Braid became an Xbox Live Arcade classic back in the day after taking the platform by storm in 2008, however its 2024 remaster doesn't exactly seem to have set the world alight. During various livestreams since the launch of Braid, Anniversary Edition, creator Jonathan Blow has commented on the game's poor sales - even going as far as saying the game had "sold like dogs**t" within a month-or-so of launch.
Blow says that "the future is uncertain" for his studio, Thekla, who worked on this modern remaster of the Xbox 360 title. The game's outspoken creator says that Steam is "easily our biggest platform", but questions whether releasing to other "dead" platforms was worth the studio's time.
"It's been doing terrible. It made a difference [launching on lots of platforms], but the problem is most of those platforms are f***ing dead now. Steam is like easily still our biggest platform, and so, there would have been something to be said for just not porting to half of those platforms."
The game's creator doesn't go on to break down which platforms performed poorly, but clearly, outside of Steam the game didn't sell anywhere near as well as he and the team were hoping. Of course, the game only launched in May, so there's scope for the remaster to pick up sales down the road with promotions etc., or maybe even something like an Xbox Game Pass launch for some guaranteed income.
Despite the poor initial sales for Braid, Anniversary Edition, we really enjoyed revisiting the game when its remaster dropped a few months back. An 'Excellent' 9/10 score is certainly high praise, so if you want to read up on why its critical reception might not match its commercial performance, check out our full review for Braid, Anniversary Edition down below.