Is This Horror’s Newest Franchise?
The Medium may not have set the world on fire, but it’s still managed to get a lot of attention. The game reunited the musical dream team of Akira Yamaoka and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, best known for their collaborations on Silent Hill, and tell the story of Marianne, a young medium drawn to a mysterious Soviet-era resort in Poland following the death of her guardian, only to find it haunted by a mysterious creature called The Maw. Eschewing traditional combat, The Medium’s main selling point is that it takes place across two realities simultaneously.
It’s definitely an interesting concept, and it looks like enough players have been interested in it that it’s already become a big hit, recouping its initial development and marketing costs in only a few short days, meaning that from now on any income Bloober Team makes off the game is pure profit.
And they will continue to make money. The game is not only very recent, it’s one of the first post-launch games of a console generation which has seen players struggling to get their hands on either the PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. Sure, the game’s also available on PC, but recouping development costs so soon after release is nothing but a good sign for the game’s future – especially if Bloober Team eventually port the game to the PS5.
Reviews of the game have been mixed, skewing slightly towards the positive, but reviews don’t always mean a game isn’t successful, and if the game has managed so much success then don’t be surprised if a sequel is announced. Sure, The Medium might not reach the same levels of success as Silent Hill or Resident Evil, but you can’t necessarily compare a new game, no matter how ambitious, to an established juggernaut.
Do you think The Medium is bound for a franchise? Let us know in the comments, on Twitter, or on Facebook.