Analyst Predicts 7 Million Copies of StarCraft 2 Sold Before End of Year

[StephenRogers713]

Oh joy, more Starcraft 2 fanwankery. Every time I think I've reached the point where I couldn't possibly care less about the sequel to the most undeservedly acclaimed RTS of all time, The Escapist does ANOTHER story about how amazing it's going to be and the forums come alive with how anybody who thinks otherwise is an idiot, and anything that might be bad about it is the fault of Activision and not Blizzard.

And this is coming from someone who was willing to try and set aside hatred to at least try the beta and see what the fuss was about (didn't get in, I'm not mad about that though).

I miss the days when games like Homeworld wouldn't hype themselves to death before coming out, and just be good on their own merits instead of piggybacking on the undeserved success of their predecessors. Yes I know, Homeworld didn't have a predecessor. Still, "No hype, all game" says a lot.

I can personally say that yes I loved the first game and will play the sequel, but I do miss the time when hype meant avoid the game. And yes, most people try to turn a blind eye to the activision-blizzard being one company, but they're the same, but that doesn't make Kottick any less insane. But back to my topic, yes I wish we could go back to the time when media hype meant the game was terrible, but I doubt it will happen soon.

 

[Jared]

Sounds about accurate...although I bet just about everyone in S.Korea is gonna give it a buy...so, alot of profit there!

 

[Xocrates]

sequel to the most undeservedly acclaimed RTS of all time,

What exactly was "undeserved" about Starcraft's success? It's a very balanced game, with 3 fairly distinct races (a rarity at its time), with little in the way of redundant units, lots of strategic depth and one of the best plots in an RTS.

I really don't see your issue. I understand if you didn't like it, personally I dislike the kind of RTS the C&C and SupCom series go with, and I dislike plenty of games that are supposedly good, but that doesn't mean I can't see their merits.

 

[jad4400]

Gotta be honest, I'm glad to play as the Terrens first, they were usually my favorite race in the first Starcraft game. I'm just hoping Blizzard changed the cheat codes for this game, in SC 1, they were always so tempting to use.

anyways, I'm not suprised that 7 million was perdicted, given that this has to be one of the best known titles for the P.C. As many people have said though, the real question is how many people will pirate it?

 

[StephenRogers713]

sequel to the most undeservedly acclaimed RTS of all time,

What exactly was "undeserved" about Starcraft's success? It's a very balanced game, with 3 fairly distinct races (a rarity at its time), with little in the way of redundant units, lots of strategic depth and one of the best plots in an RTS.

I really don't see your issue. I understand if you didn't like it, personally I dislike the kind of RTS the C&C and SupCom series go with, and I dislike plenty of games that are supposedly good, but that doesn't mean I can't see their merits.

The game is so balanced that they're still issuing patches for the original. And some people don't enjoy Starcraft because all three races are extremely different. Both C&C and Supreme Commander's factions are very very similar.

 

[Xocrates]

The game is so balanced that they're still issuing patches for the original.

A quick search tells me the last patch to provide balance changes was 1.08. Brood War was released at 1.04. Current patch appears to be 1.16.

Do not confuse continued support with poor balance

And some people don't enjoy Starcraft because all three races are extremely different. Both C&C and Supreme Commander's factions are very very similar.

Which is fine, but like I noted not liking it is not the same as not being good. The similar factions is exactly one of the reasons I don't like those games, but I'm not saying they're worse because of it.

 

[Fayathon]

Alas I cannot add to that tally quite yet, gotta get a job before I can buy all the fun stuff I want....

 

[malcontent]

7m? A game in an almost dead genre on the least commercially successful platform with a high piracy rate is going to sell 7m? I don't think so.

 

[StephenRogers713]

The game is so balanced that they're still issuing patches for the original.

A quick search tells me the last patch to provide balance changes was 1.08. Brood War was released at 1.04. Current patch appears to be 1.16.

Do not confuse continued support with poor balance

And some people don't enjoy Starcraft because all three races are extremely different. Both C&C and Supreme Commander's factions are very very similar.

Which is fine, but like I noted not liking it is not the same as not being good. The similar factions is exactly one of the reasons I don't like those games, but I'm not saying they're worse because of it.

No, sorry I wasn't trying to imply it was imbalanced, I was implying that its probably the most balanced Rts out there right not. And to some people, yeah not liking something means its not good. I personally like both, I prefer the multiple race structure, but some people dislike it and decide it therefore must be terrible, like devout catholics and homosexuals. there's not a reason for it, They just don't like them.

 

[Xocrates]

No, sorry I wasn't trying to imply it was imbalanced, I was implying that its probably the most balanced Rts out there right not.

Ah, sorry. I'm afraid that first sentence read a lot like sarcasm. It's hard to tell over the internet :/

 

[StephenRogers713]

r

Ah, sorry. I'm afraid that first sentence read a lot like sarcasm. It's hard to tell over the internet :/

It was a very safe bet, haha sorry I wasn't clearer

 

[Potato21]

7m? A game in an almost dead genre on the least commercially successful platform with a high piracy rate is going to sell 7m? I don't think so.

Your going to eat your words very shortly. Just because you don't like RTS doesn't mean its a dead genre, it may be dead on consoles but that's because they don't work well without a M/K.

I'm thinking 7 mil will be passed in the first 6 months if not sooner. Is this global sales? Since I'm betting at least 5 million copies will sell in S. Korea alone by year end.

 

[duchaked]

Oh darn, I completely forgot that Starcraft 2 was coming out in two days (despite the advertising everywhere, jeez) I may get it depending on reviews and if I think I'm into RTSs enough.

But anyway, 7 million? Sounds doubtful, though I wouldn't be surprised.

whoa yeah, somehow I forgot. well I only knew it the release date some sometime in July

ehhh not sure about the sales numbers, but whatever the Koreans will buy StarCraft2 before food haha

 

[StephenRogers713]

Your going to eat your words very shortly. Just because you don't like RTS doesn't mean its a dead genre, it may be dead on consoles but that's because they don't work well without a M/K.

I'm thinking 7 mil will be passed in the first 6 months if not sooner. Is this global sales? Since I'm betting at least 5 million copies will sell in S. Korea alone by year end.

I believe it is global sales which is why i think the analyst will wish he'd aimed higher soon, but RTS isn't the liveliest genre at the moment. The gaming industry is controlled almost entirely by FPS's and third person action games. But maybe and I hope this is true, Starcraft 2 will bring back RTS's again.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

Whats the population of Korea? Thats probably the number of copies sold.

 

[StephenRogers713]

Whats the population of Korea? Thats probably the number of copies sold.

You forgot to add in the number of bored WoW players waiting for Cataclysm, together I think thats about equal to the population of most Europe.

 

[vrbtny]

.....Now for some reason i really, really want Blizzard to ship the South Korean version with purposefully screwed up balancing on the multiplayer..... If that doens't rekindle the Korean War, nothing will.

Please forgive me for appalling history teacher :s

 

[StephenRogers713]

.....Now for some reason i really, really want Blizzard to ship the South Korean version with purposefully screwed up balancing on the multiplayer..... If that doens't rekindle the Korean War, nothing will.

Please forgive me for appalling history teacher :s

If only starcraft was around back then, maybe we could have actually won that war. In all honesty apparently the Korean servers have a totally different balancing than say the US servers because the koreas use totally different strategies.

 

[jamesworkshop]

7m? A game in an almost dead genre on the least commercially successful platform with a high piracy rate is going to sell 7m? I don't think so.

puzzled

Dawn of war
age of empires
Total war
world in conflict
company of heros
command and conquer
supreme commander
starcraft


StarCraft sold over 9.5 million copies across the globe, with 4.5 million of these being sold in South Korea.
Since the initial release of StarCraft, Blizzard Entertainment reported that its Battle.net online multiplayer service grew by 800 percent.
StarCraft remains one of the most popular online games in the world

the least commercially sucessful platform..Really?

World of warcrafts monthly revenue is $120 million per month
Thats a movie studio making Iron man every month

The World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade expansion pack has set a new one-day sales record in Europe and North America by moving nearly 2.4 million copies.

By the end of the first day of availability, more than 1.7 million players had logged on and upgraded World of Warcraft to play The Burning Crusade.



The longest lived gaming platform, RTS one of the biggest genres on that platform, made by the largest and most sucessful Game developer on the planet that merged with the worlds largest publisher, sequel to a game that rivaled Halo 3 in unit sales.


Starcraft 2 is such a bomb drop it's hilariously easy to show how wrong you are.

Blizzcon 2009

Blizzard Entertainment's semi-annual Blizzcon convention?celebrating all things Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo?is set to get underway later this month, and tickets are already sold out. In fact, according to Activision Blizzard, the 20,000 tickets for the event were all sold in an astounding eight minutes.
By the way each ticket cost $125

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/08/blizzcon-tickets-sell-out-in-just-8-minutes.ars

 

[ZehGeek]

Meh, Forget consles. RTSs are not ment for Consoles. There's just some things that are for the PC, and some things that are for Consoles.

Anyway, I'm sure they'll atleast get there money back. How much they double it now, that's in time.