00:08This is your mission. This is your quest. There is nothing else left.
00:17It's been three months since the launch of Hellblade Senor's Sacrifice and in this development diary we want to tell
00:22you how the launch went, how the game has performed and what the response has been so far.
00:33On the day of launch we held a small press conference at Welcomes HQ in London. Throughout the day the
00:38game was going live across the world. First in Australasia, then Europe and finally the Americas. Both press and player
00:45impressions started to flood in.
00:47As this was my first acting try, I was quite worried about what people will think of the performance, but
00:52I was more concerned about the mental illness side of things because I didn't want that anybody feels offended by
00:57my performance or hurt or mistreated.
01:04I knew that we'd made a really strange game, one that some people would love and some people would hate
01:08and so our average view score was bound to suffer, but I was much more worried about the mental health
01:14aspects and worried that this game could blow up in a storm of controversy that undermined both our creative and
01:21commercial ambitions.
01:22And a storm did come. One key mechanic in the game, the dark rot or the permadeath was seen as
01:28anti-consumer by some and blew up on social media, including becoming a top 5 trending topic on Twitter. One
01:36reviewer gave the game 1 out of 10 and we started to feel that things could go very wrong.
01:41And I'll be the first to admit it, hell I was the first one to encounter it. There was a
01:45rare game breaking bug in Hellblade. But you know what? Ninja Theory patched it up pretty quickly.
01:51We balled up with our progression stopping bugs and we worked fast to patch them. The reviewer who gave us
01:56a 1 out of 10 score retracted it and then began to sing our praises.
02:04Quite unexpectedly, this storm that seemed so threatening actually helped spread awareness of the game.
02:11At the same time, our fans who have followed the Hellblade journey for the past three years, loved the game,
02:16backed our controversial design decisions and started spreading their love for the game to the wider gaming community.
02:48Reviews and impressions started appearing praising the game way beyond our expectations.
02:52And most importantly, the mental health theme in the game was hitting home with so many people.
02:58As someone who has seen depression, anxiety, PTSD and bipolar disorder up close, not only is Hellblade Senua's sacrifice a
03:06great game in its own right, but one of the most honest and empathetic portrayals of a mentally ill character
03:11I've seen in entertainment, period.
03:13It's a game set in a time with no understanding of mental illness, yet as a modern story, it blazes
03:20a trail.
03:22We were overwhelmed by all of the touching messages we received and as a result created our Achilles trailer.
03:28We wanted to share just how much this game had impacted people.
03:48I didn't see it coming. I don't think anyone did. The response was overwhelming and I think, yeah, I think
03:55I cried quite a little, or a lot.
03:59Because you can't make a game like this without it costing something within you.
04:03And yet the response was so overwhelmingly positive that there was a lot of mixed emotions and it was just
04:11really hard to process.
04:27And although we expected mixed reviews on PC, we sit at 83% Metacritic and on Steam we have over
04:338,000 positive reviews and an overall rating of 91%.
04:40So when the game launched I was quite shocked about how much people are talking about the performance.
04:45I just thought that people would just ignore it and only talk about the game.
04:49But, yeah, it was quite a lot of positive feedback and, yeah, I'm pretty happy about that.
05:02It was also nice to see how everybody has enjoyed the story of the game and the art and the
05:07sound design.
05:08Because I know that everybody on the team has worked so hard for this.
05:18Creatively, we hit a home run, but our rather major goal was to prove that there was a space between
05:23indie and AAA games that could work commercially.
05:27And for that, sales do matter.
05:29Hellblade Center with Sacrifice was launched in August the 8th and in the first week we sold an amazing 250
05:35,000 units across PlayStation 4 and PC at $30.
05:40During the month of August, Hellblade was the number one selling game on the PlayStation Store in Europe and number
05:46two in the US, just behind Madden.
05:49Three months on and we are now approaching 500,000 units, which puts us beyond our break even and into
05:55profit.
05:56So far, Hellblade has generated $13 million in revenue and sales continue to be consistent and steady.
06:02In short, the game exceeded our expectations because we weren't expecting to break even for nine months and yet we
06:09cleared it in three.
06:10And this is a big deal because I'd say less than 5% of developers ever reached a break even
06:16point.
06:16In fact, it's probably more like 2% or 1%.
06:20And yet the game came out of nowhere and surprised everyone.
06:23So how did we do this and how could others perhaps do the same?
06:27For many years now, talented and experienced development teams have been disappearing because they just don't fit the AAA mould.
06:33This trend sadly shows no sign of stopping, so it's important to us that we share our experiences from the
06:39Hellblade project so that other teams might be able to do the same.
06:43We documented the whole process in these 30 dev diaries to create a public record for how it could be
06:48made to work for others like us.
06:50Usually a publisher provides the funding for a game, so without a publisher we had to find the money another
06:56way.
06:57We kept our budget low by keeping the average team size to just 20 people over three years.
07:02But this is still a considerable budget, so this is how we created the funds.
07:06Early on, Wellcome gave us a co-production grant which enabled us to go deep into our research on psychosis.
07:12We received loans to help fund development which have now been paid back in full.
07:16The UK, like many other countries, now provide games tax relief and R&D tax credits.
07:22The rest came from Ninja Theory's own coffers, years of saving from work for hire projects.
07:27It wasn't easy to raise funding as this model of development isn't an established one.
07:31But it was worth it, because we now own the IP for a game that we've come up with and
07:36made, which is as it should be.
07:38And without the publishing overheads we could set our own price.
07:42The pricing was key. We'd always promised that Hellblade would be half the size of a AAA game and sold
07:47at half the price.
07:49The average playtime for Hellblade is about 7-8 hours and we sold the game for $30.
07:54This was received well by everyone.
07:56But Ninja Theory budgeted their game smartly and priced it accordingly.
08:00Developers are learning to make it on their own and to do so in ways that can rival and even
08:05shame their big budget peers.
08:07We need more Hellblades and soon.
08:09Another problem to solve was awareness.
08:12A lot of publishers spend millions or tens of millions or even more just on marketing.
08:16And of course we couldn't afford to do that.
08:18So again we had to find another way.
08:20Our secret weapon is you, our supporters.
08:24We laid our cards on the table in these 30 dev diaries.
08:27We made a bet that if we could be transparent and deliver on our promises that you would support us.
08:32You came through for us and helped us build an army of supporters before the game was launched.
08:38Over 75,000 of you pre-ordered the game, which gave us a solid marketing budget to build a digitally
08:44focused campaign around.
08:45In the future, the more people that buy the game, the more we'll be able to promote it and highlight
08:51the game to a wider gaming audience.
08:53We showed that a developer can build trust with their fans and we can work together towards a goal without
08:58anyone getting in the middle of that.
09:00And that's a win-win.
09:01For example, we recently donated all of the proceeds from the sales of Hellblade Center of Sacrifice on World Mental
09:07Health Awareness Day to mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness.
09:10Our sales spiked on the day and we were able to donate over £60,000 to a very good cause.
09:17In the future, we'll continue to give reasons for people to buy the game, rather than just leaving it in
09:23the market.
09:23This isn't the end for Hellblade. We think we can reach a far wider audience with your continued help and
09:28support.
09:28We're not the biggest, the richest or even the most popular of developers, but with your help we made the
09:34Hellblade project work.
09:35And there's no reason other developers can't do the same. We hope this message gains traction with other developers.
09:42If you're a developer like us, searching for independence and with a track record, then get in touch. We've been
09:48through this journey so perhaps we can help.
09:50And in terms of what's coming in the future, we haven't made any concrete plans yet, but we want Hellblade's
09:57legacy to live on.
09:58Hellblade has opened new doors for us here at Ninja Theory and it's given us the confidence to be bold
10:03and open in the future.
10:04We've all taken a good break and we're now ready to face the next set of challenges.
10:11On behalf of all of us at Ninja Theory, we want to say thank you for your love and your
10:16support and you're all awesome.
10:27We've just heard that Hellblade's Senna was Sacrifice has been nominated for an amazing 5 awards at the Game Awards.
10:33You can vote for Hellblade by searching for Game Awards voting in Google and vote for us in the categories
10:38of Best Narrative, Best Audio Design, Games for Impact, Best Independent Game and Malini Juergens' Senna in the category of
10:46Best Performance.
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