Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant Studios blames weak sales on crowded launch calendar
Ascendant Studios CEO Bret Robbins has claimed that a crowded market filled with major releases led to Immortals of Aveum’s commercial failure and studio layoffs.
The details:
In an interview with Windows Central, Robbins was asked why the shooter failed to find immediate success after its August release. The CEO pointed to the game's crowded release schedule in the second half of the year, with the game sandwiched between Starfield, Armored Core 6, and the surprisingly successful Baldur's Gate 3, and no room for further delay. "We were not in a position where we could delay or push out of our launch window," Robbins said. "You set those windows quite a bit ahead of time because you're spending marketing dollars, you have commitments to a particular date."
He was also asked about Ascendant's significant layoffs following the game's release, which resulted in around 45% of its employees being let go after the game failed to catch on. "The layoffs really sucked. There's no two ways around that," he says. "We are not a big corporation. Our business relies on selling games, and we didn't sell enough games. And that forced me to make that decision, which was really unfortunate. These are people I worked closely with, people that put their heart and soul into the game. You never, ever want to have to do that."
Robbins also stated that now that the majority of the major releases have arrived, he hopes that players will give the game a chance. The game now has a demo on PC and consoles, and its price is expected to receive a “big reduction” soon, allowing more people to try out the fairly decent shooter.
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