'lower' cost. It would seem to be a LOT of money for less than 10hrs and at best, the type of game I'd pick up in a sale for under £5 if I bothered at all. With Game Pass, it just means that I don't have to purchase at all or wait for the inevitable sales. If I really wanted to play, I'd jump in, play through it all and move on, no Purchase...

It's just not a 'Mainstream' game and is much more an experience than a 'game' too. The Combat and Puzzles aren't there to serve the Game-play, they are there to feed into the Psychosis, the voices, to create that dynamic back and forth between those voices - so it's not for 'everyone', even though 'everyone' could play.

That's before you consider the fact this game had no 'Physical' release and a lot of 'charts' are only factoring Physical sales.

It’s more of a movie if anything

@Banjo- exactly. When Microsoft or Ninja Theory will release the sales numbers? Is anyone's guess.

@Kevw2006 think you may be correct.

@electrolite77

This isn’t the 80s or 90s. There have been countless games that have thrived on zero marketing - Palworld, Vampire Survivors are just a few recents. There’s this thing now a days called ‘Social Media’. If the game was good there would be countless videos on Youtube, gaming sites hyping it up non-stop. Games can market themselves just by being great. People need to stop defending Hellblade 2… it’s a niche game that frankly is just not good…. and the people have spoken!

Also, unlike Palworld & Vampire Survivors in which both were indy publishers, Hellblade 2 had the distinct advantage of being a Microsoft first party title. All eyes were on Hellblade 2 before it even came out by the entire gaming industry and gaming community. Starfield, which received massive marketing and hype has also been a big disappointment for Microsoft in terms of sales. Why? Because it was it was not that great and will probably be ported to PS5 to help recoup cost.

I liked the first, but alas. NO physical and a no buy for me.
Id rather buy retro games physically then purchase a digital game for £50.
I've always said the day it all goes digital is the day i stop buying new games.

@electrolite77
It’s a first party title… and guess what… it’s not good. Everyone moved on.