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Mass Effect: Andromeda is the 3rd biggest UK launch of the year
- Thread starter Crossing Eden
- Start date
I don't think it has? DA:I was the biggest launch Bioware has ever had from their announcements.
And it's tricky. I absolutely want more Mass Effect - it's my favourite ever gaming series, and it's the only game trying to do this big budget space opera rpg thing. But I don't particularly want more of *this* Mass Effect - I want them to relearn the lessons of ME2, abandon the fallacy of 'open world exploration', and go back to well written character narratives and expertly hand crafted combat encounters, with loot that actually matters rather than endless variations on the same thing and a crafting system that's there because games have to have crafting it seems.
So on the one hand, I don't want this to be a run away success because that means they will double down on this style of Mass Effect, but on the other hand I don't want it to be a failure because then we get no Mass Effect at all.
DA:I debuted at 5th place I think and sold same as DA2 in first week as far as I saw. Unfortunately I haven't seen exact numbers.
I don't think that will be the case. I dont think it's accidental that EA basically hasn't marketed this game at all. I think they view the development as a sunk cost, they knew the game was not going to be the hit they wanted, and so they flung it out to recover some costs whilst not advertising it because they knew it wasn't worth the investment.
For all the talk of how evil EA are, they aren't completely stupid. Bioware had 5 years of development to make this game and yet look how it turned out. They also funded Bioware to develop an entirely new IP that they then scrapped before it entered beta. EA have given them a lot of funding and cash, it's on Bioware's head if they fail to deliver.
Thx.
OléGunner;232839049 said:
Bioware producers right now:
More seriously, I think EA expected frontloaded sales to recoup on on the 5 year long investment and hope that the IP was strong enough to motivate sufficinet early sales before word spreads about how terrible the actual product is.
Triggerhappytel
Member
That would imply the data we have on physical retail sales is not useful, which just isn't true. Also, we probably won't get proper information on digital sales unless EA releases the data or is asked about it in an investor call.
Ah, so ME2 was 102k week 1 sales. Thanks for the info.
I wonder how badly it affects a series' ongoing potential when it has an exclusive or timed exclusive instalment. I don't think any series has benefited from it this gen, aside from perhaps Dead Rising which (while it hasn't sold a lot) probably wouldn't exist any more if MS hadn't funded it. Would be interesting if a study was done into this. I wonder if Splinter Cell would still be around if it hadn't spent so much time going Xbox exclusive and neglecting at large the PS3 audience. I wonder if BioShock Infinite would have sold better if the first game hadn't been timed exclusive. And so on.
I know some of elements within EA did expect this, and yes, the advertising spend is related to that. I also know that other groups in the company did NOT expect this.
Even within those that expected a less than amazing result, this is still bad.
I wonder how secret or transparent the development troubles of this game have been. Anyone playing the game and looking at the QA sheet would know that the game would tank critically and tarnish the IP severely.
I think that Splinter Cell is not dead. Ubisoft usually doesn't kill franchises. See Ghost Recon Wildlands.
Thanks for the more accurate data. Somehow I forgot about the PC version of ME2 XD
My bad. Thank you for the clarification!
Bioware producers right now:
More seriously, I think EA expected frontloaded sales to recoup on on the 5 year long investment and hope that the IP was strong enough to motivate sufficinet early sales before word spreads about how terrible the actual product is.
That gif lmao.
Yeah I'm sure they expect massive first 1-2 week sales considering the 5 year anticipation for a new ME:A.
Maybe if the entire team and execs involved had a bigger focus on quality, they wouldn't knee cap long term sales.
I'm of the opinion it might sell decently if they work hard to correct bugs and glitches, there's a good game buried in there going by many accounts in the OT.
It's just that in this industry, first impressions count for so much.
Damn you insiders! I wonder if we will ever get development stories out of this.
Am surprised there were people who didn't see it coming though. I mean, the game has issues from the very minute it starts with male default Ryder's face (which is the most used face if we go by the original trilogy).
Big Green Anus
Member
Wow, really? I never knew Dragon Age sold more than Mass Effect.
AHA-Lambda
Member
3m in first week?
With that marketing campaign?
Has EA contracted a large bout of stupidity or something after this and TF2?
With that marketing campaign?
Has EA contracted a large bout of stupidity or something after this and TF2?
Peroroncino
Member
~5 year long development
Sparse marketing - little to no hype
ME3' ending burned a lot of people
Bad dialogues
Even worse facial animations
A shitton of memes about the above 2 things
Can't say I'm surprised to see it sold badly [for such an established IP that is], it had too many things going against it from the start.
I'm having lots of fun with the game, but I can't say the game doesn't deserve it, Bioware had ample time to make this great, they fucked up, I just hope series can survive that and that the sequel will come out swinging in a couple of years.
Sparse marketing - little to no hype
ME3' ending burned a lot of people
Bad dialogues
Even worse facial animations
A shitton of memes about the above 2 things
Can't say I'm surprised to see it sold badly [for such an established IP that is], it had too many things going against it from the start.
I'm having lots of fun with the game, but I can't say the game doesn't deserve it, Bioware had ample time to make this great, they fucked up, I just hope series can survive that and that the sequel will come out swinging in a couple of years.
astroturfing
Member
deserved much lower sales. judging from a lot of streams and gifs the game looks like the worst AAA experience in a long time; ps2 level animations, godawful writing and voice acting (just compare to ND or GG), apparently almost no music, shitty companions, boring enemies etc etc.. the list goes on. oh and dont forget the framerate issues, because of course it has those too, why not?
why exactly was it made? just to milk microtransactions and future DLC?
why exactly was it made? just to milk microtransactions and future DLC?
SliChillax
Member
My exact thoughts. It's like EA forgot Andromeda was coming out, marketing only started one month before the game came out and it wasn't strong enough.
I have a feeling that, in general, the closer you were to the game, the better you thought of it.
Or alternatively, they knew the game was weak, and decided that spending money on advertising was a prime example of the sunk costs fallacy.
They had 5 years to make this game, and yet the first few minutes show something wrong with how it looks if you choose fault male Ryder. At that stage, the rational decision might be to cut your losses rather than throw good money after bad.
SkullplateMurray
Member
Wait, what? Their new IP is still in the works...
chromatic9
Member
The anguish on the devs faces right now.
They also had a New IP from BW Austin, Shadow Realms, which was canceled
OléGunner;232839365 said:Every EA exec right now
3rd best launch for ME:A?
lol. Worse then ME3 & 2.
Nope, they had another IP they were in development of a few years ago. Was a modern day, secret world esq setting from what we could see. They had members of the public sign up for info, and a few screenshots, but it was then cancelled.
WhateverItTakes
Banned
Lower than a new IP and on more platforms doesn't bring the most confidence. I reckon it'll still sell okay overall.
Eww at this post. Just a bit over the top.
Jimmyfenix
Member
3rd best launch in the series?
Good night mass effect
Good night mass effect
Jimmyfenix
Member
Remember EA wanted 3 million sales in the launch week for the new mass effect
https://www.vg247.com/2017/02/01/ea-expects-mass-effect-andromeda-to-sell-around-3-million-units-in-the-first-week/
https://www.vg247.com/2017/02/01/ea-expects-mass-effect-andromeda-to-sell-around-3-million-units-in-the-first-week/
I was wrong and ME 3 sold more than inquisition.
Both series seem to be comparable in size.
The Emperor
Member
FFXIII outperformed ME2 in sales in 2010 in UK
FFXV does it now. This is not news.
skyrim and Elder Scrolls is WAYYY bigger than ME
I'm not saying ME:A sales are good. But ME was never a sales juggernaut.
semiconscious
Member
very hard to see this as ea's fault, & to not see it as completely bioware's. i was pretty happy with inquisition. but, while i'm okay with andromeda, it's so obviously a step back in so many ways (particularly technically), it's really sorta startling 
...
...Son Of Sparda
Member
That doesn't sound good.
It is indeed, i didn't even think they were still selling PC physical games at all, besides some store in Germany perhaps
x Dredgen Yor x
Member
everybody i know in the UK buys games digital.
astroturfing
Member
oops sorry forgot to add /s
i like the game so far, just having reached the Nexus and talked to my first turian, krogan and salarian. feels like Mass Effect to me! i'm fairly intrigued by the story and setting, they could've done a lot worse.. hoping it goes to interesting places.
the framerate issues do annoy me though, it affected combat in the very first level.. not a good first impression for the feel of combat :/
edit: Bioware pls patch the framerate and fix at least some of the faces, release some free DLC and watch the tides turn, game needs positive PR asap
Correct. Bioware has never had a true runaway hit. ME3 is their biggest game ever.
ShemhazaiX
Member
And people got uppity when I said it had a lot of competition.
That split...
that's what happens when the first and second game are timed exclusives.
i have a friend that i harassed into playing mass effect for the first time last month (i was prepping him for andromeda), dude was amazed and kept saying "wow, i can't believe i didn't know about this and never played these games before". i'm assuming a lot of ps3 gamers are on the same boat.
funny enough he got into it so much he played through the trilogy and bought andromeda on launch day while i didn't and i'm not even sure i'm gonna buy it anytime soon or if at all. i got him into it a month ago and as soon as those previews/reviews hit i jumped ship and let him sink with the boat.
It's the splits from ME:3 that people are referring, not this game. This games splits are about normal for a non-Japanese game that didn't have exclusive marketing.
Infinite_Daremo
Member
Competition is only a minor issue here. I had money ready to drop on it but the previews and reviews started rolling in.
Simply Sami
Member
You mean like Dragon age 2?
EA will most likely fix what is gone wrong with the current game. The game isn't the bad game that people are making it out to be. But it also isn't the special game that it was hyped up to be.
We also need to factor in the digital sales from both PSN and Xbox live. Mass Effect for me has primary been a Xbox franchise. Just like MGS has been a PlayStation franchise.