Hellblade Studio Hunting for Buyer, Days After Announcing New Game for PS5

Xbox really are a**holes.

More and more each day I wish they’d just die already and be a full time publisher.

Destroyed so much of the industry in the last few years and i’m tired of people not acknowledging it.

They don’t deserve a second chance.

I sometimes wonder why shutting down a studio seems to be the default choice, and not selling it. But maybe I don't understand economics. Maybe it's not wanting to sell IPs to the competition. I hope they can find some funding though!

Maybe they should try a different ip , and not focus too much on psychosis , it was kinda unique how they utilised that with the audio design , but it dragged on for abit.

@Jacko11 They’ve had a second, third, fourth, fifth, honestly countless chances and they’ve failed time and time again, the only reason they still exist is because of Microsoft’s subsidy, that’s done now as they’re forcing Xbox to stand on their own two feet hence why these brutal cuts, if even then it’s not profitable enough for Microsoft it’ll be the end.

@TooOldForGamesNow I think by closing it they use it as a tax drawdown. Could be wrong though.

Anyway nice move Microsoft. Buy loads of studios, close loads of studios. Poor management, performance, results, does anybody there know what they’re doing?

Good luck, stop making games that do nothing but walk around and listen to voices in your head. No one wants to come home from work and play that. MS paid peanuts for them, so it seemed like an ok risk, but those HellBlade games simply aren’t it.

"XBOX IS BACK BABY" is what I heard non-stop on Twitter, well they are back, back to layoffs at least.

Also shame about the mocap studio NT has, even if you dislike the Hellblade games, they had some really fantastic motion capture, other Xbox studios used it too if I remember correctly.

Tough call, while Ninja Theory are extremely talented it would be a huge risk for someone to acquire them now, please Sony for once put away your wallet

Let's announce your new game, week later closed. Lol it's insane

This is one way of making Xbox have exclusives again. Close down all the studios that were going to release on ps5 in the future. Silly thing is they are closing their potential money streams even further. They cant keep open studios only releasing into Gamepass only. Gamepass will be less enticing reducing the amount of games onto as well

In 1 of their 3 attempts to make a game they should have tried actually making a game.

@Jacko11 Sony have closed more studios down this gen do you want them to die?

Company is such a joke. All the BS Asha and Booty were yelling at the Xbox Showcase and there fans eat up whatever they tell them...sad.

I don't really remember the Hellblade games being big sellers so I guess it shouldn't be too big of a surprise, but I guess we'll see whether they're bought or go indie.

Seems these new executives will be the death of the company long before they save it - for all their talk of accountability and sustainability, the millions of dollars of development time and resources they've flushed down the toilet in the last week alone is astonishing, all while ignoring the Gamepass-sized elephant in the room that's actually been cratering their business for the last 9 years.

Who cancels a game from a platform months before release, pretending that it NEVER happened while accidentally releasing a trailer that proved that it did? Who threatens to shutter a studio less than a week after they unveiled their latest deep-in-development project for you? It's utter insanity.

@Jacko11 couldn’t have said it better.

It’s now official that at least Ninja Theory is shutting down, what a pathetic excuse of a company showcases a new game from a studio they’ll be shutting down 8 days later? Completely moronic.

@IllusiveMan It does come across as very distasteful, feels like the show case was the jingling keys in this situation

@Ken_Kaniff it’s not the first time. There are such delusional fanboys out there who will still fight for Xbox even after all this bs.

@Oram77 Yeah feels like we should question if every game that isn’t launching this year will ever launch at all…

Honestly this studio specifically makes sense. It. Can't imagine how costly all the flairs in the hell blade series have been. However ultimately they have both been largely flops because they forgot to make those experiences actual games. Then you have to make sure those games are fun. They still haven't even gotten to the game part.

Should of just made another heavenly sword but im guessing they couldn't because of sony maybe?

@IllusiveMan They burnt me once with showing Perfect Dark then closed the studio down

This makes it difficult to get excited about any game shown at an Xbox showcase as you don't know how close the are to making another round of cuts.

If Xbox (or Sony or Nintendo) are just gonna shut down studios, they might as well tell the studio, look we can waste money shutting you down or you can just go independent and try your luck. Don't shut studios down, let them be free, either way it won't affect you if your just planning to shut it down anyway. Then the studios are free to make games and maybe choose Xbox or whoever as a publisher for any games they release

Allowing a developer to announce a game on your own event and then telling them they are being closed a week later is just gross incompetence. Regardless of anything else going on or why Microsoft may wish to close the studio it’s just more evidence that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.

@Jacko11 They have ran out of chances, next gen will get even worse for them and I'm certain it will be their last as a console maker.

There's even articles on Microsoft thinking about selling off the Xbox business.

The irony of getting an advert telling me to join Xbox Game Pass on this article.

Trying to shut down NT one week after they announced working on a new game is just crazy. But i guess it's as expected for MS level of fked up.

Oh well...I really enjoyed Heavenly Sword but never have the chance to play Enslaved, Donte, and Hellblade. So i wish NT good luck. I hope they get their freedom...

That margin is unfortunately critical. Xbox are in emergency mode, and nothing but the absolute safest bets will survive.

@UltimateOtaku91

There's even articles on Microsoft thinking about selling off the Xbox business.

A reminder that Nadella was previously convinced by Spencer to keep the division open. This wouldn't be the first time they considered sacking it off.

Its obvious now why phil Spencer left when he did. To be honest I wish he had stayed and had to be accountable for all the mess he helped to make at xbox, now that the ***** is finally hitting the fan 😂

@get2sammyb “I do think Xbox leadership did a lot of gaslighting to shield themselves from scrutiny. A lot of chatter about these acquisitions giving studios security and Game Pass being sustainable when it clearly wasn’t true.”

Tim Schafer has some interviews from around the acquisition time that just plain hurt to read today. Here’s a doozy:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/inside-the-mind-of-tim-schafer

Hopefully Nintendo or even better Sega can save Ninja Theory, or someone else. But for the love of God don’t let Sony touch NT or any of the other studios closing.

They're hoping to find a buyer to regain their independence?

...what?

@get2sammyb
Yeah that is true, I think my comment was more based of me never liking phil and his constant lies etc. So would have bee nice to see his reaction to all this mess.

Ninja Theory was doing well as an indie with a staff of less than 30 people. Once they got acquired by MS they greatly increased spending (they are roughly 3x larger than when MS bought them) and constructed a bleeding edge mocap studio but I think if given the opportunity they will survive in some form.

https://wccftech.com/hellblade-500k-sales-3-months-half-pc/amp/

Over 75K pre-orders across PC and PS4 before launch.
250K units sold in the first week at $29.99.
Over $13m in revenue generated in 3 months.
500k units sold in 3 months, which puts the project beyond breakeven and into profit. Our prediction was to be at this point in 6 months from release.
Development took 3 years and with an average team size of 20.
Game sold as digital-only.
About half the sales were on PC.

The escalating stakes in the AAA retail publishing model has killed off countless independent studios like us, many smaller publishers, and is now straining even the largest of publishers. This isn't survival of the fittest but a routing of the creative base upon which this industry was built.

Wanting to close down Ninja Theory makes sense for the current state of Microsoft. What is unbelievable is that they just announced a game from them 1 week ago. Talk about absurd.

The fact of the matter is that Microsoft bought these studios to bolster Game Pass. Maybe all this would've worked out if they hit their 100 million subscriber target, but that was never going to happen. Now there is no reason to keep so many studios. And I put some of the blame on the slow output from these studios on Xbox management. It was their job to keep these studios on time and on budget.

This really sucks to see. "We're an incompetent bunch of corporate goofs that mismanaged this mess of a brand for years, so you all gotta go!". But this really highlights how they have no plan or vision for the future; They announce a new game, then almost immediately close the studio? I hope it turns out well for the studios though 🤞
But PLEASE free (not shut down) Rare while you're at it. So they can actually, ya know, make something.

A real shame. Ninja Theory has created some truly awesome games throughout their life.
Heavenly Sword is one of my favorite PS3 games.
Enslaved was cool although I wasn't as hot on that one as the others.
DmC is far better than it ever got credit for. My 3rd favorite in that series actually only behind 3 and 5.
Then Hellblade was an incredible experience from start to finish. I haven't played the sequel yet but I still intend to.

If this is truly the end for Ninja Theory I tip my hat to them. An incredibly talented group of people.

@HonestHick Millions of people evidently do want to play that.

Ironically when Ninja Theory were spruiking the benefits of joining Microsoft,(having previously spruiked the benefits of self publishing & being truly independent),a lot of PS Fans were surprised Sony hadn't shown interest or that Sony would've been a better fit

Having seen Hermen Hulst's live service push largely blow up in his face like he was Wyle E. Coyote,they probably dodged a bullet to avoid being Bluepoint but unfortunately now find themselves in a very similar situation with Microsoft

Even IF Sony were interested (unlikely given they're still in a sea of red ink with Bungie), & the Hellblade IP probably remains with Microsoft so anyone else looking at Ninja Theory would be potentially looking at one devoid of any in-house gaming IP's unless tied into any sale.

@get2sammyb Seemed pretty clear from Phil Spencer's reduced appearances he was on his way out after the multiformat demand from Satya Nadella came down...though does anyone really believe Jim Ryan wasn't similarly tapped on the shoulder with all the initial wave of live service game cancellations & closures on his way out the door?

As for Double Fine similar story since Psychonauts IP would likely be their most valuable IP to buy back from Microsoft.
Wish these dev studios the best but they're at the mercy of a buyers market at present!

I kind of understand from a financial POV, none of these studios put out games that will have a strong ROI. Compulsion took forever to release a game and I was never going to be a strong seller.

My hope from this is
Sony buy Ninja Theory.
Nintendo put a strong stake in Double Fine
arkane find independance

Not going to miss them so don't care, it cost MS 500 million to make GOW Reloaded and Clockwork so something has to give. NT make crap games anyway.

I loved the first game. But couldn't get myself to play the second.

I don't want to be harsh, but what did they expect? Hellblade was boring, expensive and not a financial success, so they make Hellblade 2 which is even more of all the above. I actually bought 2 mainly to support the studio since they'd done such great work in the past, but I'm not sure if they're even talented anymore at making games I'd want and there was no chance I'd ever buy Hellblade 3.

I loved Ninja Theory back in the day when they made Enslaved and Heavenly Sword, but their output since then has been lackluster at best imo.

@glennthefrog they're incredibly talented. They just need the right direction. Some of the most successful video games, movies and Tv-Shows of all time were vastly different until someone stepped in and asked/forced them to make certain changes.

This is what MS is bad at.

What the hell, Microsoft?! Why buy all these studios just to close them down?

They need to be told they can’t do this without consequences… they should have been stopped from all their M&A nonsense… boycotts are the only way, stop buying them on PlayStation, don’t reward their greed!

@AdamNovice Presumably the first hellblade isn't a very good game meaning the combat and the puzzles are not particularly exciting, but it was a great experience in terms of sound design and visuals, and it told a very unique story, or better said gave people the possibility to experience what schizophrenia means. I haven't played the second, but after having played the first one it felt like the story was told.

If they shut down Double Fine that's going to be a storm like no other. I wonder why they can't go independent again as they were for decades before being acquired by MS.

Losing another talented team whether you appreciate them or not is disappointing. Microsoft bought them out because of Senua, they wanted to rip it away from Sony. Just like many other companies. It's a shame but it's a result of the buy everything period of a company that was determined to be No1. Now there is a new broom they are discarding them like a bad smell. Almost feels wrong but we again are the ones losing out.

@TheFakulty it a tax write off them closing the studios they getting money

@HonestHick tell for yourself. I like both games.

Cool. Now everybody can pretend like they cared deeply about Compulsion, Ninja Theory and Double Fine. But when they released their games on basically every platform (South of Midnight even came out on Switch 2), nobody bought those games. And it's not like those games were not highly regarded and highly rated.

Like. Get real people. South of Midnight sold 16k copies on PS5 (according to Alinea). And that game was in development for 6 years.

And you can't even use argument "Game Pass destroyed those games), because as I said, those games were available everywhere. Kiln and Keeper had 200 CCU on Steam which is just straight up pathetic. Hellblade 2 sold terribly on PS5.

So all three are least surprising closures...Only reason why people can say that Ninja Theory is surprising is because they just revealed their game. Which is pretty ***** from Microsoft...
...and if I'm wrong and all those studios are top tier producing commercial hits, I expect everybody, including Sony to fight for a chance to buy them. But they won't buy them...guess why...

@Godot25 how long have they been out for? I very much doubt that's all they are ever going to sell. I plan on buying both Hellblade 2 and South of Midnight at a lower price.

While clearly they didn't sell well enough and won't make a profit even if they sell more copies at a lower price, suggesting that there is no interest in them is disingenuous. Of course most companies won't buy them, because they're not profitable. No one is disputing that.

I really enjoyed the Hellblade games but yeah, they didnt sell all that well sadly... would be a shame to loose the studio

Hear me out please! Ninja Theory goes independent; Sony owns Heavenly Sword IP! Please hire them or something make that Heavenly Sword 2 a reality, I waited long enough. Though looking at Sony's female protagonists recently, worries me a bit.

@Toot1st even trying to compare the two brands here is incredibly uneducated.

You can show yourself out.

@cburg same for you as above.

@sup3r1or you had me on board until that last sentence.

Yh they always seemed like a weird buy for Xbox considering they slightly were Sony secondparty. Idk, i used to be a big fan of the studio but supposedly alot of the talent left already. Lets see if there are buyers, however everyone is cautious with their pennies nowadays.

I followed NT's development of the first Hellblade quite closely via their YouTube updates and, honestly, the way they did facial mo-cap on a shoestring budget was really something. I was pleased for them but gutted when they announced they were being acquired by M$. Hopefully they can find a way to survive because, while I'm not into everything they've made lately, there's a very talented team over there.

Sony should buy 'em

@TooOldForGamesNow
You sell studio with IPs so it keeps value.
Or you close the studio and keep IPs.

They shouldve made another dmc. Really liked that game.

@TooOldForGamesNow sales like these take months , legal fees , ect , its not like going to a yard sale and selling a game, also a few other people noted that i'm pretty sure they would keep the ip's and tech.

@sup3r1or the new God of War spin off is basically a spiritual successor to Heavenly Sword , a return to the Enslaved series would be cool though

@twitchtvpat @Leinad7 @datamonkey yeh, it's pretty obvious isn't? I think my my tired, late night jerk reaction was to be an idealist 😂 thanks for not trolling me 🤣 anyway, I guess we'll see what comes out of this in the next couple of weeks. Just hope the studios can survive in some shape.

@AnthonySam i am glad you liked them. But they are not making money and they are on all platforms. Time for something new.

@HonestHick I'll gladly support a third chapter.

@AnthonySam it’s coming and looks to be more action focused. Maybe it will do a little better. Hope you enjoy it.

Why the attacks on Microsoft?

They were quite happy to sell out to Microsoft.

They did so knowing that Microsoft would want a sequel to Hellblade, which in my view was a bad idea and they should have stayed independent and produced something original instead.

Having made their decision and taken the kings shilling, they then proceeded to bungle the game and make it worse than the original.

Don’t be hating on Microsoft, when it is obvious to anyone with their eyes open, that they brought this on themselves through their own failings and bad decisions.

@TooOldForGamesNow Because whoever buys the studio has to pay the salaries, but the studios Xbox shuts down are those who have just completed a project or failed one. Nobody buys studios like that. You can buy IPs without buying studios.

@Jacko11 yes i agree to a extent but if Microsoft dies who is there to stop sony going crazy and charging obscene prices on games and such. They already wanted to go to 80 dollars alot sooner then they did because Microsoft wouldn't. Competition is good for any industry. While Nintendo is there to me its is its own thing because most that have either sony or xbox also have a switch. I dont understand why you think Microsoft destroyed it. It wasnt just them they just saw the writing on the wall before others did with some things like DRM and such. Do I think they could have managed it better yes but Microsoft did some things right as well like not charging for upgrades to your game which sony tried not making you pay for back compatible games. I enjoy gamepass but Microsoft to me did it wrong to make it more profitable. If it can work in tv and movies it can work in gaming as well.

Such a shame, I loved the Hellblade games but appreciate they probably cost a ton to make and didn't get the return.

I hope the talented Devs find work elsewhere and can continue their unique style of creative output.

@TooOldForGamesNow hey no worries man I used to think the same myself!

@Dogbreath It's a PlayStation fansite, of course there will be attacks on MS rather than realising it's the whole industry, including Sony lol.

@TooOldForGamesNow it's because they already lost billions on those studios why would they let them go for free.
Xbox lost so much money that they got microsoft to close the money fountain.
Really hope the industry is finally seeing that they need to make games for gamers not critics.

@darylb24 i sold my ps5 and moved to pc.
Im only here because of the news.
Sony is doing so bad they had to sell of the tv section.

@Yor-sama great 100 million but every exclusive sells less than the previous title.
Only games that are played are fortnite and games like fifa and cod.

@Toot1st while I do agree with u somewhat those people working were given opportunity to go and work for other studios like most of bluepoint now works for Santa Monica xbox isn't giving these people the same opportunity they've already culled like 3 thousand jobs since last year and there looking to cull a few thousand more

@Drago201 how do you know they aint? we havent official confirmation of anything yet the rumor is they are trying to sell said studios

@Jacko11 not comparing anything just stating the facts your fanboyism and your hypocrisy in the last 10 years sony has closed down more studios

@Toot1st it's been a week and this story has developed further. And the new info/situation actually makes your response even more silly.

GG.

@Jacko11 the updated story still doesn't change the facts youre either in denial or just cant do basic maths 🤷