Going right back to my first preview of FBC: Firebreak, my question has always been the same: who is this for? Its chaotic, systems-driven co-op action does have impressive qualities and lots of imagination to it, but I never understood where it could possibly fit in the crowded and competitive multiplayer space.
Unfortunately since then my fears for the game have been confirmed. After a rocky launch, woeful Steam concurrent numbers, and some very damning stats about player drop-off rates, FBC: Firebreak seems to be dead in the water—at least on PC.
On consoles, there seemed to be a bit more interest—Remedy recently touted hitting one million players, a number certainly not reached primarily on PC. But the other part of that equation is that Firebreak is available on both Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. A higher volume of players on Xbox and PlayStation hardware doesn't indicate good sales or even folks sticking with the game, but simply a lot of people trying out something already included in their subscription.
Remedy's latest investor report seems to confirm that analysis. It states that the "majority of the players were Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 users", and that "thus far, FBC: Firebreak’s commercial performance has largely been driven by the Xbox and PlayStation subscription service agreements".
In terms of actual sales, Remedy is "unsatisfied", and says the game "underperformed" on Steam, the platform they expected to sell the majority of copies on. It's fairly frank about the problems behind that, saying that "the game’s initial onboarding experience and mission structure resulted in high early player drop-offs and an influx of negative reviews".
It goes on, however, to say that reception is improving over time as the game is updated, and that "despite the rocky launch, we believe we have a solid game to build on". Pointing to a major update in September, it's optimistic about the game's future.
But it's hard to see that as anything other than a brave face to investors. Turning things around seems almost impossible for a game so few have stuck with, and I don't see anything in the planned updates substantial enough—or arriving quickly enough—to make a big difference there.
It is possible that retention has been better on consoles, and word of mouth could spread from there, but I suspect if that were the case Remedy would've been shouting about it. Far more likely is that most of those subscription service players, with no investment in Firebreak itself and new games to try every week, dropped off all the harder than PC players.
I take no pleasure in saying that—I'm a huge fan of Remedy's work, and the prospect of putting out its first self-published game felt like it could have been a major step forward for the studio. But at this point, chasing lasting success for Firebreak seems as hopeless a cause as clearing the Hiss infestation from the Oldest House.
