Okay. So it's obvious from the ranting that people are leaning towards the fact that Halo and Bioshock outselling Stranglehold is no suprise.
But what suprises me is the degree it sold.
I mean these industry predicted figures must have known the rough release dates and all the little variables must have been factored in if they were doing thier jobs properly (such as things like the Orange Box for example...).
Now it's no suprise to me that Halo and Bioshock cannibalised Skate and Call of Juarez. In fact, I'd be suprised if any of the big license-super-hyped titles didn't get labelled with cannibalism as well - everyone knew Rock Band was coming if they'd played Guitar Hero, and Assassins Creed was hyped up the wazzoo as well.
But so was Stranglehold. This is that degree. WHY did it fail considering the sheer level of hype? Is it just because the market only had room for two killer action-game apps this year and Stranglehold was pushed out by Bioshock and Halo, or is this just Stranglehold is a "licensed duplicate of Max Payne" and the numbercrunchers underestimated the market?
Either way, this kind of cannibalism can't be good for the diversity of the games industry. We're already in an era where games companies are already filing for bankruptcy for failing to make a Triple A title, can we really be so far from a time where games companies are closed down for not delivering the same sales as Half Life 2?
