Biomutant sells 1m copies, broke even a week after launch
Valheim now over 8m sold.
Hot on the heels of the news Outriders may not have broken even despite sales of up to 3m units, comes confirmation Biomutant broke even a week after launch with sales of 1m.
Biomutant, developed by Swedish studio Experiment 101, launched 25th May, and has sold more than 1m copies, parent company Embracer Group said in a financial report issued this morning.
"The full investment into development and marketing as well as the acquisition cost for Experiment 101 and the IP, was recouped within a week after launch," Embracer said.
Publisher THQ Nordic (which is owned by Embracer) bought Experiment 101 in November 2017, picking up the studio and the intellectual property rights to Biomutant for SEK 75.3m (around £6.2m).
Embracer described Biomutant sales as "in line with management expectations".
Biomutant sounds like it's done well enough, then, which is in stark contrast to the tone struck by Outriders developer People Can Fly yesterday. The Polish studio said it can only assume Outriders failed to break even because, it alleges, Square Enix has yet to issue it a royalties payment (fee paid on profits after Square Enix recoups its investment). Remarkably, PCF accused Square Enix of failing to provide it with any sales information for its own game.
Meanwhile, Embracer announced indie hit Valheim sold another 1.1m units between April and June, which means it's now sold over 8m copies since launch.
Iron Gate, the small studio behind Valheim, has grown its team to a total of eight members and is working on a long-term plan to further support and develop the IP, Embracer said.
And finally, Embracer announced it has bought another three studios (the spending spree continues!). This time it's picked up Demiurge Studios, Fractured Byte and SmartPhone Labs through its subsidiary Saber Interactive. You may remember Demiurge as the studio behind the cancelled Wii U version of Gearbox's disastrous Aliens: Colonial Marines. After that debacle it went on to make a raft of mobile games, including Marvel Puzzle Quest.