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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Kena: Bridge of Spirits broke even a month after its launch, and developer Ember Lab is currently working on its next project, which may not even be a game.

Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Ember Lab co-founders Josh and Michael Grier talked about their efforts in leveraging their background in film, VFX, and producing brand mascots and applying it to the studio’s debut game. They revealed that Kena: Bridge of Spirits had broke even a month after its release.

The Kena: Bridge of Spirits developer discussed how the final version of the game was a lot bigger in scope than the original vision. The duo referred to themselves as aging gamers, who have less time to play things. Therefore, things that are more approachable from a scope perspective are always more appealing to them. They mentioned that they will try to do something a little bit more ambitious moving forward, but they’re still trying to be conscious of making something that’s digestible and something that they will want to play as gamers right now in their current, busier phase of life.

The Ember Lab co-founders hinted that their next project may not be an actual game. They stated that they’re filmmakers by trade, and, as such, they like to look at linear media. They hinted at the possibility of something like Kena exploring the universe in different mediums outside of the interactive ones.

Kena: Bridge Of Spirits Broke Even A Month After Launch

Kena: Bridge of Spirits broke even a month after its launch, and developer Ember Lab is currently working on its next project.

twistedvoxel.com

 

[theStartupSound]

As a non native speaker: “broke” means that they earned the money they invested and not, that the dev is bankrupt, right?

 

[Chuck Berry]

As a non native speaker: “broke” means that they earned the money they invested and not, that the dev is bankrupt, right?

Correct

 

[Bartski]

good. I really liked it way more than I expected, solid studio debut for sure

 

[bitbydeath]

As a non native speaker: “broke” means that they earned the money they invested and not, that the dev is bankrupt, right?

“Broke even” means they made all their money back that they had spent on creating it.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Ember Lab and Kojima wanting to do games and movies is why I think they'd be a good fit with Sony. Who better that could help them do both?

 

[ssringo]

It took Epic's exclusivity payout and a month of sales to break even? That sounds kinda rough. Or was the payout used for development and the month of sales also covered that. Which would be substantially better.

Congrats either way.

 

[geary]

“Broke even” means they made all their money back that they had spent on creating it.

Broke even means you recovered your cost...."Broke" without "even" means a different thing. If you are reporter on a international website, you should write your piece with proper English, not with English jargon.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

I'm playing it right now on PS5 and...it's actually a really nice game? (minus a couple bugs/camera problems).

I suppose this is from indie devs ? If so, they've really done a great job, the graphics, music, exploration - even the haptics - are all really nicely done.

Looking forward to what they do next

 

[IntentionalPun]

Really should put quotes around "broke even" in the thread title lol

Or just say profitable.

But that's good on them, hopefully the dev that was complaining actually got paid.

 

[Alebrije]

So ne game was profitable, the broke stuff confuses a lot id you are no english speaker/native.

By the way , the game is very good , has one of the hardests platinum throphy

 

[Games of Today]

Yes! Give me a sequel! They just need to refine the game and make it more of an equal difficulty through. The difficulty spikes with the boss fights were insane. I don't want them to make it easier, just let people know what's coming a little bit more. The ending was a real tear jerker.

 

[Kerotan]

Really good title. I played it as part of PS Extra. I would have bought it but I had a backlog of games. Such a blast. The music was so good.

I believe the composer may have worked on some old Zelda game previously.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

Isn't most of total sales of these kinds of games happening in the first month? Really does sound kinda bad. If it had done really well I guess they would make a game again, them being vague on even that bit of information tells me that it underperformed.

 

[AV]

Please make more of a game out of it this time. I'm all for the PS2 action platformer revival but it wasn't enough. A giant shame, because visually it's maybe in my top 10 ever.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Nice. Loved Kena.

 

[Roman Empire]

So what's the idea, a new project or a sequel? I liked what they had with Kena so I'm excited to see what comes next.

 

[Topher]

Really should put quotes around "broke even" in the thread title lol

Or just say profitable.

But that's good on them, hopefully the dev that was complaining actually got paid.

I read it as the game was broken for a while there.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Good, it’s a great game.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

This thread title hurt my head.

 

[JaksGhost]

Mind you this was already known a month after the game was released:

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/kena-has-already-recouped-development-costs.1621815/

After that the game continued to be in the Top 20 of the most downloaded PSN games (PS4/PS5) for both US and Europe.

 

[Heaven Angel]

I'll be happy to have Kena 2 as their next project. That game was cute as kitty and tough as a rock. I still remember the wonderful OST.

 

[StealthGoblin]

I wonder if they are making a game next. They didn’t seem certain last I heard. They should definitely be on Sony’s radar if they are.

 

[Dr.brain64]

Super fun game. Graphics were amazing.

 

[fart town usa]

It looked fun when my wife played it but it didn't really engage me when I tried it out. All the same, I need to revisit it. It's a quality title for sure and I'm definitely interested to see what they end up doing. Kena is a really charming character.

 

[fart town usa]

So ne game was profitable, the broke stuff confuses a lot id you are no english speaker/native.

By the way , the game is very good , has one of the hardests platinum throphy

Yea, in english "breaking even" is a phrase that means that you've earned back the money you spent and are about to make a profit.

 

[diffusionx]

I thought it was a pretty mediocre and uninteresting game, but it's good that they were able to find success with it.

 

[Icymanipulator]

Good, I’m glad they found success. I loved this game through and through , and was surprised (and delighted) by the challenge of it.

Would love a sequel someday. Was more fun than all the recent Zelda games put together.

On PS5 it also looked better than many CGI shows. Incredible visuals.

 

[Gamerguy84]

Haven't finished it. It's in the backlog but I played it for a few minutes. Beautiful game.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

It was good. Little on the plain side as far as mechanics go, from what I recall, but it was very well animated. Looking forward to what Ember Labs does next.

 

[kiphalfton]

As a non native speaker: “broke” means that they earned the money they invested and not, that the dev is bankrupt, right?

As a native speaker, I had to read the title multiple times to understand WTF op was saying.

Should honestly have quotes (i.e. "broke even").

 

[drotahorror]

I would assume Epic sales contributed next to nothing. PS5 players were probably hungry though. If I recall it was a $40-$50 title as well.

Looks like it did pretty well on Steam after the exclusivity period. Shame.

 

[Brigandier]

Great game really enjoyed it. Wish there was more platforming and puzzles etc etc but a great first effort.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

As a native speaker, I had to read the title multiple times to understand WTF op was saying.

Should honestly have quotes (i.e. "broke even").

It's the exact headline of the linked article... I didn't editorialize it.

Kena: Bridge Of Spirits Broke Even A Month After Launch

Kena: Bridge of Spirits broke even a month after its launch, and developer Ember Lab is currently working on its next project.

twistedvoxel.com

 

[PanzerCute]

Loved the game, excited to see what these guys will do next.

 

[The artful mincer]

Good game.

Need to have something interesting to find in those beautiful environments other than stupid cosmetics though.

 

[kazuyamishima]

It’s time for Sony to buy Ember Lab

 

[SmokedMeat]

Broke even from the checks they collected from Sony and Epic?

Or broke even from sales? Hopefully the latter because it was a decent game once you’ve unlocked more of the combat moves.

 

[Pelta88]

I can't wait to see what they come up with next. The game is stunning and the combat was surprisingly in depth.

 

[Filben]

It's the exact headline of the linked article... I didn't editorialize it.

Kena: Bridge Of Spirits Broke Even A Month After Launch

Kena: Bridge of Spirits broke even a month after its launch, and developer Ember Lab is currently working on its next project.

twistedvoxel.com

It's not on you, just the way outlets use headlines and the way English language works, in this case word compounds (to break even) not looking different than two separate words with separate meaning ('something broke, even though...' )

Another popular thing is the use of omitted relative pronouns (which isn't possible in my language) that makes it sometimes difficult to grasp in one reading, for example:
"Ancient DNA-researcher fired for serious misconduct lands new role" (the first word alone is ambiguous in my language because we'd say Ancient-DNA-reseracher so you won't think the guy is ancient... like 100 years old)

My mind won't read the sub clause as such but instead reads "serious misconduct lands" as one phrase or group, with 'lands' being a noun rather than a verb. It doesn't make any sense at first, until you realise it's "researcher, who was fired for something, gets a new job". Every sub or relative clause is usually separated with comma in my language but is often optional in English.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I really enjoyed Kena, finished it in 12 hours, the nature is so beautiful.

 

[fart town usa]

Just wanted to mention that I revisited the game for about two hours this afternoon.

Really enjoying it. I mentioned earlier in the thread that it didn't quite grab me at launch but now it is. One of the reasons I rarely write off a game unless it is truly shite, sometimes games don't click at first and you just gotta come back and revisit.

Played PS5 version in fidelity mode.