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Introducing NeoGAF Gold
NPD Sales Results For August 2016
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
- 318
Sad to see what happened to mankind divided.
I love Human Revolution but didn't buy MD because currently I'm trying to finish Inquisition and I'm kinda tired of WRPGs. Besides, from what I've see, the setting doesn't look interesting. Trailers sold me another game about oppressed rebels and the rebel leader design couldn't be worse. Besides the discrimination setting us poorly presented, its like am appertaid society, if you want to portray racism in an advance society, you should do it as a society that actually went through the XX century.
I'm still going to buy it but probably during an end year sale.
I love Human Revolution but didn't buy MD because currently I'm trying to finish Inquisition and I'm kinda tired of WRPGs. Besides, from what I've see, the setting doesn't look interesting. Trailers sold me another game about oppressed rebels and the rebel leader design couldn't be worse. Besides the discrimination setting us poorly presented, its like am appertaid society, if you want to portray racism in an advance society, you should do it as a society that actually went through the XX century.
I'm still going to buy it but probably during an end year sale.
What could had been done differently though? (without doubling the marketing budget or anything like that)
It was announced before E3 last year with its own reveal event with quite a good bit of attention to it, it came out of E3 with a good (not great) demo and positively glowing impressions. It carried that all the way to this year, largely praised, with good drops every now and then showcasing the gameplay, the mission, the hub, etc. Had an average marketing push near launch, and thus here we are.
There were some low points, like the preorder nonsense and the art allusions to real-world events, but I would consider those to be very small blips amidst what was a very conventional, safe, if unspectacular boring marketing cycle from April last year till launch.
Sure, in hindsight, it's clear that Deus Ex needed more than an "average" marketing campaign because it has failed to excite people in the same way NMS, etc did, but in hindsight, I couldn't tell that Deus Ex was a game that needed a campaign of massive excitement for it to even sell decently.
It was announced before E3 last year with its own reveal event with quite a good bit of attention to it, it came out of E3 with a good (not great) demo and positively glowing impressions. It carried that all the way to this year, largely praised, with good drops every now and then showcasing the gameplay, the mission, the hub, etc. Had an average marketing push near launch, and thus here we are.
There were some low points, like the preorder nonsense and the art allusions to real-world events, but I would consider those to be very small blips amidst what was a very conventional, safe, if unspectacular boring marketing cycle from April last year till launch.
Sure, in hindsight, it's clear that Deus Ex needed more than an "average" marketing campaign because it has failed to excite people in the same way NMS, etc did, but in hindsight, I couldn't tell that Deus Ex was a game that needed a campaign of massive excitement for it to even sell decently.
Needed a hook that would make it a week 1 purchase. Like Nirolak was talking about earlier, I think the big difference between NMS and Deus Ex is that NMS was built up as having these secrets that needed finding, and worlds to explore, and the center of the universe schtick. In 6 months, NMS will lose a lot of its appeal (it already has, to be honest). It's like Pokemon Go in a way; the game is fun if you get on board at launch so you're even with the other players (in level, knowledge, etc...). But if you try to start 2 months after launch, it's really hard to get the same enjoyment out of it.
Deus Ex isn't like that. To my knowledge, there's nothing about the game that demands you play it quickly to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. A good analog would be to emulate ME3 in the design phase; everyone knew that ME3's ending was going to be a big deal (since there were 3 games building to it), and you needed to get it early to be in on the conversation.
Deus Ex doesn't really give that vibe at all. I barely played Human Revolution, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on this game at all (which may not be true! but that's marketing). I'm probably going to try HR again (since it was GwG, and now backwards compatible), and then if I get into it, I'll pick up MD. But nothing about the marketing for MD leads me to think I'm missing out if I buy this next summer instead of next week.
Deus Ex isn't like that. To my knowledge, there's nothing about the game that demands you play it quickly to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. A good analog would be to emulate ME3 in the design phase; everyone knew that ME3's ending was going to be a big deal (since there were 3 games building to it), and you needed to get it early to be in on the conversation.
Deus Ex doesn't really give that vibe at all. I barely played Human Revolution, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on this game at all (which may not be true! but that's marketing). I'm probably going to try HR again (since it was GwG, and now backwards compatible), and then if I get into it, I'll pick up MD. But nothing about the marketing for MD leads me to think I'm missing out if I buy this next summer instead of next week.
woah at the Deus Ex numbers...
I sort of was anticipated this based on my own video analytics (I upload and stream on Youtube ... very small channel, beside the point other than to explain my sample). Anyhow I get a decent enough sample that I sort of recognize trends... e.g. Blood & Wine actually seemed to pick up 3-4 weeks later, maybe because it was an expansion and people would 'get around to it.'
The point being, I was kinda surprised my Deus Ex videos had so little traffic (relative to my low traffic standards). Almost everything I did from my longplays to a few 'secrets' videos basically never get hit. I've been watching the traffic versus other games and at times it even seemed to get less search results than Tropico V... my Romance of the Three Kingdom XIII videos are even getting better random search traffic.
This explains it though.
Interestingly enough, my GTA V videos have been pretty steady for almost 2 years. I have a sort of 'trick/guide' video, it's barely declined about 15-20% in 2 years... it's almost a perfectly straight line (and it even went back up to its historical average last Christmas)... I've read the same thing for a lot of GTAO streamers...
The game has crazy legs.
Anyhow, we talked about Deus Ex a lot in the UK sales thread and my feeling still is that I think the marketing just didn't click. It may be exciting, interesting, deep, controversial, whatever... but if it's also depressing, gloomy... people just may not give a shit.... people just may not want to go get oppressed by cops and spit on my civilians for 20 hours lol
The thing with Human Revolution was that it was... a revolution! ;p a cyber renaissance.
It had this exciting futurist tone to it, despite its conspiracies. even the original Deus Ex, despite its conspiracies, was an exciting thriller. Human Revolution was in some ways inspiring, at least creatively.
In contrast, Mankind Divided is rather.. gloomy and depressing. I mean, even the title itself sounds like a summary of current global social politics. It ain't exactly 'fuck yeah day one' exciting.
So I wonder, for all the effort into trying to make a socially, politically, philosophically relevant game... did anyone at Eidos do research on if people actually thought the theme and setting were... fun? Was it focused grouped to see if people actually wanted it?
And I say that as likely someone to select it as my GOTY... it's an awesome game: good plot foundation, great gameplay, and some of the best exploration and world design around. Darn good atmosphere and music, too. But if people looked at and just said.... 'eh.... not in the mood for that, I'll pass' I think I could understand why.
I sort of was anticipated this based on my own video analytics (I upload and stream on Youtube ... very small channel, beside the point other than to explain my sample). Anyhow I get a decent enough sample that I sort of recognize trends... e.g. Blood & Wine actually seemed to pick up 3-4 weeks later, maybe because it was an expansion and people would 'get around to it.'
The point being, I was kinda surprised my Deus Ex videos had so little traffic (relative to my low traffic standards). Almost everything I did from my longplays to a few 'secrets' videos basically never get hit. I've been watching the traffic versus other games and at times it even seemed to get less search results than Tropico V... my Romance of the Three Kingdom XIII videos are even getting better random search traffic.
This explains it though.
Interestingly enough, my GTA V videos have been pretty steady for almost 2 years. I have a sort of 'trick/guide' video, it's barely declined about 15-20% in 2 years... it's almost a perfectly straight line (and it even went back up to its historical average last Christmas)... I've read the same thing for a lot of GTAO streamers...
The game has crazy legs.
Anyhow, we talked about Deus Ex a lot in the UK sales thread and my feeling still is that I think the marketing just didn't click. It may be exciting, interesting, deep, controversial, whatever... but if it's also depressing, gloomy... people just may not give a shit.... people just may not want to go get oppressed by cops and spit on my civilians for 20 hours lol
The thing with Human Revolution was that it was... a revolution! ;p a cyber renaissance.
It had this exciting futurist tone to it, despite its conspiracies. even the original Deus Ex, despite its conspiracies, was an exciting thriller. Human Revolution was in some ways inspiring, at least creatively.
In contrast, Mankind Divided is rather.. gloomy and depressing. I mean, even the title itself sounds like a summary of current global social politics. It ain't exactly 'fuck yeah day one' exciting.
So I wonder, for all the effort into trying to make a socially, politically, philosophically relevant game... did anyone at Eidos do research on if people actually thought the theme and setting were... fun? Was it focused grouped to see if people actually wanted it?
And I say that as likely someone to select it as my GOTY... it's an awesome game: good plot foundation, great gameplay, and some of the best exploration and world design around. Darn good atmosphere and music, too. But if people looked at and just said.... 'eh.... not in the mood for that, I'll pass' I think I could understand why.
D
This monthly report only tracks physical sales. We do have a digital tracker that was launched this July:
https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/...l-games-tracking-service-for-gaming-industry/
https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/...l-games-tracking-service-for-gaming-industry/
Those Deus Ex numbers are brutally bad for such a great game. Square simply cannot stop fucking up their release timing. PS4 Tomb Raider in October is next. Breaking Hitman up into regularly released episodes that generate a lot organic video coverage might be the smartest decision I/O ever made. If it had simply released as a delayed retail product, the marketing push would not have existed beyond last December.
FFXV coming in way below expectations with the bizzaro post Black Friday release is the only thing that will get the message across at this point.
FFXV coming in way below expectations with the bizzaro post Black Friday release is the only thing that will get the message across at this point.
Deus Ex really didn't manage to get people interested. I guess it's a lesson to AAA pubs - if you want to make a franchise don't wait longer than 2-3 years to release an iterative sequel, or interest will just dwindle.
There are only a few series that can do this, and they're pretty well established now, and also featured significant changes between editions (GTA, Elder Scrolls, Fallout).
There are only a few series that can do this, and they're pretty well established now, and also featured significant changes between editions (GTA, Elder Scrolls, Fallout).