Unknown 9 franchise cancelled following sales failure of debut game

Reflector Entertainment has announced that its nacent Unknown 9 franchise, which presently consists of the game Unknown 9: Awakening which released last year, will not be proceeding. The stated reason is that the game’s sales did not meet the company’s expectations, and all future projects in the series have been cancelled.

According to an official statement from Reflector Entertainment CEO Herve Hoerdt posted on LinkedIn, Unknown 9: Awakening “didn’t come near the company’s expectations, after numerous timeline adjustments and investments, both financially and other, and didn’t warrant any further exploration in this universe“. The studio has cancelled one of its two in-development projects, which was presumably another Unknown 9 game. Reflector Entertainment will redirect its focus to working on an existing Bandai Namco IP which is “shaping up well“, according to the statement.

It’s a shame that the Unknown 9 franchise failed, but not especially a surprise. While I liked its debut entry, Unknown 9: Awakening, quite a lot, it didn’t strike a chord with a significant number of critics. The game (and franchise as a whole) was saddled with an awkward title which makes it sound like the ninth entry in a franchise you’ve never heard of, and “Awakening” is right next to “Origins” as far as generic subtitles go. Furthermore, counting one’s chickens before they’ve hatched and announcing an expansive multimedia franchise before the first game has even come out or found an audience is usually not a recipe for success.

Unfortunately, this change in focus means that layoffs at Reflector Entertainment are on the horizon. Hoerdt confirmed that the studio will try and retain as many staff as possible and assist in locating new roles for impacted employees. Hopefully the Bandai Namco project that Reflector Entertainment is now working on will be more successful.