All purpose Sales and Sales Rumours and Anecdotes [2021 Edition]

Pretty much as DSoup and I pointed out...

 

Even more so in the streaming era where the metric is new subs. Ergo, plenty of stories axed after a couple of series (and more often only one!) and not concluded.

https://decider.com/2017/06/13/what-does-it-take-to-get-a-netflix-original-series-cancelled/

If you don't get a flash-in-the-pan success, just try something new, seems the new thinking. This is a complete disaster for story and artistic integrity.

I agree. Six/seven years earlier at conception it probably seemed a good idea, but by the time it came out the market had moved on.

 

It is pretty sad that supposedly creative people get mad that they have to create something new instead of making more of the same.

 

It's ironic, but at the same time I can understand why they fall in love with their creations too.

 

It was expensive, hard to make, team was not enthusiastic for a sequel [creative director left the team immediately after shipping], critical and public reactions were mixed and lots of people were meh on it, and it immediately went on deep sales. By the end of that year and half period, sales price went all the way to $15.

I'm surprised at 8M sales mark, that's a lot, but the decision to axe the sequel came immediately at launch. There was no critical acclaim, and Sony simply moved on.

 

Interesting threadmark at ERA on Days Gone...

Pouring out a little liquor for Evolution Studios...

Edit: The actual recorded live stream.

 

That is sad and raises question as to why, since the product sold very very well

 

Sounds as if the people higher up at Bend weren't to excited about doing a sequel and would rather do something else. I mean Sony didn't close the studio and there no news that there budget or team size has been cut.
You can't win on the internet people moaning about only sequels getting green lit and people moaning when there isn't a sequel.

 

God of War sold "very very well" at 19.5m copies. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Days Gone and I'm disappointed there won't be a sequel but you can't ignore the numbers, which would have been looked at in the context of other Sony first party titles. Time. Cost. Budget. Metacritic. Sales. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's weird there are mixed narratives, depending on who at Bend is involved the company were disappointed where was no sequel or they weren't fussed. Having worked on the game for six years I can imagine a lot of folks were deeply invested in the game and wanted to build on what they had created. The original Uncharted on PS3 wasn't the most amazing game, it was a very pretty, well-produced, well-scripted third person cover shooter but nothing amazing, then there was Uncharted 2 which was utterly fantastic.

 

Possibly the best month for Xbox in the UK yet.

 

I wondered if it being in the same genre as TLOU and published by Sony may have led to unfair criticism by the media and public. Its not TLOU and doesn't come close to doing what TLOU does well. But after playing it, I would say it more State of Decay than TLOU. And it does a number of things better than SOD. It offers better visuals, a better story and better armed combat mechanics than SOD. If Sony had marketed it as a competitor to SOD it may have had a better reception.

Plus I am not sure if there were other motivations for not supporting a sequel than just sales performance. Usually that many sales don't warrant a discontinuation of a IP. Extra long dev period with developer issues usually means get rid of the dev and not the IP.

 

We've had this conversation before. Days Gone sold better than other titles that got sequels. eg. Infamous Second Son, Knack 2, Nioh 2, from quick research.

Also, apparently that 8 million isn't true sales:
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/01/days-gones-reported-8-million-sales-not-necessarily-accurate

But DG still sold more than Knack!

"Very good sales" is of course subjective and different products are clearly measured against different benchmarks at Sony. Maybe they compare products not only to budget but also similar titles in the genre? eg. How did Uncharted sell versus Lara Croft? What are DG's rival zombie survival games and how did they sell?

 

It probably had a bigger budget as well.

 

And every time people will focus on sales and ignore budget, reception and expectation. Somebody will always mention Knack. It's inevitable.

This forum is seemingly incapable of having a conversation that takes all the factors into consideration.

 

This species is seemingly incapable of having conversations that take all the factors into consideration! Mostly because the subjects are too vast and complicated, so people will bring up one point, challenge one point, but short of an epic dissertation there are no answers to be had and the joy is in the talk.

The starting point for this comparison would be a full investigation into all the games that did and did not get sequels, their budgets, time to release, sales, critical acclaim, etc. Then armed with enough comparable data we could start discussing what makes a game worth sequelising or not.

Anyone here doing a Masters in business studies and in need of a thesis?

 

Well, I mean, you are the one who replyed to someone who said that a new i.p. made in Bend, Oregon by a studio of around 75 employees sold very, very well at more then 8 millios comparing It with the seventh installememt of the second biggest i p. Sony has, made by a 250 employees studio in Santa Monica, California

 

Well Bend Studio was 130 people and Santa Monica Studios work on a lot of projects (not just God of War) so the employee numbers aren't directly comparable. Days Gone definitely feels the much larger game.

 

I dont think this was posted
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/BestOf2021?tab=1

I'm not 100% sure if they are in order within the tiers, but if they are then the much hated battlefield 2042 was the biggest moneymaker of the year
It shows you the disconnect sometimes between ppls words on the net and their actions

 

Its like fast good and junk food.
Crap products that are more consumed and profitable than food with high nutritional and utility value.

 

true, I looked last year the game that won game of the year in both the main game awards 'Hades' only managed to sell in the silver tier (3rd highest tier)

Btw when I reloaded the page the order of the games was different thus my assertion that battlefield 2048 was the best seller of the year is most likely wrong (still one of the top 12 grossing titles).