Gamers Aren't Playing Xbox's Biggest Exclusive This Year

Xbox’s latest exclusive, Hellblade 2, showcases stunning visuals on Xbox Series consoles, but most players have barely touched the cinematic action game. A month after launch, only 13% of players have actually completed the game.

In our Hellblade 2 review, we found Ninja Theory’s Xbox Series exclusive to be a gorgeous and engaging title for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. However, the small, contained, but visually stunning story isn’t what fans expect from the Xbox brand, as reflected in the game’s player numbers.

According to TrueAchievements, only 10% of Hellblade 2 players on Xbox have completed the game’s seven-hour campaign. Finishing the main story rewards you with the "End the Tyranny" achievement, which unlocks as soon as you reach the game’s conclusion. Currently, 87% of gamers who have actively played Hellblade 2 have not earned this achievement.

Even worse, almost half of Hellblade 2 players have yet to beat the game’s first boss. The "Next Sign" achievement unlocks just half an hour into the single-player game, but only 52% of all players have unlocked it. This isn’t a missable achievement; you just have to beat the first, fairly easy boss.

However, this doesn’t indicate a problem with Hellblade 2 as a product. While it was always going to have niche appeal, the issue with these achievement stats can be attributed entirely to the Game Pass market.

Examining Steam stats for the new Xbox game reveals that players who purchased Ninja Theory’s latest game have played far more than those on Xbox. On Steam, 84% of players have unlocked the "Next Sign" achievement, and 37% have finished the game.

It’s well-known that most gamers won’t finish every game they buy, or even most of them. On Steam, the most common achievement in Fallout: New Vegas is "New Kid," which unlocks when you reach Level 10. It has only been unlocked by 46% of players, and only 92% of players have left Doc Mitchell’s house at the start.

However, this data suggests that most Game Pass games aren’t being played extensively by subscribers. Instead, gamers with the subscription service are sampling games for mere minutes, similar to how they might use a service like Netflix. Without knowing how Xbox tracks Game Pass game success, it’s unclear how significant this issue is.

For more Xbox stories, check out the recent reports of a Halo: Combat Evolved Remake and news of Starfield's Shattered Space DLC release date.