Atomic Heart Outperformed Focus Entertainment Expectations

Atomic Heart has outperformed the initial expectations of Focus Entertainment, the group has announced as part of its fiscal year 2022/23 financial results. As you will likely recall, Focus Entertainment signed a publishing deal with Mundfish in September 2022, accepting to publish the game in most of the world except for CIS territories, where it is published by VK Play.

We already had an inkling that Atomic Heart had done really well, as Mundfish announced that the game had been played by over five million users in the first three weeks since launch. Of course, gauging actual sales is harder since the game launched on Game Pass right away.

Following a long development phase, Atomic Heart was finally released on February 21st for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X. In my review, I rated the game 7.5 out of 10.

Atomic Heart is a solid debut for a brand-new developer. Mundfish succeeded in following the example of BioShock to deliver an engaging first-person shooter that is fun to play (minus a few quirks), runs extremely well, and looks great. That said, the story is a letdown and should have been fleshed out more, just like the side content.

More content is coming to Atomic Heart in the near future, as the game launched with an Atomic Pass (priced at $40) that includes four upcoming DLCs set to add new areas and laboratories, new weapons, enemies, and bosses. It’s also likely that the success is prompting sequel considerations at Mundfish and Focus Entertainment.

Speaking of Focus, the company registered its record-high revenue in 2022 with €194.1 million, aided by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Evil West and, of course, Atomic Heart. Live service games Insurgency: Sandstorm and Snowrunner also performed well. Looking forward to this year, Focus has an interesting lineup: Tindalos Interactive’s Aliens: Dark Descent (out on June 10th), Deck13’s Atlas Fallen (out on August 10th), DONTNOD’s Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, and Saber Interactive’s Warhammer 40.000: Space Marine 2 (both TBA). Focus Entertainment also announced the acquisition of Dovetail Games, the game studio behind simulator games about trains and fishing. The price was not disclosed, though Focus said it was paid mainly upfront in cash with additional complements based on Dovetail’s performance.