Bulletstorm News for Xbox 360

Bulletstorm 'didn't make any money,' says Epic

NewsPublish Date 25/07/2011 - 10:29am GMT+1

But the studio has no regrets, president Mike Capps has revealed.

Despite getting great scores - including a piping-hot 9 in our review - Bulletstorm was not a profitable outing for Epic Games, it would seem.

Speaking to Kotaku, Epic president Mike Capps bluntly stated that the game "didn't make any money".

The unusual trick-based FPS title sold less than 300,000 in its opening month, according to research reported by gamesindustry.biz back in March.

Despite the lack of sales, Capps remains buoyant about the future for developer People Can Fly, who worked with Epic on the game.

"The studio has shipped AAA content," he said. "The next thing we do with People Can Fly will be great."

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Clockpunk

It had some very interesting weapon ideas which endeared the game to me. Weapons with a little twist, a little flair, that sets them apart from bog-standard fare can be enough to make or break a game. The overarching story *could* have been a bit longer, but otherwise it was a most solid title.

I wonder how much a sequel would cost, now they have an established franchise framework...

I thought the demo chosen was fairly representative. Shame it didn't sell as well as it could have, but with the focus on the whip, it was criminally underused - the additional attacks added with the DLC don't count.

Posted 18:21 on 25 July 2011

Woffls @ Wido

That's the problem, though. They should have issued a demo which reflected the brotacular trailers rather than what is essentially an arcade mode. Just put some cinematic sequences in there and double the size of the explosions.

The game didn't actually feel like the demo when I played it. I was actually more bothered about the delivery of the story and the amazing orange and tealing than high scores.

Unfortunately, the mass market still gets its kicks from just blowing stuff up.

Posted 18:13 on 25 July 2011

reynoldio

I think you're both right - the demo was great for a certain section of people, I just don't think it was the largest possible market segment. Hence I'm more with Chris from a slaes perspective. Top game though, I grabbed it for £20 a few weeks back and like it a lot even though I'm rubbish. Hopefully it'll net them some cash in the long term.

Posted 17:42 on 25 July 2011

Wido

I disagree Chris. The demo was a great taster for what the game has on offer. Echoes Mode is a genius mode which you can replay story mission levels, but the main idea is to get the highest score. I found it to be very competitive, as even a Staff vs Forums friendly comp was made for it! The demo certainly got attention.

If the demo was a section of the singleplayer campaign. It may or may not have benefited the game, as it wasn't showing the true reflection behind the skill shots. Echoes Mode shows more of the 'over the top action' which Bulletstorm offers, and the game is a success in my eyes and I am heavily anticipating the sequel. Sadly 'some/majority' of publisher's rely on sales as the success, which notably it is the core principle of the game to be a success. Its nice to see that Epic Games are standing by with People Can Fly, as it's certainly a talented developer, by giving us a great FPS this year. Bulletstorm is my favourite FPS so far this year, as its completely different!

Posted 10:57 on 25 July 2011

IndoorHeroes

I think the demo they put out was a mistake, people wern't expecting it to be a score running affair from the trailers etc. A slice of the campaign may have turned more people on, but who knows.

Posted 10:46 on 25 July 2011