GAME situation "hurt" Syndicate sales, says Starbreeze CEO

The situation revolving around GAME at the time of Syndicate hurt sales of the shooter, Starbreeze CEO Mikel Nermark told GI International.

The game, published by EA Partners as a reboot of the old Peter Molyneux/Bullfrog IP, was released in February on PS3, 360 and PC, just before the publisher pulled support for the chain.

EA games are now back on sale in store and online at GAME.

But Nermark said what was happening to the retailer at the time impacted the shooter.

"There's so many reasons why a game succeeds or fails from a commercial point-of-view. We released the game about a month or more ago, and we're doing our post-mortem right now: what did we do right, what did we do wrong, and of course we will look at the commercial side as well," he said.

"The numbers are not as high as we would like, and I think if you asked anyone they would say the same thing about any game they made. But [Syndicate] was released in the midst of GAME going under; the retail space is hurting, and I think that hurt us because we were such a retail product."