Warhammer is a popular franchise that has seen many different games released in recent years. Some of them are really good – others not so much. Now, the new Warhammer game “Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin” has actually sold so poorly that the development studio is struggling.
Which game is it? With “Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin,” the British development studio Frontier Development released a real-time strategy game on November 17, 2023, which can be purchased for around 60 euros on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and in the Epic Games Store.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin offers players a story campaign, a cross-platform multiplayer mode where 1v1 or 2v2 can be played, as well as a map editor to create custom maps.
Additionally, there is a single-player mode called “Eternal Conquest,” which offers procedurally generated battle scenarios where the conditions of your battle can change.
If you want to get an idea of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin, you can watch a trailer here:
Sales figures below expectations
Why is the development studio having problems? The development studio Frontier Development spoke about its expectations for the fiscal year 2024 in a “Trading Update” on October 17, 2023. At that time, the studio expected a profit of about 108 million pounds (via investis.com). This corresponds to about 124.5 million euros.
Almost a month later, on November 27, 2023, Frontier Development announced in a new business update that the sales figures of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin were far below expectations and that they would have to lower their financial forecast for the fiscal year 2024 as a result. The document states:
After the sales figures of Realms of Ruin fell short of expectations, the board no longer believes that the current market expectation for the FY24 of around 108 million pounds can be met. The updated revenue forecast for FY24 is between 80 and 95 million pounds [approximately 92.3-109.6 million euros], with the result depending on the sales performance of the entire Frontier game portfolio for the remaining fiscal year, including revenue contributions from new platform releases for existing games.
Frontier Development in the business update via investis.com
Consequently, Frontier Development expects that the company will make up to 32.2 million euros less profit in the fiscal year 2024.
Developers want to return to their strengths: In the business update from November 27, it is also stated that Frontier Development wants to focus more again on CMS games (Creative Management Simulation) in the future.
The developers made this decision because the four CMS games of the studio continue to perform well, according to their own statements. The four mentioned games are Planet Zoo, Planet Coaster, and Jurassic World Evolution 1 and 2.
In recent years, Frontier Development has strayed from the path of CMS games and has tried to expand its game portfolio with games from “adjacent genres.” However, this has not brought the expected success, as can be seen from Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin.
Player numbers on Steam look really poor for the Warhammer game
How well is the game received on Steam? Rather mediocre to poor. The 760 user reviews on Steam are mixed, with 66% of all reviews being positive.
Regardless of player reviews, the player numbers for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin look terrible just two weeks after release. The peak was, according to SteamDB, a total of 1,572 players, but currently, only 117 players are online (as of November 28, 2023, 11:30 AM).
Alternatively, you might be interested in a retro shooter in the Warhammer universe:
New Warhammer shooter is now on Steam – Looks like it’s from the good old days of DOOM
