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The Witness - Release Date Trailer, coming 26th January 2016

Kosma

Banned
Is this really coming out? Seems like Sony is not pushing it at all, nothing on psn.

Kind of worried about the quality now.
 
Is this really coming out? Seems like Sony is not pushing it at all, nothing on psn.

Kind of worried about the quality now.

Why would there be anything on PSN?

People need to stop worrying, this isn't an AAA game with months of pre-release hype and marketing. It's a mystery game and they don't want to show you half the game before release. It says nothing about the game's quality and if you're worried you can wait for reviews.
 
Is this really coming out? Seems like Sony is not pushing it at all, nothing on psn.

Kind of worried about the quality now.
More likely that it's intentional. Blow seems like the kind of guy who's launch this game with little fanfare to avoid spoilers or showing too much

We got the environment trailers and the post about the voice actors. I expect more short teasers and a launch trailer in the next 9 days

And btw, the PSN page is up:
https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/cid=UP2124-CUSA00498_00-THEWITNESSPARENT?emcid=ps-se-717
 

Kosma

Banned
I checked "coming soon" yesterday and didnt see anything. I know its not AAA buy its still a big game in many respects
 

ThisOne

Member
No way it's $40, right? Not saying it's not worth that much but it just seems like sales would be a disaster at that price point. I'm hoping for $24.99 or less.
 

Catvoca

Banned
I could see it costing €40 but what does he do when it goes on sale for ios? Like he can't just drop the price to €2.99 then can he?

Personally hoping for something close to €20, i'll probably wait for a sale if it's much more expensive then that.
 
No way it's $40, right? Not saying it's not worth that much but it just seems like sales would be a disaster at that price point. I'm hoping for $24.99 or less.
The most comparable release would be The Talos Principle, the other AA puzzler. $40, a big success for Croteam

So $40 would totally work for The Witness, given the pedigree and the precedence set by Talos
 
I could see it costing €40 but what does he do when it goes on sale for ios? Like he can't just drop the price to €2.99 then can he?

Personally hoping for something close to €20, i'll probably wait for a sale if it's much more expensive then that.
There's been weirder situations. Ive seen games being sold for $30 on consoles and then only $5 on iOS. Hell that angry birds collection was $40 on 3DS but completley free on Android. Button tax I guess.

Personally I'm hoping its $20-30
 
I could see it costing €40 but what does he do when it goes on sale for ios? Like he can't just drop the price to €2.99 then can he?

Personally hoping for something close to €20, i'll probably wait for a sale if it's much more expensive then that.
XCOM Enemy Within is $30 on Steam, $10 on IOS
I'd expect a similar price range for The Witness on IOS, $10 or $12
 
I wonder when the iOS market will change so that customers will value games more. It's kind of sad that developers have to do this.
Never going to happen unfortunately. It's just not. The price range of Free to $10 is too ingrained now. And only the known PC ports ever really go as high or higher than $10. Most games are between Free and $5, with some games occasionally being $6 or $7

And I say that as someone who loves mobile games and has no qualms about dropping $10 on an iPad game
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
I wonder when the iOS market will change so that customers will value games more. It's kind of sad that developers have to do this.
On the phones/tablets? Never.
Only way I see that happening is if AppleTV gets established enough and people buy games there full price that then run on their devices by happenstance. Realistically though even that is a hard one to bite off.
 

Fhtagn

Member
The most comparable release would be The Talos Principle, the other AA puzzler. $40, a big success for Croteam

So $40 would totally work for The Witness, given the pedigree and the precedence set by Talos

Yeah. My expectation is set at $40 and I'm 100% fine with that for a gorgeous game that is many years labor of love with easily 40 hours of gameplay in it.

If it's cheaper that's great, but I doubt it.

Only way I'm not buying this day one is if the reviews & early word of mouth end up a nasty surprise. I don't think that'll happen however.
 

daxy

Member
The game is full price on Amazon.co.uk. I'm hoping for 30 EUR/USD, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's 60. Portal 2 was good value even at that price and I'm fine with dropping full price on the Witness if it's as expansive as Blow claims it is.
 

IvanJ

Banned
The most comparable release would be The Talos Principle, the other AA puzzler. $40, a big success for Croteam

So $40 would totally work for The Witness, given the pedigree and the precedence set by Talos

Do you or anyone else have any numbers for Talos Principle sales? Everyone keeps saying it was a success at $40, but I can't find any evidence of it.
I looked at PSN blog published top sellers, and it hasn't even charted in Top 20 neither in October (release month) nor in November.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/11/11/playstation-store-octobers-top-sellers/

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/12/10/playstation-store-novembers-top-sellers-2/

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015...rted-the-nathan-drake-collection-debuts-at-1/

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015...-call-of-duty-fallout-4-compete-for-top-spot/

Given those charts, I doubt that they maanaged to sell a lot of copies at that price.

If there are any news about it, I will gladly accept being corrected.
 
Do you or anyone else have any numbers for Talos Principle sales? Everyone keeps saying it was a success at $40, but I can't find any evidence of it.
I looked at PSN blog published top sellers, and it hasn't even charted in Top 20 neither in October (release month) nor in November.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/11/11/playstation-store-octobers-top-sellers/

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/12/10/playstation-store-novembers-top-sellers-2/

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015...rted-the-nathan-drake-collection-debuts-at-1/

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015...-call-of-duty-fallout-4-compete-for-top-spot/

Given those charts, I doubt that they maanaged to sell a lot of copies at that price.

If there are any news about it, I will gladly accept being corrected.

Almost 500k owners on Steam alone
Inlcudes sales, but still. Even then the lowest price was ~10€
http://steamspy.com/app/257510
 

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
The most comparable release would be The Talos Principle, the other AA puzzler. $40, a big success for Croteam

So $40 would totally work for The Witness, given the pedigree and the precedence set by Talos

That's how I see it as well. Wouldn't be surprised if the game releases at $40, especially after it's lengthy and delayed development. I don't see it priced above that, though. Like TTP, it will probably be part of sales quickly. I'll still get it on release day.
 
Do you or anyone else have any numbers for Talos Principle sales? Everyone keeps saying it was a success at $40, but I can't find any evidence of it.
I looked at PSN blog published top sellers, and it hasn't even charted in Top 20 neither in October (release month) nor in November.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/11/11/playstation-store-octobers-top-sellers/

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2015/12/10/playstation-store-novembers-top-sellers-2/

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015...rted-the-nathan-drake-collection-debuts-at-1/

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015...-call-of-duty-fallout-4-compete-for-top-spot/

Given those charts, I doubt that they maanaged to sell a lot of copies at that price.

If there are any news about it, I will gladly accept being corrected.
According to Steamspy, the game has around 475,000 owners.

And this quote from May 2015, five months after release
"I don't actually know the sales numbers; they're probably something like 150,000," says Croteam's Damjan Mravunac. "The sales are picking up. This is the game, unlike Serious Sam...Serious Sam, it's a fan game. People are waiting for it, when it comes out people buy it and then the scale goes a little bit down, you know, like a steep hill. With Talos it's always a constant. You know the game is selling very well so we are actually expecting it to do very well in the long run"
 
Just for curiosity sake, and really a lack of anything tangible to discuss for now, those who feel $40-$60 range is too high what exactly is it that makes you feel that way?

I realize these sorts of discussions can get heated quickly, and not to backseat moderate, but a general plea to try and be respectful from both sides.
 

IvanJ

Banned
Almost 500k owners on Steam alone
Inlcudes sales, but still. Even then the lowest price was ~10€
http://steamspy.com/app/257510

Thanks.
I am not really familiar with PC sales, so I cannot really tell if 500K in over a year is good or bad.
I guess it's good.

But as PS4 is my area of interest, it seems to me that a $40 pricepoint is just too high for comsole owners. So I am worried that this game might suffer the same problem if they price it the same.
(But it's just my presumption, and my own taste, as $20 is maximum I'd pay for it on PS4)
 

Jedi2016

Member
My guess is $29.99.

I am very surprised they haven't confirmed it one way or another, though. I don't remember any game in recent memory going up to the 11th hour like this without a price. The game's out in just over a week, for cryin' out loud.
 
Thanks.
I am not really familiar with PC sales, so I cannot really tell if 500K in over a year is good or bad.
I guess it's good.

But as PS4 is my area of interest, it seems to me that a $40 pricepoint is just too high for comsole owners. So I am worried that this game might suffer the same problem if they price it the same.
(But it's just my presumption, and my own taste, as $20 is maximum I'd pay for it on PS4)
Yes 500k sales for a game like this at that price is very good. I don't have PS4 numbers and it's hard to judge the success, since it came out quite a bit later. I'm assuming it make a return on whatever it cost to port.

I can totally understand if people aren't willing to pay $40 for it. But at that price it doesn't have to sell millions and it has a lot of room for sales, which will drop it to <$20 in time. I assume this is supposed to be a game that sells well over time, not one that maximizes its sales in 2 weeks.
 

Phinor

Member
I wish it was a game with 150 puzzles and $20 price tag instead of 600+ puzzles at (possibly) much higher price. Just more content rarely makes any game better especially when you are talking about hundreds and hundreds of puzzles. If it launches at a high price though, I'll probably just wait and when it hits a good discount, I'll pay and play as long as it manages to keep my interest, which I'm guessing won't be anywhere near 600 puzzles.

Then again, I've no idea how the final game plays. I wouldn't mind a positive surprise.
 
Braid sold 55,000 in its first week. Do you think The Witness will do as good or better? It's releasing on more platforms and the game is more anticipated because of Braid's success. Plus the audience is starved for similar games in recent years, so there's likely more of a want for Myst-like games
 
I wish it was a game with 150 puzzles and $20 price tag instead of 600+ puzzles at (possibly) much higher price. Just more content rarely makes any game better especially when you are talking about hundreds and hundreds of puzzles. If it launches at a high price though, I'll probably just wait and when it hits a good discount, I'll pay and play as long as it manages to keep my interest, which I'm guessing won't be anywhere near 600 puzzles.

Then again, I've no idea how the final game plays. I wouldn't mind a positive surprise.
There's difference between content and filler. Everything that I've read and seen about the game indicates that every puzzle has a purpose, teaching you new things, building off past knowledge, unlocking new areas, etc. It's not just puzzles for the sake of puzzles.
 
Is there much precedent for $40 digital games on consoles? That price point seems to be more and more accepted on Steam but it's not hard to imagine that it might not fly on consoles. (Yet, at least.)
 
I wish it was a game with 150 puzzles and $20 price tag instead of 600+ puzzles at (possibly) much higher price. Just more content rarely makes any game better especially when you are talking about hundreds and hundreds of puzzles. If it launches at a high price though, I'll probably just wait and when it hits a good discount, I'll pay and play as long as it manages to keep my interest, which I'm guessing won't be anywhere near 600 puzzles.

Then again, I've no idea how the final game plays. I wouldn't mind a positive surprise.

Games aren't priced based on how much content they have. It's not like Blow made 150 puzzles then went "nah, this is too cheap, let's add 400 more so we can really fleece people."

I'd be inclined to overlook figures like "600+" anyway. Watch the first ten minutes and there are already twenty puzzles that can barely be called such but will certainly be in that count. That's just marketing talk.
 

JonnyKong

Member
I'm starting to think I might start a sweep where we all try to guess how much this is going to cost.

I say we all put £1 in each. Winner takes all.
 

Mivey

Member
I'd be inclined to overlook figures like "600+" anyway. Watch the first ten minutes and there are already twenty puzzles that can barely be called such but will certainly be in that count. That's just marketing talk.
Why? Some of the panels are obviously easier, since they introduce new ideas. The ones we have seen were also very much self contained. Later puzzle could and probably will requrie you to look around the world and bring the panel into context with something. As such, even a puzzle you could solve in five seconds counts. The number is directly from Blow, and likely counted automatically by the number of these panels.

As for the playtime, since the game does not require you to 100% complete it to see the ending, I'd guess it would take about the same time as The Talos Principle's hardest ending (
Messenger
) to simply get to the credits. That would put it to about 25 hours for me. I could also see the last few puzzle becoming super obscure. As obscure as the secret ending to Braid, for people that didn't know about it.
 
Why? Some of the panels are obviously easier, since they introduce new ideas. The ones we have seen were also very much self contained. Later puzzle could and probably will requrie you to look around the world and bring the panel into context with something. As such, even a puzzle you could solve in five seconds counts. The number is directly from Blow, and likely counted automatically by the number of these panels.

I'm not saying they're not important, but the number is meaningless. The very first thing you do is solve a panel that looks something like this:

2440797-witness1.jpg


It's important in that it teaches the most basic mechanic, but it's also not a puzzle. It will, however, be included in the puzzle count. I'm just saying that "600+" isn't necessarily an indication of how many real puzzles there are.
 
No... Seriously....

Is it like Ethan Carter?

Exploration? A story? Puzzles?

What's the premise
Was just messing with you.

It's a Myst-inspired puzzler. You're alone on a sprawling island filled with puzzles and secrets. Explore the island, solve the puzzles. The puzzles become increasingly expansive, requiring knowledge of the environment itself or knowledge learned from elsewhere on the island
 
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