Saros, the new third-person bullet-hell shooter from PlayStation Studios' team Housemarque arrived right at the tail-end of the past month on April 30, and while it's undoubtedly a hit with critics (our own Kai Tatsumoto included), it doesn't appear to be making the same impact on the sales charts, at least according to the latest estimations from Alinea Analytics.
The firm's latest report focused on the new first-party PS5 exclusive title, estimating that it has been able to sell over 300,000 copies in its first two weeks on PlayStation store shelves, with an estimated $22 million in gross revenue earned from those sales so far.
None of that is anything to scoff at, to be clear, but on the scale that Housemarque and, more importantly, PlayStation is operating on, 300K likely isn't anywhere close to the sales goals PlayStation would've laid out ahead of the game's release.
That's why Alinea describes it as having a "lukewarm" start, as it seemingly fails to surpass its predecessor, Returnal, in its launch sales. Now, as the report notes, the context of Returnal's launch is very different to the context of Saros'. At the time of its arrival, Returnal was one of a select few of first-party PlayStation titles to hit the PS5, which had just launched months before it arrived.
It was also a brand-new franchise at the start of a brand-new console generation. Between the intrigue of it being something new from a storied developer, and the fact that players who had just spent a lot of money on a brand-new PS5 were looking for any game that seemed to promise a 'next-gen' experience, Returnal had a strong start.
Saros arrives five years later, with millions more PS5's in the wild than there were when Returnal launched, and while it has succeeded in getting Returnal players to return for Housemarque's second outing of the PS5 generation, it doesn't seem to have succeeded in bringing too many new players into the fold, at least at launch.
The other factor of course is all of the competition Saros had with recent major releases like Pragmata, Crimson Desert, and Hades 2 finally arriving on PlayStation taking up players time.
What's most concerning in this slow start is that, according to Alinea Analytics, Housemarque could struggle to break even on Saros' development costs if it doesn't pick up the pace soon, as it had a reported $76 million development budget.
Of course, we can't be sure what it'll mean for Housemarque if Saros takes a long time to even become profitable, but hopefully it doesn't mean it'll share the same fate as Bluepoint Studios. The unfortunate reality is that anything, including possibly closing the studio down the line, seems to be on the table.
What's at least positive about Saros is that it is an incredibly solid game, and those who've jumped in have found it incredibly sticky, which is to say that its retention rate is strong, with an estimated fifth of its players already having beaten the game.
Getting players to stick with something all the way to the credits is a struggle that every developer faces, so it's encouraging that Saros has been able to do that for a good chunk of its player base. Its strong critical reception will also hopefully turn into strong word of mouth as the year continues. Hopefully for Housemarque and PlayStation, Saros will be the revenue-growing game the company bet it could be before the end of the year.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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