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[ethomaz]

Quantum Break killed any chance of Control sell well imo.

 

[ruvikx]

I didn't even know Control existed before it released, I mean to get it, but well, other games on my list first.

First time I saw Control was post-E3 footage over a year ago when someone made a "look at these games with womenz!" compilation.

Quantum Break killed any chance of Control sell well imo.

It's one of those moments when people screaming for "we want new IP's now!" miss the mark, i.e. Control always looked like a variation on Quantum Break (same power/distortion effects or thereabouts), without the same character or name to carry it. Throwing sh*t at a wall & hoping it sticks isn't exactly a sound business plan. That's what Remedy appears to have been doing since they've refused to actually release a real Alan Wake sequel.

 

[demigod]

Remedy is going to crawl to Sony and pitch Alan Wake 2. I don't see how they can stay afloat after 2 bombs.

 

[Ryu Kaiba]

Legit what.

lol exhibit A

 

[Dane]

Not surprised by Madden leading it, that and Fifa sell like hotcakes.

What it surprises me is how the hell GTA V and Minecraft still selling strong.

EDIT: Hold the fuck on, Anthem is actually the fifth best selling game this year, AND IT JUMPED POSITION(S)?

 

[thelastword]

Remedy is going to crawl to Sony and pitch Alan Wake 2. I don't see how they can stay afloat after 2 bombs.

If I were Sony, I'd buy Quantic Dream before I buy Remedy..... I'm not sure the Max Payne MOJO is still there...

 

[Ryu Kaiba]

.


The marketing looked drab, action looked drab, main character looked drab, the story was ‘go in building and chuck garbage at bad guys for reasons we aren’t going to tell you because we are so mysterious.’

I want single player games to thrive big time, but control’s marketing was sooooo bad: boring, drab, depressing, confusing.......no way was i going to pay full price for what they were showing.

As if that image is supposed to prove otherwise

 

[Hypereides]

I have a hard time taking this seriously. AFAIK, the NPD groups sales of both retail and digital copies alongside with the accumulated generated revenue from microtransactions (MTX/IAP) in their reports. Which means any non-GAAS game will get dwarfed by the likes of Madden, 2K sports games, GTAV and games that support such monetization models. It also explains why GTAV is still charting. It doesn't paint a fair picture of non-GAAS game.

 

[Kagey K]

I said in the Control OT it was selling worse then a normal Remedy game and got shit on.

I can’t imagine a way up for Remedy at this point. They went multiplatform, they sold their soul for DLC and still shot way below target lines.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

TIL what some people think is drab and boring looking, also that a female main character instantly makes a game woke. This was the same sort of talk (besides the woke bit) surrounding Days Gone prior to release, just this ridiculous anti-hype (bringing up that Control is out ignores that everyone critiquing it hasn't played it) and that game turned out to be amazing. I guess I just can't be bothered with what people think looks drab and boring, especially considering the top game was a Madden game and everyone's crazy about the new Borderlands game.

 

[Mooreberg]

I like Remedy, but "runs lousy on consoles people actually own and isn't on Steam" is a recipe for sales disaster. The higher cut on EGS doesn't matter much if barely anyone is buying the game.

 

[Aricer]

First time I saw Control was post-E3 footage over a year ago when someone made a "look at these games with womenz!" compilation.



It's one of those moments when people screaming for "we want new IP's now!" miss the mark, i.e. Control always looked like a variation on Quantum Break (same power/distortion effects or thereabouts), without the same character or name to carry it. Throwing sh*t at a wall & hoping it sticks isn't exactly a sound business plan. That's what Remedy appears to have been doing since they've refused to actually release a real Alan Wake sequel.

Remedy is going to crawl to Sony and pitch Alan Wake 2. I don't see how they can stay afloat after 2 bombs.

There does appear to be progress on Alan Wake 2 at least.

Spoiler: Control Spoilers

Control takes place in the same universe, and the game makes that pretty clear. From Night Springs itself being mentioned in notes, to Bright Falls itself being the site of a Altered World Event in which Alan Wake went missing. A typewriter page he wrote was also recovered, while Jesse's hometown Ordinary is mentioned in "Balance Slays the Demon" Also, the second DLC promotional image has Alan Wake's cover art mixed with Control artwork, which seems to at least imply he'll be showing up in person.

IIRC, Control started off as Alan Wake 2, but changed instead.

That, and Remedy just got the IP rights to Alan Wake back this year, which I think pretty much prevented them from doing a sequel since apparently Microsoft didn't want one? I didn't play Quantum Break, but from what I've heard, Control's gameplay is a better, more polished version of it

 

[ruvikx]

Legit what.

The Evil Within 2 is filled with stuff like this (seriously, the first encounter with Obscura has the same color palette & it has weird effects throughout the experience) & it flopped hard. That was two years ago. I just find it weird that a company with so much money, so many people working there & so much riding on the success of their games could be literally tone deaf enough to assume this thing would be a success. Who is it even aimed at? Women? They don't play shooter science fiction games.

That, and Remedy just got the IP rights to Alan Wake back this year, which I think pretty much prevented them from doing a sequel since apparently Microsoft didn't want one? I didn't play Quantum Break, but from what I've heard, Control's gameplay is a better, more polished version of it

Alan Wake has such a simple yet very effective gameplay loop + arsenal, i.e. "shine flashlight at bad guys, shoot with flare gun, run to next lamp safe zone". It worked. I played that thing in the hardest difficulty & had a great time. Plus the whole Stephen King-esque horror writer story (with some Silent Hill vibes thrown in for good measure) made it appealing. It also looked great in all the marketing shots (lumberyards, small town, forests, storms, flares, slow motion, chainsaw enemies), i.e. much better than the silhouette of a random woman standing in a red room with a distortion effect in the distance which we see in the above Control screenshot.

 

[Neff]

I don't know how people keep buying P* games given their track record

Apart from TMNT and NieR Automata, their track record is solid imo.

I will happily buy a PlatinumGames title day one without waiting for a review.

 

[Aricer]

The Evil Within 2 is filled with stuff like this (seriously, the first encounter with Obscura has the same color palette & it has weird effects throughout the experience) & it flopped hard. That was two years ago. I just find it weird that a company with so much money, so many people working there & so much riding on the success of their games could be literally tone deaf enough to assume this thing would be a success. Who is it even aimed at? Women? They don't play shooter science fiction games.



Alan Wake has such a simple yet very effective gameplay loop + arsenal, i.e. "shine flashlight at bad guys, shoot with flare gun, run to next lamp safe zone". It worked. I played that thing in the hardest difficulty & had a great time. Plus the whole Stephen King-esque horror writer story (with some Silent Hill vibes thrown in for good measure) made it appealing. It also looked great in all the marketing shots (lumberyards, small town, forests, storms, flares, slow motion, chainsaw enemies), i.e. much better than the silhouette of a random woman standing in a red room with a distortion effect in the distance which we see in the above Control screenshot.

I guess something like this would look better?

Spoiler

Spoiler: Spoilery Image

It's kinda hard to show off the more interesting areas of the game without having it be spoilers as well, due to the way it's presented when you first find the area. Control's gameplay loop is pretty good to me as well. Explore new area, deal with enemies with a simple gun + power system, unlock new gun forms / powers, move to next area or revisit an older area with new power. All while there's alot of interesting lore scattered all around the building. The gameplay systems work really well together and feels good.

Also, I don't think Remedy was that big? I read in an interview that they said they didn't have the resources to do a New Game + mode due to lacking people.

Regarding Alan Wake, take a look at the furthest right DLC listed in this.

Spoiler

It's good news either way, since everything points to Control leading up to a real Alan Wake 2.

 

[Sleepwalker]

After september FIFA and COD will both dominate the charts, easily too probably.

Wonder for how long a new GTA would dominate though, scary to think about.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I can't say I'm surprised about Control bombing. Alan Wake and Quantum Break also didn't have good launches. Add to that monstrous performance issues and pitiful marketing by the publisher which resulted in many people not knowing about the game or getting the wrong idea on what's it about. A rather bland and unattractive main character probably also didn't help.

I suspect Control will be coming to ps+ sooner rather than later.

Yep, I'd say Control appearing in PS+ is likely. I still remember how fast it was for Onrush to make its way to PS+. Control doesn't seem to be such a colossal flop, but they still have to think how to recover.

 

[mckmas8808]

I don't care about Control bombing. It's clear that they are a good developer house. I think they just need some smart guidance. I believe if Sony gave them a $50 million budget and 4 years, Remedy could make a great game that was more "appealing".

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

OP thought he was slick by associating Control's flop with Sony's most successful franchise in his thread title.

 

[ruvikx]

I don't care about Control bombing. It's clear that they are a good developer house. I think they just need some smart guidance. I believe if Sony gave them a $50 million budget and 4 years, Remedy could make a great game that was more "appealing".

It might sound sick but there's a distinct possibility Control as a console exclusive (for either one) would actually sell more copies. Fanboys gonna fanboy & hit "auto purchase" whatever their corporate gods throw at them. I heard even The Order 1886 wasn't even as big a flop as initially thought precisely because of its exclusivity.

So you could be right, i.e. Remedy making Sony exclusives would have an entire market ready to auto buy their stuff - especially with a high Metacritic score.

 

[mckmas8808]

It might sound sick but there's a distinct possibility Control as a console exclusive (for either one) would actually sell more copies. Fanboys gonna fanboy & hit "auto purchase" whatever their corporate gods throw at them. I heard even The Order 1886 wasn't even as big a flop as initially thought precisely because of its exclusivity.

So you could be right, i.e. Remedy making Sony exclusives would have an entire market ready to auto buy their stuff - especially with a high Metacritic score.

I don't think it's an auto-buy thing. I think some people legit trust the brand. Nintendo has this same level of trust.

 

[mejin]

Quantum Break killed any chance of Control sell well imo.

Their next game should definitely be Alan Wake. At least, it is an ip that people are interested to play.

 

[Roitorb]

The OG PS4 really should be $199 with a free game at this point.

There’s a lot of PS4 exclusives I’d like to play at the moment but with PS5 being backwards compatible I’m holding fire on purchasing one.

 

[Pidull]

Feeling bad for Control, I had it on my radar simply because it's a Remedy game. As soon as positive impressions and reviews started coming out, I bought it because I really don't want another great single player company to fall apart. I expect that them taking the Epic exclusivity deal will be a life-saving decision here (I bought it for Xbox One X).

Considering all of the issues Control has when played on consoles, and the challenge Remedy has had with breaking into the console market, maybe they should just... go back to PC?

 

[Fake]

Their next game should definitely be Alan Wake. At least, it is an ip that people are interested to play.

If Control was really a bomb, is more possible they make a port of the first Alan Wake for current gen (PS4/Xbox/Switch) than a Alan 2.

 

[mejin]

If Control was really a bomb, is more possible they make a port of the first Alan Wake for current gen (PS4/Xbox/Switch) than a Alan 2.

true enough. a remake or remaster is needed anyway.

 

[smbu2000]

On PC, Control was also bundled (along with Wolfenstein Youngblood) when purchasing an Nvidia RTX gpu or laptop with rtx.
That's how I got my copy of the game. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

 

[thanosg]

Shame Control did so badly. It was surprising fun to play. Just too short and maybe not full price worthy

 

[Explosive Zombie]

Shame Control did so badly. It was surprising fun to play. Just too short and maybe not full price worthy

Totally helping it sell with comments like this, my man.