Seven years on from the launch of the first Hellblade game, Ninja Theory’s long-awaited Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 launches this month – in just two weeks’ time, on 21st May. It’s one of only a handful of games from Xbox Game Studios to arrive in 2024 – and yet fans have commented that Microsoft hasn’t yet made much of a deal about it.
The idea that Hellblade 2 might slip out under the radar would be a concerning one, considering the fate that befell Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks earlier this week. Despite a positive critical response to its award-winning game, its impact was apparently not enough to save the studio from being closed alongside Redfall maker Arkane Austin and others as part of sweeping Microsoft cuts.
Writing on social media platform X last night, Xbox marketing mouthpiece Aaron Greenberg told fans that Hellblade 2’s “global paid media campaign started yesterday”, and noted there was a “special Iceland creator event” happening now – where the company has apparently flown some YouTubers to visit the game’s setting (not to the supermarket).
Continuing, Greenberg listed a string of places that it had, as of yesterday, begun to advertise Hellblade 2 (“YouTube, HBO/Max, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit (In-feed promoted posts), Search, and Samsung”) and even included screenshots of these as proof.
“Will keep folks posted as more drops like cinema, out of home, brand partnerships, endemic/gaming site takeovers, Spotify, Amazon Streaming/Fire TV, new paid IG, FB, social, and much more on the road to launch!” he added.
Xbox fans yesterday reacted in surprise at a bare-bones message from Xbox on its official social media account, simply stating the game’s title and release date.
Last month, Polygon reported that Ninja Theory veteran Tameem Antoniades, the game’s director and writer, had departed the Cambridge-based studio, although it remains unclear why.
A digital-only launch, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 looks visually stunning – with Digital Foundry dubbing it “the most visually ambitious Unreal Engine 5 game yet”, even though it will run at 30fps on Xbox Series X and S.
www.eurogamer.net
