The Banner Saga 3 is happening despite poor sales of the second part

Stoic are determined to make The Banner Saga 3, despite disappointing sales of The Banner Saga 2. Having realised what they did wrong with the second part, they aren't giving up until the story is complete.

The sales of The Banner Saga 2 have been below expectations since the game’s release in April 2016 on PC and later on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS and Android. The sequel’s poor sales, however, are not going to stop Stoic from making The Banner Saga 3. “We set out to make this trilogy. We can't leave the story unfinished”, said the studio’s co-funder John Watson in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

The original Banner Saga was quite a successful, beautifully-looking turn-based RPG using the themes from the Nordic mythology. So what went wrong with its sequel? The developers pinpoint their neglecting communication with their community as the main reason. Overwhelmed by all the work around Kickstarter campaign and actual development, they failed to designate an actual community manager who would take care of the game’s promotion. This is how Watson commented on that:

I think we dropped the ball there. We thought that audience would still just be there. We really neglected our community during the development of Banner Saga 2, because we were focusing on our work. I think that was a mistake. We all agree that was a mistake.

Good thinking, Watson. On the bright side, when taken as a whole, the franchise is not selling so badly. Actually, the release of The Banner Saga 2 increased the sales of the first game. The developers are hoping that The Banner Saga 3 will do the same for the second one.