Woke Video Games Are Massive Commercial Failures
In recent weeks, the gaming industry has witnessed the decline of “woke” games, with two particular titles facing significant failure upon release. ”Concord,” a shooter from Sony Entertainment, debuted disastrously, attracting only 697 concurrent players on launch day and subsequently averaging just over 100 players online. This poor performance stands in stark contrast to development costs estimated between $50-$200 million, leading to substantial losses for the studio. Similarly, Rocksteady’s “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” also flopped, losing Warner Bros. $200 million despite having a much larger launch player count, due in part to its perceived “wokewashing.”
Another game, “Dustborn,” has been heavily criticized for its overtly liberal themes and poor engagement, peaking at just 83 players since its release. Both games feature characters with progressive designs, which many gamers feel cater more to a niche liberal audience rather than the broader gaming community. Conversely, non-woke titles like the Chinese game “Black Myth: Wukong” are thriving, indicating a potential shift in player preferences away from politically charged narratives in gaming.
Wokeness might be on its last life in the gaming world if the past two weeks were any indication. Two woke games have utterly collapsed upon release, while a new aggressively anti-woke game is doing gangbusters.
Let’s start with the negative. “Concord,” the new shooter from Sony Entertainment, looks primed to be one of the biggest flops in gaming history. The day of its grand launch saw an anemic 697 concurrent players worldwide, and that number has collapsed to an average of slightly more than 100 players online at any given time.
While we don’t have an exact budget for “Concord,” estimates of similar games put it anywhere from $50-$200 million. “Concord” hasn’t made anywhere near that much in its pallid sales numbers.
To put the scale of this catastrophe in perspective, consider another recent woke flop, Rocksteady’s “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.” That game debuted to a comparatively large 13,000 players and still managed to lose the studio $200 million.
“Suicide Squad” was massively panned at the time for its blatantly woke elements, including a lesbian race-swapped version of Batman nemesis Mister Freeze courtesy of leftist consultancy firm Sweet Baby Inc. But “Suicide Squad” was child’s play compared to the PC juggernaut that was “Concord.”
The game features a menagerie of hideous DEI characters with their pronouns proudly flagged in the corner. A simple glance at the character design indicates this game was not made for the average player but rather for radical leftists.
Following closely behind “Concord” on the woke train to failure is “Dustborn.”
Described by Forbes as “among the most unrepentantly liberal and left-leaning games out there,” the game almost feels like a parody of wokeness. Unfortunately, interviews with the game’s creator and developers reveal this is an earnest attempt at creating a woke magnum opus.
The team told gaming outlet PSU in an interview that “the idea behind Dustborn’s setting and characters was also influenced by a series of political events that deeply affected us all, beginning in the summer of 2016, and continuing until … well, today.”
That political messaging is clear from the opening seconds of “Dustborn’s” gameplay, major chunks of which have received deep scorn on social media. The game begins with a musical number where our heroic protagonists, all of which have some form of DEI cred, sing about how native citizens “won’t last” and will “be replaced” by refugees.
Other woke nuggets include the ability to cancel and bully opponents, get triggered, and call people racists.
Like “Concord,” “Dustborn” had absolutely abysmal debut numbers, with an all-time peak of just 83 players, while current player totals hover around the mid-20s.
In light of these woke failures, explicitly non-woke games are having a renaissance.
The Chinese-developed “Black Myth: Wukong” has seen monumental success, selling a jaw-dropping 10 million copies in only three days. The game is based on the ancient Chinese classic Journey to the West and features a plethora of characters and items from the myth as enemies, companions, or accessories.
Notably absent is the forced diversity and politics many Western games have embraced of late, much to the chagrin of gaming journalists. Leftist outlet ScreenRant dinged the game for “lacking in inclusivity and diversity,” while Forbes reported that creators who requested a review copy of the game were asked not to include “politics” or “feminist propaganda” in their coverage.
God forbid a reviewer talk about the actual game and not their leftist bugaboos, right?
But as the gaming media gnash their teeth, the numbers speak for themselves. “Concord” may end up going into the history books as one of the biggest video game failures of all time while “Black Myth: Wukong” could shatter sales records.
The failures of “Concord” and “Dustborn” offer game developers a stark lesson: Nobody wants to buy these over-the-top woke disasters. Instead, developers should focus on courting gamers with the actual content they want, bereft of leftist politics.
As the old adage goes: Go woke, go broke.
Douglas Blair is a producer and special correspondent with “O’Connor Tonight” on the Salem News Channel.
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