Analyst Says Darksiders Was A Disappointment for THQ

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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Analyst Says Darksiders Was A Disappointment for THQ



Signal Hill analyst Todd Greenwald thinks that Vigil Games' Darksiders [http://www.amazon.com/Darksiders-Playstation-3/dp/B001D7T2VC/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280162086&sr=1-1] may have been a poor way for THQ to ring in its new year.

Vigil Games' Darksiders rang in the new year with a roaring apocalyptic journey of kicking ass through heaven and hell as War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Some reviewers 83 on Metacritic [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/7010-Review-Darksiders]. Despite generally positive reviews, however, at least one analyst is predicting that Darksiders did not pass muster when it comes to publisher THQ's books.

Darksiders must have cost THQ a pretty penny, says Signal Hill's Todd Greenwald, and THQ may not be seeing quite the return on investment it's been hoping for. "Darksiders didn't perform up to THQ's expectations," laid out Greenwald, "likely selling less than 1 million units despite heavy marketing dollars, 2-3 years of development costs, and was also subject to discounting just 2 weeks after its release."

Overall, Greenwald expects THQ's Q1 earnings to be around $347 million come March. While I'm sure there isn't a single one of us who wouldn't love to have made $347m in revenue in a quarter of a year, it all depends on how much they spent in that year - and if Greenwald's predictions about Darksiders are true, then THQ's hopes at achieving profitability may have just been severely undermined.

(Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27060/Analyst_Darksiders_A_Disappointment_For_THQ.php])

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Sparrow

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Feb 22, 2009
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I didn't see any advertisements for this thing, whatsoever. Not even a web banner. Yet, even though it sold well, this guy thinks THQ will be disappointed regardless?

Really?
 

Nimbus

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Oct 22, 2008
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I agree. I didn't see 1 god-damned advert for this game. The first thing I heard about it was my brother buying it for cheap in extra-vision. Seriously, it's their own damn fault.
 

FactualSquirrel

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Dec 10, 2009
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Wait, there was advertiseng?

Must have been in America only then.

And what is it with analysts, why does it matter whether it was a success, just ask THQ the next time you can.
 

MGlBlaze

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Sparrow said:
I didn't see any advertisements for this thing, whatsoever. Not even a web banner. Yet, even though it sold well, this guy thinks THQ will be disappointed regardless?

Really?
This game wasn't even on my radar until after it was already released; first a 'Context Sensitive' video by Armake21 on youtube (the game didn't look too bad, actually, I'll probably get it at some point) and then the Zero Punctuation video of it.

I never even heard of it before then.
 

sln333

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Jun 22, 2009
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Man, it got discounted 2 weeks after release. How well did they think it would do? It's one of the weaker titles out so far this year. Yahtzee's countless agonizing descriptions of the main character's look are enough to show the game can't be that great.
 

Christemo

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Jan 13, 2009
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wow, talk about not knowing shit. Darksiders is a great game, and 347 million bucks is ALOT of money. if he thinks thats a dissapointment, he must have his head stuck up his arse.
 

CD-R

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Sparrow said:
I didn't see any advertisements for this thing, whatsoever. Not even a web banner. Yet, even though it sold well, this guy thinks THQ will be disappointed regardless?

Really?
There were TV ads on all the time for it.
 

TsunamiWombat

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How the hell do you spend millions advertising anyway? Stick a trailer on game trailers, get some websites to put up banners. The kind of people who would play this game aren't going to care about a TV ad - I never saw a MW2 TV AD except the Gamestop ones.
 

Duraji

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Aug 14, 2008
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Doesn't come as a surprise to me. The game looks laughably awkward at best, and terribly lame at second best. Seriously, a God of War clone with the most vapid sort of character you can imagine?

I honestly don't care if Metacritic has an 83 for it, there's nothing about that game that looks worth $60 to me. I think reviewers need to stop handing out 7s and 8s to every single game just because it would hurt some developer's feelings if they got a more harsh and realistic score, but that's just me.
 

Sparrow

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CD-R said:
Sparrow said:
I didn't see any advertisements for this thing, whatsoever. Not even a web banner. Yet, even though it sold well, this guy thinks THQ will be disappointed regardless?

Really?
There were TV ads on all the time for it.
I didn't see a single one, anywhere. Not on Dave, not on any BBC, not on Channel 4, E4, More 4, Film 4... nowhere.

Then again, maybe it just wasn't advertised in England.
 

Worgen

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Apr 1, 2009
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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Duraji said:
Doesn't come as a surprise to me. The game looks laughably awkward at best, and terribly lame at second best. Seriously, a God of War clone with the most vapid sort of character you can imagine?

I honestly don't care if Metacritic has an 83 for it, there's nothing about that game that looks worth $60 to me. I think reviewers need to stop handing out 7s and 8s to every single game just because it would hurt some developer's feelings if they got a more harsh and realistic score, but that's just me.
*slaps you upside the head* if anything its a zelda clone, the only thing it has in common with god of war is executions, now go back to your cod and other "realistic games"
 

dalek sec

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Jul 20, 2008
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The first time I heard of it was during Zero Punctuation and a few adverts on tv after the game came out already.
 
Feb 18, 2009
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Sparrow said:
CD-R said:
Sparrow said:
I didn't see any advertisements for this thing, whatsoever. Not even a web banner. Yet, even though it sold well, this guy thinks THQ will be disappointed regardless?

Really?
There were TV ads on all the time for it.
I didn't see a single one, anywhere. Not on Dave, not on any BBC, not on Channel 4, E4, More 4, Film 4... nowhere.

Then again, maybe it just wasn't advertised in England.
BBC ads?
 

Sparrow

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Feb 22, 2009
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Grinnbarr said:
Sparrow said:
CD-R said:
Sparrow said:
I didn't see any advertisements for this thing, whatsoever. Not even a web banner. Yet, even though it sold well, this guy thinks THQ will be disappointed regardless?

Really?
There were TV ads on all the time for it.
I didn't see a single one, anywhere. Not on Dave, not on any BBC, not on Channel 4, E4, More 4, Film 4... nowhere.

Then again, maybe it just wasn't advertised in England.
BBC ads?
Well, if there were, I'm guessing I missed them. Can't have been many.