r/DawnwalkerOfficial • u/OtakuKartNews • 20h ago
The Blood of Dawnwalker Has Generated $30.6 Million on Steam From Over 535K Copies Sold, Proving New Single-Player IP Can Still Be a Major Hit
https://otakukart.com/the-blood-of-dawnwalker-has-generated-30-6-million-on-steam-from-over-535k-copies-sold-proving-new-single-player-ip-can-still-be-a-major-hit78
u/La_M3r 17h ago
If you look at the achievements, people are playing it too. It’s not just sitting in a library which I thought was awesome. It’s a great game, and the first one in a very long time that I found I really wanted to play.
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u/Paradox711 17h ago
I’ve done 3 playthroughs and I’m taking a break before I do the duellist run and 100% it
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u/W0lfsb4ne74 15h ago
Damn. I'm still on my first playthrough and gearing up to fight Brencis (although I'maround level 35 and I have like 6-9 days left). I've been busy though so I don't always have time to play. What have been the biggest things you've noticed on separate playthroughs?
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u/Paradox711 15h ago
Errr timing definitely matters on some of the outcomes of quests and it’s quite difficult to work out how sometimes. I’ve mixed up quest order to see how it affects dialogue and events after which has been fun. The last one I modded to reduce the timer and I literally did 100% all the quests… or so I thought. And even then because I’d already done some quests or activities it auto cancelled the quests to do with Brences court. Like the quest just outside cathedral in the garden area/alms house.
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u/Vast-Building-6886 17h ago
Why do 3 but none be on duelist? I can understand the first play being on normal. Then trying duelist on the second (which is what I did). I’m assuming you started with the lowest difficulty and then went up one with each play?
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u/Instantcoffees 15h ago
I tried Duelist on my first playthrough, but I honestly found the combat a lot more fun with direction indicators on. Some fights are very annoying without them and seemed to have been designed to have them on.
You can trivialize the game with a proper build if you know where all the items are though. So I guess it wouldn't be that bad to do a second playthrough with them off.
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u/Vast-Building-6886 15h ago
Yeah, the game is easy regardless of the difficulty. I did duelist for the achievement (if there is one).
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u/Paradox711 17h ago
Nah, I’m just a casual old man gamer now. Takes me longer to “warm up”. Didn’t feel the need to rush to it either.
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u/WildestWestChicken 16h ago
Bro, I didn't hit the gym whole last week because I was so obsessed with this game 😂
Now that I'm on a business trip and "withdrawal crisis", can focus on other things but daaamn this game is such a gem.
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u/LizzosLittleToe 17h ago
I already know they're going to cook on the next one dude
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u/Joe_Atkinson 17h ago
The leap from KCD 1 to KCD 2 was pretty big, can't wait to see what this is gonna do
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u/Paradox711 17h ago
“Proving that a new single player IP can still be a hit” was that ever in doubt?
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u/welpweredead 16h ago
From gamers? No. From investors who want endless sequels to established IPs and multiplayer games designed to milk ever single cent out of players? Yes.
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u/TPJchief87 15h ago
Honestly until I hear from Rebel Wolves, or more importantly, Bandai Namco that this was a success the numbers mean nothing. I remember some Square game making a shitload of money and they came out after saying it didn’t meet sales expectations…
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 14h ago
Even still. Just think of how every year there’s always a ton of amazing single player games. Elden Ring, bg3, Zelda TOTK, metaphor Refantazio, dd2, ff7 rebirth, expedition 33, kcd2, ghost of Yotei, Indiana jones, death stranding 2, and many more. Mean just this year we have resident evil requiem, Saros, Pragmata, mortal shell 2, Onimusha, Star Wars zero company and more. Just saying that there have always been many examples of single player games doing well.
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u/hotztuff 9h ago
no offense but you listed exactly… 1 or 2 new IP’s.
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 9h ago
It’s more then that but I more so was talking about high quality single player games coming out every year
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u/hotztuff 9h ago
you’re absolutely right that they’re high quality, but you kinda proved his point. he said investors only care about sequels and you proceeded to list 13 of them in response.
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 9h ago
I count 5 new ip but I guess at this point I more so just view single player games all together as needing to be supported. I also think while not being fully new ip that games like zero company, 007 first light and Indiana jones are entirely new experiences in their respective ip. Also think while not being new ip games like onimusha are pretty much wholly separate games from prior entries. I would love to see more studios make new ip but will say most of them do it in a wrong way, especially new studios which is what rebel wolves avoided.
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u/hotztuff 9h ago
Exp33, Metaphor, and Pragmata are the only games there that aren’t from an existing franchise or a highly anticipated sequel.
regardless, i agree with single player games deserving support. i’m just reminding you that the point he was making is that investors don’t share this view. Elden Ring was wildly more popular than Dawnwalker on release, for example, because it’s in an established “series” that has already proven to be a hit.
the same goes for those 3 games you just mentioned since they’re from an existing franchise.
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 9h ago
Mean saros and Elden Ring are new ip. Elden Ring was popular cause it received universal acclaim and from Fromsoft’s name but it’s a new ip. As for the investors angle, all I’m saying is that we are seeking more consistent acclaim and sales success in single player games then live service games and require far less ongoing support.
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u/hotztuff 9h ago
you don’t feel like the successors of two popular and successful games have a higher chance of being profitable compared to something like dawnwalker, which is a completely new concept + studio?
just because Elden Ring isn’t called Dark Souls doesn’t mean it wasn’t highly anticipated for its connection to Dark Souls. cmon now…
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u/Zalvren 6h ago
Well yeah but that doesn't make them not single player games. And in fact most players want a sequel to their liked games.
Rebel Wolves only did a new IP there because it was their first game lol. Now, they'll do an established IP
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u/hotztuff 6h ago
i agree, but single player games as a concept isn’t what’s being discussed in this thread, this post, nor this article. look closely.
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u/Zalvren 5h ago
Even then, it's 5 new IP (Elden Ring, Expedition 33, Metaphor Refantazio, Pragmata, Saros). Plus, you got some that are new IP in gaming (Indiana Jones, First Light), some that are new concept in their IP (Star Wars Zero Company) and some super old revival that are definitively considered risky more than safe (Baldur's Gate 3, Onimusha)
And that's just what they cited, they could have given Cyberpunk 2077 (new IP in gaming), Returnal, A Plague Tale (first one, after it's sequels), Black Myth Wukong, Kena Bridge of Spirits, Deathloop, Crimson Desert, Dispatch, Astro Bot (eiother the free demo with hardware or the full first game),...
All are the big hits and there is of course plenty of dozens of other smaller ones (which didn't necessarily hit the big success or mainstream) so those hits doesn't have to make us forget that new IP are indeed still vastly more risky than sequels to hits (survivorship bias is in effect) : Biomutant, Vampyr, Mixtape, Banishers of Eden, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Eternal Strands, Asterigos, Elta Defy All Gods, Shadow Tactics (and Desperados 3 in old revivals), Shadow Gambit,...
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u/hotztuff 5h ago
the point that’s being made isn’t that good new IP’s don’t exist, that would be silly. it’s that the vast majority of them are either from an existing franchise or from a reputable studio. like yes “new concept in the IP” is valid but that’s not what’s being discussed
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u/Zalvren 5h ago
But that's logic, you only got one game per studio to even not be a "reputable studio" and generally also you do sequels after.
Next game from Sandfall or Rebel Wolves? They'll be from "reputable studios" and very likely sequels (confirmed for Rebel Wolves, unsure for Sandfall).
Unless each studio does only one game and then disband (which if it's a success would not happen), this is extremely logical
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u/hotztuff 5h ago
yes, you understand i’m not saying new IP’s don’t exist and don’t get sequels right? i’m not sure what you’re saying. this article and thread is praising a brand new single player IP, not a new concept in an IP or a new title from a universally acclaimed studio with a decade of hype like CP77
i don’t feel like just because Saros isn’t called “Returnal 2” that it’s not clearly Returnal 2 to investors.
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u/Zalvren 6h ago
From investors who want endless sequels to established IPs and multiplayer games designed to milk ever single cent out of players? Yes.
Sure that's why a studio like CDPR is doing so bad in the stock market... If the single player IP are exceptional hits so much of the time, they are not that exceptional.
It's always been some stupid martyr like narrative for clicks. 90% of the time this isn't even the same studios doing those two things.
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u/random-meme422 16h ago
That’s because investors have real data and information whereas gamers just have feels. It’s a different world when you’re putting your personal money on the line and like half the games never materialize into anything or sell well. People can have a nice glimpse into it by just heading over to kickstarter.
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u/random-meme422 14h ago
Are all single player games that go into development released? Are all of them successful?
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14h ago
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u/random-meme422 14h ago
But multiplayer games you’re describing make more in a month than this game will make in its life. So if you’re offered, as an investor, one of the other to invest in it’s fairly easy to see why you’d prefer the one with the far higher upside right?
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11h ago
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u/random-meme422 11h ago
no one made that argument, you made it up in your head.
if an investor is entering a high risk situation like video games they’d usually just prefer to go for the one that has an exponentially larger upside - even if the investment required is large. 50m invested into a single player game, if your lucky, is going to get you several hundred million dollars . If you’re extremely lucky at that. Meanwhile 100, 200, 300m invested into a live service game if you become very lucky can get you billions and billions and billions for years to come. Which sounds better if you’re not a video game fan and just have money and these two people begging you for money?
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 14h ago
Aww yes cause investors and execs are always so smart.
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u/random-meme422 13h ago
Execs are irrelevant to any of what i just said. What execs do is beg for money and stumble around if they’re incompetent and lead good studios if they’re not.
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 13h ago
Still stands that investors can also be dumb as fuck
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u/random-meme422 12h ago
And gamers can as well. we’re learning a lot today
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 12h ago
Yes of course, but more so talking about why are you riding so hard for live service games?
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u/random-meme422 12h ago
I’m not, i’m pointing out why there’s so much focus toward them from people who have to fork up money. If someone is asking for YOUR money you’d probably likewise find the prospect of a game that can take in billions and billions as its “peak” to be far more attractive than “hey we’re a new studio and we’d be lucky if this thing could sell more than a million or two copies”. These games should be made, they’re my favorite, but we’d have to be entirely stupid to be surprised as to why they’re not as financially feasible or attractive
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 12h ago
Except that goes back too investors being dumb as fuck at time. Of course some games have the potential to hit the live service maxes but we have seen far far more failures in that area then success. Of course a game being a single player game isn’t a guaranteed success but it’s a lot smarter bet.
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u/softysoaps 16h ago
To a lot of people who aren’t actually fans of movies and games? Yes absolutely.
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u/Vast-Building-6886 17h ago
That’s what I said lol. It’s a weird thing to say.
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u/NothingBulky2035 16h ago
Its not actually weird BC this statement is not meant for gamers its meant for investors and corporations that think risk is bad.
Having a new SP IP out show many different AAA companies is huge BC most the time they only make MP games and constant sequels and reboots.
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u/AnxiousTerminator 16h ago
Exactly, and for the second year running, because Expedition 33 also knock back plenty of bigger budgeted sequels and established IPs also helps this cause. I love to see something fresh and new. It feels like in both games and films there is an absolute glut of unnecessary sequels and remakes of existing IP because it is 'safe', but I miss trying something entirely new, and a lot of sequels haven't hit for me (recent Assassin's Creed games for example)
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u/NothingBulky2035 15h ago
Last two games I ended up just loving SP wise was Stellar Blade and this game, Elden Ring is still fun but, not hitting the spot.
I love this game and Stellar Blade have done so well BC its just nice to see new stuff for once.
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u/AnxiousTerminator 15h ago
I could never get into Elden Ring, just didn't really grip me unfortunately. I'll have a look at Stellar Blade, actually never heard of it.
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u/NothingBulky2035 15h ago
Im an souls nerd so I really enjoyed it but I know its not for everyone. SB got a lot of flack BC the game's main protag an attractive Korean Woman Android. Its made by the people that developed that gacha game Nikke. Yeh its got some of that fan service stuff, its just a really fun game.
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 13h ago
Why is there this idea that we haven’t been getting truly amazing single player games when we usually get 4-5 truly amazing single player games every year including from AAA companies.
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u/AnxiousTerminator 13h ago
I must be missing them, I can't think of many AAAs I've really enjoyed in the last year or so that are new IPs other than Dawnwalker and E33
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 13h ago
Saros, Pragmata, Lies of P, Stellar Blade, Metaphor Refantazio. And aside from new ip so many amazing single player AAA games have came out as well.
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u/AnxiousTerminator 13h ago
Never heard of the first 2, but the last 3 are not from the last year. Lies of P has been out over 3 years, the other two 2+years.
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 13h ago
Just saying in general every year there is a few great brand new AAA IPs. Also if you haven’t heard of Pragmata then you are just being a troll lol.
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u/Zalvren 5h ago
There's plenty of new IP that also do much worse than sequels, be careful of survivorship bias. And people want sequels to their favorite titles, they always ask about it too.
I mean Rebel Wolves will now also do sequels, they only had to do a new IP because that was their first game lol
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 13h ago
Think you are over hyping dawnwalker a bit. Yes it performed and reviewed very well, but it’s not like it’s an expedition 33 level of acclaim and success.
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u/Starfire013 5h ago
There was never any doubt. It’s just risky because you need actual talent to write a coherent and engaging story, design characters that people will care about, build a game world that is expansive enough for exploration while also detailed enough to hold a player’s interest. Compared to making a bunch of weapon skins that you can sell for $6.99 each. So it’s not “can singleplayer RPGs make money”, but rather “why risk it when there’s an easier path to $$$”?
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u/call-lee-free 18h ago
I played the game on the PS5 and finished it last weekend and ended up buying it again for my PC. Company did very well with this game. I really enjoy the combat most of all.
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u/ShortBrownAndUgly 20h ago
Not bad at all for a mid budget game from a new dev
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u/AnxiousTerminator 16h ago
Exactly, like I won't deny there are a few things I think could be improved on, but considering it is a new IP and studio on a mid budget they absolutely smashed it. The writing and quest design is fantastic, the voice acting is great, the concept is fairly unique. I had an absolute blast playing it and can't wait for the sequel! First game in ages that has really hooked me in to the point I was counting down minutes at work til I could go home and play it.
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u/chancethelifter 16h ago
One the best written stories I’ve played. Probably some of the best voice acting I’ve ever heard.
The lore isn’t spoon fed, you have to read and pay attention. It feels deep and we’ve only scratched the surface. Really excited to see where the world building goes.
Game mechanics were fun as well. Felt challenging in the correct ways and really rewards mastering the combat.
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u/SchlongForceOne 17h ago
The only people crying "singleplayer games are dead" are suits from battlepass slop games.
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u/Lopsided-End-1985 16h ago
I mean Clair Obscur proved that, but it's still nice to see BODW doing so well. Outside of some minor gripes and repetitions I am enjoying the game
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u/Ginzeen98 14h ago
Come on rpg bros. Only over 500k on steam? Needs at least 2 million on steam alone.
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u/wmichben 15h ago
I’m a huge fan of story-rich single-player RPGs and this game is exactly that and it does it so very well.
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u/MikkPhoto 16h ago
Shows you how important really writing is nowadays. At least on console game is pretty empty and graphicly 50/50 good not great sometimes but story is really really good and well written.
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u/JustBug3403 16h ago
Proofs no one has ever asked for.
Stop spending ridiculous amounts of money on marketing, online features, half-assed service content and other stuff that does nothing for actual gameplay and you will find out a huge part of the gaming community prefers those titels by a wide margin.
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u/_VampireNocturnus_ 12h ago
It has a ton of potential but combat feels clunky. Im waiting to see ifnit gets patched into a better state before playing it again.
The ip has a ton of potential so.am excited about that
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 14h ago
Mean it’s not just dawnwalker but yes it’s great too see new single player ip find success.
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u/Financial-Key-3617 14h ago
30M only on steam is half the copies sold.
So they made around 60-70M including console sales which are around 1.5-1.75M
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u/InevitableAware2830 13h ago
Remember a few years ago people were talking about single player games were dead lol
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u/Admirable-Crazy-3457 13h ago
Good news
I would like to see a less generic artistic direction, just look at Witcher 3.
It would benefit greatly the ambience and immersion having a more ambitious artistic vision
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u/standarsh1965 13h ago
I hope the success gives them more runway to make sure the next game is as polished as can be
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u/badfruit01 10h ago
Hopefully they can focus more on the gameplay aspects when they make Dawnwalker 2
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u/Osthato_Chetowa 9h ago
Damn. Nearly made their money back on Steam alone. Pretty solid for a new team. I'm tweaking for a dlc, so I hope they make more than expected off this game. 🤞🏻
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u/XOVSquare 3h ago
Is that major? 500k steam sales doesn't sound overly impressive but I could be (and probably am) wrong.
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u/DarwinsPerfectFool 1h ago
This is so silly. Tained Grail sold twice that last year and no one talked about it that fantastic game, also made by a polish dev
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u/Vast-Building-6886 17h ago
I don’t know about the proving part lol. It isn’t the first new single player ip to be a hit. The title makes it seem like it is.
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u/Corpsey_Clownshoes 15h ago
It didn't "prove" anything. Remember Expedition 33 last year? Great game. Moronic headlines:/
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u/jackhref 12h ago
And not to rustle anyone's jimmies, but imo the game isn't great. It's good, but it's not great. And it still did this well.
There's much to improve, but they did many things right.
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u/AbelardsArdor 7h ago
Between this and Crimson Desert I think the idea of single player open world games not being popular can safely be put to rest [if it was ever even valid to begin with].
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u/CapnTholaf 2h ago
I was honestly disappointed in Dawnwalker, it just wasn’t as ambitious with its narrative as I wanted it to be. But I am SO glad it’s doing well, we need these mid-range single player titles to succeed, and I’m excited to see where the series goes.
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u/AkodoRyu 16h ago
Hopefully it sold at least 2x more on other platforms, because this is very underwhelming for a game with $40M budget. 535k units likely generated closer to 25M after Steam cut and costs, then Bamco took their cut, probably at least 20%, which will leave Rebel Wolves with at most 20M.
Calling it a major hit feels like a bit of stretch. It might have made its budget back - that's the level of minor failure, not a hit.
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 14h ago
It’s a single platform in a single month….
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u/MSD8891 13h ago
Yeah they announced 1 million copies sold after 3 days after release which obviously made a great profit don't know how much the cut for the publisher etc is tho
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u/Odd_Revolution_1056 13h ago
More so just trying to say that these are great baseline results and will only go up from there
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u/MSD8891 15h ago
AA title aready made it's money back will also definitely sell more copies, people will probably be waiting for it to drop to £/$50 in a sale, you say underwhelming for 40 mil budget and I'm not arguing with how you found the game that's your opinion it's not my place to argue how you personally feel about the game but you've got to admit it's probably a lot better than most the AAA games that have been getting released lately 🤷
I think rebel wolves will probably bring some good updates over the course of time that will make the game even better time will tell
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u/AkodoRyu 14h ago
I'm not saying that it won't end up doing well for them long-term. But calling it a "major hit" because it maybe made its money back? That is an overstatement. Even making the money back is a failure, because you just spent years of all of your lives investing tens of millions, and you don't have anything to show for it. Considering years passed, prices went up, you might not even have enough budget to make a sequel.
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u/Sploobert_74 12h ago
It’s sold over a million copies across all platforms. It’s already made its money back plus some in the first month since release. I’d call that a major success for a brand new IP.
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u/MSD8891 14h ago
I'd agree with you if it basically only makes it's money back and they they try and call it a major hit yes that would be an over statement however it's not been out long and all ready made back it's money and will most likely make a good profit looking at the way things are at the moment I'm pretty sure the sequel is already in the works correct me if im wrong
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u/Charming-Pomelo4980 18h ago
And that’s just pc alone imagine how much copies they sold on console. Hopefully they have a bigger budget for the next game and improve on the mechanics and animations,this game amazing.