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Video game sales thread: September's done. Use the new thread.
January's place within the whole year flip-flops. In '08, Jan had the second-lowest sw revenue for the whole year. In '09, it'll be the 6th highest (I'm assuming Oct-Dec will best $.67b).
I'm guessing that's because Jan 09's figures were boosted by desperate retailers having massive sales, and the rest of the year being fairly crap.
Other than that, January's usually not the best month for sales.
Wordherder on
Why the crap did I ever make my original name "cloudeagle?"
0
Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
edited October 2009
Harsh words from MTV...but I agree with them. Van Halen deserve much more respect than Kotick showed them.
"I think when you're giving away a great artist like Van Halen, to me it marks a little bit of desperation in trying to move their product. Van Halen is a great artist, and it's a pity that they went from trying to sell that product this December to giving it away in September." - MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie
Harsh words from MTV...but I agree with them. Van Halen deserve much more respect than Kotick showed them.
"I think when you're giving away a great artist like Van Halen, to me it marks a little bit of desperation in trying to move their product. Van Halen is a great artist, and it's a pity that they went from trying to sell that product this December to giving it away in September." - MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie
That game was fucked when they didn't even acknowledge the Red Rocker era...
Harsh words from MTV...but I agree with them. Van Halen deserve much more respect than Kotick showed them.
"I think when you're giving away a great artist like Van Halen, to me it marks a little bit of desperation in trying to move their product. Van Halen is a great artist, and it's a pity that they went from trying to sell that product this December to giving it away in September." - MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie
That game was fucked when they didn't even acknowledge the Red Rocker era...
Agreed wholeheartedly.
Sammy 'The Red Rocket' Hagar should have been a part of the game.
Harsh words from MTV...but I agree with them. Van Halen deserve much more respect than Kotick showed them.
"I think when you're giving away a great artist like Van Halen, to me it marks a little bit of desperation in trying to move their product. Van Halen is a great artist, and it's a pity that they went from trying to sell that product this December to giving it away in September." - MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie
That game was fucked when they didn't even acknowledge the Red Rocker era...
Agreed wholeheartedly.
Sammy 'The Red Rocket' Hagar should have been a part of the game.
I kinda like Van Halen, but bowing to their demands that the Hagar era be completely ignored pretty much doomed the project from the start.
By the way, have there been any reviews of the game?
Wordherder on
Why the crap did I ever make my original name "cloudeagle?"
0
HedgethornAssociate Professor of Historical Hobby HorsesIn the Lions' DenRegistered Userregular
Harsh words from MTV...but I agree with them. Van Halen deserve much more respect than Kotick showed them.
"I think when you're giving away a great artist like Van Halen, to me it marks a little bit of desperation in trying to move their product. Van Halen is a great artist, and it's a pity that they went from trying to sell that product this December to giving it away in September." - MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie
That game was fucked when they didn't even acknowledge the Red Rocker era...
Agreed wholeheartedly.
Sammy 'The Red Rocket' Hagar should have been a part of the game.
I kinda like Van Halen, but bowing to their demands that the Hagar era be completely ignored pretty much doomed the project from the start.
By the way, have there been any reviews of the game?
Who wants to wager that Activision put a moratorium on reviews until December?
Hedgethorn on
0
Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
Harsh words from MTV...but I agree with them. Van Halen deserve much more respect than Kotick showed them.
"I think when you're giving away a great artist like Van Halen, to me it marks a little bit of desperation in trying to move their product. Van Halen is a great artist, and it's a pity that they went from trying to sell that product this December to giving it away in September." - MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie
That game was fucked when they didn't even acknowledge the Red Rocker era...
Agreed wholeheartedly.
Sammy 'The Red Rocket' Hagar should have been a part of the game.
I kinda like Van Halen, but bowing to their demands that the Hagar era be completely ignored pretty much doomed the project from the start.
By the way, have there been any reviews of the game?
Not as of yet, as far as I know, probably not until the official release.
I hate that they caved under the demands of Eddie and Alex...not only did it shaft Sammy's whole wonderful era of music from the game, but they shafted Michael Anthony from being in the game also, who was with them through all of it. But he left and joined up with Hagar's band, and suddenly he's on the outs with the Van Halens also.
I mean I could understand ignoring Cherone was ever with the band, but not Hagar or Anthony...they were instrumental in the bands success through many many years. GAHHH! :x
The PSN/XBLA/WW are great for itsy bitsy devs, but not for the mid-tier publishers. That avenue is too small for them, but the blockbuster model is too dangerous for them.
Also, I largely disagree with this. A quick look at the released and upcoming list of Live titles on Wiki has a pretty decent selection of mid sized developers and publishers and the support is growing.
Check out the recently announced Hydrophobia. Cro Team are porting Serious Sam. Epic purchased Chair Entertainment. Etc.
Croteam's really a PC developer, though, and bringing an older title (with revamped graphics) isn't out of the realm of other old games getting remix ports on the services..
I guess my main point was that people like Atlus are doing most of their business on the handhelds these days (and to lesser extent the Wii and a gradually disappating support for PS2), because there's less risk and less need of a huge budget as required by the HD systems, or the potential difficulty of cracking the Wii market.
Times might be changing, although I don't see stuff like the Shin Megami Tensei series, for example, coming out on XBLA.
They're changing, just slowly. That's another reason why I don't think there's that big of a threat to the industry. If everyone had suddenly and drastically downsized and aimed for the mid level market, that would have been something to worry about.
Instead it's a pretty gradual movement for some developers.
EDIT
Atlus, as the usual example, can't be doing to bad. It brought out Trine for the PSN, Zeno Clash for Live, and it has a nice, successful, niche title with Demon's Souls.
I wonder how Crystal Bearers' Boxing Day release will fare saleswise. I'm guessing it will do worse than people expect and fingers will be pointed at the Wii and not the release date.
The PSN/XBLA/WW are great for itsy bitsy devs, but not for the mid-tier publishers. That avenue is too small for them, but the blockbuster model is too dangerous for them.
Also, I largely disagree with this. A quick look at the released and upcoming list of Live titles on Wiki has a pretty decent selection of mid sized developers and publishers and the support is growing.
Check out the recently announced Hydrophobia. Cro Team are porting Serious Sam. Epic purchased Chair Entertainment. Etc.
Videogames industry analyst Michael Pachter says that Borderlands has been 'sent to die'.
"Sent to die... I think Borderlands is the definition of a game that should have had its own window and not be up against all this stuff," Pachter explains.
"It's absolutely the same audience. I don't think it's as much an RPG as they would like us to believe. If it's an RPG, Dragon Age is going to kick its butt; and if it's a shooter, Call of Duty or something else is going to kick its butt."
I dunno. I don't think it will do major. 400K was my estimate. Which is also my estimate for Dragon Age.
I bet it pulls 400k on the 360 alone. I have a feeling Borderlands will be just fine. 4 player co-op loot engine? It also has some good hype and has been reviewing well. Shit I told myself I didn't need it day 1 as I just recieved 3 games from Toys R Us I am working on and a healthy WoW addiction going and still somehow managed to end up at gamestop during lunch to grab a copy with a co-worker.
Harsh words from MTV...but I agree with them. Van Halen deserve much more respect than Kotick showed them.
"I think when you're giving away a great artist like Van Halen, to me it marks a little bit of desperation in trying to move their product. Van Halen is a great artist, and it's a pity that they went from trying to sell that product this December to giving it away in September." - MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie
That game was fucked when they didn't even acknowledge the Red Rocker era...
Agreed wholeheartedly.
Sammy 'The Red Rocket' Hagar should have been a part of the game.
I kinda like Van Halen, but bowing to their demands that the Hagar era be completely ignored pretty much doomed the project from the start.
By the way, have there been any reviews of the game?
Not as of yet, as far as I know, probably not until the official release.
I hate that they caved under the demands of Eddie and Alex...not only did it shaft Sammy's whole wonderful era of music from the game, but they shafted Michael Anthony from being in the game also, who was with them through all of it. But he left and joined up with Hagar's band, and suddenly he's on the outs with the Van Halens also.
I mean I could understand ignoring Cherone was ever with the band, but not Hagar or Anthony...they were instrumental in the bands success through many many years. GAHHH! :x
I don't want to blame the Van Halen family for this. They claim (well, somebody did... At least an Activision voice...) that it wasn't any kind of demand. I'm not saying there wasn't, since it's clearly suspicious, but statements have been put 'on the record' that this wasn't the case.
For all we know, Hagar himself didn't want to agree and there may be something in the original deals on the songs that requires full consent...
Ultimately, I suspect they focused solely on DLR era stuff since he's been so buddy buddy with VH recently and Hagar and Anthony have been on the outs.
And then they let the kid select the 'also appearing' music. So, yeah...
The PSN/XBLA/WW are great for itsy bitsy devs, but not for the mid-tier publishers. That avenue is too small for them, but the blockbuster model is too dangerous for them.
Also, I largely disagree with this. A quick look at the released and upcoming list of Live titles on Wiki has a pretty decent selection of mid sized developers and publishers and the support is growing.
Check out the recently announced Hydrophobia. Cro Team are porting Serious Sam. Epic purchased Chair Entertainment. Etc.
Croteam's really a PC developer, though, and bringing an older title (with revamped graphics) isn't out of the realm of other old games getting remix ports on the services..
I guess my main point was that people like Atlus are doing most of their business on the handhelds these days (and to lesser extent the Wii and a gradually disappating support for PS2), because there's less risk and less need of a huge budget as required by the HD systems, or the potential difficulty of cracking the Wii market.
Times might be changing, although I don't see stuff like the Shin Megami Tensei series, for example, coming out on XBLA.
They're changing, just slowly. That's another reason why I don't think there's that big of a threat to the industry. If everyone had suddenly and drastically downsized and aimed for the mid level market, that would have been something to worry about.
Instead it's a pretty gradual movement for some developers.
EDIT
Atlus, as the usual example, can't be doing to bad. It brought out Trine for the PSN, Zeno Clash for Live, and it has a nice, successful, niche title with Demon's Souls.
Ah, don't misunderstand me, I don't think the mid-tier guys are going to fail and vanish from existence per se. I'm just saying that as of right now, the HD systems are not the place for them*. Atlus and the like are doing well, but they're doing well because they avoid the expense and risk of the blockbuster model, and are conservative with their budgets and reasonable in their expectations and planning. These companies, like Atlus, have largely moved onto and focus now on the portables/handhelds and the Wii (and a little bit on PS2 but not as much any more) as a result. I'm not saying these guys are dying off or that the industry is doomed as a result, but rather, that as of now there isn't much of a place for them besides the handhelds or the occasional Wii game.
The "problem" that was really the focus of this topic was the fact that there isn't any place on the HD systems for these mid-tier developers and that as a result there's some kinds of games that aren't really represented very well on these systems and that's a problem. And that it's a problem for publishers like Atlus who, although doing well by moving onto handhelds, don't really have the additional avenue of a really reliable home console. And XBLA/PSN/WW are not sufficient for the kinds of games that they make and are capable of making in terms of the market, or at least have no proven themselves to be so as of yet.
None of this is to say that the industry or the mid-tier guys are doomed. They've just been kind of forced out of the primary "core" market of consoles because of high cost barrier to making money on that level. There are even exceptions to that, but it's still riskier than taking the handheld route.
I will also say that things will get better for everyone in time. Cost of dev kits will go down over time, and the install bases of the HD systems will increase over time. Eventually it won't be such a huge problem for mid-tier publishers on the HD systems. Eventually. But right now the HD systems really are problematic for them.
As far as digital distro on these systems, we'll probably see more "big" games on them as well, probabbly from mid tier devs/pubs as well as everyone else. But again, that's going to likely be a pretty slow evolutionary process and mid-tier publishers aren't going to start dropping their bread-n-butter games on these services and rely on that as a primary source of revenue any time soon, especially when the expectation of prices is pretty low and most games on the service aren't yet up to the type of stuff generally put out by the mid-tier guys for the most part.
Woohoo! My XBox Live Indie Game (Epiphany in Spaaace! - an interactive novel that parodies the sci-fi genre) went through review! XBox Live hasn't refreshed yet so the page to download it isn't up yet (even though the game is listed), but hopefully that should be remedied within a few hours. I'll post the link once it's up.
I'm so excited! I'll be sure to provide some sales info for everyone to chew on (can a text-based game succeed on XBox Live?).
Woohoo! My XBox Live Indie Game (Epiphany in Spaaace! - an interactive novel that parodies the sci-fi genre) went through review! XBox Live hasn't refreshed yet so the page to download it isn't up yet (even though the game is listed), but hopefully that should be remedied within a few hours. I'll post the link once it's up.
I'm so excited! I'll be sure to provide some sales info for everyone to chew on (can a text-based game succeed on XBox Live?).
Woah, this sounds pretty awesome. You might have found yourself a sale.
If I were a betting man, I'd say this would be the last of the band-specific Guitar Heroes. They just haven't sold as well as they would like.
Unless Activision gets jealous of Beatles Rock Band and manages to twist the arm of somebody huge like Led Zeppelin or something.
Guitar Hero feels over-exposed and over-exploited now. I used to be a fan of these games, but I'm sick and tired of them now. That said, I would buy a Kiss-specific game and I'm surprised there hasn't been one.
I feel like the Rock Band 3-pack of Kiss from a few months ago honestly covers pretty much everything that Kiss is about. A full game would have to stretch like hell.
It's easy to stretch band-specific games for Actiblizz/NS. They just pack in a bunch of stuff from other bands that inspired/were inspired by the band of the game.
One can debate whether that's good (more variety, more songs) or bad (not focused solely on the one band, typically leaves out some key songs from said band)
However sales for band-only games have been going down for GH. Aerosmith was a huge hit. Metallica was not. Does that say something about the bands in question or about general brand fatigue, or both?
It's easy to stretch band-specific games for Actiblizz/NS. They just pack in a bunch of stuff from other bands that inspired/were inspired by the band of the game.
One can debate whether that's good (more variety, more songs) or bad (not focused solely on the one band, typically leaves out some key songs from said band)
However sales for band-only games have been going down for GH. Aerosmith was a huge hit. Metallica was not. Does that say something about the bands in question or about general brand fatigue, or both?
Well you have to remember the Areosmith game came off the back of the third GH game which was the one that made the series go mainstream popular.
Brand fatigue is really putting the situation nicely for all these Hero brand games.
It's easy to stretch band-specific games for Actiblizz/NS. They just pack in a bunch of stuff from other bands that inspired/were inspired by the band of the game.
One can debate whether that's good (more variety, more songs) or bad (not focused solely on the one band, typically leaves out some key songs from said band)
However sales for band-only games have been going down for GH. Aerosmith was a huge hit. Metallica was not. Does that say something about the bands in question or about general brand fatigue, or both?
Actually, I don't think Aerosmith lived up to Activision's expectations. That's the only way to explain going from the box art on Aerosmith (it's the members of Aerosmith! Rocking out! Holy crap Aerosmith!) to the one on Metallica (the wall of guest artists just smacked of "please please please for the love of God don't think it's just Metallica).
But yeah, given that the artist games are losing steam and GH: Recycled was a bomb, I'd say brand fatigue has definitely set in for the side games. "Band Hero" is going to be kinda fucked.
Wordherder on
Why the crap did I ever make my original name "cloudeagle?"
It's easy to stretch band-specific games for Actiblizz/NS. They just pack in a bunch of stuff from other bands that inspired/were inspired by the band of the game.
One can debate whether that's good (more variety, more songs) or bad (not focused solely on the one band, typically leaves out some key songs from said band)
However sales for band-only games have been going down for GH. Aerosmith was a huge hit. Metallica was not. Does that say something about the bands in question or about general brand fatigue, or both?
Well you have to remember the Areosmith game came off the back of the third GH game which was the one that made the series go mainstream popular.
Brand fatigue is really putting the situation nicely for all these Hero brand games.
Also, the Aerosmith game was still just guitar-only. No matter how popular or sought after a full-band experience might be, it's a bit daunting and expensive. If anything, it can be said that, at least since Guitar Hero first started, it really pushed the concept of the guitar over everything else.
I'm a guitar-only person (part by choice, part by convenience), but I can admit the draw of drums. But you'll have a harder time finding people truly bitching about the 'fun-ness' of the drum charts. Specific note placement, sure, but not the overall quality. Guitar, on the other foot, constantly gets needled with 'boring, chord heavy, strumfest'.
And when the game design removes the focus from a single instrument, you naturally lose a kind of note variety. Some people understand and accept this, others do not.
Given all that, GH:M still did poorly. So I vote 'brand fatigue' as the main reason.
VGChartz reported that Sony sold approximately 440,000 copies of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for PS3 in North America, and sales of the PS3 console has also increased by 25% to around 350k - 450k.
VGChartz reported that Sony sold approximately 440,000 copies of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for PS3 in North America, and sales of the PS3 console has also increased by 25% to around 350k - 450k.
editing out the sarcasm of this post, I will say that the VGchartz reporting might as well be a number pulled from some random analyst's a-hole as it means nothing and is likely based on extremely limited information, such as the number of copies sold at one or two stores and/or UK rankings and the like.
In other words I give VGchartz reportings no weight at all.
I think the problem with GH: Metallica is that as much as people like the band, every song that has been available in games thus far have been incredibly difficult. People want certain songs, but buying a game strictly for them, knowing that you will probably never be able to play them well, pushes potential customers away.
Metallica individual songs available as DLC? Probably would sell a lot better.
On the other hand, the reason that Metallica did best on 360 is because that's where the majority of Guitar Hero score-hero-posting FC-hitting 5-starring fanboys are to be found. They love stuff like tough as shit charts and solos and modes like Expert+. Not that it did well enough to make up for the overall lack of sales though.
Personally, I enjoy hard charts a lot, and so GH Metallica is actually appealing to me. Just not $50 appealing at this point. Maybe I'll get it for like $10 at some point in the future.
I'm so fucking burned out on these fake band games.
This may have already been posted but the results are in for the "Pay whatever you want for World of Goo" extravaganza that 2DBoy was running for their game:
And the results are unsurprising.
For the $15 game, most people were paying a cent! Next biggest group 1 to 2 dollars. Followed by the sub-$1 group, and so on.
Interesting results. I'm sure at least a good chunk of 1-centers were just curious as to what the game was like and basically had nothing to lose by trying it out.
Gonintendo also reported that WiiWare sales of the title went up during this promotion. I guess people got curious, and then decided to buy it on the Wii?
Cameron_Talley on
Switch Friend Code: SW-4598-4278-8875
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
In other news, Q Games (those dudes who shoehorn the word "Pixeljunk" in the name of all their games for no apparent reason) is getting pissed at the PSP. Reason? Piracy.
It's been posted and they 'shoehorn' Pixeljunk into the name of all their games for an obvious reason, they're all part of the same series.
Other than the fact that they all play differently and feature violently different art styles, sure.
You might want to go tell Nintendo that they're not allowed to release golf/soccer/party games with Mario on them then. Also, the art styles are actually pretty similar.
Set sail on the U.S.S. Epiphany, one of the latest additions to the Universal Galactic Space Corps fleet. As Captain (or not) Philemon K. Bort, will you triumph over all of the trials that beset you or die in obscurity? A host of plot lines and possible endings await you in this tribute (or is that parody?) to all things science fiction.
80 MS points ($1 USD). Buy it to support me and my decadent PSP Go lifestyle! :winky: Oh and to help a fellow forumer and show your support for text-based games in general.
(Note: all funds from the sale of this game will probably end up going towards rent & bills for my family so you can feel secure buying it regardless of your console affiliations).
Here's a free game download code to whoever is the fastest:
You have successfully redeemed a code for: Epiphany in Spaaace!. It has been added to your download queue.
If you have an additional code to redeem please enter it above.
Hooray, I win! Will play sometime tonight and post impressions.
EDIT: Game was fun! Definitely exactly like reading a Choose Your Own Adventure without all that tedious page turning. I chortled at the writing, and had a good time. Certainly worth 80 MSP. Would recommend to others, and will definitely look at buying your next game. :^:
In other news, Q Games (those dudes who shoehorn the word "Pixeljunk" in the name of all their games for no apparent reason) is getting pissed at the PSP. Reason? Piracy.
It's been posted and they 'shoehorn' Pixeljunk into the name of all their games for an obvious reason, they're all part of the same series.
Other than the fact that they all play differently and feature violently different art styles, sure.
You might want to go tell Nintendo that they're not allowed to release golf/soccer/party games with Mario on them then. Also, the art styles are actually pretty similar.
If I were a betting man, I'd say this would be the last of the band-specific Guitar Heroes. They just haven't sold as well as they would like.
Unless Activision gets jealous of Beatles Rock Band and manages to twist the arm of somebody huge like Led Zeppelin or something.
Which will never happen. Led Zeppelin protect their music like no-one else.
Yet they have their music available on iTunes when the Beatles do not? I'm sure they could be convinced with large enough money hats.
I had some time to waste and picked up a UK published music mag called Q, their sept 09 issue.
Jimmy Page, on why GH type games will never do Led Zeppelin justice, said "how many drummers can play like that? Let alone Dad on Christms Morning"
I don't think Jimmy Page gets Guitar Hero.
Oh, and seeing as they've finally released RB2 on Wii here in euroland (mine is in the post), has anyone got any numbers? I'm very interested in how this does.
Raybies666 on
Beat me on Wii U: Raybies
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
EA's on-rails shooter Dead Space Extraction sold 9,000 copies in the US between its release on September 29 and the end of the NPD’s monthly reporting period on October 3, the market research firm has told us.
Developed by Visceral Games, the Wii exclusive title is a prequel to survival horror Dead Space, which launched in October 2008 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC to critical acclaim and had sold around 1.4 million units as of May this year.
While Extraction hasn’t enjoyed a strong start, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich told us that the title’s early sell through wouldn't come as a surprise to publisher EA.
“Electronic Arts didn’t market Dead Space Extraction as much as it does with other titles. And the success or failure of a Wii title usually correlates directly to marketing spend. If Electronic Arts spent little on marketing, I am sure the sell through was no surprise to them. So I do not believe sell through was a disappointment to EA.”
We contacted EA to for comment on the game’s opening week performance, and to find out how the game has been performing at retail during October, but received no response.
“Given Wii games tend to have a flatter sales curve, I don’t think 20,000 plus units is out of the question for October and maybe we get a holiday bump in November and December,” Divnich suggested.
EA said previously that the performance of Extraction would influence the company's decision to create mature-content games for Wii in the future, and Divnich implied that the publisher’s decision not to heavily market the title may have been based on the poor performance of other mature-rated Wii games released while Extraction was still in development.
“Most games have a 12 to 24 month development schedule and over a year ago the industry was under the assumption that mature-rated games could succeed on the Wii. Unfortunately, as we progressed and witnessed the sales results from games such as MadWorld, it became pretty clear the market size for games with mature-content was extremely small, much smaller than any other home platform. The truth is most core gamers who gravitate towards mature content likely own more than just a Wii.”
Despite being well reviewed, Extraction also made a weak debut in the UK following its early October release, failing to crack the all formats chart top 40. It’s currently floating somewhere outside of the Wii top 40.
One game that fared better in its opening week was Sony’s Gran Turismo. The first PSP entry in developer Polyphony Digital’s 52 million unit-selling franchise released on October 1 on UMD and as a digital download for PSPgo.
While NPD was unable to provide digital sales figures, the racer hit 18,000 UMD sales in the States between launch and October 3.
The UMD version of Gran Turismo entered the UK all formats chart at number 12 earlier this month.
EA's on-rails shooter Dead Space Extraction sold 9,000 copies in the US between its release on September 29 and the end of the NPD’s monthly reporting period on October 3, the market research firm has told us.
Developed by Visceral Games, the Wii exclusive title is a prequel to survival horror Dead Space, which launched in October 2008 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC to critical acclaim and had sold around 1.4 million units as of May this year.
While Extraction hasn’t enjoyed a strong start, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich told us that the title’s early sell through wouldn't come as a surprise to publisher EA.
“Electronic Arts didn’t market Dead Space Extraction as much as it does with other titles. And the success or failure of a Wii title usually correlates directly to marketing spend. If Electronic Arts spent little on marketing, I am sure the sell through was no surprise to them. So I do not believe sell through was a disappointment to EA.”
We contacted EA to for comment on the game’s opening week performance, and to find out how the game has been performing at retail during October, but received no response.
“Given Wii games tend to have a flatter sales curve, I don’t think 20,000 plus units is out of the question for October and maybe we get a holiday bump in November and December,” Divnich suggested.
EA said previously that the performance of Extraction would influence the company's decision to create mature-content games for Wii in the future, and Divnich implied that the publisher’s decision not to heavily market the title may have been based on the poor performance of other mature-rated Wii games released while Extraction was still in development.
“Most games have a 12 to 24 month development schedule and over a year ago the industry was under the assumption that mature-rated games could succeed on the Wii. Unfortunately, as we progressed and witnessed the sales results from games such as MadWorld, it became pretty clear the market size for games with mature-content was extremely small, much smaller than any other home platform. The truth is most core gamers who gravitate towards mature content likely own more than just a Wii.”
Despite being well reviewed, Extraction also made a weak debut in the UK following its early October release, failing to crack the all formats chart top 40. It’s currently floating somewhere outside of the Wii top 40.
One game that fared better in its opening week was Sony’s Gran Turismo. The first PSP entry in developer Polyphony Digital’s 52 million unit-selling franchise released on October 1 on UMD and as a digital download for PSPgo.
While NPD was unable to provide digital sales figures, the racer hit 18,000 UMD sales in the States between launch and October 3.
The UMD version of Gran Turismo entered the UK all formats chart at number 12 earlier this month.
I've got this great idea! Let's make a game, put it on retail shelves, and see how well it sells when no one knows about it. And then let's use the sales performance of this game to base whether or not we will make more games!
Seriously, why do companies make a game and NOT advertise it? Especially when you are using it as a baseline for future mature games? How stupid can they be?
This may have already been posted but the results are in for the "Pay whatever you want for World of Goo" extravaganza that 2DBoy was running for their game:
*chart*
And the results are unsurprising.
For the $15 game, most people were paying a cent! Next biggest group 1 to 2 dollars. Followed by the sub-$1 group, and so on.
Interesting results. I'm sure at least a good chunk of 1-centers were just curious as to what the game was like and basically had nothing to lose by trying it out.
I do wish they'd set the minimum price at a much lower price, but I think the "whatever you want" model is an interesting concept. What if more games adopted this as a means of gaining additional sales after the first few months of sales? Presumably, by this point costs will have been covered, so all sales are profit.
And jesus, the piracy rate of world of goo was fucking shameful. There was argument that it could *only* be as low as 80%, which is still fucking pathetic. People who pirate indie games like this have absolutely no respect for the medium whatsoever.
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I'm guessing that's because Jan 09's figures were boosted by desperate retailers having massive sales, and the rest of the year being fairly crap.
Other than that, January's usually not the best month for sales.
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That game was fucked when they didn't even acknowledge the Red Rocker era...
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Agreed wholeheartedly.
Sammy 'The Red Rocket' Hagar should have been a part of the game.
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I kinda like Van Halen, but bowing to their demands that the Hagar era be completely ignored pretty much doomed the project from the start.
By the way, have there been any reviews of the game?
Who wants to wager that Activision put a moratorium on reviews until December?
Not as of yet, as far as I know, probably not until the official release.
I hate that they caved under the demands of Eddie and Alex...not only did it shaft Sammy's whole wonderful era of music from the game, but they shafted Michael Anthony from being in the game also, who was with them through all of it. But he left and joined up with Hagar's band, and suddenly he's on the outs with the Van Halens also.
I mean I could understand ignoring Cherone was ever with the band, but not Hagar or Anthony...they were instrumental in the bands success through many many years. GAHHH! :x
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They're changing, just slowly. That's another reason why I don't think there's that big of a threat to the industry. If everyone had suddenly and drastically downsized and aimed for the mid level market, that would have been something to worry about.
Instead it's a pretty gradual movement for some developers.
EDIT
Atlus, as the usual example, can't be doing to bad. It brought out Trine for the PSN, Zeno Clash for Live, and it has a nice, successful, niche title with Demon's Souls.
I bet it pulls 400k on the 360 alone. I have a feeling Borderlands will be just fine. 4 player co-op loot engine? It also has some good hype and has been reviewing well. Shit I told myself I didn't need it day 1 as I just recieved 3 games from Toys R Us I am working on and a healthy WoW addiction going and still somehow managed to end up at gamestop during lunch to grab a copy with a co-worker.
I don't want to blame the Van Halen family for this. They claim (well, somebody did... At least an Activision voice...) that it wasn't any kind of demand. I'm not saying there wasn't, since it's clearly suspicious, but statements have been put 'on the record' that this wasn't the case.
For all we know, Hagar himself didn't want to agree and there may be something in the original deals on the songs that requires full consent...
Ultimately, I suspect they focused solely on DLR era stuff since he's been so buddy buddy with VH recently and Hagar and Anthony have been on the outs.
And then they let the kid select the 'also appearing' music. So, yeah...
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Unless Activision gets jealous of Beatles Rock Band and manages to twist the arm of somebody huge like Led Zeppelin or something.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Ah, don't misunderstand me, I don't think the mid-tier guys are going to fail and vanish from existence per se. I'm just saying that as of right now, the HD systems are not the place for them*. Atlus and the like are doing well, but they're doing well because they avoid the expense and risk of the blockbuster model, and are conservative with their budgets and reasonable in their expectations and planning. These companies, like Atlus, have largely moved onto and focus now on the portables/handhelds and the Wii (and a little bit on PS2 but not as much any more) as a result. I'm not saying these guys are dying off or that the industry is doomed as a result, but rather, that as of now there isn't much of a place for them besides the handhelds or the occasional Wii game.
The "problem" that was really the focus of this topic was the fact that there isn't any place on the HD systems for these mid-tier developers and that as a result there's some kinds of games that aren't really represented very well on these systems and that's a problem. And that it's a problem for publishers like Atlus who, although doing well by moving onto handhelds, don't really have the additional avenue of a really reliable home console. And XBLA/PSN/WW are not sufficient for the kinds of games that they make and are capable of making in terms of the market, or at least have no proven themselves to be so as of yet.
None of this is to say that the industry or the mid-tier guys are doomed. They've just been kind of forced out of the primary "core" market of consoles because of high cost barrier to making money on that level. There are even exceptions to that, but it's still riskier than taking the handheld route.
I will also say that things will get better for everyone in time. Cost of dev kits will go down over time, and the install bases of the HD systems will increase over time. Eventually it won't be such a huge problem for mid-tier publishers on the HD systems. Eventually. But right now the HD systems really are problematic for them.
As far as digital distro on these systems, we'll probably see more "big" games on them as well, probabbly from mid tier devs/pubs as well as everyone else. But again, that's going to likely be a pretty slow evolutionary process and mid-tier publishers aren't going to start dropping their bread-n-butter games on these services and rely on that as a primary source of revenue any time soon, especially when the expectation of prices is pretty low and most games on the service aren't yet up to the type of stuff generally put out by the mid-tier guys for the most part.
* there are always rare exceptions
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I'm so excited! I'll be sure to provide some sales info for everyone to chew on (can a text-based game succeed on XBox Live?).
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Woah, this sounds pretty awesome. You might have found yourself a sale.
Guitar Hero feels over-exposed and over-exploited now. I used to be a fan of these games, but I'm sick and tired of them now. That said, I would buy a Kiss-specific game and I'm surprised there hasn't been one.
One can debate whether that's good (more variety, more songs) or bad (not focused solely on the one band, typically leaves out some key songs from said band)
However sales for band-only games have been going down for GH. Aerosmith was a huge hit. Metallica was not. Does that say something about the bands in question or about general brand fatigue, or both?
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Well you have to remember the Areosmith game came off the back of the third GH game which was the one that made the series go mainstream popular.
Brand fatigue is really putting the situation nicely for all these Hero brand games.
Actually, I don't think Aerosmith lived up to Activision's expectations. That's the only way to explain going from the box art on Aerosmith (it's the members of Aerosmith! Rocking out! Holy crap Aerosmith!) to the one on Metallica (the wall of guest artists just smacked of "please please please for the love of God don't think it's just Metallica).
But yeah, given that the artist games are losing steam and GH: Recycled was a bomb, I'd say brand fatigue has definitely set in for the side games. "Band Hero" is going to be kinda fucked.
Also, the Aerosmith game was still just guitar-only. No matter how popular or sought after a full-band experience might be, it's a bit daunting and expensive. If anything, it can be said that, at least since Guitar Hero first started, it really pushed the concept of the guitar over everything else.
I'm a guitar-only person (part by choice, part by convenience), but I can admit the draw of drums. But you'll have a harder time finding people truly bitching about the 'fun-ness' of the drum charts. Specific note placement, sure, but not the overall quality. Guitar, on the other foot, constantly gets needled with 'boring, chord heavy, strumfest'.
And when the game design removes the focus from a single instrument, you naturally lose a kind of note variety. Some people understand and accept this, others do not.
Given all that, GH:M still did poorly. So I vote 'brand fatigue' as the main reason.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
In other words I give VGchartz reportings no weight at all.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Metallica individual songs available as DLC? Probably would sell a lot better.
Personally, I enjoy hard charts a lot, and so GH Metallica is actually appealing to me. Just not $50 appealing at this point. Maybe I'll get it for like $10 at some point in the future.
I'm so fucking burned out on these fake band games.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
And the results are unsurprising.
For the $15 game, most people were paying a cent! Next biggest group 1 to 2 dollars. Followed by the sub-$1 group, and so on.
Interesting results. I'm sure at least a good chunk of 1-centers were just curious as to what the game was like and basically had nothing to lose by trying it out.
As a side note this is one of those games that 2DBoy said piracy rates were like 90% for on the PC version the month of its release.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
You might want to go tell Nintendo that they're not allowed to release golf/soccer/party games with Mario on them then. Also, the art styles are actually pretty similar.
Which will never happen. Led Zeppelin protect their music like no-one else.
Sheep: Nobilis published Trine on the PS3.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855033d
80 MS points ($1 USD). Buy it to support me and my decadent PSP Go lifestyle! :winky: Oh and to help a fellow forumer and show your support for text-based games in general.
(Note: all funds from the sale of this game will probably end up going towards rent & bills for my family so you can feel secure buying it regardless of your console affiliations).
Here's a free game download code to whoever is the fastest:
B9HVQ-QPVH3-62BRH-J7PQ2-VJ8MD
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Hooray, I win! Will play sometime tonight and post impressions.
EDIT: Game was fun! Definitely exactly like reading a Choose Your Own Adventure without all that tedious page turning. I chortled at the writing, and had a good time. Certainly worth 80 MSP. Would recommend to others, and will definitely look at buying your next game. :^:
Yet they have their music available on iTunes when the Beatles do not? I'm sure they could be convinced with large enough money hats.
I had some time to waste and picked up a UK published music mag called Q, their sept 09 issue.
Jimmy Page, on why GH type games will never do Led Zeppelin justice, said "how many drummers can play like that? Let alone Dad on Christms Morning"
I don't think Jimmy Page gets Guitar Hero.
Oh, and seeing as they've finally released RB2 on Wii here in euroland (mine is in the post), has anyone got any numbers? I'm very interested in how this does.
Beat me on 360: Raybies666
I remember when I had time to be good at games.
I've got this great idea! Let's make a game, put it on retail shelves, and see how well it sells when no one knows about it. And then let's use the sales performance of this game to base whether or not we will make more games!
Seriously, why do companies make a game and NOT advertise it? Especially when you are using it as a baseline for future mature games? How stupid can they be?
I do wish they'd set the minimum price at a much lower price, but I think the "whatever you want" model is an interesting concept. What if more games adopted this as a means of gaining additional sales after the first few months of sales? Presumably, by this point costs will have been covered, so all sales are profit.
And jesus, the piracy rate of world of goo was fucking shameful. There was argument that it could *only* be as low as 80%, which is still fucking pathetic. People who pirate indie games like this have absolutely no respect for the medium whatsoever.