Late last year, the Life is Strange series made its big return with Deck Nine's sequel Double Exposure - but it sounds like the Xbox Series X|S title hasn't done particularly well for publisher Square Enix so far.
Japanese analyst Hideki Yasuda has shared a bunch of updates from some of the region's biggest game publishers in the last week or so - including Square Enix. Yasuda says that in a recent fiscal year update from the team, it was revealed that Life is Strange: Double Exposure suffered "large losses" for the company.
The report doesn't go into much more detail on this particular Square Enix release, other than to say that these losses were "offset" by Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake - which was apparently a "huge hit" for the publisher, selling two million copies since launch.
Anyway, this certainly isn't the first time we've heard Square Enix be disappointed in sales figures, particularly for a Western-developed title like Life is Strange: Double Exposure from Deck Nine Games. After all, the publisher did sell off a bunch of its internal Western studios in 2022 - including Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.
Opinions on this, PXers? Tell us whether or not you played and enjoyed Life is Strange: Double Exposure down below.
[source kabutan.jp, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 15
Makes sense, these games remind me of Telltale. Big hits to begin with, niche gameplay, but drop off over time.
I really enjoyed the original, but after seeing the lukewarm reception I’ve been waiting for a discount to get this one. It’s on my wishlist.
I don’t know why square keeps trying to figure out the western market. Just make your games.
I do feel bad for deck nine and life is strange tho. I really wanted to like this one and support it. But there’s too much to play. If it had been on game pass I’d have played it day one.
I enjoyed it, but it isn’t as good as True Colors. I think it needed quite a bit more work, the male characters in particular seemed two dimensional and forgettable (I couldn't remember the name of any of them) and it didn’t achieve much of a sense of place. If you’ve liked the other LiS games I’d still recommend giving it a try, although Lost Records has the same feel and is a better game than DE.
I like these kinds of games, but I didn't pick this one up yet. And it's not because I fear that it's bad or anything. But just casually glancing at its Steam-page, I was given three different price-points (Regular, Deluxe, Ultimate-editions), a table of content showing what's in each version, and a price that's equal to games like Baldurs Gate III, Tears of the Kingdom, and God of War Ragnarok.
If publishers learned how to scope and price their mid-tier single-player adventure games more reasonably, I'd buy them a lot more often.
The Ubisoft-like content-tables for various editions give me serious ick.
Removed - inappropriate; user is banned
I love the original Life is Strange and mildly enjoyed the game after it but c'mon, these games are SO similar to one another that whatever uniqueness and originality one might have found in the first is completely lost by the 3rd or 4th game. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes when this was announced, out of sheer fatigue with the whole concept. Just because it was cool once (maybe twice) doesn't mean we need 19 of them. Move on already.
@whmchrish What? You didn't want the FFVII outfit for an additional $20? Or the paw-print jammies or whatever? Yeah, this whole idea that every single game needs three editions at three different price points is absurd. This one was one of the bigger offenders.
Just leave the Western stuff.
I bought and played it!
That being said, the two things against it were the gross monetization of dlc (any future Life is Strange games I'm only going to buy on discount) and you can tell the developers who made this game were not fans of the original. There are so many narrative threads you could build off of Max's story, even if you're writing a story that takes place long after her and Chloe's relationship ended. And this game barely explores any of them.
Honestly, if they wanted the story they were telling, it should have been original characters, and then as a plot twist Max shows up.
From what I remember of this series. It was pretty woke?
@GuyinPA75 Not notably. LiS 2 had some fairly heavy-handed commentary on anti-Mexican prejudice. Max is gay and Alex could be so if you wanted her to be, but the LiS games aren’t like (say) Dustborn, which is heart-on-sleeve left wing.
@Old_Man_Harper Thank you for info. Really was wondering. For some reason, my memory, had all the games in that series as either alternative lifestyle or trans, main and supporting characters. Which I'm ok with. But it really felt it was more agenda pushing than being actual game.
To be 100% and completely fair, the above is based on impressions. I never played any their games because I want play a game, not attend a sermon, or convention. So their games could be amazing and I'm missing out and incredibly wrong with my impressions. I'm just one person.
@GuyinPA75 I’ve played all of them and with the exception of LiS2, which I’ve mentioned (and which is probably the weakest of the series) I’ve never felt I was having an agenda pushed on me. If that had been the case, I’d have definitely found it off-putting.
My opinion is that they need to stop spending over the top on games that are not guaranteed to be huge hits. Simply keep the cost to develop the game to what can be reasonably expected. SE needs to release game that don't break the bank.
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