Highlights
- Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 ranked 37th in US game sales and 21st on Xbox Series consoles in May 2024.
- Despite positive reviews, Hellblade 2's sales and player engagement on Game Pass have been lower than many anticipated.
- Sales may have suffered due to the title's high price and relatively short runtime.
Recently published sales data shows that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 isn't faring too well commercially in the United States. The long-awaited follow-up to 2017's Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and the only Xbox first-party title released so far in 2024, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 launched for Xbox Series consoles and PC on May 21.
Although Hellblade 2 features top-tier graphics created using Unreal Engine 5, its overall scope is very much in line with its predecessor. The story comes in at around 7–8 hours and the game costs $50, which is a far cry from many $70 AAA games that can provide hundreds of hours of gameplay. Developer Ninja Theory previously announced its intention to offer Hellblade 2 as a smaller-scale experience that focuses on immersion over everything else. Reviews for Hellblade 2 were mostly positive, but even after almost two months since its release, Ninja Theory has yet to report any player numbers or sales figures.
However, Mat Piscatella from US-based analytics firm Circana recently revealed some sales data that offers a glimpse into how Hellblade 2 has performed commercially since its launch. In terms of full US dollar game sales (physical and digital), Hellblade 2 ranked 37th overall and 21st on Xbox Series consoles for the month of May 2024. It's worth mentioning that Hellblade 2 launched on Xbox Game Pass on day one, so its sales will have been impacted as a result. However, when looking at Game Pass player engagement, Hellblade 2 came in 12th place, falling one spot behind 2018's Fallout 76.
Hellblade 2 Ranked Lower Than Fallout 76 On Game Pass
The somewhat lukewarm commercial performance of Hellblade 2 has many fans worried about Ninja Theory's future at Microsoft, especially after the company shuttered four Bethesda studios earlier this year. Neither Ninja Theory nor Microsoft have commented on the sales reception of Hellblade 2, and it's unclear if the title met its internal revenue estimates, as that information isn't publicly available. Ninja Theory and Xbox may not have seen Hellblade 2 as a massive seller, so the game's performance may be entirely within expectations.
Hellblade 2 may be intended to be a concise, well-crafted experience that's capable of showing off the capabilities of Xbox hardware, which many players believe it accomplishes. Reports also suggest that Ninja Theory's next game has already been greenlit, so the studio doesn't seem to be under any form of scrutiny at the moment. Only time will tell whether Hellblade 2 met Microsoft's sales targets or not.
System PC , Xbox Platform(s) PC , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S Released May 21, 2024 Developer(s) Ninja Theory Publisher(s) Xbox Game Studios Genre(s) Action-Adventure Engine Unreal Engine 5 How Long To Beat 7 Hours Expand See at Xbox Games Store
