Blades of Fire, the dark fantasy action-adventure from Metroid Dread studio MercurySteam, has “underperformed” following its console and Epic Games Store-exclusive PC release in May, contributing to a €10m loss for publishing group Digital Bros. The company has blamed the game’s failure on “an oversupply of new releases and increasingly selective consumers”.
Blades of Fire marked MercurySteam’s first new title since it collaborated with Nintendo on 2021’s widely acclaimed Metroid Dread, and it launched to generally positive reviews. Eurogamer, for instance, called it “original, lovable, and born of genuine passion, despite the near overwhelming number of problems that could have extinguished it.” Other upbeat reviews followed, but that clearly hasn’t been enough to tempt a sufficient number of players into Blades of Fire’s world.
Digital Bros (which owns Blades of Fire publisher 505 Games) has announced it now expects revenue for its fiscal year ending 30th June 2025 – already projected to decline year-on-year – will “contract even further”. The company says it currently anticipates a loss of “at least” €10m (approximately £8.7m), which it blames directly on the “underperformance” of Blades of Fire and higher-than-expected write-offs due to “persistent market uncertainty”.
“The video game market remains affected by challenging competitive dynamics, driven by an oversupply of new releases and increasingly selective consumers,” Digital Bros wrote. “These conditions make it particularly difficult to successfully launch new titles and to develop reliable forecasting models capable of accurately projecting sales and volumes at launch.”
This, it added, “confirms the challenges faced by most industry peers and competitors in attracting consumers to new titles, particularly when these are not backed by an established brand driving a loyal player community.”
Digital Bros’ announcement mirrors similar struggles from other publishers in recent years. Last September, for instance, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage studio Don’t Nod blamed an “extremely competitive and selective market” for the commercial underperformance of its critically acclaimed Jusant and Banishers, while Ubisoft highlighted an industry shift toward “mega-brands and long-lasting titles” following considerably lower-than-expected earnings in 2023.
But it’s also clear ‘established brands’ are no guarantee of success either. Despite its strategic shift, Ubisoft was forced to admit Star Wars Outlaws had seen a “softer than expected launch” last year, and the might of Batman couldn’t save Warner Bros’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which performed so badly it lead to a $200m loss for the company.