Multiple securities firms and investment companies have decided to lower their target stock a month after Krafton's The Callisto Protocol's debut. The survival horror's underperformance has caused investors to reconsider their investments in Krafton, according to new reports.
Developed by Glen Schofield's Striking Distance Studios, The Callisto Protocol cost approximately 200 billion won throughout three years of development. The cost of the game's development process roughly translates to $160 million US dollars, which is a cost that the title will not be able to cover with its current sales performance anytime soon.
Samsung Securities, one of the stockholder companies, have reported their sales estimate and stated that The Callisto Protocol's publisher Krafton, "expected cumulative sales of 5 million copies." But the game's lacklustre sales performance caused investor analysts to readjust their sales targets. "But considering the current sales ranking, cumulative sales of 2 million copies will not be easy until this year," reads the stock report of Samsung Securities.
According to analysts and spokespersons, the game's current mixed rating on Steam and its low score on Metacritic served as matters of concern to the securities companies. Oh Dong-hwan, an analyst at Samsung Securities stated that Krafton is bound to "face a further valuation decline until its single-game dependence risk is resolved."
The Callisto Protocol's debut on PC also received negative backlash due to the game's troubled performance. While the developer was quick to fix the majority of the issues with the day one patch, it is now proven that the negative reception to the game wasn't only about its unstable performance. Despite its budget of $160 million dollars, the highly anticipated survival horror couldn't meet expectations. According to the reports, the production cost of The Callisto Protocol will be even greater with marketing expenses included.
The South-Korean game giant, on the other hand, is planning to introduce new content and offer new stories for The Callisto Protocol. The developers have been working on a new major update that is slated to release on February 7th. The new update will introduce the highly-requested New Game Plus option, which will allow players to replay the game with the gear and experience they have gathered in their first playthrough. In addition to the anticipated feature, the update brings a new hardcore difficulty setting as well.
While fans of The Callisto Protocol expect new content and updates, the current sales performance of the game does not spell good things about the publisher's financial performance. The ball is in Krafton's court now, as it is preparing to release its report on fourth-quarter earnings, which will focus on The Callisto Protocol's sales numbers on a wider scale.