259 réponses à ce sujet

[Massadonious1]

Or maybe in a gaming industry dominated by sports games, animated quick time events, and truly generic shooters such as MW2, 1.6 million is fine for a Shooter/RPG hybrid.

Modifié par Massadonious1, 12 mai 2010 - 10:56 .

[adam_grif]

PyRo_X1 wrote...

Perhaps the market for first person shooters is comparatively larger than for RPGs?

So much for ME2 not being an RPG eh?

[InvaderErl]

Massadonious1 wrote...

Or maybe in a gaming
industry dominated by sports games, animated quick time events, and
truly generic shooters such as MW2, 1.6 million is fine for a
Shooter/RPG hybrid.

Shoosh you're ruining people's fun.

If you can't make baseless moronic claims on the internet without fear of being called on it then what CAN you do!?!

Modifié par InvaderErl, 12 mai 2010 - 10:56 .

[Ecael]

Dr. Peter Venkman wrote...

EA is making the community pay for texture repacks that our own community has the capability of doing. I think that's telling of itself.

True. That was directed at EA's used games move with the online activation scheme. It is not quite the case with ME 2, but with "texture reskin" DLC and paying $10 more for something that is not 16/th of the overall game time isn't economical from a marketing. It's an overall trend I see in gaming (and I am sure that you are too) of developers releasing content that they have already been working on so that they can make an additional $10 off of something that could have beene easily added into a $59 game. MW2, Empire Total War, heck, even bargain bin Killing Floor did it.

If paying for the texture repacks were required to continue playing the game, then EA would be 'making' people pay. However, since they are optional and not necessary for making the game feel complete, it's not a real problem unless people are compelled to buy every DLC that exists for Mass Effect 2.

Right now I'm only buying the mission based DLC because I feel that's the only DLC that's worth spending money.

bjdbwea wrote...

If those numbers are true, it might be good news. Could be that the shooter crowd and casual gamers still ignore the game. Could also be that some RPG fans, who always supported BioWare, refused to buy this game. Maybe that tells BioWare/EA something. Maybe it tells them that their focus should remain on story, characters and RPG, and that dumbing down and shooterizing is not the way to increase sales.

Mass Effect 2 is still on track to outsell Mass Effect 1 by a decent margin, however. It's hard to say that any loyal BioWare fan refused to buy the game, considering it sold 1 million on the console alone in its first week.

BioWare has a pretty good hype machine and advertising campaign, so I doubt people would refuse to buy the game until they've already bought the game and found out that the story or gameplay wasn't what they expected. As I mentioned before, if Mass Effect 2 does not outsell Mass Effect 1, that's more indicative of Mass Effect 1 not living up to people's expectations, because people weren't impressed enough to buy the sequel.

Most of the problems people have with the game aren't apparent until someone buys the game and plays it. By that time, it's kind of late to not want to buy the game.

Or maybe it will tell them to dumb down and shooterize the next BioWare games even more. In that case, I could see even worse sales numbers. I for one, who bought every single BioWare game, will certainly not waste money on ME 3 if it's as mediocre or even worse than ME 2.

I don't see them 'shooterizing' Dragon Age 2 anytime soon, but it's only reasonable if they're trying to expand to other genres. BioWare is churning out high-quality games at a very fast pace compared to other developers, so making them all the same kind of RPG would only be cannibalizing their own market.

Since Dragon Age 1/2 and The Old Republic are already surefire BioWare RPGs, one would expect Mass Effect to try to draw upon the shooter fanbase. I would also expect BioWare to start working on a possible RTS after Mass Effect 3 to try their luck at another gaming genre.

[Dokarqt]

Ecael wrote...

Made me laugh.

[Ecael]

Dokarqt wrote...

Ecael wrote...

http://img121.images...1/8643/schp.jpg

Made me laugh.

I really wonder if John Schappert got the chief operating officer job only because his name sounds so familiar...

[Dokarqt]

Ecael wrote...

I really wonder if John Schappert got the chief operating officer job only because his name sounds so familiar...

"Schappert! My friend! *grunting noises*"

Thats how it goes when he visits.

[bjdbwea]

Ecael wrote...

Mass Effect 2 is still on track to outsell Mass Effect 1 by a decent margin, however. It's hard to say that any loyal BioWare fan refused to buy the game, considering it sold 1 million on the console alone in its first week.

True. I was one of those who loved ME 1 and trusted BioWare that ME 2 would be alright, despite having heard a lot of things I didn't like already before release. Well, for me ME 2 was not alright. Next time I will definitely not pre-order, and only buy if credible (!) reviews tell me that it's worth it. Otherwise I will wait until the price drops, buy second-hand, or even ignore the game completely.

So the question is: How many of those who bought ME 2 did so primarily because they enjoyed the original? Quite many, I can only guess. So the number of new players would have to be rather low. But that was the intent, wasn't it, when they decided to dumb down and mainstream the successor: To draw in many new players, especially shooter fans. Now, if there are many old fans like me who will be very wary of ME 3, and if at the same the idea to draw in a new audience more or less failed, I would expect ME 3 to sell worse if it doesn't improve significantly.

Note: That's of course only speculation. We would need much more detailed numbers.

Modifié par bjdbwea, 12 mai 2010 - 11:52 .

[Ecael]

bjdbwea wrote...

Ecael wrote...

Mass Effect 2 is still on track to outsell Mass Effect 1 by a decent margin, however. It's hard to say that any loyal BioWare fan refused to buy the game, considering it sold 1 million on the console alone in its first week.

True. I was one of those who loved ME 1 and trusted BioWare that ME 2 would be alright, despite having heard a lot of things I didn't like already before release. Well, for me ME 2 was not alright. Next time I will definitely not pre-order, and only buy if credible (!) reviews tell me that it's worth it. Otherwise I will wait until the price drops, buy second-hand, or even ignore the game completely.

So the question is: How many of those who bought ME 2 did so primarily because they enjoyed the original? Quite many, I can only guess. So the number of new players would have to be rather low. But that was the intent, wasn't it, when they decided to dumb down and mainstream the successor: To draw in many new players, especially shooter fans. Now, if there are many old fans like me who will be very wary of ME 3, and if at the same the idea to draw in a new audience more or less failed, I would expect ME 3 to sell worse if it doesn't improve significantly.

Note: That's of course only speculation. We would need much more detailed numbers.

If Mass Effect successfully draws a good chunk of the shooter crowd, it would sell more since there are far more people who prefer FPS/TPS games. The perennial success of games like Halo, Call of Duty and Battlefield (none of which I actually like) would suggest this.

I don't think BioWare or EA is worried that their games won't sell well at this point, since Mass Effect 2's sales is helping EA get out of their financial mess.

[bjdbwea]

My argument was that, if the sales numbers for both games are about equal, most sales will certainly be players who already played and enjoyed ME 1. In that case, the attempt to draw in many new players from the shooter and casual gamer crowd, would have failed. It would be wise for BioWare/EA to consider this possibility, and draw conclusions for ME 3. I only hope it's not the conclusion to shooterize it even more... I doubt that would increase sales.

Modifié par bjdbwea, 12 mai 2010 - 12:11 .

[Ecael]

bjdbwea wrote...

My argument was that, if the sales numbers for both games are about equal, most sales will certainly be players who already played and enjoyed ME 1. In that case, the attempt to draw in many new players from the shooter and casual gamer crowd, would have failed. It would be wise for BioWare/EA to consider this possibility, and draw conclusions for ME 3. I only hope it's not the conclusion to shooterize it even more... I doubt that would increase sales.

As I discussed with Venkman earlier in the thread (DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS!), there's also people buying Mass Effect 2 and then Mass Effect 1.

Despite that, we still don't know how much BioWare is making from the PC version of the game. Popular digital distributors like Steam and Direct2Drive don't like posting up their sales numbers.

[Fraevar]

kraidy1117 wrote...

Oh Boderlands IMHO is how FPS RPGs should be done, just like IMHO ME2 has set the bar for TPS RPGs. Both did fantastic, some flaws, but both are well done.

I agree. Both are games with strong sides and weaker sides. For me, the dream game would be ME2's focus on story combined with Borderlands' RPG system design. Subjective, I know.

I'm happy BioWare are managing to sell SKU's and if we're ever able to get a hold of sales figures from the digital distribution services, I'm sure there would be quite a bit more than the 1.6 million.

@whoever commented on my nickname earlier: It's deliberate, a long-running in-joke between myself and a friend.

And yeah, sorry for the ill-concieved post. I shouldn't do that until I've had the morning cop of coffee

[CmdrFenix83]

XX55XX wrote...

EA has announced its earnings for Q4 2010:

http://www.gamespot....=topstory;title

Apparently, according to EA's executives, Mass Effect sold only 1.6 million units out of 2 million units shipped.

In comparison, games like Battlefield Bad Company 2 sold over 5 million units, while FIFA World Cup 2010 sold over 2 million copies. Additionally, it's important to note that these two titles have been on the shelves for less time than ME2 was on the shelf, and they still sold more copies than ME2!

Astounding. ME2 is easily the best game I have played so far this year, and while I liked BFBC2 a lot myself, I am surprised that ME2 hasn't sold as well as I thought it did.

Thoughts?

RPG's will always be outsold by shooters and sports titles.  Especially in the US.  RPG's require a time investment in a story and isn't loaded down with action.  The majority of gamers out there aren't the type that will sit down and spend hours upon hours in the same game to complete an RPG.  They like to be able to sit down for half an hour to an hour when they have the time, jump in, play, then leave and feel like they enjoyed themselves.  The generally requires action.  There are many places in RPG's where you'll spend well over 30-60minutes without firing a shot or swinging a weapon. 

[Pacifien]

I don't think there's a year that goes by that doesn't declare the death of the RPG because sales pale in comparison to other genres. Except the adventure genre. I miss the adventure genre.

I'm not counting MMOs, obviously. Though whether or not they're an RPG experience is certainly debatable.

[Purewere]

Well, some people seem to be taking this excessively serious. Nevertheless, by all accounts, Mass Effect 2 is doing rather well. I believe that is because the game already has a fan base from the first title in the series.

Just to ease things up a bit around here, we can look at this two ways. First, apparently RPG gamers are a rare and prestigious group. Second, maybe the marketing team needs to come up with a new catchphrase, may I suggest “Fight for the unsold”.

Just poking for fun…

p.s. Oh, imagine “rare and prestigious group” in Ambassador Udina’s voice…

[screwoffreg]

The only RPG that sells like hotcakes in the US is Final Fantasy. Diablo II was considered a huge success by Blizzard when it sold 2,000,000 copies and that is BARELY an RPG.

[DurkBakala]

Wasn't it reported already that ME2 sold 2 million in its first week. 1.6 million must just be America or something.

[screwoffreg]

DurkBakala wrote...

Wasn't it reported already that ME2 sold 2 million in its first week. 1.6 million must just be America or something.

2,000,000 SHIPPED.

[Cloaking_Thane]

I still think its shocking for arguably the best game out on either console

[Nivenus]

People must hate reading because it's been thoroughly explained by now that 1.6 million is a good number - several times in fact.

[Nivenus]

EDIT: Double post.

Modifié par Nivenus, 12 mai 2010 - 07:04 .

[MrNose]

Massadonious1 wrote...

Or maybe in a gaming industry dominated by sports games, animated quick time events, and truly generic shooters such as MW2, 1.6 million is fine for a Shooter/RPG hybrid.

The gaming industry is certainly not dominated by Heavy Rain!

[Cloaking_Thane]

Nivenus wrote...

People must hate reading because it's been thoroughly explained by now that 1.6 million is a good number - several times in fact.

If that was directed at me then it was misplaced... if not then w/e no harm no foul

I just think the game should have sold more based upon how good it is comparitively to other games on the market......

[Nivenus]

Cloaking_Thane wrote...

Nivenus wrote...

People must hate reading because it's been thoroughly explained by now that 1.6 million is a good number - several times in fact.

If that was directed at me then it was misplaced... if not then w/e no harm no foul

I just think the game should have sold more based upon how good it is comparitively to other games on the market......

Wasn't directed at you specifically. Many others appear to have made the same leap.

It would be nice to hear ME2 sold like Halo or MW2, but frankly, I never expected that to happen. RPGs can sell well in NA, but they almost never top the list (I can't actually think of an instance but I hate to deal in absolutes).

[epoch_]

Breaking: RPG's don't sell as well as FPS and sports titles.

More at a 11.

Modifié par epoch_, 12 mai 2010 - 07:42 .