Embracer Group, the media conglomerate behind a host of game studios, announced in a recent financial report that Metro Awakening (2024) “underperformed” financial expectations.

Developed by Embracer Group’s Vertigo Games, Metro Awakening brought the storied post-apocalyptic shooter franchise to VR for the first time, serving as the latest ‘AAA’ quality VR game to target all major headsets, including Quest 2 and above, SteamVR headsets, and PSVR 2.

Now, in an October – December 2024 financial report, the company detailed revenue generated by its various properties, which included Let’s Sing 2025, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1-2 Remastered, Goat Simulator Remastered, and Metro Awakening.

“Metro Awakening had a positive reception from critics, winning the Steam VR Game of the Year award, but underperformed management financial expectations,” the Embracer Group report states.

The company says revenue for Q3 2024 was led by those releases mentioned above, amounting to SEK 235 million (~$22 million USD), marking a decrease of -50% year-over-year for the same period in the year prior.

Still, it’s unclear what the expectations for Metro Awakening actually were, or how much revenue the game has generated to date. It is clear however Metro Awakening wasn’t the homerun hit the company was hoping for, having tapped VR veteran studio Vertigo Games to develop the IP, which was originally developed by sister company 4A Games.

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As a VR-exclusive game, Metro Awakening has seen fairly positive user reviews across all supported platforms though. On both Quest and PSVR 2, it currently sits around a [4.5/5] user rating—on PSVR 2, it’s garnered over 1,700 reviews, while on Quest it has 1,100 at the time of this writing. It’s a slightly different story on Steam however, where it has a 74% user score from nearly 1,900 users, giving it a ‘Mostly Positive’ overall score.

In our launch day review, we noted Metro Awakening succeeded in capturing the gritty, post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the storied series in VR, bringing classics mechanics such as scavenging, sneaking, and shooting to the forefront. While visually intense, we found the game faltered somewhat with a lackluster story and a critical lack of gameplay variety. You can read more in our review of Metro Awakening here to find out why get gave it a solid [7.5/10].

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • eadVrim

    Unfortunately the current hardware (fps, performance, tracking, comfort, compatibility, display, price …) not helping VR to take off. For example I have the PSVR2 on PC that is the best immersive headset (Oled, brightness, 3D), but its bad tracking that makes nausea, force me to play less VR games.

    • ApocalypseShadow

      The first part of what you said I agree with. The second part I partially agree but that was your decision in buying a headset NOT built for PC. It was only adapted to work on PC but isn't fully compatible using all its features.

      But as for the game, it's unfortunate the game didn't sell well to the expectations of the parent company. But it's not the game VR gamers really wanted anyway. Max Payne or James Bond or Syphon Filter type game? Nope. Action game like Devil May Cry? Nope. Full on Ace Combat like game even at the level of the games that came out on PS2? Nope. Full on movement games at the level of Sairento instead of these clunky movement games? Nope. Deep RPG games like Skyrim that came out on PS3? Nope. More shooting games like House of the Dead, Time Crisis or Silent Scope? Nope.

      i could go on and on on what developers think we want instead of asking us what we want. Sure, party games and horror games are okay here and there. But they're just filler to what we want and we aren't getting them. And there's enough horror games already. So, companies should expect low sales because I'm not going to open up my wallet to games I don't want. As a flat gamer who now plays and loves VR, and has played games for decades, I expect games like the games I've played over the years. Even with a new twist on the gameplay loop. Don't make them? Then, it's a no buy.

      • eadVrim

        I agree that the PSVR2 wasn't built for PC, but if they're selling an official adapter, at least they're concerned with the most crucial aspect of a VR headset (its tracking).
        I could overlook other issues like controller tracking problems or mura… BUT regarding the quality and game genres, if there are enough VR users, that could compensate for those drawbacks.

      • 石雨濛

        GT7 is the VR game we want – provides thousands of hours of gameplay. Hopefully Polyphony Digital will add hand tracking for wheel users.

    • XRC

      A great piece of wisdom from renowned Stanford XR Lab Professor Jeremy Bailenson, in an interview with Skarredghost:-

      "There’s a joke I tell at cocktail parties, and it’s not really a joke because it’s not funny at all, but if you’re going to ask me, what are the five most important features that cause presence in VR? My answer for you is going to be tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking, tracking. I’ve nothing against resolution… it’s always nice to see a high res image, and, of course, field of view is important, but if you’re going to inspire presence, the thing that’s most important is low latency, high frame rate, high accuracy of tracking (which is really important)."

  • Dragon Marble

    I think people may draw the wrong conclusions form this until they recognize the following fact: Arizona Sunshine 2 sold much better than Metro. That's not due to unfortunate timing. Based on ratings accumulated in the last month, AS2 today, one year after launch, is still selling better than the biggest and latest!

    My advice for Vertigo Games to go back to their roots. Stay true to small budget, built-for-VR contents. Stop wasting money on a popular IP trying to win flat gamers over. They are lazy. There is a very little overlap between people who want to be in the game and sweat, and those who just want to sit on their couch and relax.

    Another example to illustrate my point is Behemoth. Although that game isn't selling better (it's not selling worse either), at least Skydance Games didn't have to pay anyone royalty to get their game done, so the "financial expectations" weren't as high.

    • NL_VR

      Yep i also think there is no need to focus on flatscreen ip to try to win potatosack flatscreen gamers over.
      just make good games and people will come.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    target all major headsets

    Not all, not released on the Pico.

    • kakek

      Major.

  • 石雨濛

    Make a garbage mobile game – expect garbage mobile sales.

    They didn't learn from their previous games targeting PC/PSVR2 initially – Arizona Sunshine 1 & 2.

    Instead they targeted garbage Quest platform so their design was heavily restricted in Metro. Garbage in , Garbage out.

  • Well, when it launched it was clear it was a good game, but not a homerun hit. Plus, it launched in a very crowded moment, together with Behemoth, Alien, Batman, and this hurt the sales a lot

  • XRC

    Day one purchase here, and day one refund too.

    big fan of the Metro games, have played them all on Steam.

    This VR title was very underwhelming, with poor quality graphics, character animation and obvious limitations to level design, yet ran really poorly on my RTX 4080 desktop system.

    There seems to be an unfortunate trend amongst several of these recent, higher budget releases, that appear to be heavily restricted by catering for the mobile platform.

    A criticism often levelled against PCVR users is that we don't buy software; nothing could be further that the truth.

    You need money to buy a PCVR rig (gaming tier PC and suitable headset) in the first place, it's not a stretch to believe we may want quality software to run on said rig. And if the software is poor quality, you don't get to keep my money…

    • NL_VR

      I dont understand this.
      I have played and finished the game.
      well it's not a masterpiece technically but I think jts a good game.
      Vertigos best game yet.
      I think you should try again, the game received a couple of patches since release

  • FRISH

    Oh shit, saw the numbers on steam charts. Concerningly low.

    • gothicvillas

      Yeah it's not looking good. I'm not even sure how the vr platforms could see a breakthrough.
      I personally hate the fact that flat and vr games are separated. Like if you want vr, go to other corner and get watered down versions. In my dream world all games are in 1 place. All games are either flat or vr. I mean ALL of them. Vr or not is just a matter of a consumer choice of display. Maybe some games don't have motion controlls which is absolutely fine. Some do have, some not. But literally all have VR coded in. Boom.
      we all have seen what mods can do, so there it is.

  • gothicvillas

    Was this game actually open world or a linear type? I hesitated getting it for some reason. Watched some gameplay and it felt like it will get old pretty fast.
    Maybe its just me but I notice a pattern with Vertigo games, didn't finish their previous games too.
    I want game like Dayz with 10k + hours. No timers, huge open world, no narrative. Base building, hunting and of course intense interactions with other players. When I win lottery I'll either buy Dayz from Bohemia and make it vr or make new Dayz type of game but in glorious VR :)

    • namekuseijin

      game is literally called Metro and it's all about living in old subway lines while nuclear fallout consumes your big open world of ashes… so take a guess…

    • ymo1965

      Many on Steam said it was like a mobile game. The major complaint that always kept popping up was poor quality textures. That I think put a lot of people off. Also too much constant talking in your ear. It was a pretty lazy developed game.