Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is currently making roars, and it also features a blink-and-miss cameo of the original series’ protagonist. The franchise’s success is no stranger to entertainment enthusiasts, but Avalanche’s 2015 video game didn’t get as much love as the movies. The sales were a topic of debate as it was beaten by Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
Avalanche Studios co-founder Christofer Sundberg still hasn’t gone over it yet, as he revealed people blamed them for bad sales. It was the United Kingdom’s second bestseller following the first week of its release and was the eighth-bestselling game in the United States in the first month.
The Phantom Pain Was Real, as Mad Max’s Sales Didn’t Live up to the Mark
Being a co-founder is as bad as it can be good. Present a fantastic product that the public loves, and one is likely to get a pat on the back. The opposite is true as well: present a poor product, and one is to get booed by the fans. Christofer Sundberg revealed this happened to him; however, his product wasn’t exactly a poor one. Maybe average, to say the least.
Avalanche’s founder took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to share the incident the team experienced during the game’s launch. The game was released on the same day as Hideo Kojima’s The Phantom Pain. That not only affected sales figures, but the downloadable content for the game was cut short too.
As we were forced to release Mad Max on the same day as MGS, they blamed us for the bad sales and cancelled a bunch of awesome DLC that was just sitting there waiting to be released.
— Christofer Sundberg 🧨💦⚔️ (@CHSundberg) May 23, 2024
There’s a high probability of a game getting less recognition when launched next to a heavyweight in the industry. One fan dubbed Mongoose Dave shares this perspective.
Would you say a lot of publishers are ignorant about how releasing a game next to a juggernaut can negatively impact sales of the smaller game?
— Mongoose Dave (@MongooseDave2) May 23, 2024
Many fans said they loved the game and weren’t happy with the recently emerged knowledge that there were planned DLCs for it.
Hideo Kojima Would’ve Made Another Movie Out of the Game
It seems like Hideo Kojima is also a natural choice for directing a Mad Max game. Australian filmmaker George Miller was asked during Furiosa‘s premiere about a possible future game associated with the franchise. He said he would be happy to see someone like Kojima involved in a Mad Max game.
Maybe we would see long cinematic cutscenes in that game, like others in the Metal Gear Solid series. While Avalanche’s game wasn’t praised by all, several players found the story, especially the climax, exciting. Some critics laid out that the original universe sat well with the game’s open-world setting. It was the vehicular combat that cut above the rest.
A couple of attempts have been made to bring the wasteland-focused franchise into video games, with Avalanche’s game remaining the most notable of them. Some were canceled, and the ones that made it failed to capture the audience’s attention like the movies did.
What is your take on Avalanche’s Mad Max game? Have you played it? We want to know your experience in the comments section below.
