Seven years ago, a real deep-cut from FromSoftware’s back catalogue was brought back into the spotlight. Metal Wolf Chaos – a 2004 Xbox game in which you play mech-piloting US president Michael Wilson – a truly rowdy game full of absurd action was back in a big way.
However, despite FromSoftware’s beloved profile at the time, it didn’t seem to make a massive splash. On top of this Devolver Digital, the publisher responsible for Metal Wolf Chaos’ re-release (dubbed Metal Wolf Chaos XD), hasn’t done anything similar since. Why is that?
Eurogamer sat down with Devolver Digital’s communications director Robbie Pattison. Asking how well Metal Wolf Chaos sold during its 2019 re-release, and why Devolver hadn’t done anything like that since, Pattison responded: “The two answers are interlinked! It didn’t sell a lot, which is why we haven’t done anything like it again.”
So why didn’t a FromSoftware back catalogue gem make the expected splash. “I’ll tell you what our mistake was with Metal Wolf Chaos,” said Pattison. “We announced it, then released it a year later. What we should have done is done a shadow drop. At that press conference we should have said Metal Wolf Chaos is coming back, and then dropped it right then.
There’s a solid chance that you may never have heard of Metal Wolf Chaos. Aside from a niche presence on gaming enthusiasts discussion hubs and a few Lets Plays here and there. So why pick this game from the wide range of awesome, niche picks? Was it due to online demand, or a growing cult following? Apparently, it was none of the above.
“It was Our CMO Nigel Lowrie,” explained Pattison. “That was a game he always wanted to do something with. I can’t remember how we got in contact at FromSoftware, but we did. We asked if we could do something with it and they went, yeah fine.
“We thought it would be funny! It was this legendary game that no one had really played outside of Japan. It also happened to be set in America, where the Vice President was called Mike Wilson, the same name as the co-founder of Devolver.”
If you want to read a more serious, modern chat with Devolver Digital, you can read Eurogamer’s interview with them at the London Games Expo.
