Going indie helped Ninja Theory's hack-and-slash perform good commercially.
Developer Ninja Theory is prepare to pause fifty-fifty from harrowing hack-and-slash Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice months ahead of schedule, partly thank you lot to its determination to issue the championship independently, the studio's principal creative managing director has said.
Hellblade, which depicts a Celtic warrior's battle amongst mental illness, was due to pause fifty-fifty betwixt vi in addition to nine months later its early on August release, but it volition possess got made its coin dorsum "and in addition to then some" iii months later it came out, Tameem Antoniades told VentureBeat.
The determination to issue the game independently—the showtime fourth dimension Ninja Theory has done that—was a large assist because it way it gets the mass of the coin from sales, rather than a big-name publisher taking a slice. "It sold amend than our expectations. [Self-publishing has] opened upward a bunch of doors in addition to possibilities that nosotros precisely didn’t possess got until this point," he said.
"The triple-A publishing model goes inwards cycles, variety of, but it doesn’t actually serve developers similar us real well, mid-size developers...you’re non fully inwards command of your destiny. As we’ve seen over the final several years, dozens of proficient developers possess got disappeared. The entirely way you lot tin counter that is uncovering roughly other way. This seems to possess got worked for us.
"There’s a existent danger inwards losing corking studios at an alarming charge per unit of measurement when nosotros shouldn’t possess got to, precisely because nosotros don’t know what industrial plant in addition to what doesn’t inwards the digital era."
Antoniades said that Ninja Theory volition unloosen to a greater extent than information on the sales inwards a evolution diary "to assist encourage [other developers] to create to a greater extent than games similar this".
I retrieve the tidings tin entirely last positive. Perhaps if other developers come across an experimental game similar Hellblade finding commercial success in addition to then they'll last to a greater extent than probable to accept risks on their ain titles—and that, ultimately, volition Pb to to a greater extent than interesting games.
Read Leif's review of Hellblade here. The game costs $29.99/£24.99 on Steam, GOG in addition to the Humble Store.
Thanks PC GAMER
