Vendor-Lazarus said:
They should definitely congratulate their PR manager the most.
That manager did some amazing work drumming up hype and fans.
Honestly, they didn't have to. The fans were pre-hyped before the game was even a thing.
ShakerSilver said:
Although the fact that they only state shipped copies and leave out how many were sold is rather dubious.
MC1980 said:
MC1980:
Uhm, it didn't sell 12 million copies. They shipped 12 million copies.
BiH-Kira said:
I don't understand how people always fail to notice that.
They don't fail to notice. They understand that the difference here is not an important one. Publishers don't ship games out and then get money back when the game passes through to a consumer. They sell the game to the retailer and then the retailer sells the game to you.
And similarly, since this is the same metric used for all games, it's largely irrelevant to make a distinction. All the numbers like this are going to be units shipped. So when you compare it to other games, you are comparing apples to apples.
Blachman201 said:
This is quite sloppy journalism.
For the above reasons, it's really not.
Fox12 said:
Eat shit Battlefront! This is what a real release looks like!
I thought that's what EA was doing with Battlefront: releasing a buggy game based largely on nostalgia.
Or did you mean something else? Because this game could inject flesh-eating bacteria into consumers and still get an 8/10 and sell upwards of 10 million copies. That says nothing about the quality or legitimacy of the release. It says something about hype culture.
Redvenge said:
Nothing is going to stop EA from saying "We shipped 15 million copies of SW:BF worldwide! Go us!"
... cuz that is what Bethesda just said...
Well, they would actually have to ship them, and for some amount of money, to do what Bethesda just did. I mean, I'm sure they could technically buy them for themselves and then ship them to some warehouse, but when the numbers didn't add up a ton of people would be on it.
Do you have any reason to believe Bethesda did not sell 12 million copies to retailers/etailers/etc in anticipation of a huge launch for an anticipated game?
I don't. And I'm one of those people scratching my head at why people are lining up. But I understand they are, and I understand this creates demand, and I understand that means stores buy games.
Shymer said:
"So, Leonardo, tell us about your latest painting."
"Si, I mean, yes. It is a masterpiece. 12 million tickets have been made. Have you seen the smile? It is quiet, enigmatic, even a little mischevious."
"Yes - it seems quite popular. But we wanted to ask you about her hands."
"What hands?"
"Well, quite. We couldn't help but notice that she seems to have seven fingers on one and the other... is that a hoof? It's a bit distracting."
"You know I cannot draw hands. I have not been able to in my past few paintings, but that should not detract from her smile. Her eyes. The mysterious stranger..."
"Leonardo - we are impressed - of course - and we are enjoying the painting in the same way we enjoyed the others you have done..."
"But..."
"But. Yes - the hands are an important part of the painting. Are you sure that you want to call it your masterpiece (singular)?"
"The hands..."
"Yes. It's a lovely painting and enojoyable - and we love your style, particularly the badly painted hands, but - could you not practice that some more and get it right before trying to sell your tickets?"
"... did you notice she is carrying an invisible gun?"
But if you can sell 12 million tickets on an unfinished product, why bother perfecting it? Especially when you sold it with a history of past products that also weren't finished?
This is the free market in action.
Edited to fix misquote