The latest first-person shooter from Starbreeze didn’t do all that well at retail, with sales numbers for Syndicate not nearly as high has the developer anticipated. In an effort to explain why the game had such a lackluster performance, the developer is placing part of the blame on the financial troubles of GAME.
UK retailer GAME couldn’t afford to stock the stores with EA published titles for quite some time, a fact that Starbreeze points to when discussing why the game didn’t sell well. The game released in February, just before Electronic Arts pulled their support from GAME.
Speaking to GI International, Starbreeze CEO Mikel Nermark explained:
The numbers are not as high as we would like, and I think if you asked anyone they would say the same thing about any game they made. But [Syndicate] was released in the midst of GAME going under; the retail space is hurting, and I think that hurt us because we were such a retail product.
While there’s no doubt that not having the game stocked in one of the UK’s most massive gaming chains is a major loss, it doesn’t change the fact that the game was slightly below average to begin with. Don’t redirect the blame when you made a mediocre title.
