Saros is off to a slower start than Returnal, with some analysts concerned Housemarque "will struggle to break even" | Eurogamer.net

Slow sales, questions on if the game will even break even.  Makes me wonder if dropping PC was the brilliant move Sony thinks it is.  Returnal did quite well on PC.  The ps5 sold 800k copies of Returnal, estimates are PC added another 200k, 25% increase in sales.  

It's an article citing Alinea Analytics.

That's all you need to know about the credibility of the numbers.

We go through this every month with every game with Alinea Analytics. Whether it's platform splits, late releases or low sales it's always them spouting nonsense.

I expect Saros to not sell very well, it should have released at a lower price and bullet hell games simply don't have mass appeal.

That being said, its AA estimations, which are quite often not good data, so I wouldn't give it much weight, even if, as I said, I expect the game to not sell very well.

The term Roguelite instantly makes me turn the other way. I like bullet hell. I like third person shooters. I love Housemarque arcade like games from the PS4 era but the roguelite I despise. Then again I never even heard of this game until recently. If I did hear of it before it never registered. This game was just sorta out with no marketing.

Price is high.  This article, fair the data is questionable, but resonated because of studio shut down.

Returnal did poorly on PC. It's steam peak was like 7k and most of it's sales were overtime during sales.

The PS5 version did not sell 800k. That number is over 4 years out of date. It was 866k sell-through and 1m shipped by February 2022. All the first party games have quite good legs.

Returnal was one of the cheapest PS5 games I ever got, it was clearly not selling as expected and it went in very deep discounts going on after 1 year, so my personal experience is that other people would give it a try like I did if the price was better, which I expect to happen to Saros too.

When I played Returnal I actually found it to be a steal based on what I paid ($20), the game is really good, but even so, it needs to have a lower entry price for more people to even give it a chance.

I was planning to get Saros when it was cheaper, but I also did know this time around it was worth more than what I paid for Returnal. Gladly I was able to get it for 42% off during preorders because of stacking Amazon offers and coupouns.

I think at the $40 I paid it becomes quite an attractive game, and $50 as a release would be taken considerably well. It releasing at $70 is a really hard sell for vast majority of people.

PC isn’t where Sony makes their money, it’s their ecosystem: PlayStation Store, PlayStation add-ons, hardware, subscriptions, and accessories, not needing to pay a cut to Steam for every copy sold, etc. Investing into their ecosystem is significantly better for long-term profit margins.

Additionally, with over 80% of PS software purchases in the most recent fiscal quarter having been digital, only Sony who knows the sales figures of Saros. (And why cite Alinea? You do realize there are many far more reputable sources such as EU charts showing a less-than-stellad opening?)

The source is a joke, but it's clear to me that this game isn't selling very well. It might be doing worse than Returnal.

My prayers go to Housemarque and their fans who kept reassuring me on the Playstation thread that Sony would never shut them down lol.