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Darksiders 2 has failed to meet sales expectations, THQ president Jason Rubin has revealed.
Speaking during THQ’s Q2 FY2013 earnings call last night (and transcribed by Seeking Alpha), Rubin said: “Darksiders 2 did not perform to our expectations or live up to its generally favorable reception.
“Observing this and other recent industry releases, one is left with a firm understanding that in the current marketplace, only the absolute top tier of releases is making impact on the game consumer. I now have an opportunity to start impacting our next slate of products and positioning them to compete in this marketplace.”
In a press release following the call, THQ confirmed that it had shipped 1.4m units of the game to retailers. Sales figures, however, were not disclosed. According to NPD data, the game sold 247,000 units during its opening month on sale.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has previously suggested that Darksiders 2 would have to sell 2 million units to meet its “breakeven threshold”.
Back in July, lead designer Haydn Dalton hinted that the future of the series depended on the success of Darksiders 2.
“The only people who can really shape if we do Darksiders or not is basically the public,” Dalton told VideoGamer.com. “If we come out and it does really well then I think it’s really compelling; we can’t not come out and maybe do something else in the Darksiders franchise.
“If Jason’s sat there and we go and sell 4 or 5 million units, I’m pretty sure he won’t say, ‘Let’s go and do something different now’. Maybe what he might do is turn around and say, ‘We’ll do another Darksiders game but we’ll try and reduce the scope so that we can make it even higher polished’.”
Darksiders 2 could see a slight sales boost later this month, though. A Wii U version of the game is due to release alongside the console on November 30.
Darksiders’ creative director Joe Madureira announced that he would be leaving developer Vigil Games last month. The studio is currently rumoured to be developing a first-person shooter.
Source: Seeking Alpha
