The Alone in the Dark reboot failed to satisfy gross sales expectations at the embattled Embracer Group, it has stated.
In a monetary report for the fiscal yr ending March 31, 2024, Embracer stated Alone in the Dark and Outcast: A New Starting each endured “a softer-than-expected efficiency” and “carried out beneath administration expectations.” That’s company converse for did not promote the required variety of models to earn money.
Alone in the Dark launched in March as a reimagination of the well-known franchise and “a love letter to the 90’s cult traditional horror recreation.” It featured performances from high-profile Hollywood actors Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, Free Man) and David Harbour (Stranger Issues, Black Widow) in their first online game roles, full with captured likenesses.
However regardless of this, Alone in the Dark did not seize the consideration of the wider gaming public. In line with SteamDB, it peaked with 1,628 concurrent gamers on Valve’s platform upon launch, however that determine has tumbled since. At the time of this text’s publication, simply 23 accounts have been taking part in Alone in the Dark, with a 24-hour peak of 52.
IGN’s Alone in the Dark overview returned a 6/10. We stated: “It’s not with out its memorable moments, however Alone in the Dark fails to flee the shadows of the different modern survival horror titans that it helped spawn.”
Embracer’s feedback about the industrial efficiency of Alone in the Dark come a month after its developer, the Embracer-owned Items Interactive, reportedly suffered a round of layoffs. Embracer has but to touch upon these layoffs.
Embracer has laid off hundreds of workers since the collapse of a $2 billion deal, reportedly with Saudi authorities funded firm Savvy Video games Group, in 2023. In January it emerged that Embracer had canceled a brand new Deus Ex recreation that was two years in growth and laid off some workers at Eidos Montreal. A few of the Embracer-owned studios to close down embody Saints Row developer Volition and Timesplitters developer Free Radical Design.
Final month, after promoting off a number of companies together with Borderlands maker Gearbox and Star Wars Knights of the Outdated Republic remake maker Saber Interactive, Embracer introduced its intent to separate into three separate corporations: Asmodee Group, Espresso Stain & Associates, and Center-earth Enterprises & Associates. The biggest shareholder, controversial CEO Lars Wingefors, intends to kind a brand new long-term possession construction, and “will stay a long-term, lively, dedicated and supportive proprietor of all three entities,” Embracer stated.
Whereas Alone in the Dark and Outcast: A New Starting each did not set tills alight, Embracer stated Tomb Raider I-III Remastered “was positively obtained and carried out above administration expectations”, and Star Wars: Battlefront Basic Assortment “noticed unfavourable critiques from customers, however carried out in line with administration expectations.” South Park: Snow Day! noticed “a blended reception from critics and customers however delivered inside expectations.” Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, “launched to nice reception and outperformed administration expectations.” Lightyear Frontier, in the meantime, “noticed a constructive reception and carried out well-in-line with administration expectations.”
Lifeless Island 2, developed by UK studio Dambuster Studios, is successful, promoting over three million models and reaching over seven million gamers since launch, a determine boosted by the recreation’s launch on Xbox Sport Move.
As for what’s developing from Embracer, it has excessive hopes for open-world medieval RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which is due out later in 2024. It stated it expects the recreation will hit Lifeless Island 2 gross sales numbers. There’s additionally Killing Flooring 3, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, Hyperlight Breaker, Gothic Remake, Titan Quest 2 alongside not less than three different “vital, unannounced releases,” Embracer stated. In complete, greater than 70 recreation tasks are at the moment anticipated to be launched throughout the monetary yr ending March 31, 2025.
Embracer additionally owns Center-earth Enterprises, and has licensed the Lord of the Rings IP to Warner Bros. Photos and New Line Cinema for 2 new movies.
Wesley is the UK Information Editor for IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.