Homefront Sells 375,000 on Launch Day

[Andy Chalk]

Homefront Sells 375,000 on Launch Day

Despite middling reviews, THQ's Homefront [http://www.amazon.com/Homefront-Xbox-360/dp/B003Q53VZC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300327756&sr=8-1] sold 375,000 units on launch day and that's enough to make CEO Brian Farrell a very happy camper.

It's not the 5.6 million units that taken a pounding [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Playstation-3/dp/B003JVCA9Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1300327775&sr=8-2] in the wake of the game's critical underperformance, Farrell nonetheless nonetheless managed to sound upbeat.

"We are delighted with first day sales for Homefront and are already fulfilling re-orders for the game from multiple retailers," he said.

"Homefront's excellent multiplayer experience, combined with our commitment to dedicated servers, make this a must-have purchase for gamers," added Vice President Danny Bilson. "Due to the strong and growing demand for Homefront's multiplayer, we continue to add dedicated server capacity. We are confident that the large-scale multiplayer maps featuring 32 players, vehicles, infantry and drones, will continue to be a major draw for the huge audience of FPS gamers looking for a new experience over the coming months."

In fact, while Russ Pitts' review of the single-player component of Homefront found much to criticize, John Funk's Twitter [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/8573-Hands-On-Homefront-Multiplayer] that the demand for dedicated servers "outstripped expectations" and that it will be adding more to meet the demand as soon as possible.

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/homefront-sells-375000-at-launch/]


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[The Rogue Wolf]

Homefront's excellent multiplayer experience, combined with our commitment to dedicated servers, make this a must-have purchase for gamers," added Vice President Danny Bilson. "Due to the strong and growing demand for Homefront's multiplayer, we continue to add dedicated server capacity. We are confident that the large-scale multiplayer maps featuring 32 players, vehicles, infantry and drones, will continue to be a major draw for the huge audience of FPS gamers looking for a new experience over the coming months.

So how 'bout a good campaign there, buddy? Oh wait there isn't one, because if there was you wouldn't be bragging about the MP so hard.

This is why I'm not getting it at the moment. Good that a new studio is taking chances with a new IP, and I'm glad they're seeing some success, but I play shooters primarily for the single-player campaign, and I'm not paying full price for a game that doesn't have one worth it.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I want to try it but I'm not paying full triple-A shooter price for a game unless and until I know a lot more about it. I'm not going to touch it for multi (that's what TF2 is for) and while I'm willing to drop 25 or 30 bucks on a flawed campaign with potential, I'm sure not going in for 60. So I'm waiting.

Maybe not for long, though. Word on the street is that retailers including GameStop and Amazon have already cut the price. Might hit an acceptable price range sooner than expected.

 

[Korten12]

I want to try it but I'm not paying full triple-A shooter price for a game unless and until I know a lot more about it. I'm not going to touch it for multi (that's what TF2 is for) and while I'm willing to drop 25 or 30 bucks on a flawed campaign with potential, I'm sure not going in for 60. So I'm waiting.

Maybe not for long, though. Word on the street is that retailers including GameStop and Amazon have already cut the price. Might hit an acceptable price range sooner than expected.

Amazon got the PS3/360 version for $42. I might get it.

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

Meh. I might be interested when it gets cheaper. Until then, there´s better options in the market.

 

[Worgen]

well Im glad its doing well, I probably wont get it for awhile but overall I like thq so its good to see a gamble pay off for em

 

[WanderingFool]

I was thinking of getting this for my PC, anyone know if its worth it MP-wise?

 

[CyberSkull]

I lost all interest in the game when I learned about the online pass. I don't even rent games with online pass, if I can't get the regular out of the box experience, then I am not interested in the title.

 

[Therumancer]

Interesting, since I was just reading a rather un-surprising article about how the game flopped so hard that it dropped THQ's stock value by a signfigant margin.

Makes me wonder which report is actually true, if the game is actually selling well, that surprises me, and makes me wonder what the actual truth is about the value of their company at the moment.

 

[Gennadios]

I got stupid and bought the game on concept. I held off just long enough for my friend to give me confirmation that the game wasn't GFW:L, but I didn't give it long enough to get through the reviews.

It's not a horrible game, but it's not a release day purchase. More of a Steam Holiday Sale 14.99 purchase.

 

[beema]

Interesting, poor reviews but good sales. Looks like the discrepancy between critics and general audience strikes again. It's starting to feel like the movie industry.

toanewe lorrain

 

[nesto]

Interesting, poor reviews but good sales. Looks like the discrepancy between critics and general audience strikes again. It's starting to feel like the movie industry.

toanewe lorrain

what "poor reviews"?

 

[bob1052]

Interesting, poor reviews but good sales. Looks like the discrepancy between critics and general audience strikes again. It's starting to feel like the movie industry.

toanewe lorrain

what "poor reviews"?

That's especially true given the less-than-thrillsville reviews that accompanied the game's launch, including a 3/5 score at Metacritic [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8718-Homefront-Review].

Critical reception is often referred to as a scale of 50-100 or even 70-100. 70% on Metacritic essentially means a shit game.

On topic. I havn't even touched the singleplayer yet (and probably won't ever, which is the same thing I have done with MW2 and Black Ops). The multiplayer is fun enough to last me just as long as any Call of Duty has. Also the Wolverine drone is the most fun I have had in an multiplayer fps (not including TF2) in a very long time.

 

[sargeant15]

Interesting, poor reviews but good sales. Looks like the discrepancy between critics and general audience strikes again. It's starting to feel like the movie industry.

toanewe lorrain

what "poor reviews"?

Seriously, I don't get how a lot of people consider a 72 average on Metacritic "poor".

 

[Hobonicus]

When I first heard about this game, I was excited specifically for the singleplayer. I thought "It's wonderful to finally see a shooter focusing on the singleplayer again!" Now, many months later, they're patting themselves on the back for their multiplayer while the singleplayer is universally laughed at.

Makes me sad...


captcha: 1991 hintati ...(never forget!)

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

I'm glad it did decently, or at least well enough to bring in a profit. Hopefully this will encourage THQ to polish a better sequel, or a more polished FPS in general. I might look into Homefront when the price drops a bit.

Also...what?

 

[Catalyst6]

Interesting, poor reviews but good sales. Looks like the discrepancy between critics and general audience strikes again. It's starting to feel like the movie industry.

toanewe lorrain

It seems like the games industry has been moving towards that; I'm getting increasingly nervous when I see over-publicized games since the movie industry has been publicizing crap movies to sell opening day tickets for ages.

EDIT:

I...
Also...what?

That's Pi to the Kth power as i -> 1. Duh!

 

[Hobonicus]

That's especially true given the less-than-thrillsville reviews that accompanied the game's launch, including a 3/5 score at The Escapist [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8718-Homefront-Review] and a low-70s aggregate at <a

It saddens me to see how high our standards have become. I remember back when 70 was a solid score, and is a recommended purchase for people into that sort of genre. These days, no one, not even the companies themselves, are satisfied unless they get a 95 aggregate on metacritic.

Honestly, a low 70's is a solid rating. People avoid games in this range because their perception of what's "good" is cluttered with triple AAA blockbuster shooter extravaganzas that get more money thrown at them during production than I could imagine.

I've picked up and enjoyed a lot of games in that range.

Regardless of what it should mean, a low 70 is generally not a recommendation. Most of us understand the meaning behind that rating, even if it doesn't logically make sense using an older model. Realistically, on Metacritic a 70 is not really a "solid" rating (it's close, but still shows that the game has many issues), to say otherwise would just be arguing semantics.