Today Frontier Developments announced that its recently released real-time strategy game Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin has not met the company's expectations in terms of sales.
The press release mentions that the developer was pleased to see the game receive mostly positive reviews, however, "sales to date have been lower than expected."
We also hear that the developer expects sales to build over time, with the upcoming DLC possibly helping.
The game will receive two hero packs titled Yndrasta, The Celestial Spear and Gobsprakk, The Mouth of Mork, priced at $4.99, €4.99, or £3.99 each or bundled for $8.99, €8.99, or £6.99. A specific release date has not been announced yet.
Frontier is now refocusing on "creative management simulation" games, with Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo, Jurassic World Evolution, and Jurassic World Evolution 2 which continue to perform well and have achieved over $100 million of gross revenue each and over $500 million combined.
Three new games within the genre will launch over the next three fiscal years.
The developer also believes that it won't achieve the previous fiscal-year forecast of £108 million in revenue, and lowered its expectations to £80-95 million.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin's failure to meet sales expectations probably shouldn't surprise, as its tabletop counterpart, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, is far from universally loved among the franchise's fanbase.
Its controversial launch in 2015 followed the even more controversial End Times campaign, which resulted in the destruction of the beloved Warhammer world as its fans had known it for decades and the shelving of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles tabletop wargame.
While part of the fanbase warmed up to Age of Sigmar over time, many have never forgiven Games Workshop for such a radical change to one of the most beloved fantasy IPs in existence.
In the following years, fans had to seek refuge in video games to experience the old world, including the successful Total War: Warhammer series by Sega's Creative Assembly.
Games Workshop itself is preparing to bring back the old setting (albeit in prequel form) with the tabletop miniature wargame Warhammer: The Old World, which will launch in early 2024.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is currently available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
