Will Smith, a 140 million budget and an absolute financial disaster: 9 months later, everyone has already forgotten about the zombie world of Undarn

Like a very quiet disappearance…so matter-of-fact that the loud flop happened amid polite general indifference.

The game was released in June 2023 on PC and mobile dawn It was developed jointly by two studios, Infinite and LightSpeed’Studios, on behalf of the Chinese video game industry giant, Tencent.

Designed as an open world, dawn Again, it parachuted players into a zombie-based post-Apology world. A vast open world to explore, with diverse environments such as plains, mines, deserts, swamps and abandoned cities. Players must navigate changing weather conditions and ensure their character’s health and well-being to survive.

To attract the curious, the studios convinced none other than Will Smith to be involved in the game, rather than just a vague ad to promote it. He lent his features and voice to a character named Trey Jones. is an important character in the title narrative.

Cleverly, the studios also made a conscious connection between his character in the game and the character the actor played in I Am Legend, as shown in certain shots in this trailer that you’d swear came straight out of a Francis Lawrence film. .

in the press release issued by the agency ReutersEspecially the game Undawn “spectacular flop”According to the source of the agency. Tencent would inject nearly 1 billion yuan, the equivalent of $140 million, in addition to mobilizing a battalion of 300 developers. Launching in June 2023, the game would have netted the firm only $287,000, or 0.2% of the development budget.

Very poorly marketed, with as generic a name as possible. dawn It went completely under the radar; Moreover, in the ultra-competitive genre. And especially with zombies, in almost every sauce, small or big screen and in video games. Even Will Smith who also took care of promoting the game on his own Youtube channel, could not do anything. This shows the violence of the blow.