One-handed is an open-world zombie survival shooter released on mobile and PC in June 2023, but I can’t blame you for not knowing about it. Accordingly ReutersThe game, which seemed to have been on very few people’s radars, didn’t do well at Chinese conglomerate Tencent, despite Oscar-winning actor Will Smith playing a major role in its story.
In a March 21st Reuters report, sources told the publication that One-handed “flopped spectacularly”. The post-apocalyptic zombie shooter reportedly had more than 300 developers and a budget of nearly 1 billion yuan (around $140 million). Unfortunately, loudly Reuters The game only achieved sales of $287,000 via research firm Appmagic. That’s about 0.2 percent of the game’s alleged budget in eight months
There are a few factors that could have contributed to this One-handed‘s reported error. Firstly, as previously mentioned, it doesn’t seem to have been marketed enough for players to actually know about its release. Social media posts created after Reuters Story break is what most people ask the same question: “Am I the only one who didn’t even know this game existed?” Even the final video on the game’s official YouTube channel was in October 2023, so it doesn’t seem to have caused as much of a stir following its release. The game is currently on a “mixed” rating on Steam with 5,535 reviews at the time of writing.
Plus, One-handed is an uninteresting name for a zombie game – it’s pretty close to KNP’s zombie survival game living Dead and the interactive horror game from Supermassive Games Until dawn. Could it have benefited from a more recognizable title? Maybe, at least to distinguish it from other well-known undead shooters.
Unfortunately, not even a famous actor – and notoriously relaxed– Will Smith could have saved Tencent’s game. Blacksmith promoted One-handed on his official YouTube channel in May 2023 and reveals that he is also starring in the post-apocalyptic zombie story. Accordingly IGNSmith plays Trey Jones, a survivor who acts as a guide and helps players navigate a world four years after it was devastated by a global catastrophe. But his star power obviously couldn’t attract a solid player base reached a peak of 8,531 players Nine months ago, according to game tracker SteamDB. And in the wake of One-handed‘s failure, Tencent is moving away from large-scale, standalone games, with the company’s chief strategy officer James Mitchell telling investors during the earnings call that the company is turning its attention to casual and party games Genshin Impact-like anime role-playing games.
“We’re focusing on fewer, bigger budget games,” Mitchell said March 20 via Reuters. “Typically we try to make the biggest bets on games that are either built on a successful IP…or on games that are based on proven gameplay successes within a niche and bring that to a larger mass market.”
My city Tencent has reached out for comment.
Accordingly ReutersIt is not just One-handed this is difficult. Assassin’s Creed Jade, one of the many sneaky stab games in development The game, set in ancient China, was reportedly delayed until 2025 so that the “hundreds of people on the team” could be shuffled into the company’s recently released party game dream star. This despite Tencent Invest millions of dollars added to the franchise in September 2022 one of Ubisoft’s largest shareholders. It sounds like Tencent is making important moves that could impact its business strategy.
