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Watch Dogs 2 launch massively down from WD1 in UK.

AHA-Lambda

Member
There's something screwy going on in the UK this month. Everything is bombing, even CallaDutty (to an extent).

I wonder if it's just down to too many big-budget games flooding the market is such a small space of time.

This may not be a UK thing and more a AAA thing though.

UK aligns well in trends with the US, it'd be very surprising and rare for a UK bomb/disappointment to neva rip roaring success in the US on the other hand
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
A lot of the original games sales were right place right time.

People were starving for games post launch. No competition. Some strong marketing push for new ip.

Sequels did not have much of that in their favor. Too bad since both of these sound like better games.

Still blows my mind how some quality games have such terrible release dates and are sent out to die.
 
It looked like a bland "cyber hacker edge" version of DMC or some nonsense from the marketing. I barely even remember what the real genre is besides "Ubisoft AAA"

Not even vaginas could redeem it
 

wapplew

Member
Plus many publishers doing quick price cut during holiday season.
All those half price after 2 weeks or so, customers got burned by making day 1 purchase.
 
This is what happens when you try to create a yearly franchise out of a bland game. It didn't help that the wd1 downgrade left a bad taste.
Yearly franchise? What definition of yearly are we using here?

It's a bit worrying certainly. In terms of recent games alone Dishonored 2, Deus Ex, Gears 4, Watch Dogs 2, Call of Duty, and Titanfall 2 have all failed to launch better or on par than their predecessors

Yep, this is starting to be a trend. and it isn't like those games were bad games.

Vivendi cometh.

Heh, with their games failing I don't know why Vivendi would want to buy them!
 
Should have kept Aiden, of course this tanks.

Good grief no. Aiden Pearce is probably the worst protagonist from any modern AAA game. I abhor him; he's a criminal, a murdering arsehole and lacks any self-awareness at all.

Is Brexit to blame?

No, Brexit is not to blame. Otherwise how do you explain games like Gears 4 and Titanfall 2 having disappointing openings in the USA as well? Also, we had big sequels like Black Ops 3 and Halo 5 with poor launches a year ago.
 

Putty

Member
Good grief no. Aiden Pearce is probably the worst protagonist from any modern AAA game. I abhor him; he's a criminal, a murdering arsehole and lacks any self-awareness at all.



No, Brexit is not to blame. Otherwise how do you explain games like Gears 4 and Titanfall 2 having disappointing openings in the USA as well? Also, we had big sequels like Black Ops 3 and Halo 5 with poor launches a year ago.

I think that was sarcasm
 

GametimeUK

Member
Swap the sales over from WD1 and WD2 and the franchise in general has sold what it deserved to sell. The numbers for the games are mixed up, that's all.
 

Bold One

Member
Destiny is a total different story because all the expansion have made very good number and the fanbase is happy with the game (the total opposite for the division, aka the destiny killer lolz ).

I still have fresh and vivid memories of salty Destiny haters propping up The Division as their saviour. Hilarious looking back now, is anyone still playing the Division...shame, I enjoyed the beta
 

Podge293

Member
Could it be that digital sales are just increasing? Although 380k to 80k means roughly 300k digital. That's one helluva rate.

Or people are waiting for it to drop in price. Titanfall and battlefield bought getting pretty decent drops less than a month after release. Same with GoW4.

Or at least that's my tactic nowadays
 

redcrayon

Member
So did Destiny but the other portion of said player base was fine with the Grind just because the shooting mechanics were that good no matter how repetitive it got and how convoluted the currency system was becoming. Destiny 2 will be the test on rather millions of gamers are still fine with Carrot on the Stick: The Game or not.

Is Brexit to blame?
Brexit hasn't actually happened yet.
 

Roufianos

Member
I've only bought Skyrim, Mafia 3, Gears and B1 this fall. Gonna get Pokemon too.

Usually would have bought WD2, Titanfall 2, Dishounoured 2 and COD.

I can only speak for myself but I just feel burned out on gaming. Too many of my favourite franchises have dissapointed this gen. Arkham Knight, Uncharted 4, MGSV and Fallout 4.

Add to that, I'm really sick of open world games or just the lack of non linear story games in general.
 
Awful numbers. What the heck is going on this holiday season?

Apparently, Pokemon really is the only game anyone wants this holiday.

I'm worried for Horizon more than any other game. FFXV to a much lesser extent because even if it doesn't do gangbusters the base is there, and the merch sales and cross promo will be there.

Also: The game industry needs a "crash" right now, in 2016 like the US and UK needed to get rid of the "establishment government" right now, in 2016.
 
The British public were rightly disgusted by the gratuitous nudity in the game and refused to buy it.

Apparently, Pokemon really is the only game anyone wants this holiday.

I'm worried for Horizon more than any other game. FFXV to a much lesser extent because even if it doesn't do gangbusters the base is there, and the merch sales and cross promo will be there.

Horizon's back to being a holiday game? It won't do well this holiday.
 
Apparently, Pokemon really is the only game anyone wants this holiday.

I'm worried for Horizon more than any other game. FFXV to a much lesser extent because even if it doesn't do gangbusters the base is there, and the merch sales and cross promo will be there.
Hmm Horizon doesn't have much competition tho. For honor,nioh and what else? Out of those three I see horizon coming out on top
 

Lucifon

Junior Member
Not exactly a shocker. The first was a massive disappointment and it's releasing next to a bunch of big games.

Pretty much every major franchise game is down this year.
 

Mafro

Member
And thier friends combined with their obnoxious conversations? It makes me cringe.

From what I've read, it's about a narcissistic hacker group that kill and cause havoc because they want to be popular. It's so blindingly selfish and infantile that I want to take no part in helping them achieve it.
What? God knows what you've been reading because the game is absolutely nothing like that, a quick look in the official thread will confirm this but it sounds like you've already made your decision based on false information.
 
I don't think so. But even in the realm of US cities its always the same, NYC LA or SF.
That's what I thought. Whether it's a cheap ploy or not, I wonder if AAA game devs will ever attempt anything like Hollywood's China pandering to try to increase a global audience.

I'm not sure how much of interest increase you'd see just because a game isn't set in a NYC, LA, SF or CH, but it would be interesting to see.
 
I genuinely think that everyone from hardcore gamers to casual consumers are bored and uninspired by these cookie cutter genre titles that have been released annually since the early PS3 era.

Take Assassin's Creed, back when the first game launched it was a genuinely new experience. Even if it wasn't perfect, it was an experience we hadn't had on previous consoles.

How many such games are there this generation?

The quality this gen keeps on improving but the innovation is still lacking and without giving us something new you can't create phenomenons and that means you can't attract casuals and you can't create successful new franchises.
 
I wonder if it's just down to too many big-budget games flooding the market is such a small space of time.

That's what it is on my end at least. In October I bought Gears & Skyrim, and I'm still playing them contently. Right now my head is down financially, finishing up christmas shopping, with Pokemon this week my only gaming purchase planned for the rest of Nov (although to be fair, I bought three copies which is a bit of an outlier). If WD2 or really any of the larger releases this holiday had released more spaced out/different times of the year I would have checked them out, but I just don't have the time/have other responsibilities that prohibit buying all these games at once, it's too much. In December I'll probably start to catch up with Dishonored 2, & Dead Rising 4, but some of these games will go by the wayside for some time. Of course, I don't really think there's anything wrong if trends shift and week one purchases become less important to a longer tail, but obviously publishers want the biggest sales right now.

Hmm Horizon doesn't have much competition tho. For honor,nioh and what else? Out of those three I see horizon coming out on top

The only big issue for Horizon I can foresee for myself is I'll be putting money away for Switch but certainly if I have extra cash for ps4 games, Horizon will be top of the list.
 
I genuinely think that everyone from hardcore gamers to casual consumers are bored and uninspired by these cookie cutter genre titles that have been released annually since the early PS3 era.

Take Assassin's Creed, back when the first game launched it was a genuinely new experience. Even if it wasn't perfect, it was an experience we hadn't had on previous consoles.

How many such games are there this generation?

The quality this gen keeps on improving but the innovation is still lacking and without giving us something new you can't create phenomenons and that means you can't attract casuals and you can't create successful new franchises.
That's the thing even alot of new ips have been having trouble especially from first parties
 
The British public were rightly disgusted by the gratuitous nudity in the game and refused to buy it.



Horizon's back to being a holiday game? It won't do well this holiday.
Its got some space but the holiday is so crowded I can't imagine it not spilling over as far as people prioritizing when to buy what

Hmm Horizon doesn't have much competition tho. For honor,nioh and what else? Out of those three I see horizon coming out on top

I think a lot of people feel burned on new "inventive" AAA IPs. It's open world, there's no known colorful cast or memetic gimmick to run with, it has a female protagonist. Minus some cool looking tech stuff it's the anti WD2 basically, which I fear might also work against it.
 

Bruno MB

Member
What the hell is going on? It feels like the UK video game market has collapsed in the last few weeks. Every new release with the exception of Fifa 17 and Battlefield 1 is underperforming badly.

[Week 22, 2014] WATCH DOGS (UBISOFT) - 388,000 / NEW
[Week 46, 2016] WATCH DOGS 2 (UBISOFT) - 77,600 / NEW (-80%)
 
So did Destiny but the other portion of said player base was fine with the Grind just because the shooting mechanics were that good no matter how repetitive it got and how convoluted the currency system was becoming. Destiny 2 will be the test on rather millions of gamers are still fine with Carrot on the Stick: The Game or not.

I stopped playing the game after about 2 months, so I know what you're saying. But it's pretty apparent that lot's of people really enjoy it, and that they managed to turn it around.

I'm actually pretty excited for Destiny 2 despite being underwhelmed by the first game.
 
I think a lot of people feel burned on new "inventive" AAA IPs. It's open world, there's no known colorful cast or memetic gimmick to run with, it has a female protagonist. Minus some cool looking tech stuff it's the anti WD2 basically, which I fear might also work against it.
This made me sad to read in this list of "negatives" about the game. Aloy seems cool.
 
Its got some space but the holiday is so crowded I can't imagine it not spilling over as far as people prioritizing when to buy what



I think a lot of people feel burned on new "inventive" AAA IPs. It's open world, there's no known colorful cast or memetic gimmick to run with, it has a female protagonist. Minus some cool looking tech stuff it's the anti WD2 basically, which I fear might also work against it.

Horizon has the privilege of being the next big Sony exclusive and Sony is gonna market the hell out of the game. It can also become another The Order: 1886.
 

Kill3r7

Member
Not exactly a shocker. The first was a massive disappointment and it's releasing next to a bunch of big games.

Pretty much every major franchise game is down this year.

There is a major difference between being down and selling less than ~79% (73% if you exclude last gen) from the previous entry in the series from 2+ years ago. This is nearly Titanfall 2 bad.
 

Zolo

Member
Haven't read the thread aside from the OP, but this isn't surprising considering how much hype was built around the first one and ultimately got pretty disappointing reviews and reception.
 

Nevasleep

Member
Could it be that digital sales are just increasing? Although 380k to 80k means roughly 300k digital. That's one helluva rate.
I doubt it, the prices for digital are still far higher on consoles. I don't know anybody irl who buys digital, unless it's a sale.
 
It's no surprise the first one was so hyped and pretty much the first real next gen game we all saw, it was a let down from the hype and people felt burned. Add in all the other games out you can see why it's bombed compared to the first.
Pretty much this.

There's no way this game wouldn't bomb in my mind, there was zero hype for it compared to the insanely high levels the first had.
 
It's a shame, because WD2 sounds like it is a pretty big improvement over the original, at least in terms of story and fun.

I plan to pick it up on PC at some point.
 
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