Despite Sony’s confirmation of a slow year for exclusive titles, two of them have already launched to wildly divergent receptions. Released last month, Rise of the Ronin is considered a flop. But Stellar Blade is a pretty major success for the studio. The score is the only difference between the two IPs.
As pointed out over on GamingT3, Rise of the Ronin has an impressive 8.7 user score on Metacritic, while Stellar Blade has a 9.2 user score on the same platform. Both titles have a very similar marketing campaign, while the second one received a lot of organic publicity and a lot of praise from the fans, and yet only one is up there in the pantheons of PlayStation’s best, and the other is due to be forgotten, apparently.
Stellar Blade Received a Particular Amount of Attention Before Launch
PlayStation-exclusive titles have experienced launch timing issues in the past; for instance, the launch of Horizon Forbidden West coincided with Elden Ring, resulting in lower sales. Occasionally, this happens with the IPs. For Team Ninja and Rise of the Ronin, something similar happened: while the game didn’t have any other titles to compete with, the marketing and hype weren’t there, so players weren’t really interested.
On the contrary, Stellar Blade became a great success between users and sales, but for a whole different reason. This new IP accomplished what few titles can achieve: it generated organic mentions all over the internet. These conversations make players pay attention and have the game on their minds, so when the time comes to buy it, they will do it only to play it and enjoy it from other perspectives.
Rise of the Ronin Has Almost the Same User Score as Stellar Blade
The sole distinction between the two games lies in how they garnered attention. While one title remained largely unnoticed prior to launch, the other sparked a month-long controversy and debate, with the IP’s name at the forefront. Neither PlayStation nor the studio behind Stellar Blade planned this; it simply happened. So the difference of half a point in the user score doesn’t really mean anything.
Rise of the Ronin is an open-world, third-person action game set in feudal Japan, while the other IP is a futuristic linear title. It can’t be understated how Stellar Blade has benefitted from the controversy it has courted, pushing massive sales and bringing in huge crowds. Rise of the Ronin hasn’t fared too badly either, with huge sales of its own and a smaller cult following. However, the difference in how the two are perceived online is drastically different.
Beyond the controversy, many fans adore Stellar Blade, and the same can be said with Rise of the Ronin, with both of their user scores on MetaCritic proving as much, however, the critical difference is stark, and whilst one is considered and reported to be ‘generational’ by media and influences alike, the other is derided and denounced as a poor imitation. Why this is beyond understanding, but it does paint a light that a small few points can bring a drastically different point of view.
The game’s are only 6 points apart with the critics, with Rise of the Ronin’s 76 losing out to Stellar Blade’s 82, but that still isn’t a huge difference considering, and even less so when the former is painted as being a huge disappointment.
While Sony’s future appears bleak this year, PlayStation Studios is poised to release several popular new IPs in 2025, including the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine from Insomniac. There are no other rumors at the moment. Many fans eagerly anticipate the unveiling of new games this June, either through another State of Play or during Geoff Knighley’s Summer Game Fest, which will feature numerous video game revelations.
What are your thoughts about how these games performed? Let us know in the comments!
