Senua’s
Saga:
Hellblade
2
launched
yesterday
on
Xbox
and
PC,
and
was

met
by
a
pretty
good
critical
response,
although
it
has
dropped
ever
so
slightly
from
83
to
82
since
I
published
that
article.
And
yet
sadly,
it
does
seem
to
be
struggling
to
find
its
footing
on
Steam.

It’s
usually
in
the
first
few
days
that
a
game
will
hit
its
peak
and
then
slowly
dwindle
down,
such
as
the
recent

Ghost
of
Tsushima
which
managed
to
overtake
God
of
War
to
become
Sony’s
second
most
successful
PC
game
so
far.
Of
course,
some
games
buck
that
trend
by
continuing
to
grow
but
those
are
much
rarer.

I
say
this
to
provide
some
context
for
Hellblade
2’s
surprisingly
low
Steam
numbers.
SteamDB,
which
tracks
all
manner
of
behind-the-scenes
date,
shows
that

Senua’s
Saga:
Hellblade
2
hit
a
peak
concurrent
player
count
of
just
3,982
at
19:00
UTC
on
launch
day.
24-hours
later,
its
highest
peak
was
just
2,682,
a
substantial
drop-off,
although
that
could
be
attributed
to
the
reportedly
short
length
of
the
game.

The
original
Senua’s
Sacrifice:
Hellblade
which
was
released
in
2017,
before
developer
Ninja
Theory
was
bought
by
Microsoft
and
became
a
member
of
the
Xbox
Games
Studios
family.

On
its
launch,
the
original
Hellblade
managed
to
draw
in
5,653
people
playing
simultaneously.
That’s
34%
more
people
than
are
currently
playing
the
sequel.

Here
are
the
really
worrying
comparisons,
though:
Redfall
and
Hi-Fi
Rush.

Developed
by
the
now
shuttered
Arkane
Austin,
Redfall
launched
last
year
and

was
considered
a
huge
flop.
It
achieved
its
highest
peak
concurrent
player
count
at
launch,
amassing
a
meagre
6,124
players
who
quickly
left
the
game
and
never
returned,
hammering
home
the
nail
in
Arkane
Austin’s
coffin.

And
then
there’s
Hi-Fi
Rush,
the
critically
acclaimed
game
from
Tango
Gameworks,
another
studio
was
that
was
recently
closed
down
by
Microsoft
for
nebulous
reasons.
It
was
slightly
different
from
Redfall
because
it
grew
slightly
in
its
first
few
days
on
Steam,
achieving
its
all-time
highest
concurrent
player
count
of
6,132
four
days
after
it
launched.
This
is
probably
because
Hi-Fi
Rush
was
launched
with
absolutely
no
warning,
so
it
took
people
a
couple
of
days
to
discover
how
awesome
the
game
was.

In
other
words,
Hellblade
2’s
Steam
launch
is
worse
than
two
games
from
two
studios
that
were
both
deemed
to
not
be
meeting
Xbox’s
expectations
and
shut
down
because
of
it.
That’s
a
little
worrying
for
developer
Ninja
Theory,
and
falls
right
into
what
I
was
saying
in
my
article
discussing

Xbox’s
Mismanagement
and
how
it
could
destroy
Ninja
Theory.

it’s
not
like
Xbox’s
games
can’t
be
successful
on
Steam
despite
being
“free”
on
Game
Pass,
either.
Starfield
managed
an
impressive
330,723
peak
players
just
a
few
days
after
it
launched
while
being
on
Game
Pass
as
well,
although
it
did
have
the
benefit
of
a
massive
marketing
campaign
and
the
natural
hype
of
being
Bethesda’s
new
game.

But
we
need
to
be
fair
and
keep
in
mind
that
a
single
set
of
numbers
from
Steam
doesn’t
paint
a
full
picture.
Hellblade
2
has
launched
straight
onto
Game
Pass
for
PC
and
Xbox.
It’s
on
that
service
where
the
vast
majority
of
players
will
undoubtedly
be
experiencing
Ninja
Theory’s
newest
game.
In
other
words,
we
can’t
use
the
peak
concurrent
player
count
as
definitive
proof
that
Hellblade
2
is
struggling
to
find
an
audience.
Still
as
one
of
Xbox’s
marquee
titles,
even
if
their
lack
of
marketing
would
seem
to
suggest
otherwise,
I
do
think
that
it’s
a
worrying
indicator
worth
paying
attention
to.
Redfall
and
Hi-Fi
Rush
both
launched
on
Game
Pass
as
well,
yet
still
managed
to
draw
in
bigger
numbers,
and
keep
in
mind
that
the
former
didn’t
have
much
hype
behind
it
and
the
latter
was
a
shadow-drop.

If
there’s
anything
good
to
be
taken
from,
it’s
that
the
people
playing
on
Steam
seem
to
be
having
a
good
time.
It’s
holding
a
“Very
Positive”
user
rating
on
Steam
right
now,
based
on
just
over
1,200
reviews.

What
do
you
guys
think?
Are
the
Steam
numbers
a
worrying
sign
that
Hellblade
2
isn’t
finding
much
success,
or
do
you
think
they
are
mostly
meaningless
compared
to
the
Game
Pass
data
we
cannot
see?