Iced Arcade
Member
Honestly I know 1 MAYBE 2 people out of about 30 friends who buys physical games now.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Many of October's biggest AAA titles seem to be underperforming greatly (NPD info)
- Thread starter AHA-Lambda
- Start date
- Sales-Age
- Status
dottme
Member
The marketing on this game was a big mess.
I wish they have got a good amount of money from Microsoft.
But I would like to know how many copy of a one year old game at full price they expected to sell.
KratosEnergyDrink
Member
I don't think the problem is Toys to life, this has still great potential, but Skylanders is boring. A better game could still sell. How sells Lego? Let's see if Nintendo has something on this front for Switch next year.
I mean there could be a lot of reasons that consoles are doing well while sales lag - beyond digital.
People buy their favorite game aka Sports Frenchise, Shooter, RPG etc and spend a bunch of time getting gud...you have that one game and your side games but you are always going back to GTA Online, Dota, CS, LoL, WoW etc.
Than you have another bunch of people that play a lot of games but wait on deals. Right now the consumer has much more information and especially parents are now much saavier about purchasing games for their children/teenagers or teaching their kids about how to deal with money by purchasing wanted items at a discount.
There is no notable new IPs or big properties to arise so far this gen - Sony and Microsoft hadn't had that one or two games that are able to move systems. That is I think entirely on their smaller output as publishers and most of that output being games that don't really setout to provide an entirely different way for people to get addicted to an experience.
Lastly and honestly this is my reason for basically not buying too many games right now and relates to the above point is fatigue from these types of games. I honestly prefer some new spins on the tired formula not a new paint job or some small novelty difference. WD2 looked like another generic Ubisoft Open World Game... TF2 looked like another futurisitic shooter(I prefer a game where the entire fights are in mechas and you can fly around and demolish an entire city for example) that's the type of TF2 I'd play... I have no opinion on GoW and why it was released on this date - Microsoft just want a free game to bundle for the holidays is my main guess...
Although that might be true for your group of friends it is not indicative of the industry at large. Most publishers indicate DD to be around 30+% of total sales.
ioriyagami
Member
I am not surprised, this is the year of people voting (either with their wallets or with their ballots) terribly, after all.
Jokes aside, I'd suggest doomsayers to wait until after Christmas to evaluate the performance of AAA titles.
Jokes aside, I'd suggest doomsayers to wait until after Christmas to evaluate the performance of AAA titles.
privitsan02
Member
And no one is surprised at either Titanfall 2, Gears of War 4 or Rise of the Tomb Raider flopping. Stupid marketing decisions and tired ideas don't seem to be getting an easy pass this generation. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Watch Dogs 2 are next on the flop list.
It's upsetting because we're seeing genuinely good games not do well here. All of them, as well as Dishonored 2 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided are very good games, but they are all releasing at awful time periods. Maybe following Sony and just avoiding the holiday season is a smart choice? Titanfall 2, Watch Dogs 2, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Dishonored 2 didn't need to come out at this time of the year.
Best wishes.
It's upsetting because we're seeing genuinely good games not do well here. All of them, as well as Dishonored 2 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided are very good games, but they are all releasing at awful time periods. Maybe following Sony and just avoiding the holiday season is a smart choice? Titanfall 2, Watch Dogs 2, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Dishonored 2 didn't need to come out at this time of the year.
Best wishes.
Iced Arcade
Member
Also think game prices kill. Myself here in Canada the price tag is $79.99 + 15% sales tax (NS) so I learned to be less wasteful and only buy every now and then.
TheMan
Member
Call of duty flopped in the UK? The times, they are a changing.
And it sucks that TF2 bombed. It was a good game, and more mechs are always welcome. EA can go fuck themselves for how they shit on Respawn with that release date.
7DollarHagane
Banned
Too many games in too short of time. Titanfall should have been a September game. Same with watch dogs or dishonored.
Hoho for breakfast
Member
Yep agree 100% with the first part. Toys to Life could still sell a ton, if they'd take the time and do it right. Instead they give us Skylanders 10 and whatever the last Disney Infinity was that killed the series.
Agreed. Stupid big budget games just don't have the soul, low budget games just don't have the polish. Make games great again.
I appreciate the idea but you just eliminated most of the big AAA holiday releases. Are you suggesting the industry should just stop releasing their games during the holidays? Also, if everyone releases their games during the "offseason" then it stops being the offseason.
Chobel
Member
Damn! leeh made a lot of friends recently.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
If Skyrim Remaster sells more than FFXV........................oh boy.
Ya that titanfall release date did not make any sense. Was pretty much DOA. Normally I would of bought it and I still will at some point just to many other things I want to play rite now. Q1 don't seem to be slowing down either when it comes to game releases.
ioriyagami
Member
No, seriously. It is too crazy to think people are just waiting for Black Friday sales to buy those games? I personally am. Let's see those sales numbers after the season...
You just doomed yourself. Although I would not be surprised if it does better than FFXV in November.
Not crazy at all but people waited for BF last year as well and it did not impact October numbers.
FF XV seems rather safe. A lot of hype, plenty of attention and massive marketing. I guess if the game turns out terrible it could turn out differently.
I'm not going to hedge my bets, but it depends on how it reviews, but I can see it doing decently.
It'll have a boost in Japan, and if it's a good game it'll have legs WW. It's going to drop in price and it'll be released on PC at some point as well. That's another potential audience. Not to mention people double dipping on that as well.
Also at least here in the states with FFXV coming out on the 29th. Won't that mean it'll be tracking in December NPD?
I lol'd
but again: I'm not saying handhelds don't matter. Handhelds died because they failed to adapt or because something (smartphones) is better than them for the average consumer. That's life. The next and only future handheld is being advertised as a console, that says it all.
Regarding Wii vs WiiU, it's important for some actors, but irrelevant for others. CoD, Dice, Rockstar or EA Sports are not really missing the Wii, neither are Sony or Microsoft. Just Dance, party games, toys to life and Nintendo itself on the other side... yes, they miss it. The customers from the later are now being served in another place.
It seems like you bought the wrong game. ND's games always are story-heavy, why bothered with UC4?
I didn't buy any of these games and have no desire to. They just don't interest me at all. AAA games are so boring these days! So, so boring! I've played some good indy games this year but AAA is pure garbage. Thank god that VR came out this year and that I have a Vive and Rift because those "tech demos" are so much more compelling than anything that the big budget studios are coming up with.
LordBaztion
Member
Ok Phil, time to save Titanfall 3 as MS did with Titanfall 1.
what you're mentioning is the whole story of people transitioning from dedicated hardware to another section of the industry. can't find it here? they'll find it somewhere else. i'm saying it's something that isn't exclusive to genres or hardware makers. it's something that affects everything because everyone wants something that's a little cheaper and more accessible with more variety. there's no platform or game type that's immune to those demands and we're seeing it happen even here, where things used to be considered safe so long as the big software kept selling.
LinkMaster111
Member
Titanfall 2 is not a surprise, everyone except EA apparently knew that they were sending that game to die. It's a real shame too, I'm playing it right now and the campaign is excellent.
BF1 doing well is also not really a surprise, strong reviews and a fresh setting set it up well. Weird to see how EA got that game so right and then got Titanfall's launch so wrong.
Mafia III selling well is weird, game looked rough and the reviews were mediocre.
I thought Gears 4 sold well, I guess not. With Halo and Gears both selling mediocre I wonder what Microsoft will do to get people excited again.
Rise of the Tomb Raider should have been on PS4 on day one, simple as that. There's little chance that the money Microsoft paid SE to make it exclusive for a year covered the money they lost through poor sales. Not to mention they tried to release an old game in the midst of a bunch of new ones.
Skylanders was the next Guitar Hero, Activision milked it dry while failing to keep it interesting and now its time in the sun is over. I hope it doesn't spell doom for amiibo and Lego Dimensions, I think those two can survive on the backs of much stronger brand recognition (though I would have said the same about Disney Infinity).
Skyrim is, yet again, a beast. Maybe I should finally get around to playing it...
BF1 doing well is also not really a surprise, strong reviews and a fresh setting set it up well. Weird to see how EA got that game so right and then got Titanfall's launch so wrong.
Mafia III selling well is weird, game looked rough and the reviews were mediocre.
I thought Gears 4 sold well, I guess not. With Halo and Gears both selling mediocre I wonder what Microsoft will do to get people excited again.
Rise of the Tomb Raider should have been on PS4 on day one, simple as that. There's little chance that the money Microsoft paid SE to make it exclusive for a year covered the money they lost through poor sales. Not to mention they tried to release an old game in the midst of a bunch of new ones.
Skylanders was the next Guitar Hero, Activision milked it dry while failing to keep it interesting and now its time in the sun is over. I hope it doesn't spell doom for amiibo and Lego Dimensions, I think those two can survive on the backs of much stronger brand recognition (though I would have said the same about Disney Infinity).
Skyrim is, yet again, a beast. Maybe I should finally get around to playing it...
Plus Dark Souls and Uncharted 4. All those games execpt Far Cry released in the spring. There is a space for games between april and July. People want to play new games and are willing to get them.
ZehDon
Gold Member
As others have mentioned, releasing all your major titles within a month or two of one another is catching up with the industry. I simply cannot afford to bite on all the games, so I wait till the end of year sales, and buy two or three, instead of just one on its launch day.
I mean FFXV needs to perform well in the West.
Japan is not going to cut FF any slack... it's likely that it won't even reach a million there and the first week might be something the region of 550-750k(FF being very front-loaded in Japan)
I don't know how it will be perceived in the West but if a lot of people have a similar reaction to Conan it won't be pretty and it might displace NMS from the collective conscienceless.
I don't know we shall see, I'm personally not optimistic but who knows it might be just awful marketing or a joke I'm not getting.
semiconscious
Member
glad mafia 3 got out of the gate early, & did relatively well. obvious labor of love, & a game that deserves more respect than it's received...
Forsaken82
Member
I disagree. People aren't saving money for games that aren't yet out (because those people will likely buy the games no matter what), they are waiting for the discounts on black friday. Seriously... you plan on buying a video game you know is going to have pretty significantly price drop a month down the road, do you pay full price for it on day 1?
Its tough to gauge sales of Late october/early november releases because EVERYONE expects a discount soon after release. It's been this way for years now... Everyone who plays video games knows to wait for black friday for the best discounts. It will be far more telling after the holiday season when everyone takes advantage of the sales and their gift cards.
bloodyroarxx
Member
Knowing multuple people who work in retain in games at least around here the Toys To Life games do much better for Christmas sales.
Smokey_Run
Member
Most of those don't surprise me at all. I expect Dishonored 2 and Watch Dogs 2 will suffer a similar fate this month. One to a horrible marketing campaign and the other to a bad first game.
Battlefield was seen as doing something refreshing, Titanfall 2 had a terrible release date and a setting some are getting tired of, Mafia 3 had good buzz and exposure leading up to launch, ROTTR released a year later and at full price after bombing the first time out, and toys to life genre seems dead in general so I don't know why anyone expected anything out of Skylanders.
Also, if you're a smart consumer, why would you buy any of those games at launch unless you really wanted them given the fact most of them are $30 or less this week? Just wait the 3-4 weeks and get them for half price. It's what I do anymore in the holiday season.
Battlefield was seen as doing something refreshing, Titanfall 2 had a terrible release date and a setting some are getting tired of, Mafia 3 had good buzz and exposure leading up to launch, ROTTR released a year later and at full price after bombing the first time out, and toys to life genre seems dead in general so I don't know why anyone expected anything out of Skylanders.
Also, if you're a smart consumer, why would you buy any of those games at launch unless you really wanted them given the fact most of them are $30 or less this week? Just wait the 3-4 weeks and get them for half price. It's what I do anymore in the holiday season.
semiconscious
Member
It launched down 48.4% compared to last year. Last year also saw the release of Fallout and Star Wars during the holidays so it's going to be a tough comparison the next couple of months on NPD.
No one even cares about whatever the hell Conan was talking about. And no. Nothing will displace NMS. The producer isn't lying about what's in the game. Not to mention the gameplay is pretty good.
And eh? Aside from the shitty MS stage demo and the conan thing that no one even cares about. I think marketing for this has been pretty good. Judgement demo and been received very well.
Kayo Police
Member
yep. hope that deal with ms was worth it...
This is what I dont understand.... now SE has pretty much killed any chance of the game getting a 3rd entry. I still to this day do not understand why SE decided to take the deal with MS. UNLESS MS actually paid them tanker loads of money.
NullPointer
Member
Its a double shame because the PS4 release is so damn good and a big improvement over the Xbox release and yet its still caught up in the wake of that bad decision.
- Status