Poor sales havent killed Enslaved

Enslaved, one of the most talked about products of 2010, may yet evolve into a franchise, according to publisher Namco Bandai.

The game received excellent reviews and was backed by a high profile marketing and PR campaign, but failed to achieve strong sales. The market saw it as something of a bellwether for the current difficulties faced by publishers brave enough to launch new IP.

But Namco Bandai’s marketing director Lee Kirton has told MCV that feedback from critics and consumers has encouraged the firm to explore ways of extending the brand.

It didn’t perform as well as we hoped it would, but we’re very proud of how it was received by both the media and the gamers who have experienced it,” he said.

I can’t discuss where we are in terms of a sequel, but we’re looking at reviews and feedback from the press and because of the gameplay and quality that Enslaved delivered, we see it as a great catalogue title going forward.”

In an exclusive interview with MCV (published next week), Kirton also re-iterated Namco’s headline corporate ambition of becoming a Top Five publisher:

That’s the ultimate goal. We can’t go into too much detail about new titles and new business but we are working to a three-to-five year plan. We’re working closely with developers, discussing exciting new projects.”

Recently released Chart-Track data showed the publisher at No.16 in the 2010 publisher rankings.