Bloober Team Has High Hopes For Its “Original Flagship Franchise,” Cronos: The New Dawn
- Cronos sold 200k copies, 1M wishlists; SEGA partnership expands into Asia.
- Self-published, Cronos is set as Bloober Team’s main franchise.
- The studio is in talks for film/TV adaptations and possible sequels.
Jump to:
From Remake to Original IP
Bloober Team may have hit paydirt with its remake of Silent Hill 2, which had sold over 11 million copies by May 2025, but it’s still optimistic that its latest release, Cronos: The New Dawn, will also resonate with gamers. In a recent financial report, the Polish studio revealed that Cronos has shifted over 200,000 copies since its release on Sept. 5, and has been wishlisted over one million times.
Bloober Team has also been hard at work ensuring Cronos gets as wide a release as possible; unlike Silent Hill 2, which was published by Konami, Cronos has been published by Bloober Team itself, meaning its reach isn’t quite as wide as the renowned Japanese company. The studio intends to change this with a recent partnership with another Japanese giant in the industry.
“Our goal with Cronos: The New Dawn is to reach horror fans worldwide – regardless of whether they prefer digital or physical versions,” said Piotr Babieno, CEO of Bloober Team, in an investment report last month.
“We’re proud to offer both versions. In regions like Japan and South Korea, where collectors value high-quality, complete physical editions, partnering with SEGA – a legendary brand with unparalleled regional expertise – is a natural fit. This collaboration is a milestone in expanding Bloober Team’s global reach and solidifying Cronos as our flagship IP.”
Merge For The Kill
Bloober Team’s partnership with SEGA represents the merger of a hot-property studio with an established publisher, with their combined force allowing Cronos: The New Dawn to reach the ever-vital Asian market for video games, which has around 826 million players across both the PC and mobile gaming sectors.
Cronos: The New Dawn follows a time traveler who’s sent back to 1980s Poland. There, they have to collect fragments of individuals believed to play an important role in The Change, which has turned people into monsters. Even worse, these monsters have the ability to merge with dead bodies to create new, more terrifying enemies.
Cronos was released on Sept. 5, just a day after Hollow Knight: Silksong. Whereas multiple studios and publishers ended up delaying their games to avoid that cultural juggernaut, Babieno didn’t see Team Cherry’s game as a threat.
“I believe there will be a lot of players who will play both titles, because in my opinion, each of these games reinforces the other – it’s a great week for demanding games,” he said in a recent interview with the Polish site Bankier.pl. “Of course, we’re reaching a slightly different audience, but paradoxically, brand awareness will increase because of it.”
New Dawn Fades
Babieno also spoke about future plans for Cronos. Bloober Team’s first breakthrough game was Layers of Fear, which has seen a sequel, but the studio is pinning a lot more on Cronos and the world the game is set in.
“Usually, when developing our stories, we try to make them somewhat self-contained, meaning we create a complete experience. We don’t try to monetize it in various ways, but Cronos is very interesting and, above all, our first major IP. Therefore, we’ve been thinking for a long time about how to expand it.”
Babieno revealed that Bloober Team has been in talks with major Hollywood companies, including film and streaming services, about expanding the Cronos universe. However, while he’s keeping full details under wraps, as well as news related to a Cronos sequel, the Bloober Team CEO did reference the need to be creative with future projects.
“Production costs are currently so high that everyone is afraid to take creative risks, so it’s easiest to do things that players, consumers of entertainment in the broad sense, understand, know, and recognize. As Bloober Team, we’re trying to be more bold in our actions. We hope players will appreciate this.”
or
