Xbox Exclusive Sunset Overdrive ‘Netted’ Insomniac Just Enough Money to Buy a Current-Gen Console

Sunset Overdrive, Insomniac’s Xbox console exclusive from 2014, netted the studio just enough money to buy a current-gen console.

Figuratively speaking of course, but the unfortunate major Insomniac leak from today has supposedly revealed the sales data and shares gained from all of Insomniac’s titles, including sales data for Sunset Overdrive. As posted on the Resetera forums today, close to 1.9 million copies of the game were sold across Xbox and PC (the game received a PC port in 2018), netting Insomniac only $567. Net sales of the title surpassed $49 million. Still, with development costs surpassing $42 million, it appears that the studio only broke even when also considering other costs (marketing, etc).

We already knew that sales of the game didn’t meet Insomniac’s expectations, but we didn’t expect that Insomniac only just broke even with the game. Here’s what we wrote about the PC port back in 2018:

As mentioned at the very beginning, the PC port of Sunset Overdrive is competent, but leaves a lot to be desired, as it’s pretty barebones. The ability to finally play at framerates beyond 30 FPS is a definite plus, but the rest of the graphics options don’t allow much customization. The game also lacks support for the 21:9 aspect ratio, so those with ultrawide monitors will have to deal with black bars at the side of the screen. The improved resolution, just like the better performance, is a godsend, making the vibrant and colorful look of Sunset City better than ever.

While it’s possible to look past the lack of advanced graphics options, there is one feature lacking over the original Xbox One version that’s much harder to swallow. The co-op options, which allow multiple players to play through the game together, is missing completely from the PC port, a true shame, considering how fun multiplayer is on Xbox One.

Sunset Overdrive on PC is just as good as it was on Xbox One, with its crazy world and gameplay, barring the glaring lack of the co-op multiplayer features. Even though the game also lacks advanced graphics options, the PC port developed by Blind Squirrel Games is a competent one that mostly does justice to the original console release.