Release of the Day: Wargroove — media reaction and sales forecast
On February 1, Wargroove was released. This is a turn-based tactical strategy game for PC, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One. We talk about the first reaction to the game in the press and share the sales forecast.
WargrooveAbout the game
Wargroove is a turn—based tactic in the spirit of the Advance Wars and Fire Emblems (Intelligent Systems) series. The user commands several units on the map. He and his opponent take turns moving their troops. The task, as a rule, comes down to the destruction of the enemy commander.
The main success of Advance Wars came on Nintendo portable systems. And it is this platform that often generates the most indie in money and the number of copies sold. Therefore, the appearance of the game is logical, including on it. PC and Xbox One versions have also been released. Launch on PlayStation 4 is in the plans.
WargrooveMedia ratings
Most of the reviewers received the game warmly. Almost everyone highlights how ideologically close the novelty is to Intelligent Systems projects.
“It’s easy to mistake Wargroove for imitation on the spur of the moment, but her genius is in the details. With a ton of mods and maps, the game is definitely not too tight on content, but something else makes it an outstanding title: accessible and nuanced tactics.”— Gameinformer
However, there are not so many really enthusiastic reviews.
Even taking into account nostalgia, the game is accepted, rather, with restraint-positively.
“Wargroove is true not only to the spirit, but also to the “body” of the source of inspiration. She retained both the pleasure and some of the pain that was characteristic of the old war game, thereby refusing to change most of the basics, adding new things instead: online multiplayer, map editor, puzzle mode.”— Rock Paper Shotgun
And if the project is praised more for following the classics, then not for long sessions.
“Final missions consistently take from 45 minutes to an hour. Without the ability to save with handles (Wargroove autosaves the game only when exiting), you have almost no right to make a mistake.”— US Gamer
Together with the high complexity, this becomes a serious problem.
“The weakness of Wargroove is its periodic insane complexity and tendency to stretch everything. Correctly positioning the troops for attack and critical strikes is already quite difficult. So in Wargroove there are also giant cards, which means that you can spend several moves just to reach the enemy.”— PC Gamer
The project scores on Metacritic are still highly dependent on the platform.
They are higher on Switch, lower on PC. However, in both cases, despite the described problems, the title score fluctuates around 80 points.
Evaluation of the Switch version of WargrooveFirst reaction on Steam
So far, the PC audience is more supportive of the project than critics. 94% of Wargroove ratings on Steam are positive. The only negative feedback is from our compatriot, who scolds too long training and declares that the game is not worth its 500 rubles.
WargrooveForecasts
Advance Wars, like Fire Emblem, similar to it in terms of combat mechanics, can be called casual wargames. This is a very narrow niche. At the same time, its audience is less cohesive than that of fans of classic wargames, who are regularly fed by companies like the Slitherine Group.
This can partly explain the very modest financial performance of almost everyone who tried to play on this field.
- Tiny Metal — less than 20 thousand users on PC;
- Uniwar — mobile cash register amounted to $250 thousand;
- Warbits — mobile cash register amounted to $203 thousand;
- Lost Frontier — mobile cash register amounted to $180 thousand;
- Super Senso — mobile cash register of $90 thousand.
Another thing is that none of the projects appealed to retro. In most cases, the original combat mechanics were taken, changed significantly, and then published in an original and at the same time controversial wrapper. Often, the developers of these games had neither experience nor marketing opportunities (the exception is Super Senso).
Warbits
But there are also positive examples.
Into the Breach is one of them. The project has a completely different combat mechanics. However, he performs in approximately the same niche (casual wargames). Only on Steam, its audience ranges from 200 to 500 thousand people.
The latest Fire Emblem can also be noted for good sales. They are not high for Nintendo, but acceptable for a niche. Both Fates and Awakening, which were released on 3DS, have more than 1 million copies sold.
At the same time, we do not take into account the mobile Fire Emblem Heroes here. Its monetization is based on collecting and gacha, and the combat mechanics are greatly reduced compared to the original titles for 3DS.
Fire Emblem Awaking
As for the developer’s publishing capabilities, Chucklefish has two blockbusters with more than a million audience — Starbound and Risk of Rain.
However, their presence does not help the company in promoting those titles that it is publishing. Both Timespinner and Halfway passed relatively unnoticed. Both PC games did not reach an audience of even 100 thousand people.
But it seems to me that this is quite realistic for Wargroove. The project appeals very clearly to the fan base of Advance Wars and Fire Emblem, to fans of retro and pixel graphics. Fantasy style, rich opportunities for creating game scenarios and campaigns, as well as a bright picture can potentially attract the audience of the hardcore role-playing wargame Battle for Wesnoth.
In the best case scenario, the sales of the game will amount to 500 thousand copies on all platforms.
