Oddworld Inhibitants co-founder Lorne Lanning gave an interview to the Xbox Expansion Podcast, saying it had a “devastating” effect on Oddworld: Soulstorm sales as the game was also included in PS Plus.
Oddworld Inhibitans continued the adventures of Abe and the Mudons in Oddworld: Soulstorm last year, and when the game was released in April, it was immediately available to PlayStation Plus users at no additional cost. The Xbox Podcast expansion Lorne Lanning, the game’s creator, summed up why this draw had “devastating” consequences for the Soulstorm.
Lanning said the studio was experiencing several technical and financial problems towards the end of development, so when Sony contacted them, they got it on the occasion. “We needed the money to finish the project and we thought we got a good deal, we can’t do much more than that in January,” Lanning concluded. Since PlayStation 5 consoles were rarely available at the time in early 2021, 50 to 100,000 copies were sold.
But then the release was delayed for three months, and Soulstorm sparked huge interest among PS Plus subscribers: four million downloads. According to Lanning, this was a major missed opportunity for the studio, as that amount never fell on a purchase.
