Though Dontnod Entertainment is known better for the Life is Strange series with a sequel currently in development (that’s separate from Life is Strange: Before The Storm from Deck Nine Games). However, the studio has an impressive action RPG in development with Vampyr, set in 1918 London when Spanish flu was running rampant.
Vampyr is certainly ambitious, allowing players to feed off just about any citizen in the game and change the world in unexpected ways. It’s not really considered a triple A title as per Focus Home Interactive CEO Cédric Lagarrigue when speaking to MCVUK. As the publisher for Vampyr, Lagarrigue was asked about sales expectations for the title and he noted that it needed half of a million copies sold to be profitable.
“It is always very difficult to make forecasts with a brand new IP. The game benefits from a solid budget, superior to most independent video games, however it is not a blockbuster, whose budget would be over €50m. From our investment, it will be considered a success when around a million copies are sold, but it will only need half of that to be profitable. These are numbers we now reach and exceed regularly with most our games. Vampyr benefits from strong recognition and expectations, which will only increase over the coming weeks. It has everything it needs to become a nice surprise on the market.”
What about post-launch support? Does DLC enter into the discussion anywhere? That doesn’t seem to be the plan thus far and in fact, Lagarrigue would prefer a sequel if the reception was good.
“This is a purely solo experience; we did not plan DLC. We would prefer, if the reception of the game justifies it, to think about a sequel. We and Dontnod already have some ideas, as there’s so many incredible things to offer in such a universe.”
Vampyr was meant to release in November 2017 but was subsequently pushed back to Q1 2018. It’s in development for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.