Despite a slow start following its initial release back in 2015, Frictional Games has proudly confirmed that one of its most overlooked horror titles has at long last reached an incredible milestone.
SOMA, a tragic and haunting tale touching on the themes of humanity and loneliness in a post-apocalyptic setting, recently strolled over the 1 million sales mark across all platforms (PC, PS4 and Xbox One). While such an achievement might not sound particularly impressive on paper, it’s worth noting that Frictional is not only an independent studio but one that specializes in what remains a niche genre. In that context, then, this is absolutely a celebratory moment for the team and one that co-founder Thomas Grip was confident would eventually come to fruition.
Going into further detail about the success, a statement on the company’s official website reads: “Reaching the one million milestone once again shows that our games have a really long tail and the way we like to interpret that is as a seal of quality and that our games receive a strong push over time through word of mouth.”
Indeed, nowhere else is that traditional (and free) form of advertising more evident than with another of Frictional’s landmark horror experiences, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Released way back in 2010 around the same time that the ‘let’s play’ video format was taking off on YouTube, content creators and influencers uploading footage of themselves being scared senseless by Daniel’s (Amnesia‘s protagonist) nightmare resulted in exposure that would’ve otherwise been impossible for a fledgling business to fund directly.
Is SOMA‘s performance enough to warrant a sequel? Nothing of the sort has been announced so far, of course, but never say never. With last year’s Amnesia follow-up – Rebirth – now shipped and out in the wild, we imagine that work on the next big adventure is well underway, but will it be a sequel or an all-new IP? Let us know what you’d prefer to see in the usual place below!
