A game about surviving a zombie apocalypse featuring Will Smith a game that many people probably didn't know about has failed on a large scale for Tencent, according to a new report.
Some game publishers may think that having a famous person endorse a game guarantees success, but that has not been true for the game Undawn.
Developed by Lightspeed Studios, the open world survival game that is free to play was released on mobile and PC in June last year. Despite having Hollywood actor Will Smith star in the game as 'legendary survivor' Trey Jones, who serves as a guide for players in a world ravaged by a global catastrophe, it seems that the game went completely unnoticed.
Even though it had the endorsement of one of the most famous celebrities in the world, Undawn has apparently been a major failure for the publisher Tencent.
According to a report from research firm Appmagic, the game only made $287,000 (£227,000) in revenue, despite reportedly having a budget close to 1 billion yuan (around £111 million).
Two sources claim that over 300 developers worked on the game, as stated by Reuters.
The game went almost entirely unnoticed by most people, receiving only three reviews on Metacritic (with ratings of 50, 60, and 70) and a User Rating of 1.3 out of 10, based on eight reviews.
Undawn’s failure is cited as one of the reasons why Tencent is moving away from high-budget games based on established intellectual properties, following a series of setbacks – including the closure of Apex Legends mobile, which happened in May of last year, and the cancellation of a mobile spin-off of NieR.
According to the report, the company is now shifting its focus to smaller budget games with a casual appeal, such as the party game DreamStar.
This shift in strategy has also reportedly led Tencent to push back the release of the mobile game Assassin’s Creed Jade to 2025, after moving hundreds of the team members to other projects. However, this has not been officially announced yet.
Assassin’s Creed Jade is the most expensive mobile game in the series so far and was revealed in 2022. It is set in ancient China and promises expansive open worlds with multiplayer features.
In recent years, games endorsed by celebrities have not been successful. Do you remember video games Crime Boss: Rockay City featuring Chuck Norris and Kim Basinger? We're trying to forget too. A zombie survival game featuring Will Smith, which many people may not have known about, has evidently been a significant failure for Tencent.
