Don’t Nod has published a relatively shaky financial update for H1 2024, revealing some critical issues. It was stressed that Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden failed to hit the mark, underperforming against expectations by a considerable amount. With that in mind (and in the open), Don’t Nod has announced the ‘temporary pause’ of two projects that were being fleshed out at the studio.
Going Down
Don’t Nod’s financial update revealed an 11% decline in operating revenues year-on-year. In recent months, the studio has released two titles, neither of which failed to secure the sales that were projected, drawing disappointment from the firm’s leadership team.
In a statement, Oskar Guilbert, the CEO, said:
We are obviously disappointed by our recent performance in an extremely competitive and selective market. Despite an excellent critical reception, Jusant and Banishers: Ghosts of new Eden unfortunately did not achieve the commercial results we had hoped for, resulting in a deterioration in our 2024 half-year results and leading us to consider all possible options regarding our roadmap.
The ‘possible option’ that the studio has settled on is to temporarily suspend ‘two production lines’. It was noted in the financial report that even this has incurred a sizeable cost.
It was pointed out that most of the studio’s sales came from back catalogue titles such as Vampyr and Life is Strange. The latter franchise was likely boosted following the recent reveal of Life is Strange: Double Exposure and the imminent release of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, a similar game based on an emotional choice-and-consequence model.
It’s worth mentioning that Life is Strange: Double Exposure isn’t being developed or published by Don’t Nod, but the earlier iterations of the franchise were.
Toward the end of the financial update, it was highlighted that two projects, designated as ‘P10 and P14’ are due to be released before the end of 2027.
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They don’t make good games in general