8 Commercial Flops of 2021

Deathloop

Arkane Lyon’s Deathloop is a very interesting case. In the NPD Group’s September 2021 report, it debuted in sixth place and along with Tales of Arise, it helped set a record in consumer spending for the month in US history. Though it debuted first in Gfk Chart-Track’s UK retail charts, Games Industry’s Christopher Drang noted that its boxed sales are the “lowest for an Arkane game so far,” being slightly behind Prey. Drang noted that it may have done well in terms of download figures but that said information wasn’t available. A quick peek at SteamSpy indicates 200,000 to 500,000 players so it’s not the most precise range. Concurrent players, meanwhile, have peaked at 20,000 in its lifetime. Overall, Deathloop may not have done terribly within the context of other flops but considering the expectations on it, development time and the sheer number of critical accolades, it does seem to be lagging behind.