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Square Enix ships Tomb Raider 3.4M, Sleeping Dogs 1.75M, Hitman 3.6M
- Thread starter Pooya
- Start date
Eurogamer's take on this:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-26-tomb-raider-has-sold-3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations
Tomb Raider has sold 3.4 million copies, failed to hit expectations
"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.
Fellow Square Enix title Hitman Absolution sold 3.6 million units since its launch in November last year, while Sleeping Dogs sold 1.75 million since last August.
There's no mention of what the company's internal sales expectations were for the trio, just that all three missed their respective marks.
Square Enix expected 14.9 million retail game sales from North America and Europe combined in its six-monthly forecast last September. Considering the fact that Tomb Raider, Hitman Absolution and Sleeping Dogs were the only big releases for these regions and accounted for a combined 8.75 million sales worldwide, it's clear that their targets were a good deal higher.
Today's numbers, published in Square Enix's latest financial report, do not count digital sales.
The figures are predicted totals for the current financial year. With five more days to go, they're unlikely to change very much unless you personally go out and buy 500,000 copies of Tomb Raider right now.
The business' North American sales momentum was singled out as being particularly "ineffective". The continent recorded just two thirds of Europe's sales. Back in September, Square Enix had forecast that North American sales would be higher than Europe's.
Price protection - where a publisher is forced to compensate retailers for any games shifted at cut cost - added to Square Enix's woes.
The company revealed earlier this morning that its net sales and total profits would be significantly lower than expected for the current financial year.
In large part this is due to a restructuring of its games business, a measure necessary due to lacklustre sales of its console game portfolio. Company president Yoichi Wada has also been replaced."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-26-tomb-raider-has-sold-3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations
Tomb Raider has sold 3.4 million copies, failed to hit expectations
"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.
Fellow Square Enix title Hitman Absolution sold 3.6 million units since its launch in November last year, while Sleeping Dogs sold 1.75 million since last August.
There's no mention of what the company's internal sales expectations were for the trio, just that all three missed their respective marks.
Square Enix expected 14.9 million retail game sales from North America and Europe combined in its six-monthly forecast last September. Considering the fact that Tomb Raider, Hitman Absolution and Sleeping Dogs were the only big releases for these regions and accounted for a combined 8.75 million sales worldwide, it's clear that their targets were a good deal higher.
Today's numbers, published in Square Enix's latest financial report, do not count digital sales.
The figures are predicted totals for the current financial year. With five more days to go, they're unlikely to change very much unless you personally go out and buy 500,000 copies of Tomb Raider right now.
The business' North American sales momentum was singled out as being particularly "ineffective". The continent recorded just two thirds of Europe's sales. Back in September, Square Enix had forecast that North American sales would be higher than Europe's.
Price protection - where a publisher is forced to compensate retailers for any games shifted at cut cost - added to Square Enix's woes.
The company revealed earlier this morning that its net sales and total profits would be significantly lower than expected for the current financial year.
In large part this is due to a restructuring of its games business, a measure necessary due to lacklustre sales of its console game portfolio. Company president Yoichi Wada has also been replaced."
I mean it's essentially a new IP since they didn't use the True Crime name. I think it did pretty well and the amount of DLC they've been churning out, I can't believe they didn't make money off of it.
When you look at TR and Hitman its obvious they expected TR to be their blockbuster shattering records. TR is supposed to have the sales of hitman in 1 month during the end of winter compared to a game 4 months old and released during the major holiday.
Instead it incinerated their wallet.
Eurogamer doesn't know how to read those slides. It isn't clear if those are shipped or targets, I'm on the side that those are the targeted numbers and not actual.
King Tubby
Member
Every game doesn't have to be a blockbuster AAA 100 million dollar budget. It's stupid to do so especially right now. How many people have huge backlogs of games they haven't even touched yet? How many people have bought less, or even put off buying games completely because of the economy? Lower the budgets, lower the price, make smarter business decisions.
fargofallout
Member
Agree 100%. Don't spit out numbers if you aren't including digital. It's a significant portion of sales - don't pretend otherwise.
A couple of years ago, S-E said that they had a goal to have 6-7 franchises selling at x number of copies per entry, and that those franchises would be the core of their business. I know that they were counting DQ, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts on the Japanese side, and were hoping that Hitman, Tomb Raider, and maybe Deus Ex would join the club on the Western side. Anyone remember what the target sales number per franchise was?
SkullplateMurray
Member
How could Sleeping Dogs' number be its failed target if it is higher than an earlier sales total?
This would be crazy to see.
I wonder if they would have the balls to reboot it with a male protagonist.
And of course, by "balls" i mean "doing it with a straight face", since Tomb Raider is THE series with the female lead.
Basileus777
Member
The Sleeping Dogs number makes it pretty unlikely those are targeted numbers. It's not far ahead of what we already know they shipped in 2012.
Wow.. and some companies are STILL complaining? Seriously?
They either complain about pirates, poor sales, or being "forced" to increase budgets. This is just ridiculous.
They, the very companies that keep pushing up budget prices, are usually the ones that complain about having to increase budgets. But I'm pretty sure they can make more niche titles that will easily cover the budgets most of the time.
Pretty much every single "AAA" game has been mediocre anyhow -- the only spectacular thing about them are the budgets and polish.
I don't think Demon's Souls, or Dark Souls could be classified as "AAA" titles, even though they are far superior in quality, they didn't have anywhere near the marketing or, presumably, the budget of AAA titles. The fact that Dark Souls is getting a sequel implies that it must have made some money.
It's just annoying that the studios keep pushing up the budget for games and marketing while pushing down the quality, and then expect to be rewarded for it.
They either complain about pirates, poor sales, or being "forced" to increase budgets. This is just ridiculous.
They, the very companies that keep pushing up budget prices, are usually the ones that complain about having to increase budgets. But I'm pretty sure they can make more niche titles that will easily cover the budgets most of the time.
Pretty much every single "AAA" game has been mediocre anyhow -- the only spectacular thing about them are the budgets and polish.
I don't think Demon's Souls, or Dark Souls could be classified as "AAA" titles, even though they are far superior in quality, they didn't have anywhere near the marketing or, presumably, the budget of AAA titles. The fact that Dark Souls is getting a sequel implies that it must have made some money.
It's just annoying that the studios keep pushing up the budget for games and marketing while pushing down the quality, and then expect to be rewarded for it.
Sleeping Dogs was supposed to be a True Crime game?
darkstar0155
Member
I was actually debating with a buddy the other day on if DS could be considered AAA.. i was on the fence but he was pretty adamant it was. I dont think we ever came to a consensus lol
Well it's a matter of budget, so you just need to know how much it cost to produce.
dreamcastmaster
Banned
Cut up and sold as DLC chapters.
HotHamWater
Member
That's how it started out yes.
Sad to see it "only" did 1.75 million. I had a great deal of fun with that game, and it's infinitely better than the vastly overrated Saints Row 3.
darkstar0155
Member
thats what i always though, but he was going more off of scope/quality.
I'm curious how I'll find the game; I've got it lined up as my Easter play. In terms of previous games I've played the first one to completion and liked but didn't love it; I was disappointed with the quality of the puzzles combined with gameplay that I felt the controls weren't solid enough to sustain. I'm expecting better action gameplay but poorer puzzles this time around, but that might be for the better n my eyes.
That's a false economy--they're shelling it out because the middleman paid them it in the first place. With a digital storefront they'd never have had it (and the 1% or 2% it makes them over a few months) to begin with.
As I understood it, DQX isn't causing much of a loss (if any) but rather they expected it to sell better (so it would have cushioned the losses those other games infered, imo). So it'd only be indirectly responsible for the bad result, if we can even put it that way.
The MSN article seemed to be mostly concerned with Japanese titles and simply said that while DQX and social games sold well enough they didn't provide a great source of income. And that SE was the only Japanese game company being in the red, comparing them to the more successful Namco and Tecmo, and to Sega or Capcom, who both took hits but are still profitable.
The Western titles weren't mentioned explicitly but it is now evident that they were the bigger problem.
They have to be shipped numbers. Actual Tomb Raider sales are far below the mentioned 3.4 million (according to NPD and Chart Track numbers plus estimates for mainland Europe).
what when did wada leave resign?? someone give a link to the thread.
Basileus777
Member
We don't have any NPD numbers. March isn't even over yet. I don't see any firm basis yet to say how far below 3.4 million TR has actually sold.
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
The important thing I thought was the specfic calling out of the NA sales force being "ineffective" by only producing sales 2/3 that of their EU counterparts.
I wonder what this means in terms of revenue by platform, given 360's dominance in the NA market compared to PS3 in Europe. Would it really be so unlikely that PS3 and 360 owners' tastes are actually less similar than we tend to think?
I wonder what this means in terms of revenue by platform, given 360's dominance in the NA market compared to PS3 in Europe. Would it really be so unlikely that PS3 and 360 owners' tastes are actually less similar than we tend to think?
Underworld had a similar problem. Seems Lara will never be as popular in the US as the publisher would like.
Mystic_Wanderer
Member
Not at all criminal. It just doesn't fit your tastes. I prefer both to Sleeping Dogs.
I think David Jaffe (i may be remembering wrong though) said that it was used "behind the scene" to refer at games in different budget tiers.
I don't think there's an official definition, but it just makes the most sense to just restrict the definition to budget, marketability and man power put into the production, as opposed to a vague "quality" metric, that doesn't make sense.
You can't really say which game has more "quality" than the other, since there are countless factors to consider (hence why there are dissenting reviews) yet you can easily see how much the game cost to produce, and separate different productions under different budget tiers.
Don't worry everyone, Deus Ex on Wii U will cover the shortfall. *chuckles*
Seriously, it's pretty embarrassing that 3.6m units sold in a month is 'below sales expectations'. I'd imagine/hope they made a decent profit on the game (likely just not as much as expected), but surely it can't be a sustainable long-term business plan to have to meet such exorbitant numbers, especially when a few bad reviews can have such deleterious effect? It's only going to get worse next gen, of course.
Seriously, it's pretty embarrassing that 3.6m units sold in a month is 'below sales expectations'. I'd imagine/hope they made a decent profit on the game (likely just not as much as expected), but surely it can't be a sustainable long-term business plan to have to meet such exorbitant numbers, especially when a few bad reviews can have such deleterious effect? It's only going to get worse next gen, of course.
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
Who want's to start the tread for speculating who is going to get what from the inevitable Square Enix bankruptcy auction?
GoofsterStud
Member
THQ's failure had nothing to do with the new direction.
Seriously the losses on the PS3 / 360 tablets, the following lawsuits, were just astronomical. It's insane that the thing ever got the greenlight.
U-Draw bankrupts a company... Maybe the U is a bad omen.
KungFucius
King Snowflake
I want bleeding edge graphics. You can throw out any multiplayer and tone down some of the cinematic parts though. I don't need to have to run through an exploding building to enjoy a game.
Would be a shame, since its fucktons better than Underworld
Dragon1893
Member
Sleeping Dogs deserved so much more.
If "fucktons better" is code for "generic trash" then sure.
Pop-O-Matic
Banned
With how they much they've hyped and advertised this game, it probably won't happen, but, if it does, it will be WELL deserved.
There's really nothing generic about it. There aren't many games like this (in spite of the cries of "Uncharted-clone!"), let alone this polished. It looks better, it controls better, it's paced better, it's smarter with a better storyline, and the mechanics are actually workable and satisfying - something that no other Tomb Raider game - ever - has had going for it.
They made the MP portion of Tomb Raider and Deus Ex: HR was good, albeit flawed.
Traditionally there IS a correlation between high metacritic and greater sales. It's just a general yardstick for measuring quality that publishers feel comfortable using.