Ninja Theory's first independently developed game launches tomorrow. Read on for a thank you note from the team.
Hello PlayStation Fans, Dom here from Ninja Theory. Tomorrow is a very special day for us here at Ninja Theory: we’re releasing Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice on PlayStation 4, our first self-published and independently developed title. Hellblade will be available as a digital only title for $29.99.
For those new to Hellblade, the game tells the story of broken warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Set in the Viking age, Senua embarks on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover. Hellblade has been created in collaboration with neuroscientists and people who experience psychosis, to help bring Senua’s experiences of mental illness through in the game.
When we first conceived Hellblade back in 2014 our aim was to create a game that could spearhead a resurgence in mid-sized games; the lost games of years gone by that were creatively rich, featured the highest AAA production values and were more focused in scope than many of the big hitting blockbusters of today. So Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a AAA quality game that is half the size of a regular AAA game, at about 8 hours in length, and sold at half the price – just $29.99. By keeping our team size small, at 20 devs, and our budget low we can deliver a unique experience that fulfils our creative ambitions, feels every bit AAA in quality and that can be offered at low price that is fair to you and us.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has always been an experiment in trying to break the mold, trying to rediscover the lost space in between indie and AAA. For our part, we think we’ve made our best game yet. From tomorrow it is up to you, our fans and the PlayStation community, to carry Hellblade forward and help make this experiment a success.
Creating video games is a privilege, but it isn’t always easy. Just as Senua goes on a journey, so too have the Hellblade development team. The support that we’ve had from the PlayStation fans from the very beginning has been nothing short of incredible. You have believed in us, helped spread the word and watched Hellblade evolve over the years. We’re so excited that tomorrow we’ll be able to share the final Hellblade experience with you all.
Congrats team. Looking forward to playing it. Btw if you could somehow make a physical copy one day that would be really cool.
No physical no buy if it stays digital only i’ll wait for a sale
Not everyone can afford to produce physical releases. Comments like this help absolutely no one.
Same here, will only buy a physical copy.
@Billyok: Actually it does, it shows devs/pubs that consumers want the choice of disc release. Many smaller indies release disc versions all the time, Im sure Ninja Theory can find a way also.
I think devs already know folks like physical releases. But anyone who read the post above can deduce that Ninja Blade put its neck on the line to make this possible in the first place. If you don’t want to support that endeavor because you can’t stare at a box on your shelf, then fine, but the comments really do help no one.
@BeanDK They wanted to keep costs down as much as possible, while still delivering a game of AAA quality. I would rather support the cause to bring back middleware games than fuss about a disc.
Its 2017 a physical copy still takes up your hard drive space because you have to download it anyways to the hard drive. But wait you cant take it back to gamestop to get your 2.50 out of the game. While people like me will load up a ps4 2tb hard drive and then when i go to sell the system i will sell the email account associated with it and all the games on the hard drive which is about 42 games and have it sold for about 900$ or more and wont have to spend a dime on a ps5
They’re not making a fuss. It’s their choice to not buy digital. It’s their choice to say that in a comment on a thread created for said game. No harm, no foul. You’re literally telling them to keep their options to themselves, by giving us your opinion on them. Don’t like them saying no disc, no buy? Then move on to the next comment. In my opinion, the small dev games that are made into a disc all say the same thing. “due to popular request and demand”. Stop telling people to be quiet please.
I’m in the same boat honestly. I hate paying more than $10 for a digital only game. I would buy if physical. I’ll probably wait till this goes on sale down the road then definitely pick it up. Cheers to Ninja Theory though, the game looks incredible.
I’m also no disk, no buy, but for a much simpler reason… My internet connection is WAY to slow to even consider buying games that I have to download. I also struggle with updates.
@teh_pwner uhmmmm….I’m not saying they’re making a fuss. Chillax a bit, will ya? I’m saying I would rather support Hellblade than worry about things like Digital/Physical….jeez
Apparently, you did not saw their dev diaries. They were struggling to make the game as it is so they could not afford to make physical copies. Besides. digital only gave them more control over their product. While you’re entitled to your own opinions, but read about the game before making statements like these man. :)
Hi @SaveTheQueenIX, I am very chillaxed today as it’s a holiday here for me. Most, if not all of my comment was aimed towards @billyok, (whom I did not @, and that’s my mistake), so I’m sorry if it seemed it was aimed at you. billok said twice, “the comments really do help no one”, So I was more of less talking to him, saying people can say whatever they want on here. It’s their opinion. Also, you absolutely implied he was making a fuss from what I read. “I would rather support the cause to bring back middleware games than fuss about a disc.” Not that it matters, but I’m buying it digital, and if it was on disc, I still wouldn’t buy the disc as I haven’t for years. I game share with my son and prefer digital. Sorry to have bothered you. I was a bit upset people were trying to tell some one to be quiet. So in that regard, I will chillax. Have a great day.
This is such an idiotic thing, i swear people who say this must have the worse internet speeds.
I will be enjoying this game while the physical release complainers watch from the sidelines and miss out.
Someone is actually asking for a physical copy? LOL…. what is this 2005? Bruh no one buys that garbage, lol… everyone is going digital… a long time ago. Keep up with the times…
Collector here, no physical release, no buy! If ninja theory makes enough on hellblade, hopefully they will invest in a physical release to cater for the collecting market! If not, no big deal as most collectors have more games that they could play in their lifetime anyway. If they dont release physical, they miss out on a massive market
I have had this pre-ordered for a while – the dynamic theme you get is actually one of my all-time favorite PS4 themes haha. Can’t wait to play the game tomorrow!
Thanks for the heads up, I will have to check it out. I love good dynamic themes, I’m actually on the fence right now between Undertale’s and Hob’s
Game looks good but… digital-only = no buy.
OK, they explain why it’s digital only and after playing 1.5hrs I can tell you suckers that will only buy a physical copy, that you are missing out. Thank you, Ninja, but I want my free comic too PS4 for the win. I’ll hammer through it tomorrow with a clear head.
Game looks very cool. And $30 for an 8-hour AAA quality experience seems very reasonable. Can’t wait to dig into it tomorrow night. It’s a shame that the stubborness of some people will prevent them from enjoying this.
I’m curious about the “no disc, no buy” people….Is it because you can’t sell it back to GameStop for $5? No judgment here. I’m more of a casual gamer anyway but I’ve been digital for a while now.
I’ve never understood it either, aside from a collector’s standpoint.
Here’s a reason that has little or nothing to do with selling a used game.
If the game is on a disk, you can probably play that same game (without any patches/upgrades/DLC) on that same hardware 10 or 20 years from now. If the game is download only, then once Sony retires the console from the store, your game will be done.
Likewise, if you’re in a rural area with no bandwidth to speak of (or expensive, pay-per-byte service – which still exists in some parts of the world, if not in the US so much), and you’re willing to play the game without patching, you can stick in the disk, let it copy what it needs to your hard drive, and then play..
@FeistFan, I favor physical releases, but your point about longevity stopped holding water about half-way through PS3’s life cycle. With most titles having patches on release and many having multi gig patches on release and afterwards, the experience wouldn’t be the same as the patched version. PS2 and PS1 are naturally immune to that since there weren’t any patches.
Right, but all games released are playable without their patches… though this might be a worst experience then a heavily patched game like skyrim, it’s still playable, i mean in most cases.
I like physical since i can delete games on a whim and reinstall them seconds after if i wanted to, while download them again as a digital purchase can be complicated since your really buying a license. I get a max of 5 keys and dependent on how fast my internet wants to be could take up to a day to download a full sized game.
Also I can lend out physical copies. And finally I am a collector and like to display my games.
Crazy that you assume the game will be so good that you will want to play it 20 years from now but won’t buy it merely because of the current format. It’s as if you’re reading from some game preservation manifesto but don’t understand that such theories cover physical and digital media.
I’ll explain, next time you get a chance read the ToS on steam and other digital companies now days. You may pay for the game but you don’t own your digital copies. Many companies reserve the ownership of the game you buy. When you pay the full price for it your only renting the rights to use the software and account it’s attached too and for any reason they can take ownership from you and deny you access. Steam changed this in their terms of service in 2014 hoping to sneak it past most of the people who never read those and agree to them. There are several lawsuits pending against valve in other countries (Germany being one), due to people like me who have purchased 5 to 10 thousand dollars worth over the last 25 years and the new terms of service ToS can’t be used retroactive as steam had hoped. To take ownership of your property.
That’s one reason. Other reason physical copies don’t require active login and network access to play. Some people collect. Some people want to actually own their product. If you don’t possess it you don’t really own it and why pay so much for it? digital takes no real overhead to distribute and thus should be significantly cheaper. I do think the starting price of this game at 30 dollars is pretty fair, but understand since it’s not near as long in playtime as a normal AAA game it should be cheaper at least this company has the right idea. Call of duty And almost every other company charges the exact same price for digital as physical and most lemmings never realize,question, or even wonder why they are taking a digital over physical copays.
Looks amazing and the dynamic theme is really well done, something other developer should take note. Also great job on the trophies, all silver and gold and very straightforward.
can’t wait for this game tomorrow its been pre ordered for two weeks now I’m super excited!!!! good luck for all u physical junkies.embrace change or go home!
Exactly. LoL. While I am all for Physical Media but if the digital platform gives more freedom to the developers then Digital it is for me.
Really excited to play this tonight, not being able to stare at a physical disc won’t prevent me from supporting devs that really put the time and effort to push story driven games. I really hope Hellblade will be a suceess!
Will be picking this up and Lawbreakers tomorrow. Possibly Icey too depending on the price. Cant believe I’ll be getting two gorgeous and very well crafted games for only $30!
Pre-ordered Hellblade as soon as it became available and I can’t wait to play tomorrow. I absolutely loved Heavenly Sword and DmC: Devil May Cry consumed numerous life hours on both PS3 and the Definitive Edition on PS4 – so worth it and still go back to it now and again! Still hoping for / anxiously waiting that DmC: Devil May Cry 2 announcement…
Im looking forward to this game aswell but where are the reviews? I would like to see what YouTubers and other websites think about the game.
Looking forward to it, guys. Both Heavenly Sword and Enslaved are amongst my personal top 10 adventures.
Hey, neat, this game has live action conten—HOLY CRAP THAT LOOKS AMAZING.
If Ninja Theory felt confident in their product, they wouldn’t have a review embargo in place that lasts until the game is released. They clearly do not have real confidence, or we’d see some pre-release reviews!
Definitely wait for reviews on this one, people!
I cannot wait to play this game. Sony should allow you guys to continue working on Heavenly Sword after this. You guys have proven your chops time and time again. Come on Yoshida San,
Best of luck! I can’t wait to try it :) I’m glad you’re making something ambitious.
I look forward to this game today. Ignore physical/digital comments. Endless, pointless banter. There are more digital games on PS4 that are digital only compared to physical ones. Happy to hear you achieved 1440p enhanced resolution on Pro while dynamically changing resolution for fps performance. I’m all for your theory & hope it grasps other independent parties so we “gamers” can enjoy future AAA titles at half the cost. Best of luck & yes you did create an amazing dynamic PS theme.
I hope this game is worth the 30 bucks I have never preordered anything digital for 30. The highest I paid was 22 for life is strange complete season. I hope this game is great like Heavenly sword,Enslaved oddessey and DMC. Just wish some reviews were live to see what others are thinking of this. Enjoyable theme by the way.
I was gonna pick this up with a preorder but the fact they haven’t sent out review codes until today according to some game journalists on twitter has me concerned. I’d love to have that theme but I really don’t get a good feeling when a developer/publisher pushes preorders of a game so hard but then doesn’t deliver review code of the game until the day before release.
Been waiting for the this game for 2-3 years now when ever it was announced, it was one of the reasons i wanted a PS4, With that said i agree a physical disc would be nice, yes it takes up HDD space but no one has yet to comment about the situation I’m in which is a DATA CAP i pay $100 for 100GB yes its retarded but its my only ISP choice where i live here in Canada. But i will consider buying it for $39.99 Canadian if the game is no bigger then 20GB or so. Anyways congratz to the devs looking forward to enjoys yet another great NT game.
Hi been trying to buy this,this morning and last night but no add to cart tab.Only a add to wishlist tab?I am on uk psn.
The game looks amazing and I love how they are trying things which not many games do. The fact that they are actually getting information about mental illness from people who know about it is more than most companies do. I hope I will love this game as much as I loved Bound.
Darn I thought this game would launch later, I just bought The Witness and INSIDE! They are amazing games, but I really wanted to play Hellblade… Gotta wait till I’m done with those 2 before buying it. But I’m definitely gonna buy it! Looks awesome.
It looks like a great game and will definitely purchase it as soon as I get paid, it seems it’s got a good story. I hope to enjoy it as much as it looks so good!
I was so pumped when this game was announced, that I pre ordered it day one. Kinda disappointed about it’s runtime though.
I also was looking forward to a physical release. I was even willing to pay $39.99 but at $30 and physical only it just isn’t an insta-buy for me. I’ll get it eventually since I think it looks dope af.
I meant to type at $30 and digital only it isn’t an insta-buy for me.
@Tuk_N_Ur_Jaw if you’re selling your games back to gamestop for 2.50 maybe you should be the idiot buying downloaded only copies of games you can’t sell without selling your system. If you think you will get the same price having a loaded hard drive as having phyical copies you’ve probably never sold games. I get games new on ebay $50 play it/beat it in a week-2 sell it right back most ever lost maybe $5. You will never get your invesment back downloading to hard drive.
@BuckeyeHunter740
Games as an investment! Lol! :-D If your investments lose you money you’re doing it wrong.
I was going to say this, if the poor guy thinks hes gonna get 900 for his ps4 just cos its got games on the hd, hes in for a shock! People arent buying ps4s second hand for any more than 300, 400 max no matter how many games come with the bundle
@SigLovesSin a thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future. Buying games are definitely an investment.
Just like steam accounts people spend thousands on games, and end up getting $100-200 CL or Ebay for like 40 games.
When will it be released on the store in thailand?. I cant find it here.