Alone in the Dark Reboot Flopped, Embracer Says After Laying Off Staff
The Alone in the Dark reboot failed to meet sales expectations at the embattled Embracer Group, it has said.
In a financial report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, Embracer said Alone in the Dark and Outcast: A New Beginning both endured “a softer-than-expected performance” and “performed below management expectations.” That’s corporate speak for failed to sell the required number of units to make money.
Alone in the Dark launched in March as a reimagination of the famous franchise and “a love letter to the 90’s cult classic horror game.” It featured performances from high-profile Hollywood actors Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, Free Guy) and David Harbour (Stranger Things, Black Widow) in their first video game roles, complete with captured likenesses.
But despite this, Alone in the Dark failed to capture the attention of the wider gaming public. According to SteamDB, it peaked with 1,628 concurrent players on Valve’s platform upon launch, but that figure has tumbled since. At the time of this article’s publication, just 23 accounts were playing Alone in the Dark, with a 24-hour peak of 52.
IGN’s Alone in the Dark review returned a 6/10. We said: “It’s not without its memorable moments, but Alone in the Dark fails to escape the shadows of the other contemporary survival horror titans that it helped spawn.”
Embracer’s comments about the commercial performance of Alone in the Dark come a month after its developer, the Embracer-owned Pieces Interactive, reportedly suffered a round of layoffs. Embracer has yet to comment on those layoffs.
Embracer has laid off thousands of staff since the collapse of a $2 billion deal, reportedly with Saudi government funded company Savvy Games Group, in 2023. In January it emerged that Embracer had canceled a new Deus Ex game that was two years in development and laid off some staff at Eidos Montreal. Some of the Embracer-owned studios to shut down include Saints Row developer Volition and Timesplitters developer Free Radical Design.
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