Saros is selling worse than Returnal, analyst estimates, as it competes with hits like Crimson Desert and Resident Evil Requiem for limited time and money
The end of last month saw the arrival of Saros, the grim sci-fi follow-up to Returnal from Housemarque. Another tough-as-nails roguelike, some sales data reveals it's not launched quite as strongly as its predecessor, but that's partly due to the current lay of the land.
On Twitter, Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, gives a bit of insight into the game's performance thus far. He estimates it's sold over 300,000 copies in two weeks, almost a third of which were pre-orders, generating over $22 million in revenue.
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Saros has sold 300K+ in its first two weeks, generating over $22M (@alineaanalytics estimates).Almost a third of those copies came during the early-access period, which suggests that Housemarque superfans (including myself!) are propping this one up. We have a big deep dive… pic.twitter.com/zcOnOSeq7yMay 12, 2026
"Returnal was the first big first-party PlayStation release since launch, and it made amazing use of the unique DualSense haptics and spatial audio," Elliott explains. "Many core PS5 players flocked to it almost by default."
Now, some five years into the system's life, there's a laundry list of great blockbuster releases. Several arrived within the last 12 months, in fact. Saros "launched not too long after Crimson Desert, Resident Evil Requiem, Hades 2 on PS5, Pragmata, and a whole bunch of rad 2026 games," he points out.
Elliott notes that Saros "is a more niche" game compared to Ghost of Yotei or a new God of War. It's not an established IP or an open-world action-adventure. It's stylish but frequently grueling, and even having Rahul Kohli in the lead role doesn't make that an easier sell to many players.
These returns are still disappointing, Elliott says, and "it will struggle to break even" against the purported budget exceeding $76 million. If there's one saving grace, however, it's that Saros has already outsold Marathon on PS5. Gotta take your victories where you can, whether selling video games or battling aliens on Carcosa.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ NewsletterSaros trophy list includes an unexpected tribute to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
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Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.
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