Homefront Dodges Dragon Age 2

[Andy Chalk]

Homefront Dodges Dragon Age 2

THQ has confirmed that Homefront [http://www.amazon.com/Homefront-Xbox-360/dp/B003Q53VZC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296750037&sr=8-1] has been delayed, but don't shed too many tears because it's only for a week.

In a call to investors yesterday following the release of Joystiq [http://www.thq.com], saying, "We moved our Homefront launch date by one week to March 15."

So what does a one-week delay buy the publisher? Specific reasons for the postponement weren't given but the best guess at this point is that it's a bullet-dodge rather than a need to squeeze in more work on the game. Both White [http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Age-Bioware-Signature-Xbox-360/dp/B003UFAZKW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296750108&sr=8-1] are slated to come out on the same day and while Homefront might be a good game - hey, it might even be awesome - there's just no way it can punch with those two heavyweights. The THQ statement seemed to confirm that line of thought, adding, "We think we have a great opportunity to dominate retail on this date."

Whether or not this will impact the European release of Homefront wasn't made clear but U.K. retailers Gamestation [http://www.game.co.uk/Games/Xbox-360/Shooter-First-Person/Homefront-with-PreOrder-Bonus-in-game-Resistance-Multiplayer-Pack/~r349636/?s=homefront] currently still have the game slated for its original launch date of March 11.


Permalink

 

[Jumplion]

Oh geez, thank you for spreading your game releases!

I still don't know if I'll be getting Homefront, but it does look interesting, so I might give it a go. Good thing it's spreading out the release date as I'll be getting Killzone 3 anyway.

 

[icyneesan]

One week after the release of DA2 and the new pokemon people will still be locked away in there rooms playing away at them. They might as well push it back a month and maybe offer some free Day 1 DLC or a demo for all platforms

 

[RatRace123]

Good call. Then again, are people willing to shell the full price for a game right after DA II just one week?

Yeah, just one week after new releases, especially 2 potentially huge ones like Pokemon and DA 2, doesn't seem like enough time.

 

[Jonci]

The move doesn't seem that useful to me. For one, different genre games. So you may not see that big an impact FPS players are going to get Homefront over DA2 or Pokemon. Two, one week is not much time. Three, I was going to get DA2, Pokemon, Homefront, and Deux Ex together that day, so a delay just pisses me off. I wanted to try Homefront first.

 

[Canid117]

I only buy maybe one game a month so it still seems like an inopportune release date.

 

[Hybridwolf]

Hang on. Dragon age is a RPG, and pokemon isn't even on any platform that Homefront is on...so why delay it? The only game stealing the target audience is dragon age, as I doubt 10 year olds are meant to be playing homefront, and with only crysis 2 coming out, there will be a demand for the new FPS mutiplayer game until the next cod surely? Their choice, but who knows, maybe they'll get a fricking demo out in that week...

 

[Slycne]

Good call. Then again, are people willing to shell the full price for a game right after DA II just one week?

That was my thought too. If that was really the rationale, trying to push the game up a week would make more sense to me. Unless they are hoping a lot of people will be bored of Dragon II in a week and looking for something new to divide their time.

 

[zmanu]

It's not about directly making more sales, but having a better shot at top sales chart positions, and thus looking better to investors and gamers alike. "Hey look, Homefront sold well, maybe it's worth checking out?"

 

[Natdaprat]

Looks like this will have to go in my "to-buy" list, as I'm buying Shogun 2 Total War that day.

 

[duchaked]

huh...well either way I'll be trying out the game sooner or later

 

[Cowabungaa]

A week of delay for an RPG that offers multiple different playthroughs? Ahahaha...yeeeaaaah...

Ah well, they're two completely different games so I don't think they have to be that worried.

 

[Danpascooch]

This is stupid, there are only two reasons for a delay like this:

1.) You don't want them to play another game of the same genre instead of yours, so you wait till players will have finished it and get sick of it, and are ready for another game of the same genre

2.) You think they won't have the money to buy two games at once, so you delay it a bit.

Number 1 is out the window because they aren't the same genre, and number 2 won't work because the delay isn't long enough for that.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

Good call. Then again, are people willing to shell the full price for a game right after DA II just one week?

That was my thought too. If that was really the rationale, trying to push the game up a week would make more sense to me. Unless they are hoping a lot of people will be bored of Dragon II in a week and looking for something new to divide their time.

Actually, it makes some sense. A lot of people questioning whether the time will be enough seem to forget that a lot of people get paid on the 1st and the 15th.

Dragon Age and Pokemon are big enough that people have been planning on getting this for a while, and likely already have the cost set aside or budgeted out of their next paycheck.

Delaying a week won't anger customers that have chosen to pre-order, or plan to buy on release, Homefront too terribly (i.e. to the point of alientating them) while setting themselves up on the other side of the 15th's payday mark.

They also separate themselves from the big midnight-launches and other events that will be surrounding the releases of Pokemon and Dragon Age.

 

[The Random One]

Man, I can never keep up with these release. It looks like it's going to come out in months, then suddenly RELEASE NEXT TUESDAY

I won't be buying it until it's at least a year old anyway. That's my usual MO anyway, but Homefront will either be awesome or pure shit. There is no inbetween. I'll wait to see which it is.

 

[Mr. Socky]

Putting a brand new IP up against two monolith franchises? Not a good idea. Smart move, THQ.

 

[Andy Chalk]

For the record, the only one of the three I'm planning to buy anyway is Homefront.

 

[Therumancer]

To be honest I have issues with this. To my way of thinking they should be lowering their prices to compete with each other for the sales, not moving release dates around to avoid direct competition.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

What do I play first?

Pokemon or Dragon Age?

SHIT.