Ubisoft’s latest VR game, Space Junkies, is barely a month old but it’s already seen a huge sale.
The zero gravity shooter is now available at a whopping 63% discount, taking it from $39.99 to $14.79. That price will remain until May 10th. Such a big discount so soon after its March 26th release date suggests Space Junkies might not have sold to expectations. In a developer update, Ubisoft Montpellier said that this move was to “maintain a positive game experience.”
People that bought the game at full price will get 10,000 coins, an Easter helmet plug and Game of Thrones-themed dragon wings to make up for the difference.
Following the news, Ubisoft Montpellier hosted an AMA session on the PSVR subreddit. There the studio wrote a little more about the game’s growing pains. “I think we all face challenges regarding pure Multiplayer games,” the team noted, “especially in VR due to the number of players. But that’s the price we pay when being the first wave. The arrival of Free to play shooters like Apex also makes it hard for smaller teams that work on VR to compete.”
The team continued, explaining that it was trying to expand the game through the community. “Cross play is particularly helpful on PC as you can play on your platform of choice, and based on feedbcack we are working to ensure PS4 players can compete against them with the arrival of PS moves which is being tested and planned for next update mid May. We also have an aggressive season strategy with AI bots and 3 vs 3, new maps and modes over the coming months.”
At the same time, Ubisoft laid out a road map for the game’s free content. The first installment went live last week with a new mode and map among other additions. Three more content drops will arrive in May, June and July respectively. PlayStation Move support will also be added to the PSVR version of the game in the near future.
We quite liked Space Junkies, but it’s no secret that multiplayer VR games are hard to maintain. A relatively low install base means that it’s hard to find games in many. Hopefully these moves will help Ubisoft buck that trend.
