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The Callisto Protocol’s publisher, Krafton, is quite unhappy with the way the game is being marketed, but it may be their own fault. According to Yonhap, the game’s sales expectations have been significantly revised down after it failed to live up to the publisher’s inflated expectations since its release last month. Krafton expected 5 million copies to be sold this year, but the figure is now around 2 million, which it admits “will not be easy.”
In briefings during the game’s development, Krafton referred to The Callisto Protocol as an “AAAA” game, which somewhat explains why the company invested 200 billion won ($161.6 million) into the game over the course of three years. Although The Callisto Protocol was the first game in a new series from a new studio, Krafton had high hopes for it, but after the game’s release, those hopes collided with reality.
Although The Callisto Protocol has Dead Space pedigree – the game was directed by Dead Space creator Glen Scofield – it would hardly have sold 5 million copies even if it had received a warmer response. The Dead Space games are well known and loved (enough for EA to release a complete remake of the first game), but they weren’t sales titans even in their day. The expectation that something that doesn’t even bear the name of Dead Space can vastly outperform these games seems like a common misconception that is only possible in corporate boardrooms.
According to Yonhap, Krafton hopes to fuel the enthusiasm for the game with post-release support and content, including new game modes, story and cosmetic DLC.
