All purpose sales and sales rumors/anecdotes thread next gen+
- Thread starter Rangers
- Start date
- Status
UC did Tomb Raider better than Tomb Raider and that genre has a pretty well established fan base even if the first UC struggled a bit with identity and some gameplay mechanics. I agree its a poor comparison (SO to UC), SO is a very good game but it is somewhat niche, its not likely to sell as well it arguably deserves.
WRT the XB1 being the platform for casuals I think that the price is the biggest factor, not sure that a casual is more vested to LIVE or PSN but they could be motivated to buy a bundle that's cheaper and includes games.
OTOH I think its a bit far fetched to think all the PS4 buyers are core, its selling too many units to categorize its audience with a broad brush although moving forward if MS is prepared to continue to subsidize the XB1 after the first of the year as they are now they might make some demographic shift but is that even smart? Does a so called casual buy enough software and spend enough on services to justify the subsidy? The whole approach to XB1 coming into E3 2 years ago suggest not at least in the sense that MS knowing their target audience positioned the platform very differently and if anything appeared to comfortable moving less units in exchange for a more loyal consumer who was prepared to spend money on services and games.
WRT the XB1 being the platform for casuals I think that the price is the biggest factor, not sure that a casual is more vested to LIVE or PSN but they could be motivated to buy a bundle that's cheaper and includes games.
OTOH I think its a bit far fetched to think all the PS4 buyers are core, its selling too many units to categorize its audience with a broad brush although moving forward if MS is prepared to continue to subsidize the XB1 after the first of the year as they are now they might make some demographic shift but is that even smart? Does a so called casual buy enough software and spend enough on services to justify the subsidy? The whole approach to XB1 coming into E3 2 years ago suggest not at least in the sense that MS knowing their target audience positioned the platform very differently and if anything appeared to comfortable moving less units in exchange for a more loyal consumer who was prepared to spend money on services and games.
All releasing on nov 18
Grand Theft Auto V
Far Cry 4
Dragon Age Inquisition
OK everyone wants to launch nov/dec for christmas sales but there were months this year when bugger all came out, you'ld think Far Cry 4 esp would of done better launching sometime in the middle of the year and getting most of the press attention, not to mention we've also recently just had COD/halo etc
Grand Theft Auto V
Far Cry 4
Dragon Age Inquisition
OK everyone wants to launch nov/dec for christmas sales but there were months this year when bugger all came out, you'ld think Far Cry 4 esp would of done better launching sometime in the middle of the year and getting most of the press attention, not to mention we've also recently just had COD/halo etc
Silent_Buddha
Legend
That's why I said in relation to it's competition. As well, 3 PS3 titles managed to chart despite the lead X360 had. I wonder how many XBO titles charted in the single SKU chart other than SO. Looking at the Oct NPD, I'd be surprised if more than 2-3 (with 3 pushing it) XBO titles not named Sunset Overdrive made it into the top 10 single SKU chart. NBA 2K15 and The Evil Within probably made it. That means already 5 spots in the top 10 taken. SO means 6 spots taken. Borderlands likely took 1 or 2 spots. So 7-8 spots taken. X360 Destiny did better than XBO so it's going to get a spot ahead of it. So 8-9. And then it's a matter of whether Destiny XBO did better than NBA 2k15 X360 (unlikely) or Borderlands PS3 (I'd give it even chance).
Anyway you put it, Sunset Overdrive did significantly better than Uncharted. Now, whether it can match Uncharted's success going forward is hard to tell (I agree, quite unlikely). And it also did better at launch than any other new IP by Insomiac that has an NPD chart I can actually look at.
Yes, New IP can chart. And when they do it's pretty notable. Especially now with multi-SKU charts, it is significantly harder for a single SKU title to chart. Of course, Sunset Overdrive wasn't the only new IP to chart in the single SKU charts this month. The Evil Within did as well, so it definitely deserves notice as well.
But people saying Sunset Overdrive didn't do well? That is so out of left field and quite wrong. It likely would have charted higher if not for the bundles as well. Hence I wouldn't be surprised if total units moved (stand alone + bundled copies) exceeded the sales of The Evil Within on XBO. I also wouldn't be surprised if it didn't, BTW.
Regards,
SB
DuckThor Evil
Legend
No it was two games and those two games were Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Assassin's Creed... I wonder why people didn't run to buy even more games that month. That's what I meant about the competition The month Uncharted came out was incredibly strong. You had those two games that were monsters or close to it on day 1, you had a free Wii game bundled with a Wii-mote purchase in there as well. Mass Effect and Super Mario Galaxy and Guitar Hero was still going strong back then.
October 2014 was a joke next to that.
I wonder if you noticed that Sunset Overdrive's 9th spot in the single SKU had this asterisk on it:
""It did come in at No. 9 if you count games by SKU (meaning only the PS4 version of NBA 2K15 and the Xbox One version of The Evil Within)"
That means it didn't chart in the top ten unless you only count some games once that would have had other SKUs placing higher than SO, such a restriction wasn't present on that Uncharted month. I wonder how close to the top SO would chart in the individual SKU list had it launched this November against Unity, Call of Duty, Far Cry 4, GTA 5, Dragon Age and the MC collection
I'm betting had it launched on a similarly strong month as Uncharted did, it wouldn't have looked that hot even to you. At best the game did ok (I will get it though).
Last edited:
Prophecy2k
Veteran
I'm not following these Uncharted vs. Sunset Overdrive comparisons...
Surely they're completely different games, in completely different genres, with completely different levels of appeal.
Clearly, Uncharted is a game with mass appeal, adhering to a popular genre and including popular themes. It's assentially "Indianna Jones" the game by Sony, which is the very definition of summer blockbuster action movie that is enjoyed by people of all ages and interests.
Sunse Overdrive however, is a weird mishmash of gaming mechanics and open world game design. Doesn't fit into any particular genre, nor does it particularly follow many of the most popular modern gaming conventions. It's by definition a niche game, as it's appeal is limited only to a niche audience. Even breaking the game down into it's constituent parts, its obvious this is the case.
I can't see how, even after reviewing well and getting reasonably good word of mouth, SO can go on to become a massive seller. Thematically, it's just not strong or cohesive enough to be broadly appealing.
Surely they're completely different games, in completely different genres, with completely different levels of appeal.
Clearly, Uncharted is a game with mass appeal, adhering to a popular genre and including popular themes. It's assentially "Indianna Jones" the game by Sony, which is the very definition of summer blockbuster action movie that is enjoyed by people of all ages and interests.
Sunse Overdrive however, is a weird mishmash of gaming mechanics and open world game design. Doesn't fit into any particular genre, nor does it particularly follow many of the most popular modern gaming conventions. It's by definition a niche game, as it's appeal is limited only to a niche audience. Even breaking the game down into it's constituent parts, its obvious this is the case.
I can't see how, even after reviewing well and getting reasonably good word of mouth, SO can go on to become a massive seller. Thematically, it's just not strong or cohesive enough to be broadly appealing.
Where does Minecraft fit into that reasoning? To what existing genre did that adhere to comfortably to be worth people's consideration, where something like SO that doesn't fit into neat boxes can't go on to generate long term appeal?
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
Minecraft's something of an anomaly, though. It's initial public release was five and half years ago and during that time it has changed significantly with the only immutable constant being a procedural world where you can mine and place blocks, and craft items. Mechanics that used to exist are gone, new mechanics have been added, and changed, and removed. The game has undergone a true evolution and developed under the hand of heavy user feedback. Consequently decisions about game design has consciously been made to make it more appealing.
I think this is the key to Minecraft's success. Mojang's plan from the early days was to let the community have a big say in how the project developed. I remember when I bought Minecraft in August 2011 (beta phase) there was little mainstream coverage. There was no merchandise and very few people outside of the gaming community had heard of it. Plenty of people inside gaming hadn't heard of it.
If Minecraft had not changed there is zero chance it would be where it is today. It's a different game. It's an interesting idea though, instead of making new games, developers just revamp, evolve and fix existing games. It works for MMOs.
Although I can't dispute you, the point I was attempting to make is a game doesn't have to fit a well defined genre to reach wide appeal. A good game is a good game. The only tricky bit is marketing a new game idea that doesn't fit a box, but ongoing word-of-mouth is great for that. If people playing XB1 see their friends playing SO and read positive things, they'll be more likely to give it a try.
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) 1.57 million
- Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 1.12 million
- Assassin’s Creed (360) 980K
- Guitar Hero 3 (PS2) 967K
- Wii Play (Wii) 564K
- Mass Effect (360) 473K
- Call of Duty 4 (PS3) 444K
- Guitar Hero 3 (Wii) 426K
- Halo 3 (360) 387K
- Assassin’s Creed (PS3) 377K
- 360 Rock Band (T) 312k
- 360 Assassin’s Creed: Collector’s Edition (M) 140k
- Wii Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Games (E) 328k
- Wii Wii Zapper W/ Link’s Crossbow Training (E) 232k
- Wii High School Musical (E) 185k
- Wii Lego Star Wars: The Complete Trilogy (E) 180k
- Wii Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (M) 121k
- NDS Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (E) 227k
- PS3 Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (T) 117k
A game that sells like that isn't doing it on mass appeal, marketing or popular genre. Its sold because its a great title that developed a strong following over time.
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
Completely agree. Journey and Viva Piñata are good examples.
Even adding a twist of something new is risky. Red Dead Redemption was risky, I mean.. a western? Sure it was a third person shooter from one of the most critically acclaimed publishers in decades but.. A WESTERN?
Prophecy2k
Veteran
I would argue that Minecraft, fundamentally was an innovative game, not to mention it being an indie game that wasn't asking its potential players to shell out a full $60 to play it. The latter is what will limit SO in the long run.
SO, when broken down doesn't actually do anything new. Nor does it provide anything outside of perhaps the game's co-op mode that can keep gamers coming back in the long term.
Uncharted has it's narrative, story and themes, that gamers grow to care about, root for, and more importantly, pine to know the all important "what happens next". Hence, sequels fulfil that desire and induct more and more gamers in, to be engrossed in the fiction.
Minecraft has all its crafting and building; a form of user-generated content, which when done right (e.g. LBP) will always keep gamers coming back again and again.
SO has great gameplay that loses its novelty fairly quickly. A mediocre story, and a colourful but actually quite vapid world and cast. There's nothing there that makes me think it can become a cult hit or slow burner that will eventually grow into a big franchise.
Prophecy2k
Veteran
My point isn't just whether SO can sell through word-of-mouth, because indeed it will: whilst it's one of the few genuinely great games currently released on new gen consoles. It's really whether the game can continue to grow (especially through sequels, like Uncharted did) to become a big selling game series. It's whether, after all the big fall games and early 2015 blockbusters are released, people will even think about SO anymore.
There's been many great games in the history of video games that released and reviewed well, but didn't have enough substance or appeal to sustain themselves as a major gaming franchise. A game can be a good game, but that doesn't mean it has braod appeal. And i'm arguing that broad appeal is what separates the one-hit-wonders from the mega-franchises of the console games industry.
It's good enough that I hope it has legs, but I don't think it'll take off. The game is unique, and I'm have fun going back to it for collectables etc, but the gameplay does not seem to be attractive to a lot of people. Reviews are generally quite good, but I think the traversal system, or whatever you call it, is not broadly appealing to shooter fans, and I think the focus on weapons and shooting is not broadly appealing to people who are into the traversal.
It should do well enough for a sequel, but you can tell from reading comments online that it isn't going to take off into a big franchise. It may be the type of game where the sequel comes together in a way that really catches peoples interest, but that's a long ways off.
Edit: I think it's a game that would benefit from a demo, but I'm not sure how you do that with an open-world game, with games being huge downloads now.
Completely agree with your core point, how many games have come out with innovative game play and failed? There is a reason Mojang sold for so much money...
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
And to pick up on a point that Prophecy2K made above, which I'd not really thought about, in many of the reviews there is the opinion that the protagonist is a bit of a dick and very hard to like. Mind you Ratchet has a dickish streak but it's kept in bounds by Clank.
Of course they could bring back the franchise with different protagonists, GTA does it every game.
There was a demo for the original Infamous on PlayStation 3, you just include a subset of the city. Infamous's demo included a fair portion to play in - I played the hell out of that thing. I never had any interest in superheroes games or Infamous, I only downloaded the demo to help imagine how GTA might look on PS3 - obviously this was before GTA IV came out.
I'm guessing the turn around was mostly temporary? It seems the defacto SKU is the AC one which is still doing well, but dropping. I wonder how long a XB1 SKU can hold the top hardware spot on Amazon. As long as it is <$399?
Sunset Overdrive is something like 23GB. Not sure how achievable a demo would be.
The character is kind of a dick. It didn't really bother me. The humour is hit and miss, probably weighed more towards miss than hit. I'd be surprised if that was a big reason why people were not picking up the game.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
