'Overkill's The Walking Dead' Publisher Said Sales Revenue Was "Lower Than Expected"

11/25/2018 10:14 am EST

Overkill's The Walking Dead's sales revenue wasn't what the publisher thought it would be, an outcome that's prompted a review of costs and an attempt to "sharpen focus on core business."

Starbreeze, the publisher of the newest game set in The Walking Dead's universe, released a press release recently that discussed how Overkill Software's game had done so far in the few weeks that it's been available. Following its release on November 6th for the PC platform, the publisher said the lower-than-expected sales revenue from the game will result in the company not being able to recognize the license fee of $10 million from 505 Games, the publisher that's bringing the game to consoles next year.

"We will not be able to recognize the license fee from 505 Games for Overkill's The Walking Dead as revenue until after the end of the fourth quarter, while initial sales revenues from the game are lower than expected," said Starbreeze CFO Sebastian Ahlskog. "This will have negative impact on fourth-quarter earnings, but our target of positive EBITDA for Q4 stands."

The game was released weeks ago on the PC platform first before coming to consoles, but that wasn't always the plan. Overkill's The Walking Dead's publishers announced back in August around the time that Gamescom news was heating up that the game wouldn't be released simultaneously on all platforms as was expected prior to the announcement.

On the weekend after its release, the game peaked on Steam at 14,292 concurrent players, but it hasn't been able to reach that number again with Steam Charts' most recent week of data showing the number of concurrents reached just over half of that peak player count. Starbreeze said those numbers means the game has "a pulse of concurrent players" though and is already looking ahead to how it and Overkill can continue development on the game and work towards Season 2 in the games as a service business model.

"This is disappointing, of course, but we have a base to work with in regards to the number of games sold," said Starbreeze chairman Michael Hjorth. "We have a pulse of concurrent players, which is essential to future performance within the framework of our Games as a Service concept. The team is working at full capacity to deliver improvements to the game and new content, and Season 2 will be starting soon."

Starbreeze said it's now initiated a review of costs and is designing a program to "ensure better alignment" with its revenues.

Overkill's The Walking Dead is now available on the PC with a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release coming on February 8th.

[via GamingBolt]

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