Destiny Sales *split*

I don't think we should blame marketing unless it's a plain lie. Marketing and hype comes with selling ANYTHING. Also I don't think Destiny is that bad of a game compared to other "better" games...and if a person doesn't like the game after buying/trying it they could easily trade it in and get the "better" game. No you won't get full market value if you trade in the game but that happens with everything unless you're talking about rare items that actually appreciate in value.

If an excellent game doesn't have the marketing budget to sell huge numbers then blame the publishers instead of the competing marketing budgets from other games.

 

Blaming the publishers/marketeers is one option. Blaming the system is another - they're both valid assessments coming from different value-sets. I can agree it's a shame when a good work (in my assessment) doesn't do as well, or gets completely overlooked, as the masses go after the more mediocre work that's trumped to the nines. I don't like good artists being overlooked for mediocre artists with better financial backing. But the disagreement there is with The World At Large and that discussion is really an RSPCA one. It'll be interesting in the end where Destiny's sales end up and where the review scores end up. Will the marketing investment be worth pushing more than the game investment for any given title? Where devs receive bonuses/penalties for reaching metacritic thresholds, should publishers basically ignore the game quality score and instead focus on prolonged ad campaigns? Long term, that can't be a valid strategy because the consumers will become disillusioned with the adverts. Won't they? Or will Joe Consumer always be attracted the latest big budget blockbuster no matter how many times they get 'burned'?

 

It's actually a super fun game to play, my son is 9, plays tons of shooter, and is over the moon with Destiny. It's a clear standout for him in the genre. And everytime I start playing I just get sucked in to the firefights completely, which I generally don't do. The way the music blends with combat, and the constant co-op companions, it's all just so _right_.

I feel sorry for anyone missing out on a great title because of some jaded journalistic reviews.

Sure, it has a shitty story (premise is great, execution is *yawn*) and they missed the boat big time on world building. But, the core is rock solid, and the innovation with consistent co-op multiplayer is a big step forward for the genre. It's certainly something new and refreshing and I'm not sure they're getting enough credit for that.

The fact that WatchDogs got better reviews than Destiny is just a fuckin travesty. WTF. You want to talk generic pieces of shit that I regret buying, I look right at Wathdogs.

 

From the original article:
"To break even, Activision would have to sell about 15 million to 16 million units of a $60 game, analysts said."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/06/us-activision-destiny-idUSBREA4501F20140506?feedType=RSS

So seems like Activision takes home about 60% of retail sales at the end of the day. And would have only banked about 300million so far, and be a long way off recouping the 500mil.

But the 500million was probably referring more to multiple iterations of the franchise, IMO. Here's what Bungie had to say:
"“For marketing you'd have to ask Activision people, but for development costs, not anything close to $500 million,”
...
the budget for Destiny, including associated marketing costs and pizza Wednesdays, is nowhere near 500 million dollars.”"
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-budget-nowhere-near-500-million-bungie-says/1100-6420802/

 

That's how it is or we who (sometimes in my case as a freelancer) work in ad biz would be doing something else

Obviously brand can become tained (in this case Destiny, lesser extent Bungie) and just about no mount of ads or shilling could change the situation. Something like "new coke" in the 80's was not salvageable. Despite low metacritic score, I'm not sure we're there yet. Destiny might get second chance if Activision ignores metacritic scores. But there's a slight chance that they'll drop they IP like nothing if things turn ugly in near future.

 

Final Fantasy Online shows an online game with a bad start can be turned around, so even if Destiny doesn't get the stellar reviews that perhaps warrant blockbuster status, it can still improve. But getting people to revist after they've lost interest (if they lose interest) would require a whole load more marketing dollars!

Edit : Metacritic is 75% on PS4, 64% user reviews. I think there's a bit of, "I was expecting more after all the kerfuffle."

 

The beta was fun, and don't get me wrong, I'll probably buy it eventually, but I'm in no great hurry.

It certainly isn't any sort of revolutionary game, it's just Bungie's version of Borderlands with a more serious Halo tone than the fun and humorous tone of Borderlands.

It also seems far smaller than Borderlands (or it's DLCs or BL2, I'm not specifically talking about the main game part of BL1), and has lots of transitions. The main port is almost identical in feel to the Citadel in Mass Effect, yet the Citadel in Mass Effect was far more interesting and interactive.

All in all, there's nothing new here and it's scope doesn't seem to be as large as what was either promised or expected.

Fun game, sure. But the best game ever and worth all the hype? Nah. GTAV was a far more ambitious game.

 

I thought I read an article where Activision clarified that the 500mil was for the entire 10 year deal with Bungie that includes not only Destiny, but any sequel and DLC that comes out? They didn't spend 500mil yet, that's their budget for the entire franchise for the 10 year contract period.

That was my understanding anyway.

 

Yeah from what people I know are saying (I won't be getting it until/unless it comes out on PC) it's like Borderlands, but smaller, with a lot less loot, a lot less diversity of loot, a lot less interesting loot, but with PvP arena's.

Consensus among most of them has been that Borderlands is a far better game. Some have even compared it to Warframe claiming Warframe is the much better game.

I still really want to check it out, but I'm in no hurry. Might try it over at a friend's house sometime.

Regards,
SB

 

Are there any hints of a PC release? This game seems well suited for PC and if it's like Borderlands with better graphics then I'm all in. Except I don't have a console.

 

I think there was a blurb either by Activision or Bungie at some point mentioning a PC version at some nebulous future date, but that it wasn't being worked on until the console versions had released.

It's pretty rare for Activision to not release PC versions of games. Which makes sense since PC profits feature quite heavily in their game portfolio. More so than many other large publishers.

Regards,
SB

 

It actually reminds me a lot of Borderlands 1. Not a lot of soul, the world felt lifeless and the story was weak.

In terms of gameplay comparisons, I'd say:
1. Shooting mechanics in destiny are far better than Borderlands, much more satisfying feel.
2. I really appreciate what they've done with anonymous co-op, the Public Events and Raids add a lot to the game that just isn't there if you don't have friends online to play with.

Borderlands beats it in almost every other area.

But, just like Borderlands 1, I would guess that Destiny's sequel will right the wrongs, and will evolve into something truly great.

 

I think it delivers the right things at the right time. On next gen consoles there isn't that much competition right now in this space. It doesn't really matter per se that another game gets a higher rating either if it's not really a competing genre.

 

Scoob's thoughts here summarize mine as well. The things Destiny does well are 1.) shooting mechanics/encounters, and 2.) the public events and raids.

Otherwise, Borderlands is a much more fully fleshed out, cohesive experience.

 

Agreed. This is the best next gen shooter you can by right now in my books. Fun factor is there, the co-op is something fresh, and the graphics are gorgeous.

And the music. Man, the music is so-damn-GOOD.

 

UK Destiny sales:

PS3 vs XB360 is interesting, suggestive of the Bungie connection with Xbox gamers and perhaps why XB1 sales aren't as far behind PS4 sales despite the HW ratios, as some have speculated.

 

Yeah, there definitely seems to be a small XB/Bungie connection there. I'm guessing the split will be very close in the US because NPD doesn't count bundle sales.

edit: Apparently MS did the free game with XB1 purchase in EUR as well, which included Destiny. That explains things a bit. Destiny wasn't free in the PS4 bundle (slightly discounted like the US?) whereas it was free with XB1.

 

There is high probability that the reason why the PS3 is so low and the PS4 so high that many PS3 owners have already converted to the PS4

 

I think that Destiny XB1 in US could have even easily beaten the standalone PS4 game in US...If there was a weekly NPD. But the whole september month will maybe prevent that.

The same in UK, those numbers are only the first week, in the next weeks, with no more Microsoft great discounts (like Halo MCC for free included in the Destiny bundle, or the £35 Destiny expansion pack voucher included for free in amazon XB1 destiny bundles) I expect this 10% gap to increase further.

But it won't be as much as Watch_dogs gap I think because it's a FPS game done by Bungie, traditionnaly for Xbox gamers.

 

When was MCC available for free with the Destiny Bundle??

I've been watching Amazon and didn't see it.