NPD March 2009

[BadTB25]

For those that have played though the campaign, how does the story grab you? Is the character iconic?

I know that the COD games don't really have iconic characters, but I'm wondering what in the formula is missing. Maybe it's shooter overload.

I've have some complaints about the controls, but I don't think it would be enough to turn me or others off on the game. At least in the demo, I thought it was OK.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I thought Killzone2 would have a bigger number. It's a dark gritty fps, and it's heavily advertised on tv in all the right places. It has good graphics. I think the problem is the word of mouth on the multi player. FPS games tend to live and die by their multi player now, and I don't think the KZ2 multi player is competitive with other brands. That's both competitive and cooperative.

 

[TrungGap]

Or it's simpy brand recognition. COD:WaW, Halo Wars, Resident Evil 5, etc.

Gears (1m nov, 815k dec 2006)
Assasin Creed (980k nov, 894k dec 2007)

Now granted these games are overly hyped. But in my opinion so is KZ2. Maybe Gears and Assassin Creed are accidental hits...I have a feeling, it's something else...not sure what. Something with when it's release (holidays vs march!!)?

For those that have played though the campaign, how does the story grab you? Is the character iconic?

I know that the COD games don't really have iconic characters, but I'm wondering what in the formula is missing. Maybe it's shooter overload.

I've have some complaints about the controls, but I don't think it would be enough to turn me or others off on the game. At least in the demo, I thought it was OK.

I would agree control isn't a huge factor...however the campaign wasn't compelling enough for me. Another game that I ahve giving up playing the campaign is WaW (due to motion sickness), however MP and especially Zombie are a blast!!!

The KZ2's MP was okay, but nothing stands out...well...actually, I really do like number of players can play in a match, but aside from that nothing that keeps me coming back. I've played online with a friend once in awhile, but nothing in it that makes us stayed up to drawn (okay 1-2am on a working day) playing it.

 

[obonicus]

Gears (1m nov, 815k dec 2006)
Assasin Creed (980k nov, 894k dec 2007)

Now granted these games are overly hyped. But in my opinion so is KZ2. Maybe Gears and Assassin Creed are accidental hits...I have a feeling, it's something else...not sure what. Something with when it's release (holidays vs march!!)?

It's difficult to compare the numbers directly, since they were released in different periods of the year. KZ2 competing with WaW could be a factor too, Gears came out pretty much unopposed. Assassin's Creed... I'd bet that even Ubisoft isn't totally sure what made that take off the way it did. Just good publicity?

I won't speculate too deeply as to why KZ2 succeeded/failed since the games I like don't do well and the games I don't are blockbusters (not referring to KZ2 here, btw). I clearly don't get it.

 

[Rangers]

It's difficult to compare the numbers directly, since they were released in different periods of the year. KZ2 competing with WaW could be a factor too, Gears came out pretty much unopposed. Assassin's Creed... I'd bet that even Ubisoft isn't totally sure what made that take off the way it did. Just good publicity?

I won't speculate too deeply as to why KZ2 succeeded/failed since the games I like don't do well and the games I don't are blockbusters (not referring to KZ2 here, btw). I clearly don't get it.

I think a lot of what makes games take off in the hardcore market is good graphics. the hype for almost every highly hyped ps360 game begins there. Look at RE5 in this months chart. Yeah it has a great pedigree but it's also among the best looking games around. Especially for it's time in 2007 AC had some excellent open world graphics. Maybe not the very best but in the elite. From there other factors play in. I'd guess with AC there was good trailers (imo AC had THE best video game trailers I've probably seen repeatedly), and I imagine most 17-34 year old males probably just dug the concept of the game. Another thing is the publisher. I'm not sure if gamers can just sense it but most games by EA, UBI, or Activision seem to do pretty well. Theres generally a quality/hype bar with those guys. Everybody seems pretty excited over AC2 already as well. In the end though hindsight helps, it's difficult to exactly say why some games hit the public's fancy and others miss.

WaW came out in Nov..no way I would consider that major competition for KZ2, it's not on the charts. If you're going to say games that came out 5 months earlier are competition for game X now well..every game is going to have some stiff competition.

 

[22psi]

What's wrong with KZ2 is Sony hyped the crap out of it to the point it would never live up to the hype and it doesn't. A very good game but not the 2nd coming as Sony wanted.

 

[pc999]

Problem with Killzone is that it brings nothing new (besides gfx) and it isnt a brand as big as the others.

Madworld less than 70k and GTA on DS did 88,704

Where did you saw that, I did see that but for the first week alone...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Problem with Killzone is that it brings nothing new (besides gfx) and it isnt a brand as big as the others.

Yes. I think there are just too many shooters. I'll be very surprised if any new shooter can be a runaway success. Makes me wonder why people like Snowblind Studios are giving it a go?

 

[obonicus]

WaW came out in Nov..no way I would consider that major competition for KZ2, it's not on the charts. If you're going to say games that came out 5 months earlier are competition for game X now well..every game is going to have some stiff competition.

Call of Duty is competition for all FPS coming out this year if they hope to survive on word of mouth. Maybe with better marketing efforts the story would have been different, but KZ2 needed word of mouth as well, to get past the stigma of KZ1.

What's wrong with KZ2 is Sony hyped the crap out of it to the point it would never live up to the hype and it doesn't. A very good game but not the 2nd coming as Sony wanted.

Sure, but you could say that of MS' much-better-performing exclusives as well.

 

[-tkf-]

Can anyone mention a FPS game doing great on the PS3?

 

[assurdum]

Can anyone mention a FPS game doing great on the PS3?

COD?

 

[aselto]

Haha, I like that Microsoft 'disregards' handheld games when compiling its own list.

Since they are not competing in the handheld area, it's very logical for them to look only at console games sales.

Assassin's Creed... I'd bet that even Ubisoft isn't totally sure what made that take off the way it did. Just good publicity?

I think it's fairly obvious once you see a single screenshot of that game. Everyone is familiar with the historical setting and I'm sure everyone as a child/teenager was fascinated with crusaders. Take little to zero non-strategy games set in medieval and absolutely spectacular recreation of cities from that era and you get a title that resonates with everyone.

 

[liolio]

I don't think that KZ2 only suffered from a lack of marketing efforts. Basically I think it's really safe to assume that every one that have spent at least 400$ for the system knows very well about Killzone II. Lacck of proper marketing efforts may explain why the games didn't move systems or really few but not why the ps3 owners didn't more massively jump on this game. I don't get it in fact.
Back to marketing I think that sony politic in regard to early reviews was at best stupid... when the game has been released RE5 news/previews/reviews were all over the place and it's not like Resident evil was already a stronger license than KZ (RE is in fact stronger than most licenses). It's possible that KZ sufferd from RE5 competition, maybe ps3 have delayed KZ2 and bough RE5 in march.

 

[assurdum]

I've been wondering about it myself.

Maybe the 'lots of people bought the PS3 for bluray' thing is true , and the people actually buying games are really a tiny contingent of incredibly hardcore fans with lots of money to spend. So hardcore that they manage to match multiplatform games' attach-rate on 360 several times in a row. But that, say, 1 million-strong ultra-hardcore fanbase (in the US, of course) can only do so much short of each buying more than one copy of a game.

Yeah, that's probably it.

Please, please, not again...if it was that the ps3 software would have followed the trend of the psp. The software sell enough not how 360 software surely but not really to say the most of ps3 users buy that for the bluray. The real problem imho is that sony in this generation shows doesn't knows how to promote its first parties titles to its userbase. I found the marketing of killzone 2 everywhere terrible, too generic without 'soul' , sony promote the graphics, the technologie, the superpower but what about the game? Where is finished the real sony? It's terrible to see when sony try to imitate microsoft...and to bet all to on a fps on the ps3?! but is another story probably. It's time to wake up I hope sony learns the lesson. Sorry for my english.

 

[tirminyl]

Problem with Killzone is that it brings nothing new (besides gfx) and it isnt a brand as big as the others.

I think the problem is that people expect every game to bring some major innovation and ignore all the finer points that make the game different from others.

I still have a problem with Sony marketing. Besides the obvious barrier of entry, Sony does all it's marketing online. Sorry, that just doesn't cut it, people in the real world need to know about your games as well.

 

[mrcorbo]

I see some problems with some of the theories trying to explain KZ2's modest sales.

First: Too much shooter competition? The presence of the still popular Halo3, CoD4 & WaW and Gears 2 in the 360's library didn't seem to prevent Left 4 Dead from putting up some pretty good sales, with word of mouth actually increasing sales in month #2.

Second: Failure of marketing? Again I point to Left 4 Dead. That game saw little to no mass-market advertising, but again, while this probably contributed to a fairly modest initial sales month, sales took off once people got a chance to play the game and see how excellent it was.

The fact that Sony-published titles are consistently underperforming, even relative to install base points to a deeper problem. What was supposed to be a strength for Sony has hardly been a factor from a business standpoint and that points to either the "first party first" strategy being a poor one or being a poorly-executed one.

It's also worth noting that third-parties (the exclusive MGS4 included) don't seem to be having the same problems selling to expectations relative to install base.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yes. I think there are just too many shooters. I'll be very surprised if any new shooter can be a runaway success. Makes me wonder why people like Snowblind Studios are giving it a go?

Do you really believe that?

For the people mentioning that the game wasn't marketed properly, I'm not really sure what else they were supposed to do. They got massive hype from every gaming rag, and there were commercials all over today. I must have seen the ad fifty times. So we have people saying it's undermarketed and at the same time people saying the game didn't do well because it was overhyped/marketed.

I think the easiest way to explain the sales is to look at the game. Solid game. Doesn't bring anything new to the table, but has market friendly graphics. Multiplayer is a failure. The last point probably most easily explains the sales.

 

[pc999]

I think the problem is that people expect every game to bring some major innovation and ignore all the finer points that make the game different from others.

Personally I dont have any problem with a very good even if not innovative piece of work (as long as there still is innovative work from someone else), but the "problem" is that only hardcore fans will notice all the finner points, and those are always fewer than those who would play a distinct or brand proven FPS.

HW does have the avantage of brand and being the only(?) RTS made for consoles this gen.

Dont get me wrong if I get cheap acess to KZ2 I would probably give it a go (actually finish it), but while I am a FPS fan I dont feel like I am missing that much.

Anyway about the NPD I am just a bit sad that Madworld didnt chart, I hope they do some good proffit of it at least.

 

[pc999]

First: Too much shooter competition? The presence of the still popular Halo3, CoD4 & WaW and Gears 2 in the 360's library didn't seem to prevent Left 4 Dead from putting up some pretty good sales, with word of mouth actually increasing sales in month #2.

Second: Failure of marketing? Again I point to Left 4 Dead. That game saw little to no mass-market advertising, but again, while this probably contributed to a fairly modest initial sales month, sales took off once people got a chance to play the game and see how excellent it was.

There is a game that actually brings inovation and properly executed too, didnt even needed a world of developments, great gfx or huge marketing.

Every FPS fan probably can apreciate it and many no FPS (or casual FPS)fans too.

 

[Asher]

Does no one else think the Killzone brand is just tarnished?

Am I the only one who played the original?