Rayman Origins Didn't Flop Financially

[The Wooster]

Rayman Origins Didn't Flop Financially

While Rayman's latest outing wasn't a massive success, it still managed to make money.

That's despite the fact Origins launched for full-retail price, with little fanfare, in the busiest period of the 2011 gaming calendar. One NDP analyst put the game's first month of sales at 50,000 - it failed to reach the US' top ten and didn't even make the UK's top 40 in its debut week. However, despite the Origins' poor performance, it seems to have done well enough to turn a profit.

"We believe Rayman: Origins, which is rated 89 percent on Metacritic with enthusiast reviews and is already profitable, has the capacity to become a long-term seller for the company," said Alain Martinez, chief financial officer for Ubisoft.

Before that, he explained, in what is possibly the saddest sentence I've ever had to type, that Rayman's less than stellar performance was offset by, of all things, the sales of Tintin and non-dance Kinect titles.

Martinez didn't reveal Rayman Origin's budget, nor exactly how well the game sold. This is the first game in years which actually stars Rayman, rather than having him play second fiddle to obnoxious merchandise fodder [http://www.rayman-fanpage.de/rayman4/grafik_rabbids3/artwork/rayman_raving_rabbids_ironing_tips_big.jpg]. Hopefully the upcoming PC port [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/26/rayman-origins-coming-to-pc-drm-free/], priced at a more reasonable $29.99, will help boost the game's sales somewhat.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/15/rayman-origins-is-actually-profitable-for-ubisoft/]

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[DjinnFor]

Am I... am I first?

Anyways, I'm surprised that they think Rayman will be profitable, as I wasn't expecting much from it. I typically think those 2D adventure platformer types are $20 downloadable titles so when I saw it in the store for $60 I was a little off put.

I might just pick it up.

 

[Zhukov]

Sure, I'll snag it... for $30.

Honestly, charging full price for a 2D platformer in 2011 right in the middle of the pre-Christmas blitz was a dumb idea.

 

[Irridium]

You know what, if they're telling the truth about how the physical version won't have DRM, I'll buy it. I will support a decision like that.

However, they also said From Dust wouldn't have DRM. And it did. So I'll wait a bit for the internet to confirm it.

And I'm glad to see it's profitable, all things considering.

 

[Radioactive Kitten]

I'll be picking up the PC version when it comes out, assuming they aren't lying about the DRM stuff.

 

[I-Protest-I]

Worth every penny of my £30 for my 360, my second best game of the year.

 

[gigastar]

I think Rayman Origins can now be considered a cult classic. Positive reviews (even from Yahtzee) and sales performance below what it deserves for its evident greatness.

And it could have done much better sales-wise, but no it had to be out for christmas competing with things that were much better established, advertised and popular.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Good to see it's still profitable despite Ubisoft's own idiocy. It was a very good game that deserved to sell more but obviously due to the Christmas shopping season, went rather unnoticed.

 

[Arkley]

This game deserves to be purchased and played, it's just so uncomplicatedly brilliant. Buy it, play it, love it, demand more like it.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I think it's all Yahtzee's fault. He and his semi-negative review...

On a more serious note, how is it possible that the game wasn't even in the top 40? Only God knows how many hours of great fun I got out of this game on my Wii. The game is amazing. It's probably in the top 10 of my favorite games that I played last year.

P.S. I didn't buy the game. I got it as a present. I boycott Ubisoft because of their idiocy and insulting of PC gamer.

 

[Beautiful End]

Well, Ubisoft, this goes to show you you shouldn't launch two of your good titles at the same time...and the build infinite hype around one title and forget about the other.

The game is pretty good. That's why it's still selling pretty good. But only a few people have heard of it. Honestly, I had played Rayman games before, but I still decided to buy Assassin's Creed when it came out, rather than going for Rayman, even though I was fairly sure the game was awesome.

Anyway, live and learn.

 

[MB202]

YES! Hopefully this means more Rayman and less freaking rabbits!

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I'll be picking up the PC version when it comes out, assuming they aren't lying about the DRM stuff.

They probably are, but if they are not I'll grab a PC copy eventually.

 

[The Human Torch]

Am I... am I first?

Anyways, I'm surprised that they think Rayman will be profitable, as I wasn't expecting much from it. I typically think those 2D adventure platformer types are $20 downloadable titles so when I saw it in the store for $60 I was a little off put.

I might just pick it up.

This isn't just some made with Flash adventure game that you finish within 3 hours. This game is freaking huge and the $60 bucks pricetag is completely justified.

 

[Snotnarok]

The game was fantastic, just not worth the full 60 bloody dollars.

And I wouldn't get too tied up with a Rayman PC port being super great, let's not forget WHO is selling this game. Ubisoft, the masters of shitty DRM, so it'll probably require you to be online at all times.

 

[Frybird]

Good to hear. Very good indeed. The Game is amazing.

I often have the feeling that some games considered to be flops are actually profitable in the long run.
Still annoyed about the "THIS IS 2D SO IT SHOULD BE 10 BUCKS!!1" crowd though.

 

[shintakie10]

I'll be picking up the PC version when it comes out, assuming they aren't lying about the DRM stuff.

They probably are, but if they are not I'll grab a PC copy eventually.

Pretty much. I have very fond memories of Rayman back in high school and I would love nothin more than to get the game. However if they aren't tellin the truth about the lack of DRM, I'll just have to pass on it sadly.

Edit -

Question! I see the game is gonna cost 30 bucks when its released for the pc and there are a lot of people sayin that it was overpriced. Was the price tag not actually 30 bucks for consoles when it was first released or are people just complainin to complain?

 

[mjc0961]

I think Rayman Origins can now be considered a cult classic. Positive reviews (even from Yahtzee) and sales performance below what it deserves for its evident greatness.

And it could have done much better sales-wise, but no it had to be out for christmas competing with things that were much better established, advertised and popular.

It's not even 6 months old yet. Right now it's just a good game that nobody played. Give them a chance, though. The PC, 3DS, and Vita releases could turn that around. If it's still in this state this November or so, then it's a cult classic.

 

[The Wooster]

I'll be picking up the PC version when it comes out, assuming they aren't lying about the DRM stuff.

They probably are, but if they are not I'll grab a PC copy eventually.

Pretty much. I have very fond memories of Rayman back in high school and I would love nothin more than to get the game. However if they aren't tellin the truth about the lack of DRM, I'll just have to pass on it sadly.

Edit -

Question! I see the game is gonna cost 30 bucks when its released for the pc and there are a lot of people sayin that it was overpriced. Was the price tag not actually 30 bucks for consoles when it was first released or are people just complainin to complain?

It was a full $60 on release.