r/videogames • u/D3struct_oh • May 13 '26
News / Trailers / Articles PS5 Exclusive Saros Reportedly Selling Worse Than You'd Expect
https://kotaku.com/analyst-claims-sonys-latest-ps5-exclusive-saros-isnt-selling-great-either-2000695652?fbclid=IwdGRleARxcuZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeG-CkZ9KPtozDdUCRmNuvf27RXEmrsLfA73BVptvwWKP8A2MaGwiNVVMvH5A_aem_9pzQEWNCIDf-219jig3K0w1.1k
u/Wonderful_Humor_7625 May 13 '26
High cost game, declining economy/ mass layoffs, high cost of living, game restricted to one device. Just basic logic. I have Saros it’s mind blowing I highly recommend but easy to see why sales are slow.
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u/AlabasterRadio May 13 '26
It's also a niche genre.
A lot of people are going to read "roguelite bullethell" and pass no matter what the reviews say.
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u/Redrum_71 May 13 '26
Yup. I am one of those people.
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u/IneptFortitude May 13 '26
I don’t get how so many niche games like this come out regularly yet apparently I’m asking too much for wanting GTA-likes to return or for someone to make a game more similar to Elder Scrolls than Dark Souls.
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u/Beautiful-Swimmer339 May 13 '26
Of you haven't played Tainted grail yet then go do that.
It's a fantastic scrollslike
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u/IneptFortitude May 13 '26
I didn’t even know it was available on consoles now
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u/Beautiful-Swimmer339 May 13 '26
It's on sale on PS5 right now.
Excellent artstyle and way better writing than any Bethesda game IMO
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u/Mean_Combination_830 May 13 '26
Bethesda writing and combat are absolutely atrocious. The exploration made up for in the early 2000's but then they regreed at that and in not all looking forward to the elder scrolls
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u/sleepjack May 13 '26
Games of that scale require a ton of time, resources, and funds to make it over the finish line by comparison. Its a comically huge risk for whoever is footing the bill.
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u/IneptFortitude May 13 '26
Yet Sony and Microsoft have no issue pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into games annually that absolutely flop. The money is there, the fans are there, they just don’t give a shit and will continue making things people don’t want. No money for immersive RPGs, yet literal billions for hero shooters and soulslikes. It sucks.
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u/cpslcking May 13 '26
Immersive RPGs are a labor of love built on experience and care. Larian could only make BG3 because they spent years refining the formula over the Divinity games.
Soulslikes, rougelikes and hero shooters are relatively easy to make. They're all known systems. That's why after Dark Souls became popular tons of AAA and indie soulslikes started popping up.
Immersive RPGs in contrast is tens of systems interacting with each other in different ways. The same with the story - tens of plotlines interacting with each other in different ways. The difficultly is exponential and requires a studio that knows what they're doing.
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u/IneptFortitude May 13 '26
That really highlights the absolute brain drain hitting the industry when we got multiple games like that from the late 90s through the beginning of the 2010s, and now games like that are unicorns.
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u/cpslcking May 13 '26
Oh 100%, studios pivoted to easier games that they can copy and paste to make infinite money. And there's no real replacement, once the knowledge is lost.
An immersive RPG takes money and time, a scrappy indie developer can't fill the gap AAA left behind. To put how difficult it is Larian ran out of money multiple times developing their games and had to raise money on kickstarter.
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u/IneptFortitude May 13 '26
Yet a company can get literal infinite funding if they’re making a battle royale or hero shooter game. It’s disgusting. We are at peak cynicism and corruption and I’m just exhausted by it all. Run these ghouls out of the industry forever, I don’t care if graphics aren’t as good after we flush the vermin out. I want passionate games being properly funded again.
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u/sleepjack May 13 '26
As long as the revenue potential of [live service game] is greater than everything else, then this will continue be the case. Even if 9/10 games they fund flop as long as 1/10 succeed, it's considered worth the investment.
Though, I wouldn't put soulslikes in the same bucket as above. They've just gained in popularity.
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u/IneptFortitude May 13 '26
I love how genuinely everything in the whole entire world has collectively decided to go from “let’s make something good for people to enjoy” to “fuck you give me money.”
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u/lordgholin May 13 '26
Yeah. I really hate how it has become. No value in anything they can’t milk and increase revenue exponentially every year.
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u/quetiapinenapper May 13 '26
If it isn’t some brain dead PvP live service it gets retuned to be and then people wonder why it fails.
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u/robz9 May 14 '26
I really wish we got a proper Saints Row Reboot or straight up Saints Row 5.
I absolutely LOVED Saints Row 2, 3 and 4. Never played Saints Row 1 or Gat out of Hell.
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u/ConMill May 13 '26
I recently played Sleeping Dogs again and the death of GTA-likes is so irritating. It's such a gap.
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u/-missingclover- May 13 '26
Both of those things sounds way harder to make than "roguelike/lites" lol. One of the reasons there's so many of those is that they're way easier to develop than other genres. They're also good ways to test mechanics.
For Elder Scrolls-like I feel like there have been a resurgence lately. Some that I think are really good. Tainted Grail is awesome, I loved it. Dread Delusion is way lower scale but still awesome. I didn't particularly enjoy Avowed but it's there, I heard the latest patch fixed a bunch of stuff so might be worth checking out again, sadly my biggest problems were with the story not the gameplay.
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u/just--so May 13 '26
FWIW I was one of those people, right up until I got Returnal with PS+ and tried it one evening when I was bored.
It's that good.
(And if Returnal was a 10/10 for me, I'd give Saros a solid 8.5/10. I haven't finished it yet, though, so it could still knock my socks off in the back half.)
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u/Phormicidae May 13 '26
As was I on Returnal. I'm not a "bullet hell" kind of player since I am neurologically damaged and lack the hand-eye coordination. I also generally dislike roguelikes. When I eventually relented and picked up Returnal though, I did not regret it. Looking forward to trying Saros, I just have two other games to play and not enough time.
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u/jpetrey1 May 13 '26
To be fair it’s not some super challenging game. It honestly incredible but you do you boo bear
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u/Tyko_3 May 13 '26
I hear Roguelike, I pass
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u/discordianofslack May 13 '26
And I’m the exact opposite
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u/Tyko_3 May 13 '26
Honestly I wish I liked them.
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u/discordianofslack May 14 '26
It is what it is. It’s one genre I fully understand people who don’t like them. They are the pinball of video games. I’m old and can say that 100% positively.
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u/Tall-Individual9776 May 13 '26
Returnal having a reputation for being difficult also doesn't help with mainstream appeal.
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u/Deliriously_Delulu May 13 '26
I knew it was going to be rough when Walmart had this game on sale day one for $45.
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u/McFlyyouBojo May 13 '26
Yeah. Im over roguelite/likes. Im tired of a game coming out in a particular genre and then everyone tries to do the same thing. Im sorry, but if you are the 50th game to do the same thing, im just not touching you no matter how good you are.
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u/rideronthestorm29 May 13 '26
Yep. I usually don’t mind paying full price for games but when gas is $6/gallon I can’t justify it.
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u/Hovie1 May 13 '26
You mention cost of living to the leadership of any company and you might as well be speaking in an alien tongue. They don't hear it or understand it.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 May 13 '26
It’s extra interesting to see some games sticking to their $70 price when you have Clair Obscur releasing for $50 and Helldivers 2 for $40 and selling like hot cakes once their snowball effect of hype begins.
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u/Soho_Jin May 16 '26
Yep. Saros is £65 in the UK. I'm interested in playing the game but I'd rather wait for it to drop below £40 before I pick it up.
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u/StormMalice May 13 '26
I go one further and say might as well wear an ant costume because that's all they'll see regular people as.
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u/ohnoitsme7890 May 13 '26
I'd love to play it, but I'm not buying a whole new console for one game 🤷♂️
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u/Lyradni May 13 '26
Buy one console just for Saros? There are plenty other good games that are only on that console. I don’t see how Saros alone would convince anyone to buy a console.
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u/Sandshrew922 May 13 '26
I mean this console Gen doesn't really have much to incentivize buying a ps5 for is exclusive library. We're halfwayish through this console generation and there's not a ton.
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u/Zalvren May 13 '26
There are plenty other good games that are only on that console.
Plenty? There are three games only on PS5 unless I'm forgetting some : this, Astro Bot and Ghost of Yotei. There will be a fourth one in Wolverine later this year
They're all great games for sure but that's not plenty by any definition of the word
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May 13 '26
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u/wildstrike May 13 '26
In the context of expecting a PC gamer to buy your console, no there isn't enough. I need 10 games to make it worth it for me.
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u/dable1 May 13 '26
Also the fact they are constantly telling people with the base ps5 they won't run the games as well as the pro and rather than getting me to spend 1k on the upgrade it's getting me to not purchase games that thrive on pro because I'm back logging for when I can afford the upgrade.
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u/Archoniks May 13 '26
I went to try Returnal on PC since I saw this came out and it's still $60?? Ain't no way in hell I'm paying $60 for a game that's multiple years old on PC.
That coupled with the decision to not call this Returnal 2 or make it obvious that this was effectively a sequel to their massively successful game is just such a head scratcher.
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u/NYJetLegendEdReed May 13 '26
i bought a steam key for Returnal 2 days ago for 20 bucks. Just goto a third party site. Returnal is great, had already played it on my PS5 but wanted it on PC.
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u/D13_Phantom May 13 '26
100% if it came out on steam today it would see an explosion in sales and then another one when sales brought it down to $50 dollars
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u/Acinixys May 14 '26
Also no PC release on the horizon
Hopefully PS wakes up in 5 years and brings all these exclusives back to PC
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u/zamwut May 13 '26
Launched between paychecks for me, first game I'm buying once I got enough set aside; Rahul is great and I'm glad to see he got the Lead.
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u/Forsaken-Society6022 May 15 '26
How close is it to Returnal? Returnal was a fun game that took skill to finish
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u/IntroductionIcy7320 May 15 '26
Before release didn't realise it was ps5 only. I have a ps5 but can't play shooters due to a hand disability. Its not an issue on pc though. Was devastated when I found out. I love roguelikes, the game looks beautiful. Would have loved to support the studio and buy it.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Horse57 May 17 '26
Nobody knows the sales figures because they haven't been released. Alenia guestimates and is usually off by 100k when it comes to Playstation games. The same group claimed Yotei did worse than Tsushima, bit Sony came out and said Yotei was selling better than Tsushima.
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u/Seasidejoe May 13 '26
The game is £80 and locked to the PS5 in a poor economy.
If they wanted more sales, they'd target £50-60 and release across PC and PS5.
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u/Groundhog5000 May 13 '26
I really want the game but I can't justify spending 70 dollars right now. I doubt I'm alone in that
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u/Smallgenie549 May 13 '26
I rarely buy new games at launch anymore due to how expensive they are. It takes a special game to move the needle for me, and while Saros looks fun, it’s not that game right now.
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u/DinnerSmall4216 May 13 '26
It's a niche game it's never going to sell in the millions.
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u/CursedSnowman5000 May 13 '26 edited May 14 '26
Not with that rediculous budget. Should have scaled back the visuals and maybe give the game a few more bells and whistles than just making it a less interesting Returnal
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u/Buckbex1 May 13 '26
How bout put it on PC so everyone can buy it ??
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u/aseddon130 May 13 '26
I do actually think having it day and date on PC might have helped it a lot more. The PC crowd would have enjoyed pushing their rigs for more voxels and strobe effects and all that jazz.
Also, that $70 price point also killed this game too
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u/Latter-Clothes4516 May 14 '26
Exactly, I was hyped so much after the first trailer and knowing how good Returnal was - I was hoping to get it for PC GLADLY, but Sony once again proved that they are more in for the profit, than for the player experience and pleasure. That's why I'm never gonna buy a console from them. Pay to play online and pay more for games that are cheaper for PC. I will gladlystay on my 2.5k$ PC, watching simultaneously streams, youtube, browsing, gmaing and listening to music over a 500 console.l that you can use for one thing at a time with limitations.
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u/Mistralicious May 14 '26
Yup was hyped to play but saw its not ps exclusive and despite having one I still prefer to play on pc so I passed
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u/Revo94 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
It needs 1,8 million copies sold at full price to break even because it has a total cost of 100 million dollars. 76 millions is from budget and the rest marketing. They have sold so far less than 400k units. Yikes
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u/FireFarq May 14 '26
I mean what is the game even about? I have seen it multiple times yet it has never really interested me. Looks pretty bland
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u/elevatedtraveler May 14 '26
The game is exceptional but I don’t think it’s necessarily most people’s cup of tea. Can be a bit difficult at first.
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u/VRS302 May 14 '26
Them: What is the game about?
You: its exceptional
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u/CharlesDingus_ah_um May 14 '26
I mean you can go and look up articles about it but it’s about a scouting crew for this like space technology company and the first 3 crews effectively disappeared (without giving too much away) on a planet with a valuable resource.The first 3 crews were aimed to establish a colony in different stages while the fourth crew is looking for the first 3 crews and extracting a valuable substance, although the latter seems a bit more important. The main character, a member of the fourth crew, goes out in search of the other 3 crews while gathering the resource. The catch is that everytime he dies, he respawns at his home base and doesn’t know why
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u/blackwaltz4 May 14 '26
Three sets of colonists were sent to a new planet to commence mining operations for a new resource that the corporation that sent them desperately wants. Each expedition had different classes of people on them to properly set up a working mining colony. Contact has been lost with all three expeditions and your character is part of a fourth group, which is for contingencies in case something happens to one of the other groups. You're an enforcer with that group and you wake up at the base and your teammates wonder where you've been. But for your guy, it feels like no time has passed at all. So you and another enforcer go out of the base to investigate and see if you can locate the colonists. Also, it seems like your girl was on one of the other three ships, so you have a vested interest.
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u/sphixnz May 14 '26
It is far from bland, the only game like it this generation really is Returnal. It has an interesting world and story, likely has the tightest controls and best audio out of any game so far this year. Expect to see it in some categories for GOTY awards.
Not being for you is one thing, but calling it bland is bordering insane.
CoD is bland. Saros is not.
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u/CoogiMonster May 14 '26
I feel like all I can pinpoint from ads I’ve seen of Saris are hues of orange, yellow, and red and maybe like a dragon or some shit but futuristic too??? I don’t know frankly I haven’t gone out of my way to look into it, I basically never use my PS5 over my PC but I get what they’re saying - I can’t think of anything that gripped me at first blush. I’ll look into it myself because I’m not being disingenuous on Reddit for fun, just that I thought “huh some mishmash tech rpg thing or something”
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u/LukeD1992 May 13 '26
It's a new IP, rather niche and launched in a year packed with bangers that people already spent on or are saving to spend. It's an uphill battle and I'm not surprised.
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u/Cedrico123 May 13 '26
I want it, but I’m waiting for a sale
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u/Winter_Cost602 May 14 '26
Same. Returnal is a masterpiece but this game is too expensive at the moment. I have a massive back Iog as well, will probably buy Resident Evil 9 before Saros
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u/Rumham89 May 13 '26
This would be an instabuy on PC for me
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u/lostinlucidity May 13 '26
Too bad Sony doesn't want the extra revenue.
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u/MrMcGuyver May 13 '26
Sonys been making nothing but blunders this whole gen, but the roguelike bullet hell type of hardcore gamers are on pc not PlayStation. Not selling this on pc was beyond stupid.
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u/ExplodingFistz May 13 '26
They expect us to buy a console to play it. Lmao
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u/ThisNameDoesntCount May 13 '26
How is that wild though. Shit Nintendo wants you to buy a switch to play Kirby
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u/bbbowiesinspace May 13 '26
There's already so few reasons to own a PS5 6 years into its lifecycle. Throwing the few exclusives they have to other platforms will just further incentivize people to not get one or people that got burnt by this one to not invest in the next console.
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u/FunkmasterP May 13 '26
I think the name is bad and the marketing has been slim. It's also feels like a retread of Returnal with no new hook.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 May 13 '26
Yeah calling it a whole different name instead of trying to reuse ‘Returnal’ was certainly a bold choice.
They didn’t need to be as blatant as ‘Returnal 2’, but at least most casual gamers would be able to understand exactly what the game is instead of ‘Saros’.
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u/TheSuperContributor May 13 '26
Lmao what? This game has been advertised everywhere. Every CC and streamers talked about it, played the demo and wanked the hell out of it. If anything, it got way more marketing than other hits like Pragmata and Crimson Desert.
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u/The-Dudemeister May 13 '26
I had never heard of crimson dessert till I saw a Reddit ad a couple weeks before release. Still sold probably 3 million ps5 copies by now.
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u/cjcfman May 13 '26
You are right about the marketing. I had no clue this game existed until the week of release when I saw a ad for it at a nhl game I went to lol
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u/GroundbreakingBag164 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
I feel like a rougelite would sell better on PC but Sony must know better
And it's just not a $70 game. $60 would've been completely fine but $70 is too much. The rougelite genre is firmly in the hand of big indie titles and they will always win pricing wars. And it's also much stronger on PC
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u/SpaceMonkeyNation May 13 '26
"It's the economy, stupid."
Why would I pay $70 when I have Returnal right here.
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u/prodij18 May 13 '26
RE9, Crimson Desert, and Pragmata all released into the same economy and did great.
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u/aseddon130 May 13 '26
They were all cheaper too.
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u/prodij18 May 13 '26
You mean to buy? Because in the US RE9 and Crimson Desert are still $70.
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u/aseddon130 May 13 '26
In the UK Saros is like £10-15 more expensive than RE9 and Crimson Desert and £20-25 more expensive than Pragmata (and that is disc prices on ps5)
Absolutely shot themselves in the foot charging £65/69.99 for this game
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u/ChiefWatchesYouPee May 13 '26
I wonder if Returnal is hurting this game?
I liked Returnal but couldn’t get passed the long run times and the repetitiveness of it.
I got stuck on the 3rd Biome and never beat it.
I hear this game is more forgiving and easier which sounds right up my alley but I could see why some people might be turned off
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u/Smurphftw May 13 '26
The Carcosan modifiers make it much more doable. A lot less repetition and frustration.
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u/iChieftain22 May 13 '26
+300k copies in 2 weeks while being a PS5 exclusive... is selling worse? What kind of expectations the devs/publishers are having? 300k units sold is already very good, this is not a huge franchise like Resident Evil so don't expect millions in the first few weeks.
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u/El-Shaman May 13 '26
It’s all about expectations and breaking even, this doesn’t look like it was a cheap game either, I’m sure they at least expected 1 million copies sold in the first two weeks.
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u/TheStupendusMan May 13 '26
Bar is too low with breaking even. FFXVI was profitable but SE still considered it a failure. C-Suite exists in another reality.
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u/NumerousBug9075 May 13 '26
Yes but the point is that PS5 exclusives should sell in the millions to justify their exclusivity, otherwise the concept is pointless. Devs make a fraction of the profit because they're not allowed to multiplat and it does them more harm than it does Sony.
The FF7 trilogy has suffered greatly because of how much worse exclusivity sales has become.
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u/Bhavacakra_12 May 13 '26
This. Exclusivity only works if you can turn a profit. Low(ish) sales in this economy is not good.
Your point about FF7 is spot on. Easily two of the greatest games I've ever played and the sales were F'd from the start.
I hope sony realizes releasing games on PC is good for everyone because I loved Returnal.
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u/Hyper_Mazino May 13 '26
I'm really glad that they already confirmed that Part 3 won't be exclusive.
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u/Sandshrew922 May 13 '26
I'm pretty sure Square has moved back to multiplatform because of how much 16 and 7R underperformed with regards to sales. And that's a blue chip franchise.
Sony needs to quit fighting a console war they already won
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u/KINGGS May 13 '26
They're second place to the Switch by about 70 million units, aren't they?
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u/Thundergod250 May 13 '26
Probably Tom Cruise Mission Impossible Scenario. That sht is Top 10 highest grossing of 2025 and earned like 500M+, but it's a Flop when they're budget is 400M
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u/SirSabza May 13 '26
Apparently it's budget is 75 million roughly and that's before marketing.
300k copies sold is roughly 22m.
So they're currently operating at a 55m loss minimum after the highest period for sales in this games lifespan.
For all intents and purposes, this is a massive failure and probably the end of this studio.
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u/tmart14 May 13 '26
That’s a massive budget for an extremely niche genre in bullethell roguelikes.
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u/SirSabza May 13 '26
Their marketing budget was also probably quite expensive. They had a slot at summer gamefest, and the game awards.
They also are all over twitch and have tv adverts in the UK.
So probably easily 10m+ on marketing that's not even included in this
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u/UtkuOfficial May 13 '26
300k in 2 weeks is abysmal brodie.
Games aren't made with pocket change anymore. Its 2026.
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u/SirSabza May 13 '26
It's all relative. An indie title selling 300k is amazing and a huge profit.
A game like this that's pushing the high end of AA budgets with reportedly 75m in development costs alone not even including marketing, is abysmal.
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u/Sandshrew922 May 13 '26
I mean yeah? Sony pivoting away from multiplatform needs to put up numbers to justify it. PS5 exclusives in general seem to underperform. To the point that Square ended their timed exclusivity if I'm not mistaken after both 16 and Rebirth had underwhelming sales figures.
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u/KINGGS May 13 '26
Sony's in deep shit because outside of God of War, they always rinse away the previous generation's exclusive IPs no matter how successful. That's exactly why they've gone so heavily on the hero bullshit, because those are recognizable IPs.
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u/nvUaWVm360S May 14 '26
300k copies when there’s like 90 million PS5 units out there? Close to 50 million PS plus subscribers? 300k??
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u/Yarzeda2024 May 13 '26
I don't want any game to do poorly, but I would like Sony to realize that console exclusivity is a relic of the past.
If Saros underperforms, that might move the needle for Sony.
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u/DarkSoulsOfCinder May 14 '26
Sony has like 3-4 flops that they had to delete as soon as it released, they will keep going this way as long as their fans say it's what they want
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u/Black_Leg7 May 14 '26
Sony has to keep games exclusive. Is xbox doing good with no exclusivity? People buy consoles for exclusives.
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u/nier4554 May 13 '26
Seems to me like its priced wrong.
For 40$ I would have considered it.
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u/TrickOut May 13 '26
I got returnal at 30 on PC and that was around the right price for me personally but it was well over a year after the game released and I would of been really disappointed paying full price for it at launch
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u/BleepBloopDrink May 13 '26
would have been a day 1 purchase from me if it wasn’t 70 dollars. 40-50 bucks feels just right for this game
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u/SwiftTayTay May 13 '26
Returnal was a very hard game that many people never finished and I think a lot of people just decided no thanks I don't want to play another game that makes me play the same sections over and over again
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u/method115 May 13 '26
alinea analytics also said Yotei wasn't selling good at first and they were proven wrong. This company doesn't know anything about sales and they are just guessing. They even admitted they use user reviews to estimate sales.
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u/Robborboy May 13 '26
Well yes. We knew this already though.
This isn't the first time it has been brought up.
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u/Resevil67 May 13 '26
Alinea analytics is also shit and is wrong most of the time.They said the same thing about ghost of yotei at first and then it turned out it was actually selling well.
Doesn't mean Saros is selling well, but I'd wait till more info then just these guys comes out. They have botched alot of console sales data for both PS5 and Xbox in the past.
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u/DefinitelyNotUs69 May 14 '26
People whinging like its some thing from another planet. Its not impossible. Like any game if you learn its ins and outs becomes fairly easy. Theyre is permanent progression that makes the game SO much easier than returnal with later options to make it harder if you want. The negativity in here is wild. Americans are so fkn lame.
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u/dougkelley1982 May 14 '26
Of all the ps5 exclusives coming out, this is the one I had the least interest in. I can see that it would be great if I enjoyed this type of game but I can see a lot of people skipping it because the genre doesn’t appeal to them.
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u/Promature May 13 '26
It's a bit of an indictment of consumers because Saros is a direct response to criticisms of Returnal. So people wouldn't support Returnal unless certain core aspects were changed. Saros comes along, changes those core aspects, and people still don't show up for it.
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u/Irishonion12 May 13 '26
I saw the gameplay of dodging balls of energy coming out of thin air and was out.
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u/seraph741 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
That's too bad because it's a really well made game and something that feels fresh in the AAA space. It's a shame that gamers complain about modern games all being the same, too safe, having too much pointless filler, etc. but then don't give something different a shot when it comes out. That's why I always question whether gamers (particularly the vocal/Reddit ones) even really know what most gamers want.
This will definitely be a considered a "hidden gem" and I hope it makes money over time. I strongly encourage gamers to step out of their comfort zone and try it.
I'm an "older" gamer and have no issue with "difficulty" or feeling like I'm wasting time in this game. It's even better than Returnal in that regard. I've come to learn that often times we're kept in our comfort zone due to our own mental barriers (I did the same with soulslike games...many of which I now enjoy) and preconceived notions. I bet that if people gave Saros a legitimate chance that most would really enjoy it.
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u/TheOneWithThePorn12 May 14 '26
Niche titles like this usually make money over word of mouth and future sales.
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u/SuperArppis May 13 '26
I think they failed to offer something that interests people.
Maybe the game had too outlandish visuals and story? Main character that doesn't really capture the interest of the audience?
They seriously needed some "hook" to reel people in.
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u/Immediate-Comment-64 May 13 '26
The hook is the gameplay, but you’re right. Housemarque makes great games that never sell like they should.
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u/ChemicalEuphoric May 13 '26
I wouldn’t be surprised if roguelikes as a category tend to be vastly over represented on pc, and obviously heavily steam centric.
Despite Returnal being a masterpiece and getting great reviews at the time, the sales perf could’ve been massively better if the game served its customers where they were (and still are), on steam. The delayed launch doesn’t cover what a day one launch could’ve, with marketing being nearly non-existent at the time of the port.
Plus, roguelikes rarely get the same level of production value both returnal and saros get. So higher production cost and bad platform coverage… Hence, not surprised with what’s happening to Saros.
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u/Squint22 May 13 '26
I think a lot of people who bounced off Returnal wouldn't be interested in this.
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u/CrispyGatorade May 13 '26
Returnal was incredible and this expands on the world with some new gameplay mechanics. 10/10 game. I hope it gains traction because I’d love them to make more sequels.
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u/Kojimmy May 13 '26
Who expected this to sell well? It's very niche - even though it's pretty good. "Worse than You'd Expect"? Who is "you"? Not me, lol.
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u/patricios1 May 13 '26
There number reasons why this game dont sell millions.one those things is great amount players dont like to play hard games and top that when you died you have to start the entire chapter its consuning..its more friendly than returnal and more a shootwr game withca weak storie a few clips dont call people to play this game.70 dolllares its too expensive too.
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u/zomgieee May 13 '26
$109 in Australia. Also these games don't release in a vacuum; Im having a lovely time in Hades 2 atm.
Oh I will keep an eye on the title.. but I'm simply not paying that premium.
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u/Coffeypot0904 May 13 '26
The PS5 has been out almost 5 years and it's currently more expensive than when it first came out. I've been waiting years for the price to lower to warrant the purchase and now it seems like I'll just never get one. Is anyone at all surprised that people aren't buying this console, let alone brand new games for it?
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u/Sad-Guarantee-4678 May 14 '26
It's a sequel to a game that does not share it's name, and Returnal never really went mainstream in the first place. It was a moderately successful console exclusive with a high skill ceiling in a somewhat weird new tps roguelite bullethell genre. And PC release didn't change much, so it's still pretty niche
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u/dead-rex May 14 '26
Unfortunately also this type of game just isn't for a lot of ppl. Its kind of shocking that they even made another game in the same style.
I personally loathe roguelites/likes
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u/asaprockok May 14 '26
Its a really niche genre... im not even interested at all even if it carries PS Studio stamp of quality
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u/MeekSwordsman May 14 '26
I never heard of it until it came out and then i went to look at it AND its $70 !
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u/Konfliction May 14 '26
I have not bought a full price game since Jedi Survivor & E33. I literally can’t justify the purchase.
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u/randall__flaag May 14 '26
$70... I want to play it badly, but my backlog exists right now while money is tight.
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u/Sufficient_Toe4139 May 16 '26
If it was in the 40-50 euros category, maybe, but 80 is ridiculous to pay for a game that will end up on the catalogue in a year
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u/Organic_Following_38 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
Maybe I'm out of the loop, but isn't bullet hell kind of a niche genre, even with a AAA coat of paint?