The Dear Leader
Banned
It sucks, all those games are incredible and are the type of games I want to see way more of.
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Bethesda and 3 and a half under-performing games in a row
- Thread starter dex3108
- Start date
CrichtonKicks
Member
RE7's 4 million-ish sales would be great for any of the games being discussed here.
for one, bethesda isn't exactly bleeding cash right now. another, i don't think they're greenlighting these games under the assumption they're surefire 5+ million sellers (caveat is Dishonored 2, as that probably was meant to match the first one and perhaps overperform). why else would they greenlight a sequel to TEW of all things? because they can
of course an L is an L and bean counters won't like that, adjustments will need to be made. but i don't see them freaking out and converting to a loot box GaaS future anytime soon
of course an L is an L and bean counters won't like that, adjustments will need to be made. but i don't see them freaking out and converting to a loot box GaaS future anytime soon
Yes, for a survival horror game it sold pretty well.
wild wild rice
Member
I love the games Bethesda publishes and hope they make enough $$$ to keep getting made.
None of the games we discuss here has "Resident Evil" in its title though. Different franchise, different expectations.
S
Steve.1981
Unconfirmed Member
For anybody craving some dedicated single player goodness, Bethesda are just on fire as a publisher these days and the games just keep coming.
Dishonoured, Prey, Wolfenstein, The Evil Within, Doom...
I have to imagine that they would simply stop funding these games, if they were all bombing or losing money or considered failures. That's not happening. In fact we're getting expansions and sequels.
I mean... Just enjoy the great games? No?
Dishonoured, Prey, Wolfenstein, The Evil Within, Doom...
I have to imagine that they would simply stop funding these games, if they were all bombing or losing money or considered failures. That's not happening. In fact we're getting expansions and sequels.
I mean... Just enjoy the great games? No?
FallenGrace
Member
While I have no interest in TEW2 Bethesda have been putting out great games, I simply love Dishonored, picked up Prey but have yet to play it and I will be getting Wolfenstein II for sure.
I hope steady sales, good budgeting and word of mouth have made these sales seem better than the front loaded sales most AAA titles have
I hope steady sales, good budgeting and word of mouth have made these sales seem better than the front loaded sales most AAA titles have
Moral Panic
Member
It's not good to make speculation about someone being fired when you have 0 proof. Its and incredibly damaging and potentially defamatory thing and people have been perma banned for it before.
S
Steve.1981
Unconfirmed Member
Raphael Colantonio made it very clear, on more than one occasion, that he was stepping down because he's barely stopped working for almost 20 years and is simply exhausted.
Ok thank you for the clarification.
Bethesda? Sure they will be ok but what about the developers?
D
Deleted member 325805
Unconfirmed Member
Their games usually run like shit which stops me from buying them at least. I was interested in both TEW2 and Dishonored 2 but skipped them both due to performance issues.
I don't think they're marketing their games well.
Dishonored 2, Prey and the Evil Within 2 release and I'm like 'they're out already? You're lying.' But they were.
I was surprised to find out that Wolfenstein 2 isn't releasing next year (I thought the Switch version was when it was releasing for everything), but in a week or two.
I feel like I better know when Bethesda's Switch offerings are coming out than their other titles at this point, even with my PC
Dishonored 2, Prey and the Evil Within 2 release and I'm like 'they're out already? You're lying.' But they were.
I was surprised to find out that Wolfenstein 2 isn't releasing next year (I thought the Switch version was when it was releasing for everything), but in a week or two.
I feel like I better know when Bethesda's Switch offerings are coming out than their other titles at this point, even with my PC
I can say pretty easily that I would have bought Prey in an instant if it had been the game that I wanted it to be (which was Prey 2). As it stood, the Prey that we ended up with just looked like a less interesting Bioshock to me which basically killed any interest that I had in it. I'm sure I'm not the only person that stopped caring about Prey when it changed direction.
Dishonored never really had my attention as steampunk just really isn't my bag, and Evil within 2 I'd buy but until I build my PC next year the only console at my disposal is my Switch.
Dishonored never really had my attention as steampunk just really isn't my bag, and Evil within 2 I'd buy but until I build my PC next year the only console at my disposal is my Switch.
The landscape of the industry is certainly changing, and there is an important discussion to be had there. But these specific games didn't just have "reduced sales" a la Resident Evil 7; they pretty much bombed, arguably in Dishonored 2's case, completely in Prey's case, and likely in Evil Within 2's case (too early to really tell, but it's looking like that's how it'll be).
The drastically reduced commercial performance of these games, coincidentally non big brand name single-player games released by Bethesda after their review policy went into effect, rests pretty squarely on that policy in my opinion.
They are the last major single player focused publisher and it shows that it can not be sustained anymore. Unless it's GTA/TES/Fallout tier, it's not worth investing. I'm concerned what Arkane or Tango will be doing next, rest of the company will adapt.
No marketing blah blah doesn't matter, there is enough marketing for them to sell much better that they have, more and they will be even bigger commercial failures. Market is so soft right now, it just doesn't work. Most people are just playing handful of big games. They don't feel the need to buy every new release. It's happening to every new release this year, we had a report from NPD too about sp games, the time for this kind of AAA games is over.
No marketing blah blah doesn't matter, there is enough marketing for them to sell much better that they have, more and they will be even bigger commercial failures. Market is so soft right now, it just doesn't work. Most people are just playing handful of big games. They don't feel the need to buy every new release. It's happening to every new release this year, we had a report from NPD too about sp games, the time for this kind of AAA games is over.
That game has had some hefty discounts and is basically a free giveaway at key resellers now though so revenue wise Bethesda can't be happy.
SuperBudgie1582
Neo Member
Do we actually know the sales numbers for Dishonerd 2 and Prey? Because if we dont and Bethesda hasn't commented, then this thread is based on broad assumptions and absolutely pointless.
anothertech
Member
Im a gaming enthusiast that is on GAF every single day reading news about games.
I dont (and still dont) know what the hell those games you listed are. That says somthing about their marketing I think.
I dont (and still dont) know what the hell those games you listed are. That says somthing about their marketing I think.
Saucycarpdog
Member
Nah. Wolfenstein, Doom, Fallout, and Elder Scrolls still sell very well. I think it'll just make Bethesda stick to these core franchises with SP releases.
I do see them doing a Destiny style game in the future. Probably that rumored Starfield game.
JigglesBunny
Banned
One of the only AAA publishers releasing solid single player games with minimal bullshit business practices involved
and their games tank.
Its like people are telling the industry they want more of the shit that they complain about.
well, Creator Club aside
Its like people are telling the industry they want more of the shit that they complain about.
timetokill
Banned
I feel like I'm generally pretty informed when it comes to games and when Prey came out and people were talking about it, I literally thought it had to be like a remaster of the 2006 game or something
Tatersalad
Member
Where is Skyrim 2 / Elder Scrolls 6? Almost 6 years since Skyrim came out and not even a hint of the next one being started yet. Seems very disingenuous to say no one wants SP games any more when they're not giving the people the type of SP game they actually want. I read somewhere that they don't want to be pigeonholed as the company that just puts out TES and Fallout games, but c'mon...
Kabuki Waq
Member
Prey and Evil Within 2 were both day one games for me....until lack of pro support came out.
After investing in a new tv and pro I will not support games that ignore the ps4 pro.
Sucks but I have to vote with my wallet.
After investing in a new tv and pro I will not support games that ignore the ps4 pro.
Sucks but I have to vote with my wallet.
SimpleCRIPPLE
Member
Both Dishonored 2 and Prey had performance issues on PS4 Pro at launch. That was enough to prevent a Day 1 buy from me, and by the time the games were patched, the next big thing worth $60 had arrived.
Games need to arrive bug free and with solid perforance on Day 1. Theres no excuse to expect people to pay full price at launch, then wait a couple weeks for the final patches to hit and iron out any issues. Theres simply too much competition.
Games need to arrive bug free and with solid perforance on Day 1. Theres no excuse to expect people to pay full price at launch, then wait a couple weeks for the final patches to hit and iron out any issues. Theres simply too much competition.
texhnolyze
Banned
SP only, no microtransactions, no loot boxes, no season pass. Still pretty low hype around here.
Why do GAF hate Bethesda so much again?
Why do GAF hate Bethesda so much again?
old manatee
Banned
The games were great, must be marketing.
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_/ ¯Not enough waifus
Woo-Fu
Banned
That's a two-way street though and I'd bet the *Shock side of the street has a lot more traffic than the Prey side.
But great husbandos: Doom Slayer, for example.
dr_rus
Member
I actually think that WTNC will sell quite good and will likely beat WTNO launch sales. When there's no marketing sales are coming from P2P viral marketing and I can totally see it being meh on all previously released sequel titles but I can't imagine a lot of negative stuff about WTNO.
One of Bethesda's issues is that they don't care enough about building an all encompassing universe around their titles. I mean, take Dishonored for example - we've had essentially four games in this franchise already but we hardly explored the world it is set in, they haven't really established any story, characters there and the last game was all but a probable final episode already. This doesn't help with selling sequels.
Their games are mechanically brilliant but they lack a bit in the soul department.
family_guy
Member
I've done my part. Bought all the games except the new Dishonored standalone. Waiting to finish Dishonored 2 first.
Maybe, I'd disagree though. I'd argue that a game that allowed you to play as a space bounty hunter in an open world would have garnered more attention then what Prey became after the reboot. The reaction to both versions was pretty different and I came away feeling more people were interested in the original vision of Prey 2.
Impossible to know for certain though of course since Beth(pub) had their falling out with Human head.
SolidSnakeUS
Member
Dishonored 2 and Prey deserved better. Both were great games.
But nope, all they do is make sure they put their marketing and time into ESO and more versions of Skyrim.
Honestly this reminds me of Square Enix with IO and currently with Eidos. They put such hard milestones and requirements on their games yet even if a FF game fails, they will never bat an eye. Didn't they say that Tomb Raider selling 5M wasn't good enough?
But nope, all they do is make sure they put their marketing and time into ESO and more versions of Skyrim.
Honestly this reminds me of Square Enix with IO and currently with Eidos. They put such hard milestones and requirements on their games yet even if a FF game fails, they will never bat an eye. Didn't they say that Tomb Raider selling 5M wasn't good enough?
I'll probably buy Prey at some point soon on sale; game did look sweet but definitely felt there wasn't much hype around it. I know they did some marketing but it wasn't enough to hold me -- Maybe it was other big releases around the time? Thinking back, I was probably still hooked on Overwatch..
Hale-XF11
Member
What's weird is that I'm a huge Dishonored fan and fell in love with Arkane as a developer, but even I didn't know that Prey existed until some time after its release. I feel like I know nothing about that game even after all the praise it's gotten. I plan to get it eventually though since I'm fairly certain that I'll love it.
semiconscious
Member
man, that's just strange as hell!
...bethesda is, indeed, a strange publisher. no idea why they're even bothering to support the development to these games in the first place. even squeenix does a better job of promoting their non-rpg single-player games than bethesda...
Soul of the Beast
Member
Their marketing strategy is fucking trash, I didn't even know Dishonored: Death of the Outside was out until I see this thread.
If I'm not a TEW fan I probably won't even know about TEW2's release. I've seen so many streamers on Twitch getting sponsored by Bethesda to play TEW2, and seriously that's just a shitty marketing strategy, you can't count on livestreams to sell the game. This isn't PUBG.
If I'm not a TEW fan I probably won't even know about TEW2's release. I've seen so many streamers on Twitch getting sponsored by Bethesda to play TEW2, and seriously that's just a shitty marketing strategy, you can't count on livestreams to sell the game. This isn't PUBG.
The game still has to appeal in order to sell.
I wonder if they've managed to keep the budgets on those games locked down to reasonable amounts. Might be why they can chase the long-tail numbers instead of the front-loaded stuff everyone else relies on. Times have changed from last gen, and I think current sku's will be supported and for sale for MUCH longer than previously.
StereoVsn
Member
Terrible review policies and bad marketing for all of those games. For some of them the release windows are terrible. Then to add on to that we had technical issues plaguing both Dishonored 2 and Prey.
Frankly the technical issues kept me away from both and at this point my backlog is too large. Maybe sometimes in the future. Bethesda has nobody to blame but itself for this.
On the other hand Wolfenstein seems to be pushed pretty hard in comparison so I think we will see good sales from it.
Frankly the technical issues kept me away from both and at this point my backlog is too large. Maybe sometimes in the future. Bethesda has nobody to blame but itself for this.
On the other hand Wolfenstein seems to be pushed pretty hard in comparison so I think we will see good sales from it.
CrichtonKicks
Member
Can't agree in terms of the worlds. I think they are star of the show honestly- Dishonored just has fantastic world design. The world and background lore are stronger than any of the characters and story in either game.
The new Wolfenstein has a really great world with its Alternate 60s as well.
But you are right on in terms of characters. Really the only character that Bethesda can hang their hat on is the new version of BJ Blazkowicz and its probably not a small part of why the sequel to TNO seems to be getting more interest than Bethesda's other sequels.
man, that's just strange as hell!
bethesda is, indeed, a strange publisher. no idea why they're even bothering to support the development to these games in the first place. even squeenix does a better job of promoting their non-rpg single-player games than bethesda...
Hitman (830k per Steamspy) and DX: Mankind Divided (850k) disagree with you. Both have sold less than Dishonored 2 (950k) despite being on the market longer.