Ninja Theory: Enslaved Won’t Get a Sequel Unless Successful
Heavenly Sword happens to be one of the most underrated PlayStation 3 exclusives to grace the console since it was unleashed in 2006. The game features some of the most beautiful graphics on our favorite system of choice and uses the SIXAXIS motion in a variety of ways, which very few other games do still until this day. Only one problem, despite selling over a million and a half copies, developers Ninja Theory didn’t make a dime off the game. With Sony owning the rights to the franchise, NT moved on to create the Enslaved series which ‘begins’ this October 5th with Enslaved: Enslaved: Odyssey to the west. Another problem seems to be looming: Ninja Theory doesn’t believe the game is going to be successful, so the series could very well be over before it begins. That is unless gamers respond with their wallets this fall.
Ninja Theory Big Boss Tameem Antoniades stopped by the offices of CVG for a quick chat about his companies latest (And artistically beautiful!) gaming venture, Enslaved. When asked about any potential sequels, Tameem was a bit pessimistic.
So we’re now in the mindset that there’s not going to be a sequel for this unless it’s miraculously successful. Well not miraculously, but we don’t assume it’s going to be successful.
Unfortunately, Tameem is probably right. Glance over any Top 25 most wanted list and it’s easy to see that many gamers don’t have Enslaved on their radar, which is sad, seeing as we here at PlayStation LifeStyle had a blast with the game at E3. During a show which was bombarded with Sequels and FPS, Enslaved was a breath of fresh air, which featured beautiful, lush graphics said to rival that of Uncharted 2 and gameplay that features ‘Solid combat with platforming and a solid team mechanic with both characters’. It would be a shame for gamers to overlook this original IP for yet another FPS that you *gasp* kill monsters or terrorist. Why not take a chance of something original and new?
If you’re interested in Enslaved: Odyssey To the West, read our E3 Impressions by Cameron. You will soon be searching the archives for information on Ninja Theories latest creation. Stay tuned here at PlayStation LifeStyle for all of your Enslaved news and screenshots!
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16 Responses to “Ninja Theory: Enslaved Won’t Get a Sequel Unless Successful”
Damn shame about Heavenly Sword…
…not that the game’s actual STORY could/should have a sequel.
I would expect a developer to treat any project with an assumption of success. What does it say about the product if the developer does not have any faith in it?
product might be great ,but Tameem Antoniades is an insecure chap.
I hope the game does well, we need more than FPS reruns.
Perhaps if they didn’t feel the need to go Multi-plat because of Heavenly Sword, I’d pick up Enslaved.
But they did and I won’t.
After reading all those articles about what they wanted to accomplish with character and story telling, they go Multi-plat and I only see that as a step backward.
They are really only limiting themselves with DVDs.
Besides, how many PS3′s are there now compared to when Heavenly Sword came out?
Enslaved, in my view, is a simple gross miss-calculation.
Agreed.
If you are simply not interested in the game that is fine, but I don’t think it is really fair to hold their multiplatform status against them. They are in a better position to assess their business needs than we are.
hello …
if they just make an update for Heavenly Sword, it will sell again
I’m going for enslaved, but not sure if it will be a day one purchase … definitely not a pre-order for me.
& I really, really loved Heavenly sword, that much, that i’m ready to buy any revamped / collectors edition of the game or any DLCs even if i already have a platinum edition.
just do a re-release, update it to work with MOVE & add trophy support you’ll seem that’s why i want enslaved too, you people need to learn to trust yourself.
cheers!
@AssassinHD:
The sad thing is, I am interested in Enslaved.
Though it’s nothing compared to Heavenly Sword.
Heavenly Sword is still one of the best PS3 games I’ve played, and many can agree with that themselves.
My problem, is, Ninja Theory complaining they didn’t make any money from Heavenly Sword, which is fine and all, but they need to consider the situation nowadays.
They released Heavenly Sword within the same year the PS3 released, so ofc they won’t make much money when their target audience is extremely small.
I’m sure if Ninja Theory did the exact same with Enslaved as Heavenly Sword, they would see a profit due to the sheer number of people who would purchase it now.
Now they are just limiting their overall goals with what they want to accomplish with their games by going Multi-plat, and I cannot justify buying Enslaved because of this.
While I don’t agree with him not having any faith in his products…I can’t believe that there are people in this world that will not buy a product because of the developers multiplatform status. Sure they turned their back on Heavenly Sword 2…I can understand you would be upset by that. Don’t worry, the game is in the very capable hands of SONY now. Maybe Sony Santa Monica (God of War) will make a HS2. Enslaved looks great, don’t let the Dev’s multiplatform status change your mind on the game. At least help this dude sell 1 Million so he can quit being so insecure.
don’t buy this so they make Heavenly Sword 2…kidding, this game is going in my cart.
soldiercell
actually even if they wanted to they coudn’t make it , sony owns the rights to the series. i’m sure nt , would want to make heavnly sword 2 muliti if they did it , sony would only want them to make it for ps3. i woldn’t be surprised if sony handed off the series to san monica studios and have them make heavnely sword 2. as for this game. i don’t even really know much about this game. i mean it looks pretty cool i guess but i havne’t really seen any game play for it. with games being 60$ , your less likely to run out and buy a game your not sure about vs , a game thats going to be a hit like uncharted or halo or gears , game like those. if they want to sell this game they need a demo out.
I am not entirely sure a sequel to Heavenly Sword would even work. Those of you who have played the game should know what I am talking about.
“we don’t assume it’s going to be successful.”
huh…? you dont assume your game will be successful? woow seriously..? you have studios like crytek pumping theyre game up about its story, graphics, ai, 3d, and you do the complete opposite..? yea that definitely makes me want to pick up your game now. seriously, show a little confidence in your work. NT keeps dwelling on the past, that will be their downfall. in my opinion 1.5 million copies of a game sold on a new system to the market is pretty damn good. what did they expect? 3,4,5mill sold? i dont think there were even that many ps3′s at HS launch. they did extremely good for what they had to work with, they should be proud and consider that a success.
i agree with assassin. says a lot about them and their faith in their products. you have to build a fanbase.but if youre not even going to do that then i wont even buy said game
i also agree with westslide. selling 1.5 million copies when the ps3 was 500-400 dollars and its install base was below 25m is pretty damn successful. unless there was a misunderstanding or a misquote damn something went wrong and these guys arent confident about their product
Only thing I was unsure of with Enslaved was the timing of the release date: October 12. A game like this coming out a week before Fallout: New Vegas was kind of a disappointment for me because I would definitely prioritize Fallout over it.
But NOW that it’s October 5th, that’s a full 2 weeks I can spend on Enslaved waiting for a game that will take me 5 months to play!
I’m buying this for sure.
Maybe Sony could include a copy of Heavenly Sword with the PS3 version (with Trophy support!!) in order to entice more sales?