The
gaming
world
is
often
flooded
with
bad
news,
so
let’s
take
a
moment
to
appreciate
something
good:

Frostpunk
2
has
made
back
its
entire
marketing
and
production
budget
in
just
three
days,
according
to
11Bit
Studios.

Sharing
the
news
on
X,
11Bit
Studios
announced
that
their
survival
city-builder
has
managed
to
sell
350,000
copies
on

PC
already.

“What’s
more,
the
total
estimated
sales
revenue
has
already
covered
the
costs
we
spent
on
producing
and
marketing
the
game.”
said
11Bit
Studios.

We
are
super
happy
to
announce
that
we’ve
already
exceeded
350
000
copies
of

#Frostpunk
2
sold!

What’s
more,
the
total
estimated
sales
revenue
has
already
covered
the
costs
we
spent
on
producing
and
marketing
the
game.

Big,
big
thank
you
to
you
all
for
your
support!
It
(almost)…

pic.twitter.com/7sa9qVe4fv

—
Frostpunk
2
(@frostpunkgame)

September
23,
2024

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

A
PS5
port
of
Frostpunk
2
is
scheduled
for
further
down
the
road
which
should
add
at
least
a
few
more
copies
sold
to
the
pile.
Plus,
the
studio
has
the
benefit
of
the
game
being
on
PC
Game
Pass,
meaning
at
some
point
they
got
a
bag
of
money
from
Microsoft
as
well.

The
sales
are
impressive
because
Frostpunk
2
was
always
very
difficulty
to
gauge
in
terms
of
how
popular
it
would
be.
The
first
game
was
amazing
and
became
something
of
a
hidden
gem,
but
never
saw
huge
success.
The
beta
for
Frostpunk
2
wasn’t
very
well
received,
but
11Bit
Studios
delayed
the
game
in
order
to
tackle
player
feedback.

The
end
product
has
been
divisive
among
fans
because
of
how
radically
different
it
is
compared
to
the
first
game.
Indeed,
I
struggled
with,
although
I
still
think
it’s
worth
playing,

as
I
explained
in
my
review.
It’s

holding
a
mostly
positive
rating
on
Steam
and
currently
boasts
an
impressive

aggregated
review
score
of
86
on
Opencritic.
Surely,
then,
it’s
good
news
all
round?
Well,
no.
Not
quite.

Despite
the
numbers
seemingly
being
good,
11Bit
Studios
share
price
actually
dropped
yesterday
following
the
announcement
of
Frostpunk
2’s
sales.
The
company
was
hit
with
a
38%
slump,
and
it
has
actually
dropped
a
little
more
today.

So
what
was
the
reason
for
the
decline?

According
to
Reuters,
the
company
was
actually
expecting
a
much
higher
concurrent
peak
player
count
of
around
80,000-100,000.
Instead,

SteamDB
has
the
game
tracked
at
a
peak
concurrent
player
count
of
35,553.

Erste
Group
analyst
Piotr
Bogusz
also
said
that
“relatively
poor”
player
ratings
might
be
effecting
people’s
buying
decisions.
He
notes
that
player
ratings
below
80%
positive
on
Steam
“affects
the
game’s
visibility
on
Steam,
which
could
translate
into
sales.
Currently,
the
game
sits
at
just
a
smidgen
under
71%
positive.

“We
were
maybe
counting
on
slightly
higher
scores,
but
this
negative
sentiment
or
disappointment
among
players
is
due
to
the
fact
that
it
is
not
simply
a
sequel
to
Frostpunk
1,
but
Frostpunk
2…maybe
we
didn’t
articulate
enough
that
it’s
not
a
clone,
that
it’s
not
a
simple
sequel
but
a
different
game,”
11
bit
studios’
investor
relations
manager
Dariusz
Wolak
told
Reuters.

Indeed,
browsing
the
Steam
reviews,
a
consistent
point
of
contention
is
just
how
different
the
sequel
is
to
its
predecessor.

Personally,
and
I’m
not
a
business
expert,
predictions
of
80,000-100,000
concurrent
players
seems
like
a
fantasy.
The
original
game
achieved
29,361
concurrent
players,
a
fairly
impressive
amount
for
a
relatively
niche
genre.
Predicting
nearly
three
times
that
amount
for
a
sequel
(which
often
actually
attract
less
players)
seems
like
folly,
from
my
perspective.

To
put
this
into
some
context,
a
player
count
of
80,000
would
put
Frostpunk
2
into
the
top
200
games
on
Steam
when
sorted
by
peak
concurrent
player
count.
100,000
would
put
it
very
close
to
the
top
150
and
into
the
company
of
games
like
DOOM
Eternal,
The
Witcher
3
and
Hades
2.
Hell,
if
you
want
something
more
recent,
Frostpunk
2’s
player
count
of
35,553
is
comparable
to
the
PC
port
of
God
of
War:
Ragnarok,

which
managed
a
peak
player
count
of
35,615.
I’d
say
going
toe-to-toe
with
one
of
the
biggest
games
of
the
generation
is
a
huge
win,
even
if
it
is
just
a
PC
port
of
an
older
title.

Still,
it’s
staggering
to
me
that
the
company
would
face
such
a
huge
drop
in
share
value
because
its
game
has
already
broken
even
and
will
now
generate
profit.
The
first
game
was
supported
with
several
DLC
packs,
and
Frostpunk
2
will
probably
benefit
from
the
same
treatment.
But
ultimately
if
you
tell
investors
one
thing
and
then
fail
to
deliver,
they
are
going
to
take
their
money
elsewhere,
if
the
promise
was…over
inflated,
like
I
believe
it
to
be
here.