In a perfect world, all great video games would sell 10 million copies and the developer would be given the creative freedom to make an amazing sequel. Sadly, this is not always the case. Today we’re taking a look at five current-gen games that didn’t sell all that well, and therefore are really unlikely to get a sequel. Of course, things change and IPs can always make a return as we’ve seen countless times, but we’re talking five games that have the odds stacked against them.
The sales numbers for these games have been acquired via VGChartz.com. For transparency’s sake, it’s worth noting that VGChartz is not a perfect barometer for a games sales as often the publishers don’t reveal exact numbers, especially when games do not sell well, so feel free to take this list with a grain of salt if you’d like. Don’t get too stressed if your favorite is on here! However, without official numbers, VGChartz is often as good as it is going to get. So for the sake of conversation, let’s get this list underway.
Mad Max – Sold 1.8 Million
We’ll start with a game that is near and dear to this writer’s heart but one that failed due to poor timing. Mad Max was first revealed at Sony’s 2013 E3 conference and came out more than two years later on September 1 2015… the same day as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
Even though Mad Max was a great game with fun driving mechanics, surprisingly deep customization, serviceable combat, a decent story, and jaw-dropping graphics, it failed to capture the attention of audiences who were drawn to the critically acclaimed Metal Gear Solid. Mad Max had a lot going for it, including the success of the fourth movie installment that same year, but it failed to catch fire and capitalize. It’s worth mentioning that critics didn’t love the game, with it holding a mediocre 69 on Metacritic. So lackluster sales and average reviews lead to a game that probably won’t ever get a sequel, especially when Avalanche Studios also produces the beloved Just Cause series.
This post was originally authored by Curtis Dillon.
Prey – Sold 1.07 Million
The original Prey came out in 2006, after a long and troubled development that saw several false starts. The game released on PC and Xbox 360, and sold around 1 million copies. Prey received stellar reviews from critics and a sequel was greenlit. It’s rather fitting then that the sequel also had a hard time getting off the ground,which led to the rights being purchased by Bethesda Softworks and Zenimax Media in 2009. Bethesda restarted development on Prey 2 and revealed a trailer in 2011. That game was also scrapped and restarted, which ultimately led to the rebooted Prey, which released in 2017.
Prey was revealed by Bethesda to a great reception from fans and critics, and yet, when the game released in May 2017, it barely cracked the 1 million sold mark. We can make several guesses as to why this is: Bethesda’s review policy, lack of mainstream awareness, and some less than stellar reviews, including IGN’s original review which scored the game a 4.0 for a game-breaking bug – which was later amended when the game got patched – and even here at Twinfinite we found the game to be interesting but with flawed movement and an uninspired upgrading system. Prey didn’t sell well in its first week on the market, despite not having any AAA competition that week, and since then has found itself on sales charts every other week. The lack of sales came off the back of Arkane Studios previous release, Dishonored 2, also failing to meet projections, which led to Arkane Studios President and co-founder Raphael Colantonio leaving the studio.
With two lackluster titles in the series, it’s hard to imagine Bethesda wanting to dive back in for a third dose, which may even be the case with Dishonored too.
Sunset Overdrive – Sold 1.16 Million
It’s not hard to see what hurt the launch and subsequent sales of Sunset Overdrive, the Xbox One exclusive from Insomniac Games. The game was revealed at E3 2014 and was immediately eye-catching with its popping colors and witty dialogue and pop culture references. However, it was a little unclear what the game was; was it single-player? Co-op? Was there a story? It looked like Tony Hawk Pro Skater meets Ratchet & Clank but the marketing department never quite conveyed what the game was.
Sunset Overdrive released to critical acclaim and rightfully so, but Microsoft had already shot itself in the foot and, by proxy, all of the early exclusives. It’s a tired topic at this point but the Xbox One reveal and launch were historically bad and led to the system’s dismal early years, which it has yet to recover from – compared to Infamous Second Son, which also launched in 2014 and sold more than twice as much. Due to this and the poor marketing, Sunset Overdrive never amassed the audiences it should have. But hey, it’s not all bad, you can see how Sunset Overdrive likely led to the upcoming PS4 Spider-Man game, which will hopefully be the studio’s biggest hit to date!
The Evil Within 2 – Sold 1 Million
The Evil Within was something of a surprise hit. The original title sold over 3 million copies when it released in 2014, and it was one of the first survival horror titles on the PS4 and Xbox One. Not to mention, it was created by Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game was praised for its engrossing story, twisted imagery, and claustrophobic design, albeit with some glaring technical issues. There was definitely something to like and it enough of a success to warrant a sequel.
That sequel came in October 2017 and is widely considered better than the original. Tango Gameworks took what worked in the original and ramped it up, increasing polish and removing bugs in the process – we said the game makes fantastic use of its horror imagery, semi-open world, and upgraded crafting system. Surely that’s a recipe for a sequel to do better than the original? Well, sadly that wasn’t the case for The Evil Within 2. Right out of the gates the game only sold a quarter of the original, and since then it seemingly has failed to break the 1 million barrier. That’s a complete death knell for a AAA game, so don’t go holding your breath for a third entry in the series.
Gravity Rush 2 – Sold 310,000
Honestly, it isn’t so much a surprise that we won’t get a Gravity Rush 3, as it is that we ever got a Gravity Rush 2. If you aren’t familiar with the series, Gravity Rush started life as a PS Vita game from 2012. The original title holds a rather impressive 83 on Metacritic, and was a genuinely new idea in a medium that see’s so few of those. The game sold 600,000 copies on the Vita and amassed something of a cult following, which led to a PS4 remaster in February 2016.
To be fair to Sony, you can see the logic; a niche Japenese game on the PS Vita sold over half a million copies and received some decent fanfare, it stood to reason that a sequel on the massively popular PS4 would be able to crack a million and, perhaps, really kickstart a new series. Gravity Rush 2 released in January 2017 and received good to great reviews from critics, just like the original. Despite positive reviews, Gravity Rush 2 only managed to sell around half of the original’s numbers! Despite being on a console with an install base of more the triple the original! Gravity Rush 2’s failure to build upon the original was a disappointment to Sony, so much so that the publisher decided to shut down the servers, which commences in July. Gravity Rush 2 is by no means a bad game, in fact it’s a great game but it did not catch fire the way it should have or the way in which it needed to. This is an IP that will we can safely assume will be put to sleep forever on July 18.
