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[Alcotholic]

A sleeper hit is a term used in the entertainment industry for a film that plays successfully for a long period and becomes a big success, despite having relatively little promotion or lacking a successful opening. It is also used in a similar sense for music releases.

I saw this term used a bit for video games years ago. Do you think it could be a word still used in the game industry today or is the industry too aggressive for games to be "Sleeper Hits"?

Edit:
Some gaming sites predicted certain games would be sleeper hits. As unpredictable as the gaming industry is, which games coming out do you think could be defined as so and why?

 

[THEF3AR]

I believe Sleeping Dogs would be considered a sleeper hit, and so would the original Dead Rising.

 

[Takao]

Sleeper hit would describe almost every downloadable game not from an established company.

 

[Arthos]

Shadows of the Damned.

Enslaved.

I feel like I'm missing a few that I, at least, would consider to be sleeper hits.

Also Valdis Story on Steam.

 

[bernardobri]

ICO
The Ace Attorney trilogy in America.
Yakuza 3
Demon's Souls
The World Ends with You
Fire Emblem Awakening
The Binding of Isaac
999
Yo-kai Watch

 

[SHL23]

Hard Corps: Uprising. Best game on XBL and PSN but no one talks about it. It's like Contra but 100x better.

Shadows of the Damned. Suda51 and Shinji Mikami and they got it published by EA. Great game that no one cared about. EA had the cash to promote the shit out of this game but didnt. One of my favorite games last gen

edit: didnt read properly so my post sounds stupid

 

[Kazerei]

Minecraft

 

[Fotos]

Minecraft

I think this is the biggest one.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

I think Demon's Souls is the perfect example of this. If I remember right, it developed a cult following from word of mouth and importers, so much so, that Atlus picked up the rights to publish it here. Even then it flew under the radar, but grew in popularity enough to make Dark Souls a huge hit.

 

[Corpekata]

Darksiders, probably?

 

[Icelandic_Jazz]

Katamari Damacy is the first that comes to mind.

 

[ZSeba]

arkham asylum

 

[mrjohill]

The souls series

 

[DOWN]

arkham asylum

It sold 2.5 mil in a month tho

 

[Pathos]

Crackdown

 

[Robot Pants]

Deadly premonition
Demons souls

 

[Grief.exe]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

 

[TheInternetNomad]

Nier.

 

[Anfang]

Dragons Dogma

 

[Phediuk]

Minecraft.

end of thread.

 

[DOWN]

How is Minecraft a sleeper hit? Didn't it mega sell during Beta and is still getting major ports by major companies?

 

[dmix90]

The Darkness. Shame there is no pc version, framerate on consoles is awful. Also loved second one.

 

[BigDug13]

Crackdown. People bought it for a Halo Beta code and it turned out to be a fantastic game.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

How is Minecraft a sleeper hit? Didn't it mega sell during Beta and is still getting major ports by major companies?

you do understand the hit part right?

It came out of nowhere and became a huge success pretty quickly, spreading by word of mouth. I don't know if there was any marketing for it at the start.

 

[Oxirane]

Minesweeper
Solitaire
FreeCell
Space Cadet Pinball

 

[Zoned]

Outlast.

 

[Poimandres]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

This is a good one!

Maybe Wolf: The New Order?

 

[Noisepurge]

Demon Souls definitely was a sleeper and spawned the whole Dark Souls series.

 

[kudoboi]

CSGO
minecraft
GMOD
DayZ

 

[ZSeba]

It sold 2.5 mil in a month tho

yeah, but it did have little promotion before it came out.

 

[TURBO1112]

Wolfenstein. I didnt hear anything about this game leading up to its release. Loved this game.

 

[xir]

Hmmm, I think a real sleeper needs to have both critical and financial success with no real hype leading up to it.

I remember when Mark of Kri got game of the month from EGM. That came out of nowhere. Not sure how well it sold though.

Katamari Damacy, for sure.

Demon's Souls to a degree, it had some import hype, but I believe it was #11 on NPD the month it was released.

Scribblenauts got a bit of hype right before launch, but I remember edge had a single screenshot months before that. That sold pretty well.

People mentioning Fire Emblem 3DS. It sure got a lot of talk! Did it sell well?

Oh, Odin Sphere? I know it got a greatest hits

 

[Jimmyfenix]

 

[littlegrasshopper]

 

[Tenki]

Didn't this bomb?

 

[semiconscious]

I think Demon's Souls is the perfect example of this. If I remember right, it developed a cult following from word of mouth and importers, so much so, that Atlus picked up the rights to publish it here. Even then it flew under the radar, but grew in popularity enough to make Dark Souls a huge hit.

you remember correctly. sleeper hit of last gen, easily...

 

[LurkerPrime]

Divinity: Original Sin.

The developer, Larian Studios, only had the funds for two ads... the game has been topping the sales charts on Steam since its release almost a month ago. This is purely from positive word-of-mouth, since the mainstream media has little interest in an epic-length throwback RPG with zero hand-holding.

Edit: Ok, now that I think of it this may be a little early to call. But I think the momentum it has garnered will continue for some time, firmly establishing it as a (sleeper) hit.

 

[Piston Hyundai]

Hard Corps: Uprising. Best game on XBL and PSN but no one talks about it. It's like Contra but 100x better.

I'd say it's a watered-down version of Contra that shits all over its namesake, and is plagued by bullshit DLC, but to each his own, I guess!

 

[Moobabe]

CSGO
minecraft
GMOD
DayZ

CS GO? The follow up to CS 1.6 and CS Source was a sleeper hit?

 

[NateDog]

Didn't Catherine take a little while to get going but end up doing pretty well due to solid reviews and word of mouth (so to speak) recommendations?

 

[Mass_Pincup]

The only one I can think of is Yokai watch, with it's first few week I don't think that anyone would believe that it would be a multi million franchise.

 

[OnPoint]

I believe Sleeping Dogs would be considered a sleeper hit, and so would the original Dead Rising.

Sleeping Dogs was heavily hyped and had a huge marketing budget behind it. No way.

Edit: I was thinking of Watch Dogs. Egg meet face.

 

[The Lamonster]

Shovel Knight?

 

[Baust]

Persona 4?

It really picked up in popularity once the anime aired and Golden came out.

 

[DarthWalden]

Borderlands?


Honestly hadn't heard anything about it until some decent reviews and for some reason up in Canada launched at 40.... Became a pretty big hit and spawned 2 sequels.

 

[Jotamide]

Just Cause 2

 

[Orayn]

I remember Far Cry 2 being overshadowed by other releases and having its hype fizzle out pretty quickly, but people really grew to appreciate it and sales were good enough to warrant a sequel.

Borderlands?

Very good example, actually. Pachter said it would be a huge flop, but it wound up a multi-million seller. It seems he underestimated the appeal of combining co-op shooters with loot games.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Just Cause 2

demo of the year

 

[Mr-Joker]

I can't think of one at the moment. Maybe Pokémon Red and Green in Japan? Since the game didn't pick up until the Mew rumour started spread the playground.

Yakuza 3

Didn't that game sell poorly?

Didn't this bomb?

Yes it did.

Shovel Knight?

Technically it had a kickstarter page, so I would say no.

 

[adamantypants]

FarCry 3?

I remember that game came out and everyone kinda forgot it was releasing. Turned out to be a super fun game.