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[AHA-Lambda]

I don't doubt that MD has had a weaker launch overall (including online sales) but as you say its difficult to exactly say how much weaker. That doesn't change the fact that online sales do make up a significant portion of total sales and I don't understand why people are being dismissive of that. I doubt anyone here has any personal investment in the game's sales so its not like people are making excuses by saying "but digital".

Completely agreed, I have no doubt that MD digital > HR digital, but still with HR >> MD

A few of the "but digital" posts seem to be implying the case that it will make up for the fall in retail when it's highly unlikely, and this argument does keep coming up.
Most infamously with that stupid 9:1 digital ratio for Halo 5 meme XD

But with no numbers here it's hard to say anything.
Don't suppose anyone has access to HR launch figures in UK? :/

 

[finley83]

Maybe everyone's waiting for the updated Director's Cut version next year?

 

[Hasney]

PC gamers in Europe (not sure about UK) are happily buying overpriced stuff on Steam even though retail copies are much cheaper. See how successful No Man's Sky was even though it's digital exclusive and much more expensive than retail AAA games.

Obviously, AAA publishers want people to buy overpriced digital stuff on consoles too!

Didn't the retail copies activate on Steam? That would add to the SteamSpy numbers.

 

[duckroll]

This isn't really surprising. By most accounts, Mankind Divided seems to be a decent sequel to a game people were excited about many years ago, but came a little too late. When you take too long to release a straight sequel, you generally need something special to reboot the excitement cycle so people care about it again. They took the audience for granted. Another reminder that entertainment isn't a necessity, so you gotta work hard to make people really want something.

 

[Jawmuncher]

The sales will probably pick up when it goes on sale. But only 250K WW on steam is already a bit of a flag on this games performance.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Didn't the retail copies activate on Steam? That would add to the SteamSpy numbers.

Did NMS have a PC retail release? :/

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Didn't the retail copies activate on Steam? That would add to the SteamSpy numbers.

Retail copies did not exist, only the PS4 version got them.

 

[Angel_DvA]

Honestly, it's a better game than HR but HR had a better story and marketing overall, the hype for the return of Deus Ex generated a huge hype at the time, it's different this time but I'm sure the game will have good legs...

It's not impossible that the disappointed reviews score had an impact, we'll see.

 

[Auto-Reply]

The marketing for this game was weak, it needed something to get people excited about. I really like HR and will buy MD later this year or next year.
HR was interesting because time has passed since Invisible War and everyone was curious to what it will be and how it will be executed, how will it compare. MD seems to be a continuation of HR, which in itself isn't a bad thing but the excitment of a new Deus Ex has passed with HR.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Buying games physically in 2016.
Where are the SteamSpy stats?

We get severely overcharged for digital games on consoles here in the UK (and the rest of Europe), so I doubt it accounts for a particularly large percentage of the sales here.

By the way, the Human Revolution cover is so much better than Mankind Divided.

I definitely agree with that. Regardless that they're too similar, the MD one is too busy.

Good point until you replace your made up numbers with real numbers

Human Revolution was ~£22 at retail compared to £35 digitally.

Mankind Divided has been ~£26 at unauthorised retailers, £35+ at retail, and £40 on Steam.

It's £50 digitally on PSN though. Probably the same on XBL, I would wager.

 

[ArkkAngel007]

Iirc HR had a notable marketing campaign behind it leading up to release. MD has been a rather quiet launch in comparison.

 

[Hasney]

Did NMS have a PC retail release? :/

Retail copies did not exist, only the PS4 version got them.

Oh, that changes the conversation then as there was no way to buy it cheaper.

I'm not saying the UK (or Europe) isn't willing to pay full price digital. I'm saying that surely they must not be paying that much for digital when a cheaper physical version exists.

 

[Window]

This isn't really surprising. By most accounts, Mankind Divided seems to be a decent sequel to a game people were excited about many years ago, but came a little too late. When you take too long to release a straight sequel, you generally need something special to reboot the excitement cycle so people care about it again. They took the audience for granted. Another reminder that entertainment isn't a necessity, so you gotta work hard to make people really want something.

Yeah absolutely. The five year gap was too large for a franchise which doesn't have the mind share of an Uncharted, Fallout etc.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I have to also say, in hindsight after playing it, I don't understand the relatively deflated scores for this game :/

Oh, that changes the conversation then as there was no way to buy it cheaper.

I'm not saying the UK (or Europe) isn't willing to pay full price digital. I'm saying that surely they must not be paying that much for digital when a cheaper physical version exists.

Exactly.

 

[Nzyme32]

Good point until you replace your made up numbers with real numbers

Human Revolution was ~£22 at retail compared to £35 digitally.

Mankind Divided has been ~£26 at unauthorised retailers, £35+ at retail, and £40 on Steam.

£26 was at GMG, and it is an authorised retailer sourcing it's keys directly from Square Enix

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Oh, that changes the conversation then as there was no way to buy it cheaper.

I'm not saying the UK (or Europe) isn't willing to pay full price digital. I'm saying that surely they must not be paying that much for digital when a cheaper physical version exists.

We have better examples in Witcher 3, GTA5 and all Ubisoft games then, as they are available on Steam in their usual inflated EU digital prices, and the cheaper retail copies activate on their own service. But Steamspy numbers are quite strong in Europe for all these.

 

[Zafir]

I have to also say, in hindsight after playing it, I don't understand the relatively deflated scores for this game :/

Review scores in general have dropped across the board since Human Revolution came out.

I imagine because of all the criticism they got because they apparently gave everything an high score.

We have better examples in Witcher 3, GTA5 and all Ubisoft games then, as they are available on Steam in their usual inflated EU digital prices, and the cheaper retail copies activate on their own service. But Steamspy numbers are quite strong in Europe for all these.

Yeah but I think you've just pointed out why people are buying them from Steam, because they want it to activate on Steam, and not mess around with another launcher in Uplay, GoG or Rockstar Social.

That said, I do know some people who just buy on Steam out of ease sometimes, if the price isn't massively over. Otherwise they just buy on GMG. The only exceptions are when I tell people of better deals, and they sometimes listen.

 

[LewieP]

£26 was at GMG, and it is an authorised retailer sourcing it's keys directly from Square Enix

Aye that's true, although I'm pretty sure that was a pricing error, it was only available for a very small window of time. I was referring to other retailers with my £26 price, although technically if you preordered long enough in advance I think it was £22 at cdkeys. In the run up to launch, £26 was the best price I saw at unauthorised retailers.

 

[Azure Phoenix]

The launch was pretty muted at work, little to no fanfare and only slow drips of customers rather than a big day one rush like No Mans Sky got. I feel like a lot of people who bought the predecessor didn't even really know this released.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

We have better examples in Witcher 3, GTA5 and all Ubisoft games then, as they are available on Steam in their usual inflated EU digital prices, and the cheaper retail copies activate on their own service. But Steamspy numbers are quite strong in Europe for all these.

True but we do know at least in case of W3 that it has more copies on gog
Not sure about Ubi or GTA 5

And even then that's the case of buying a game in steam vs another service
Not the same as buying direct from steam or a steam key elsewhere

 

[Twinsen343]

Great game but so many reports of crashes which IMO kills word of mouth...
I've got a decent rig and runs fine but get a crash at mission 5 and can't progress

 

[Mpl90]

As a reference, here's the data for both Invisible War (LTD) and Human Revolution (launch week). Credits to Bruno MB for reporting.

[Week 10, 2004] DEUS EX: INVISIBLE WAR (EIDOS)
[Week 34, 2011] DEUS EX: INVISIBLE WAR (EIDOS) - 122,000 LTD 

[Week 34, 2011] DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION (SQUARE ENIX EUROPE) - 96,000 / NEW

[Week 34, 2016] DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED (SQUARE ENIX EUROPE)

Ah, Kyonashi, any hint you could give us on MD's launch week, especially in reference to Human Revolution?

 

[Arkanius]

Ok guys but lets be honest. We all knew MD was arriving because we are enthusiasts. I saw absolutely 0 marketing everywhere. It's like Square Enix forgot they had this game coming out.

Human Revolution had such a strong presence everywhere.

What happened?

 

[uncleniccius]

Good point until you replace your made up numbers with real numbers

Human Revolution was ~£22 at retail compared to £35 digitally.

Mankind Divided has been ~£26 at unauthorised retailers, £35+ at retail, and £40 on Steam.

As mentioned he is talking console, PC retail sales are low enough not to be a big issue either way.

 

[texhnolyze]

Buying games physically in 2016.
Where are the SteamSpy stats?

Steamspy is sitting at 265k owners as of today, much better than Hitman which only did like 100k and a bit better than RotTR with 200k on their respective first week sales. Also, mind that Mankind Divided is not in a bundle with graphic card like RotTR did (it's, however, bundled with amd cpu but who buys amd cpu?). I think it's safe to say that Mankind Divided is Square Enix's best first week sales on Steam this gen. It can potentially surpass RotTR which has 900k owners eventually.

 

[Coxy100]

Buying games physically in 2016.
Where are the SteamSpy stats?

By the way, the Human Revolution cover is so much better than Mankind Divided.

Like a lot of people in 2016 (roughly 70%).

Especially in the UK where digital is a lot more expensive - I'm sure the figure is even higher.

Anyway with reference to the OP - I've not bought it day one this year - I did for Human Revolution. I never pre-order games any more though and will wait till it's under £30. Can't wait to play it though

 

[Bedlam]

I liked HR but didn't get MD yet for three reasons:

1. First and foremost, I'm disappointed that supposedly the quality of overall story didn't improve compared to HR. This was my main gripe with that game.

2. Summer

3. Microtransactions (I tend to boycott full-price games containing MT out of principle, at best I'm buying them later during a sale)

I will probably buy this game at some point but I have no urge to get it for the mentioned reasons.

 

[Twinsen343]

How bad was the launch trailer too?

 

[AnthonypUK]

So it sold less then 96k combined? yeah thats not great.

 

[seph1roth]

It's a shame because after 20+ hours i think is a better game than HR. Better gameplay, better level design, better quest design and even rpg elements, and of course without those shitty boss fights.

But HR was the return of one of the best franchises from the past era, and even without the original team, is was a great game, and the big marketing of Square-Enix helped a lot.

MD doesn't have the marketing of HR, and even knowing it is better than it's predecessor, it's not to much different from it.

But the main problem is those shitty SE microstransactions, that's bullshit, and the consumers of this kind of games are aware of that.

 

[Collectable]

As a few others have pointed out the ad campaign is at fault here in my opinion, haven't heard nearly enough about this game since that whole augment your preorder thing a while back, was surprised to hear the game was close to release a few days ago.

 

[Sulik2]

I suspect MD will have much better steam sales then HR, this is still a series that mostly associate with the PC.

 

[hamchan]

I hope MD does do better eventually. It's a pretty great game and deserves it,

 

[Sodding_Gamer]

I hope the sales are good. The game may lack some polish and the usual AAA spoon-fed gameplay / content, but 30h in, I am having a blast.

It is one of the few game with a very distinct and assumed style, and I'd hate to see it disapear.

Same here. I hope it does well. It's a game that I like to chill out to and just explore the world and take in the sights. Plus soundtrack awesomeness. Racked up about 35 hours on steam and I'm about 2/3 into the game. Loving it. I do prefer Human Revolution though. And I think that's due to the more varied environments, felt a little longer, and Human Revolution was my first Deus Ex game I actually played so it had a big impact for me.

I also remember a lot more hype surrounding Deus Ex Human Revolution.

 

[Kusagari]

I've felt for a while that Mankind Divided really didn't have much hype at all leading up to its release.

I remember at the time HR actually seemed like a big deal.

 

[Sloane]

Heh, I remember people expecting it to sell more than NMS.

I agree with one of the first posts though, it's a great game but looks and feels a bit too much like Human Revolution to get really excited about and attract new players.

 

[AnthonypUK]

As a few others have pointed out the ad campaign is at fault here in my opinion, haven't heard nearly enough about this game since that whole augment your preorder thing a while back, was surprised to hear the game was close to release a few days ago.

Yeah Square Enix seem to be doing the Sony route of just letting alot of B Teir games go out with next to no advertising.

Just Cause 3, I am Setsuna, Hitman, Star Ocean all got similar treatment, i would have thought Deus Ex was above them.

 

[Kuraudo]

MD is a much better game than HR, but it doesn't do much to distinguish itself from its predecessor. It feels like a sequel in an annualised franchise rather than a fresh take arriving half a decade later. Game releases this far apart need to feel like an event, but this just feels like it was selling based on momentum that died out years ago.

 

[Glass]

It thoroughly deserves to sell more, but this is what happens when you have lacklustre marketing and you spend 5 years getting your sequel out, when the last game was already difficult to understand for the average joe.

 

[Vitor711]

Game is definitely better than HR but the writing still falls flat. That being said, it's most of what I could have wanted from a sequel. Would have been nice to have seen some bigger changes to gameplay and more visual variety in the environments but Prague still feels like a 'real' city in a way in that the areas in the prior games didn't.

Beautiful game though and more challenging/intricate than most AAA releases. Would be a shame to see it flounder.

 

[Iceternal]

This isn't really surprising. By most accounts, Mankind Divided seems to be a decent sequel to a game people were excited about many years ago, but came a little too late. When you take too long to release a straight sequel, you generally need something special to reboot the excitement cycle so people care about it again. They took the audience for granted. Another reminder that entertainment isn't a necessity, so you gotta work hard to make people really want something.

That's what I was trying to explain in the OT but people were dismissing. This game is just NOT ENOUGH for the fricking 5 years wait.

 

[Lime]

Honestly I think Eidos Montreal did a disservice to their product by having Adam Jensen in the game again. From a superficial aesthetic perspective, the game looks identical to Human Revolution.

 

[cleveridea]

Wow, so No Man's Sky outsold it?

 

[Arex]

Well fwiw I went from ps3 for DE:HR to steam for DE:MD so it's one less retail sales here I suppose (I'm in Asia lol) I'm guessing either some people are like me who switched to PC, or maybe there's just less buzz for MD. I'm still liking the game so far tho!

 

[Bliddo]

I'm a fan of the series, but I only learned that it was due to release a couple of weeks ago. The cover sure won't help.

That's really a shame, because the game is amazing.

 

[cleveridea]

Do they track digital?

I know GMG were offering incredibly good deals before the game released, at one point 40% off

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

That's what I was trying to explain in the OT but people were dismissing. This game is just NOT ENOUGH for the fricking 5 years wait.

What does that even mean? Who decides what level of quality a game is between arbitrary time periods equates to "enough"? Inside was like 5 years after Limbo and it's enough for me - it's a great game. MD is an amazing game and better than HR IMO, so it's enough.

If you're trying to measure how much game they made during development vs how much game is in Witcher 3...why?

If it's about how Square Enix needed to market it more, then yes, I agree.

 

[chromatic9]

Not been following the game much, thought maybe 2 E3;s ago hype and it being graphically impressive was there but it seems to have dropped off since.

 

[usp84]

That's what I was trying to explain in the OT but people were dismissing. This game is just NOT ENOUGH for the fricking 5 years wait.

Except that is not exactly what you were saying.If we have to compare every game with Witcher 3 then all games are not enough.

The game is fine and is more than enough.Maybe the marketing wasn't strong i dont know but the game itself is amazing.

 

[cackhyena]

Doesn't surprise me. Took so long for the sequel, and overall, it doesn't look leaps and bounds above HR.