Frontier Shares Plunge 20% on Weak Warhammer Performance
According to the Cambridge, UK-based studio, sales of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin have been lower than expected since it was released on November 17 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S.
On November 17, Realms of Ruin was launched and offered eye-catching RTS gameplay. Frontier published the game set in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Age of Sigmar universe.
According to a SteamDB report, Realms of Ruin Steam concurrent players peaked at 1,572. At the time of this article’s publication, just 129 people were playing, and Realms of Ruin Steam user reviews are ‘mixed’.
The game’s weak launch has prompted Frontier to revise its revenue guidance for the current financial year (FY24), ending May 31, 2024. The studio’s assessments have been reduced from £108 million to around £80-95 million. In a statement, the company said it expects to achieve this goal based on sales performance across its game portfolio. This includes contributions from new platform releases of existing titles.
Frontier was founded in 1994 by Elite co-creator David Braben to produce space flight simulators and management games. The company found easy success with starlit platforms such as Planet Zoo, Jurassic World Evolution, and Planet Coaster.
The company said these titles continue to perform well. In addition to Jurassic World Evolution 2, it confirmed plans to release a new management simulation every three years, from FY25 to FY27.
In addition, Frontier plans to develop and support Elite Dangerous, F1 Manager, and Realms of Ruin. The latter will receive new content, including paid DLC, and Frontier expects sales to grow over time. As part of Frontier’s “organizational review” announced last month, it planned to freeze hiring, make cuts to spending, and make redundancies as appropriate.
“I am confident that our renewed focus on CMS will return Frontier back to profitability, deliver stimulating games to our players, and provide rewarding opportunities for our people,” said Frontier CEO Jonny Watts.
“I’d like to thank our people and our shareholders for their patience and support as we go through a challenging period of change.”
