Hellblade 2 studio Ninja Theory thinks its fans ‘enjoy shorter, focused games’

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 developer Ninja Theory thinks its fans enjoy shorter, more focused game experiences.

The Microsoft-owned studio recently announced that Hellblade 2 will be released on May 21 for Xbox Series X/S and PC.

It also confirmed that the game will be digital-only, cost $50, and will last as long as its predecessor, which took players about eight hours to complete.

“I think what we always set out to do is to tell a story and for the game length to be appropriate for the story that we want to tell,” Ninja Theory studio head Dom Matthews told IGN. “So it’s not really a case of setting out to make shorter experiences.

“I think it is… There is a story that we want to tell here with a beginning, middle and end and what is the right shape and size of experience to tell that story? So that’s kind of where we start.”

Matthews said digital distribution has opened up a space for “games of all shapes and sizes”.

He added: “So I’m really pleased to see that there’s a lot of people that actually enjoy a shorter experience, something that they can sit down on a whatever Friday night, stick their headphones on, turn the lights off and kind of sink into an experience and players who don’t necessarily want something that is 50 hours long, a 100 hours long, so it’s as long as it needs to be. And I’m one of those people, I like shorter games.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure on people’s time these days and I think our fans, from what we hear from them, they enjoy a shorter game where our intention is that every step of that journey is meaningful… There’s an audience of people that want games that are focused.”

Further reading

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Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades has left the studio

The Hellblade writer-director is no longer with the Xbox developer

Coinciding with the publication of new Hellblade 2 previews, Xbox has confirmed that Tameem Antoniades, who co-founded Ninja Theory and served as its chief creative director, has left the studio.

Microsoft‘s head of gaming recently claimed getting rid of physical media isn’t a strategic goal for Xbox, but said it will follow what players are doing, “and right now, a majority of our customers are buying games digitally”.