Enslaved Won’t be Returning Anytime Soon
With Ninja Theory’s plans to expand the studio into two separate teams – one working on DmC and the other developing an Enslaved sequel – failing to come into fruition, fans won’t see the continuation of the Enslaved series anytime soon.
Chief Designer, Tameem Antoniades, talked to Edge about the possibility of a sequel to Enslaved: Odyssey to the West:
Enslaved should have done better. Right now we should have been doing a sequel and perfecting that sequel and doing what franchises do, which is get better over time.
He added:
[But] because that didn’t happen we’ve not expanded to two teams like we intended to. So we’ve remained a smaller shop. But now we get another chance with DMC.
When talking about Enslaved doing better, Antoniades was referring to the game’s commercial performance. The action-adventure game received a warm reception by critics, but its sales expectations didn’t reach the amount Namco Bandai were hoping for, selling 730,000 copies by April – far short of the million sales the publisher aimed for.
13 Responses to “Enslaved Won’t be Returning Anytime Soon”
They would have built on Heavenly Sword and they would be “doing what franchises do” and certainly their “shop” would be bigger. Unfortunately they expected too much of their first game on a $600 PS3 with only a roughly 10-million installed base.
If you consider mainly the US Market, which since the beginning is the smallest share for the PS3, is also the market where hack n’ slash type games succeed (Europe too but not as much, and Japan, well, they don’t buy foreign games) Heavenly Sword sold around 1.5 million units after a year or so after release (Sept 2007), I’d say that’s pretty damn good, considering all the adversities : New franchise, unknown studio, VERY expensive PS3, VERY limited installed-base, on top of that not exactly a masterpiece game (to say the least, a 7/10 game, short and lacking replay value). So they didn’t make a dime, boo-hoo! Build on it, strengthen your relationship with Sony and they will take care of you, just look around at every other Studio Sony got under their wing. But nope, they are douche-bags and decided to go multiplat and sell even LESS, while learning nothing of their mistakes from HS and going backwards in terms of technology (horrible U3 engine sucks).
I think these guys deserve what they got. DMC? I actually think it looks pretty, but I have no confidence in their ability to translate what Japanese masterminds do with hack n’ slash gameplay. It’s like asking a western studio to create Street Fighter. It won’t work.
I agree Ninja Theory should have been happy with the amount of sales of Heavenly Sword at that time. As soon as DmC flops and it will because of the current trend of this generation’s gamers in the US and Europe plus the Japanese Fans won’t even look at DmC either. There will be an article from Tameem about how the fans being a bunch of assholes or blaming the Gaming Industry’s current Retail again…. I will be waiting for that article on PSLS
Praise Jesus!
we’ll start taking your opinion seriously noob when you convince us that COD isn’t the only game you have ever played in your life…I don’t think I have seen you make a positive comment about any games besides COD. I’m starting to think your real name is Bobby Kotick.
In the words of a ruined childhood movie… ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Enslaved was a fantastic game, people who dis it either (a) haven’t played it or (b) are basing it on the demo. I really wasn’t expecting all too much from it but really come out of the game surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it. It’s certainly not a ‘OMG! You HAVE to play this!’ but more of a “You don’t know what your missing” type of experience. Story was good, gameplay was good graphics were good. Didn’t really figure it would get a sequel due to poor sales, but it’s still a sad day.
I’m with you. Too many people expect a “perfect” gaming experience these days and can’t forgive a game for small problems. The overall experience of Enslaved was fantastic and none of the issues were game breaking by any means. I would love to see them build on the first with a sequel and eventually reach the level of a polished and smooth gameplay experience.
Nah I believe that people were expecting a ‘good’ game with replay value vs Enslaved which didn’t deliver. Also the game was released around some AAA games too which did not help them at all. Right now Ninja Theory should be more concerned about DmC, most fans won’t buy it because of NT rep of making mediocre but pretty games with no challenge or skill and n00bs won’t buy it because it is not a FPS, TPS, or multi-player game which won’t appeal to the majority of the 360 crowd like Enslaved.
They should have stuck to making PS3 exclusive games, it would have sold over 2 million copies easy. If they had made Heavenly Sword 2 it would have been awesome both gamewise and commercial wise but they choose not too, so they can suck on it.
This game was a disaster.
I agree, it was not fun or interesting for that matter that is why it failed so bad that Kane and Lynch 2 outsold Enslaved 3:1 despite the reviews of both games
Sony has to realize by now that everyone is waiting on Heavenly Sword 2. So I hope Sony gets the message and gives us Heavenly Sword 2 sooner rather than later. Thumbs up if ya’ll agree!
Considering Ninja Theory’s attitude towards Sony that would be doubtful. However if Heavenly Sword was given to Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, or Insomnic then Heavenly Sword 2 is possible. Screw Ninja Theory!
That’s funny cause I literally just got the e-mail from gamefly saying they shipped this. Here’s hoping I don’t regret wasting my time…