Ascendant Studios CEO Bret Robbins gave a great interview to the GamesIndustry portal.biz, dedicated to the failed launch of the magical shooter Immortals of Aveum. During the conversation, he stated that the game still has everything ahead of it and its sales are gradually increasing.
Immortals of Aveum
Below is the main part of the interview.
- Robbins recalled that Immortals of Aveum faced a lot of competition at the start. The year 2023 as a whole was full of high-profile releases: Hogwarts Legacy, Diablo IV, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield and many other notable games were released.
- "It was a series of big games, and we are a new studio. People didn't know who we were," Robbins said.
- Also, the head of Ascendant Studios believes that it is impossible to take everything into account. For example, if the studio decided to postpone the release of Immortals of Aveum from August 2023 to February 2024, it would have to compete with the suddenly hit Helldivers 2.
- Robbins believes that Immortals of Aveum did not have the most successful marketing campaign. The developers failed to attract the necessary attention to the game.
- Immortals of Aveum's budget was modest for an AAA project. Robbins did not name the amount, but, according to him, the budget was half that of many other titles of this level. Earlier, one of the former employees of Ascendant Studios said that the development of the game cost $ 85 million, and marketing and distribution cost $ 40 million.
- The situation with Immortals of Aveum is improving now. The main sales of the game occurred in November 2023 - January 2024. Moreover, when it was given away at a 50% discount in November, sales jumped five times at once.
- The release of the demo version also helped sales well, thanks to which the first three chapters of Immortals of Aveum became available to users for free. After passing the demo, three times more people bought the game than is usually the case with projects published by Electronic Arts.
- "The story of Immortals of Aveum is not over yet. I was the creative director of Dead Space, a game that people continue to discover years after its release. I think it will be the same with Immortals of Aveum."