It's kind of odd how Motorstorm and Resistance both fizzled. IMO they actually went from ok for launch titles to pretty good IPs. But sales haven't reflected the transition in quality.
NPD September 2011
- Thread starter AlNom
- Start date
It's kind of odd how Motorstorm and Resistance both fizzled. IMO they actually went from ok for launch titles to pretty good IPs. But sales haven't reflected the transition in quality.
In regards to Motorstorm I wish they would have stayed in the desert and maybe added some night time racing like its CG intro suggested.
I don't think that's surprising. It has the momentum in terms of install base and awareness, with Kinect having giving a massive PR boost. So just as PS2 could outsell cheaper consoles, so can 360.
They weren't good enough or targeted enough. What was the best any Motorstorm-like racer was likely to do? It's not a style that smacks of many millions sold every iteration to me. And Resistance just couldn't compete in a saturated market. At least it did better than many other shooters!
I don't have an arbitrary number in mind, however I didn't expect growth to shrink in the manner that it has. Expectations grew from merely filler for the system's launch to key titles in the portfolio for both the US and EU markets. Perhaps markets factors were working against them, but regardless given Sony's push, their media exposure....I'm sure both the devs and publisher come away scratching their heads at performance in the US. It's such a weak #2 territory for the publisher as far as exclusives.
I have no idea how R3 is doing at the moment (though it appears to have had a solid, if unspectacular start), but Motorstorm Apocolypse really failed in the UK, despite one of the largest media (especially TV) pushes that I recall seeing for a Sony exclusive.
I personally feel that the new direction was a mistake, as 'post-apo' for the most part seems a bit like WW2 games were 5 years ago.... old hat.
That's an interesting point, and one no-one could ever pin down. What if the choice of style affected greatly the interest? If Motorstorm had remained a 'happy' driving around having fun race, would people have been more receptive? Or is it just that the racing genre is moving out of fashion and it could never have done well? Same for any game. That's why publishers back games that flop - they've no idea what'll work and what won't!
Silent_Buddha
Legend
That's why they pay so much money for devs with a proven or somewhat proven track record. Unfortunately, pubs also have a habit of sticking their noses where it doesn't belong and try to guide developement after purchasing a successful dev. That's usually when things have a tendency to suddenly veer off course (Bioware for example).
Or publishers jump the gun on a dev. before seeing if they were just lucky (one successful title) or good (a series of successful titles) and end up over-paying for the studio in the first case.
And then you have the throw the dart at the dartboard approach of backing a startup or a dev that has had limited success and hope that marketing and a good idea will lead to a successful title.
Regards,
SB
