PlayStation Plus deal proved “devastating” for Oddworld Soulstorm

Bringing Oddworld Soulstorm to PlayStation Plus at launch was “devastating” for the game’s sales, it has been claimed.

Series creator, Lorne Lanning, recently gave an interview in which he explained how the long-awaited sequel was snapped up by way more PlayStation Plus subscribers than he and the other developers of Soulstorm had anticipated.

Speaking with the Xbox Expansion Pass Podcast, Lanning said he was expecting Oddworld Soulstorm to be claimed a maximum of 50,000 to 100,000 times during its month-long PS Plus availability back in April 2021. Instead, more than 4 million subscribers grabbed a free copy, impacting total sales in the long run.

Around the time a deal was struck with Sony, Oddworld Inhabitants needed the money to pay for legacy debts and ultimately finish work on the game. Lanning’s conservative estimates were based on the fact that the PS5 hadn’t been out for very long. Although PlayStation Plus succeeded in getting the game out there and into the hands of players, it’s ultimately proved a double-edged sword. “For us, it was devastating,” Lanning said. However, he did not disclose exactly how much Sony had paid Oddworld Inhabitants.

Soulstorm simultaneously launched on PS4, PS5, and PC. An Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S release arrived several months later in November 2021.

In our Oddworld Soulstorm review, we scored Abe’s latest journey a 7/10:

Oddworld: Soulstorm clearly comes from a very passionate, dedicated group of developers. Although it is very rough in places, there are parts of it that really do stick out as excellent examples of both gameplay and storytelling. With more refinement this could have been a shining example of what ground-up remakes could be, but it just falls a little short of the high standards set elsewhere. It’s still charming and funny, just like the Mudokens you’re trying to save, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

In more recent news, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath has been remastered yet again. Launching on PS4 and Xbox One, this latest version of the bounty hunting first person shooter supports 4K and 60 fps.

Written by
Senior Editor bursting with lukewarm takes and useless gaming trivia. May as well surgically attach my DualSense at this point.

1 Comment

  1. That’s just like in the old times when music corporations calculated “losses” caused by mp3 sharing services by just taking download numbers and saying every single download is a lost sale…
    Not even close to everybody who claimed this (or any other) game via PS Plus would have bought it… Personally, yes I did claim it. I haven’t played it so far though and I sure as hell would not have bought it… maybe in some deep sale, but I doubt it…

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