Aliens: Colonial Marines Sales Prove Bafflingly Massive

[PunkRex]

Gearbox, you know I love me some Borderlands yeah, but im starting to question your morales... I don't wanna have to take sides, I didn't give a toot about DNF or A:CM but your starting to really upset people.

Don't be that guy Gearbox, don't be that guy.

 

[Covarr]

At this point, I'm not sure why anyone thinks Gearbox is worth anything when it comes to game design.

In their defense, they did a really good PC port of Halo ten years ago. It was better than Borderlands.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Gregory Wollf]

What happened?

Well, first of all lets make a distinction between the 'educated gamer' and the 'impulse consumer'. The 'educated gamer' is probably no more intelligent or educated than anyone else except when it comes to the sorts of games bought and the process used to to identify if and when a purchase is made. 'Educated gamers' are intentional in their gaming taste and will research a game before putting money on the table. The 'impulse consumer' would be everyone else from your unwashed masses to your gamers who simply buy a title without first of seeing if its any good.

My personal theory is that lots of people bought this game on impulse because it looked cool and there was high expectations for the title. Educated gamers waited for the reviews to come out... and promptly decided NOT to purchase it. They were, however, outnumbered by impulse consumers.

 

[Something Amyss]

I actually kind of liked A:CM... I suppose that makes me a bad person.

Yes, we're going to lock you up, you monster!

...Kidding. There's nothing wrong with having a differing opinion. Still, with all the outrage....

...Oh yeah, Michael Bay. And almost every EA game. It's almost like people buy stuff anyway.

Although....

Brand name + Pre-orders + Awesome looking demo (that wasn't representative of the final product) + Review embargo = Profit apparently.

Aaaaaand there you have it. The hat trick of gaming.

Though really, this should teach people a lesson. I'm wary of pre-orders, but any time a game has a lockout on reviews, maybe you should rethink your purchase, no matter how awesome the demo is.

 

[Frostbite3789]

I maybe not be remembering correctly, but the A:CM debacle isn't why TimeGate closed at all. I was pretty sure that was because of a separate issue between them and another publisher. Which I read in an article on this site.

If this is the case and I'm not wrong, bad on you.

 

[chiefohara]

Meh,

I actually enjoyed the game, but mainly because of the franchise. I liked seeing the sets from the movie and using hudsons pulse rifle.

Mind you i was lucky enough to rent it and not buy it, also my expectations were low because of the fury on the internet... but despite the crappy bugs and dodgey mechanics i actually enjoyed it.

I plan to buy the game when its dropped to around a tenner.

 

[cheshireman]

Some people pay ridiculous amounts of money for "bad" things. After the Angry Video Game Nerd does a review of a horrible game, suddenly everyone wants to buy it just to see how bad it is. $60 to pique curiosity does not sound too uncommon.

 

[porous_shield]

I've already seen A:CM's prized down heavily on GamersGate.com. It was a temporary discount of 75% IIRC. So not everyone payed 60 bucks.

Still didn't pick it up. I think I can get better games from 2 years ago for 10 bucks.

You can get far better games than Alien's Colonial Marine from closer to twenty years ago.

 

[VoidWanderer]

Just remember, there are people out there who think Twilight is a good movie /book.

People don't seem to have with the disturbingly religious connotations on Justin Bieber's fan base calling themselves 'Beliebers'.

As well as thinking making guns harder to purchase is a bad thing, there are people that fervently believe the world is either 6,000 years old or 2,013 years old.

I believe Agent K said it best in MiB, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."

 

[Subatomic]

The article makes it sound like TimeGate went bankrupt because of ACM, when it fact it probably had little if anything to do with that game and much more with the lawsuit they lost against their publishing partner for Section 8, SouthPeak Interactive.

 

[Aeonknight]

Yes yes I pre-ordered the game and got burned. Apparently I'm not the only one, and thus warrants the massive rage of the people who got duped. Thanks for reminding me. Probably one of the few times I've been burned by a pre-order. But seeing as how I'm not a Borderlands fan anyway and Gearbox had no good will built up with me... this is the first impression I get from that studio?

Yea, done with Gearbox.

 

[Nimcha]

People buy bad stuff, what else is new...

 

[Weatherking]

Calling Aliens: CM objectively terrible, whatever, someone can enjoy that game on some level. I enjoyed the first half or so of it, before I started to think about what was wrong with it. Then again, maybe I just have a knack for seeing everything I play in the best light, I love the Kane and Lynch games for example. An enviable trait I think, who wouldn't want to enjoy everything?

 

[Callate]

Um, pre-orders, mostly. It isn't that complicated. 1.31 million isn't really all that high for a AAA-game (or at least, a game that was expected to be a AAA-game, as it had a AAA-license and AAA-development time.) Remember the weeping and gnashing of teeth that came with the news the new Tomb Raider "only" sold 3.4 mil?

Betwixt three companies, at least five years in development, and at least one lawsuit, 1.31 million sales isn't exactly looking like a jackpot pay-out.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I wonder if they count returns as sales anyway.

 

[thewatergamer]

Pfft they just made a mint on the preorders...

 

[Caiphus]

I just checked on Steam. Aliens Colonial Marines is still 100 USD in this country (and probably Australia).

That is just plain silly.

 

[freaper]

It's called "branding". It sold based on its name, most likely, as well as advertising. Marketing can get a lot of sells if it has a strong name attached to it. For example, see every licensed game ever.

Also, for future reference, you should at least try to keep your biases out of articles. It's a bit obnoxious to see an article writer basically insult people for not following their standards. I'm not saying don't have an opinion. Just try to keep biases out of journalistic writing.

Aye (on both accounts).

Sadly, this is what will most likely happen with future Star Wars titles under EA's supervision.

 

[thehorror2]

My theory is that a sizable fraction of those purchases are due to people hearing how bad it is and then buying the game for "so bad it's good" potential.

 

[Ickorus]

I actually kind of liked A:CM... I suppose that makes me a bad person.

Yeah, contrary to popular belief it isn't a bad game.

Falsely advertised to a huge and totally unacceptable degree, sure, but not a bad game.