Despite having been well advertised and despite reaching the seventh place in February's NPD top sellers list, BulletStorm didn't turn out to be a moneymaker for its publisher, Epic Games.
"[BulletStorm] didn't make money for us," Epic Games President Mike Capps laid it out plain and clear.
This comes as a surprise to us since BulletStorm enjoys a solid metacritics score of 85 and was heavily promoted in TV and virally. BulletStorm was even bundled with a Gears of War 3 beta access key and a parody game mocking Call of Duty called Duty Calls was used to promote it.
Even more, the game was the centerpiece of a wide controversy when Fox New called it "the worst video game in the world" from a moral point of view. Fox News' attack was music to gamers' ears as the news network interviewed a psychologist who stated that "If a younger kid experiences Bulletstorm's explicit language and violence, the damage could be significant." At the time, Capps was confident, saying that "controversy isn't a bad thing" and that it helps in raising the game's profile by bringing it to more people's attention.
Personally, the writer of this column played BulletStorm to its end and found it to be a well-crafted game with a lot of promise, but there is something intangible that is lacking. While I can't point out to a specific major flow in the game, I can't say it is one of the top shooters I've played; but definitely it is not in the bad games list neither.
BulletStorm's ending leaves the door open for a sequel, but Capps refused to confirm if that'll happen any time soon. He did however reaffirm his confidence in its development studio. "The next thing we do with People Can Fly will be great," he said.