Epic saw no profit from Bulletstorm sales

Mike Capps, the president of developer Epic, has admitted that its early 2011 release Bulletstorm has failed to make any money for the studio.

The game’s actual sales figures were not revealed, though Capps told Kotaku that he remains faithful to Bulletstorm dev People Can Fly, saying: "The studio has shipped AAA content. The next thing we do with People Can Fly will be great."

We do know that only 300k copies were shifted in its first month in the US

The game was gleefully received by critics prior to its release in February, and Epic said at the time that it was aiming for 1m unit sales of the title on the back of strong re-order numbers.

And it’s unlikely that the absurd Fox News report that irked the industry did much damage to the release either.

So why the low sales? It’s easy to blame the new IP curse. And of course, launching new IP is a tough sell. But could it simply be that in a world where new shooters are released nearly every week, gamers’ appetites are starting to dwindle?

And should the finger be pointed at EA? Many EA Partners published titles (Alice: Madness Returns, Shadows of the Damned – even Portal 2?) have failed to set the world alight as of late. Could the publisher have done more to help the game at retail?