Not denying the correlation, just stating that it's funny that people with a lack of critical thinking and analytical skills hold so much importance in a billion dollar entertainment industry.
I guess it's what our medium deserves :/
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Square Enix ships Tomb Raider 3.4M, Sleeping Dogs 1.75M, Hitman 3.6M
- Thread starter Pooya
- Start date
Not denying the correlation, just stating that it's funny that people with a lack of critical thinking and analytical skills hold so much importance in a billion dollar entertainment industry.
I guess it's what our medium deserves :/
GenericUser
Member
Sleeping Dogs had a really bad demo. An open world game without an open world. If I would have been able to experience the driving mechanics and see what the city had offer, I might have picked it up.
The new Tomb Raider has massively outsold the last few, and they seemed to fit the bill of what you think a Tomb Raider should be.
Quicksilver4648
Member
What is with some people in this thread saying the slide doesn't represent actual sales from those games but rather the hopeful sales projections? After doing some quick Googling it seems as if every publication is united in saying that the slide refers to expected sales by March 31st.
Eurogamer
"3.4 million copies of Tomb Raider have been sold in four weeks, publisher Square Enix has revealed, which is not enough to hit the game's sales target."
Joystiq
"how broken is Square Enix's business if Tomb Raider's expected 3.4 million units sold (not including digital distribution) is considered "weak?""
PSU
"Square Enix has confirmed that the critically-acclaimed Tomb Raider reboot has sold 3.4 million copies globally since its release on March 5."
"Both Sleeping Dogs and Hitman: Absolution also didn’t measure up to expectations, selling 1.75 million units since August and 3.6 million units since November, respectively."
Huffington Post
"The reboot of iconic video game Tomb Raider has apparently missed its sales targets - despite shifting more than 3.4 million copies in three weeks."
Develop
"Sales of 3.4 million for Square Enix’s Tomb Raider reboot in the space of a month were not enough to meet targets"
"Hitman: Absolution reported 3.6 million sales, while Sleeping Dogs hit 1.75 million."
CVG
"By the end of the publisher's financial year on March 31, 2013, the games are expected to have moved 3.4 million, 3.6 million and 1.75 million units respectively outside of Japan and excluding digital sales.
Square Enix didn't reveal its internal sales targets for the console game trio, each of which was generally well received by critics."
Gamespot
"Tomb Raider sold 3.4 million units worldwide since launch this month, Hitman: Absolution has moved 3.6 million copies to date, and Sleeping Dogs sold 1.75 million units since its summer launch."
Eurogamer
"3.4 million copies of Tomb Raider have been sold in four weeks, publisher Square Enix has revealed, which is not enough to hit the game's sales target."
Joystiq
"how broken is Square Enix's business if Tomb Raider's expected 3.4 million units sold (not including digital distribution) is considered "weak?""
PSU
"Square Enix has confirmed that the critically-acclaimed Tomb Raider reboot has sold 3.4 million copies globally since its release on March 5."
"Both Sleeping Dogs and Hitman: Absolution also didn’t measure up to expectations, selling 1.75 million units since August and 3.6 million units since November, respectively."
Huffington Post
"The reboot of iconic video game Tomb Raider has apparently missed its sales targets - despite shifting more than 3.4 million copies in three weeks."
Develop
"Sales of 3.4 million for Square Enix’s Tomb Raider reboot in the space of a month were not enough to meet targets"
"Hitman: Absolution reported 3.6 million sales, while Sleeping Dogs hit 1.75 million."
CVG
"By the end of the publisher's financial year on March 31, 2013, the games are expected to have moved 3.4 million, 3.6 million and 1.75 million units respectively outside of Japan and excluding digital sales.
Square Enix didn't reveal its internal sales targets for the console game trio, each of which was generally well received by critics."
Gamespot
"Tomb Raider sold 3.4 million units worldwide since launch this month, Hitman: Absolution has moved 3.6 million copies to date, and Sleeping Dogs sold 1.75 million units since its summer launch."
The main problem is that it doesn't take difference of opinion into account. Not everyone loves every game, so you should exepct 100% positive reviews. In chasing that target and trying to make games that they think everyone likes, they're rendering the traditional 'AAA' game utterly boring. It's the same as what happened in the music industry.
If those are really sales figures, then it really is unacceptable if they are too low for SE. All of those figures would normally be good numbers for these games considering what they are. Hell it would mean Tomb Raider already outsold the lifetime numbers of Underworld If I recall that games sales numbers correctly.
How much could SE have shaved off the budget if they hadn't wasted money on getting Eidos Montreal to make a multiplayer game for TR?
How much could SE have shaved off the budget if they hadn't wasted money on getting Eidos Montreal to make a multiplayer game for TR?
It's not a bad game, but they were apparently so afraid of frustrating players that they made it super guided and easy. The game is mostly combat, which can get frustrating in its monotony. The platforming is reduced to very basic traversal, levels are designed so that you don't really have to figure out where to go (but if you somehow do there is glowing white paint on everything you can interact with), and there are very few tomb-like experiences and puzzles. The controls are more solid, but they don't do anything as complex with them as they did before so it's hard to tell. The levels can be beautiful, so going through them is enjoyable, but to me it felt more like a guided tour.
You might find it more enjoyable since it's less likely to cause frustration, but I don't think dumbing the gameplay down as much as they have is a good thing. I think what they made here could make a really good game, but it falls way short. It reminds me mostly of a very dumbed down Arkham Asylum with cover shooting and scripted sequences. It was just really disappointing to me considering the franchise was about platforming and puzzle solving. I don't mind being a little frustrated if it's caused by good game design and not the game being unfair. The old games may have had frustratingly slow traversal and illogical switch puzzles that were unfairly frustrating, but this reboot threw the baby out with the bathwater.
I wonder how much Tomb Raider's budget was compared to previous games. How much more would it have to sell?
It's definitely not smarter. The combat is more involved, but the platforming and level design are dumbed down in how much they require you to think. It creates a quicker pace by not challenging you.
I already conceded that I was probably wrong.
3.6 million just seems crazy high for Hitman, making it even more unbelievable that it was a disappointment for S-E. Reminds me of Capcom's predictions that RE6 would be the highest selling game in the history of their company. When that is the bar, it becomes pretty easy to miss it.
I don't know about the new Tomb Raider man, but the old ones had plenty of satisfying gameplay.
In a month no less.
It's like S-E looked that the peak numbers for every Eidos series and decided that anything less than that is bomba. Nevermind the fact that all of these franchises have seen sales declines since their peak.
Those sale figures look pretty decent considering the IP and quality of the titles. Somebody really needs to bash some heads together, 12 months ago when they said they were 'betting the company' on Tomb Raider everybody and hit cat knew that wasn't going to end well for them.
I'm hoping the cat has since landed itself the new CEO position.
I'm hoping the cat has since landed itself the new CEO position.
sacrificengineer
Member
Well, looks like Wada should run as fast as he can from this company. It's almost in shambles now. I hope new management will finally drive SE out of this shit. Their games sell millions and still SE is in red. Shame.
TR was fantastic. Glad to see it sold.
I know right? I wonder how good the restructuring will be for them.
I guess I'm simple or something.
DID TR sell 3.4 million copies, or was that the amount shipped to stores?
Next gen, there are going to be a shit ton of companies out of business. This is not going to get any better.
THIS is how you know your entire industry's cost model is broken:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations
Sir Garbageman
Member
My thoughts exactly. I hate to be one of those, "the industry is going to crash and burn next gen!" types but if a triple AAA release can sell over 3 mil in a month and still come in under expectations... :/
ColdBlooder
Banned
3.4 million copies are a failure these days? wow.
How do they expect to break even in the early days of new consoles then?
How do they expect to break even in the early days of new consoles then?
I really would like to know what the production and marketing budgets for these games were if these sales are disappointments. This is a completely broken business model. These budgets must be gotten under control or things are just going to be so much worse next year. Now what I want to see is if Square Enix continues to keep it's games off the Wii U going forward or will try to make their engines work now rather then later. This is only going to get worse once the PS4/720 come out because these companies don't understand how to budget or what moderation is. These games clearly need to be on all platforms and I wonder if they can keep trying to act as if they don't. So many companies are going to fall in the next few years because of this.
The_Darkest_Red
Member
It is absolutely absurd to expect a Tomb Raider reboot to sell more than 3.4 million copies. Period.
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
Aquamarine
Member
Diminishing returns. Prices decrease so quickly these days for new games that 3.4 million copies doesn't make nearly as much money as it used to.
Mystic_Wanderer
Member
Notice it just didn't meet expectations - not that they necessarily lost money on the title or anything like that.
Voice of Reason
Banned
We need to take a step back and look at how ridiculous this is.
zerokoolpsx
Member
Damn, that's crazy. 3.4 million is a failure in 3 weeks?
But isn't that more of a retailing problem as opposed to a publisher problem?
metalslimer
Member
Insane. The marketing campaign was massive though
It has to be this.
Glass Rebel
Member
Tricky on suicide watch.
Derrick sacrificing a lamb to the vidyagods.
Derrick sacrificing a lamb to the vidyagods.
Str0ngStyle
Member
If 3.4 million is a failure, then you have Fucked. Up. No wonder Wada got peaced out
I think that S-E expected the Eidos arm to prop up the entire company this fiscal year. S-E Japan released the Dragon Quest 7 remake and not much else. I really doubt that 7 million copies between Hitman and Tomb Raider was not enough to turn a profit, even if they had to pay some cash back for pricing protection. Also, wasn't Sleeping Dogs well under development when they picked it up? Seems to me, the real problem is that those three games did not generate enough income to offset both their development/marketing costs and the money being poured into FF14 and other titles in Japan.
oh D:
maquiladora
Member
So much failing to meet sales expectations lately.
Sold to retailers, not customers.
eot
Banned
Who knows, the only source is that picture in the OP
JordanLMiller
Member
3.4 million is now considered failure...
If that's true something's seriously wrong.
If that's true something's seriously wrong.
ElectricBlue187
Member
I don't know about a crash but I can see smaller budget games especially indie games becoming more of a focus over the next decade.