Made even more hilarious when you remember the PC gaming outcry when FromSoftware revealed they wouldn't improve graphics from the console version.Zachary Amaranth said:
OT: I thought Supply and Demand was taught in Marketing/Sales 101
Jimquisition: Dark Souls and Dark Sales
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OT: I thought Supply and Demand was taught in Marketing/Sales 101
I would agree. I couldn't figure out why a game developer couldn't go to the local community collage for concept artists and such. You wouldn't even have to pay them, they could work for credit toward their diploma. Or if you had to pay them, it would be a student wage. I see no reason why the same couldn't be applied to voice/motion capture work.Callate said:
It was a lot more than that and even the publishers have admitted themselves it was a bad port. I'm happy they acknowledged this fact and are doing better with the sequel.Ulquiorra4sama said:
Aaahh, thought the title had "Duck Sales" in it and it was about the remastered Ducktales coming soon.
First: I'm stealing that. Making it my Facebook cover photo. Just FYI.King of Asgaard said:The nail. You've hit it. Right on the head. Again. Thank god for you.
Also:
Second, although I'll disagree that Dark Souls is graphically beautiful, it doesn't matter with that game because the art style is just downright mesmerizing. I have a soft spot for dark fantasy, especially when it has a hint of that Japanese horror fucked-up-ness.
Third, PRAISE THE SUN!
I feel like a huge weeaboo, knowing what this is referring to.AyaReiko said:
OT: Unfortunately, nobody seems to really get it. "It worked for Call of Duty/Farmville/whatever, so we've gotta do it too!" No. Stop right there. It works for Call of Duty because it's Call of Duty. You are not making Call of Duty, so don't try to make Call of Duty. Try making your own thing, setting your own goals for it and see what happens. Who knows what'd happen then?
The crash of the industry due to nobody making enough money, you say? And I thought you guys had enough money to take risks and ride it out if it doesn't pay off.
Considering the massive amounts of free and really cheap advertising out there that these publishers could easily be utilizing, the fact that the the marketing budget even goes past the $1 million mark is ridiculous, not to mention $100 million.Azhrarn-101 said:
What these publishers and developers should be trying to do is not to increase sales, but find ways to lower the costs involved in development and marketing while also achieving more or less the same level of quality.
The thing is, Dark Souls doesn't need to have the best fidelity to look good.ZeroMachine said:First: I'm stealing that. Making it my Facebook cover photo. Just FYI.King of Asgaard said:The nail. You've hit it. Right on the head. Again. Thank god for you.
Also:
Second, although I'll disagree that Dark Souls is graphically beautiful, it doesn't matter with that game because the art style is just downright mesmerizing. I have a soft spot for dark fantasy, especially when it has a hint of that Japanese horror fucked-up-ness.
Third, PRAISE THE SUN!
I mean, the weapon and armour design and detail, the different distinct areas and the critters that inhabit them; it doesn't NEED to have Crysis-level visuals to look impressive. The sheer variety and scope is impressive, not to mention the lack of loading screens between most areas.
The way it looks is appealing without it being the best looking game ever. As you said, it's the art style that looks great, rather than the sheer graphical prowess.
This is very good news Jim. You're saying that 100% of the gamers spoke with their money. 50% of the gamers bought the product because they didn't know, didn't care, or loved Tomb Raider. However, the other 50% of the gamers spoke with their money. What they said was that they didn't want a questionably bad product. Instead in many cases gamers would rather spend the same amount on a unknown product or at least one without question. This fuels what gamers actually want in many ways. It's a win!
This place turned into /dsg/ fast 
but they will ban me if I go higher than 30 fps >.>
Mine runs at 2560x1440Zachary Amaranth said:
but they will ban me if I go higher than 30 fps >.>
Because of time constraints. You probably got the finalized script a week before the non-negotiable dates you booked at the recording studio. Your local community college has a star actress who could competently read your 10 hours of dialogue for the female lead, including three dozen grunts and versions of "I'm under fire!" if you gave her a few extra takes and some lead time to learn the part. Jennifer Hale charges a lot more money, but you know she'll deliver the exact steely voice-over you wanted on the first or second take, and she doesn't sound like a 21-year-old. Since your key producers and director need to be on the set for these things, because there are probably only 5 people in the studio who really understand the vision, you can't afford to waste their time either.sleeky01 said:
Similar things apply to every discipline. I'm a good singer, but I wouldn't hire my group to do the vocals for your soundtrack unless it was a well-established piece so we had time to prepare.
amazing how over 3 million is seen as a failure. even in the tomb raider forum we are a bit worried that there will be no sequel because of SE greediness.
Really at this point EA is more of a publisher than a developer, as far as I can remember, the only thing they develop themselves is a portion of their sports games.Dr. Mongo said:
And seriously, EA has survived all the stuff that has happened to them in the past three years, and still making millions upon millions. They are going to be here for years to come, I would say on how much they still make and if they even made several tens of millions less, they'll still be around for another ten years minimum.
I wouldn't really worry about the AAA industry; whilst it's doing its thing (producing the odd good game like Bioshock Infinite), the indie and niche markets are thriving: as they are actually delivering what the players want. In that respect, gaming is in rude health.
Exactly, Jim.
I don't know what's going on in those companies. Whoever is doing the forecasting should not only be fired but their names should be announced publically so that no other company will accidentally hire them thinking that they're good at what they do just because they worked for a company that was smart enough to let them go.
These ridiculous projections are nigh fantasy. Like the sales forecaster had a pleasant daydream in which their company sold more copies than possible and they were riding a white unicorn amidst all their weeping exes who wanted nothing more than a second chance.
But the problem is, the budget then gets rolled out based on that number. Forecast 6 million copies and then you create a budget that leaves enough profit to make hitting that number worthwhile. Get than number horribly off and you miss the target by that much. I'm not sure where they got the forecasters. I'm not sure what metrics they're using that they're leaning so heavily on, but there are price forecasters puling a check at the absolute loss of the company they're working for. I'm not entirely sure that they shouldn't be held criminally liable for defrauding investors with projections like that.
If there is any forecaster reading this (doubtful), please know that projections are supposed to be realistic and err on the side of being conservative well before erring on the other side. If any upper-level management is reading this (even more doubtful), put real time into understanding forecasting and make sure your employees are doing it right. Your company lives or dies on good forecasting with such advanced budget planning.
I don't know what's going on in those companies. Whoever is doing the forecasting should not only be fired but their names should be announced publically so that no other company will accidentally hire them thinking that they're good at what they do just because they worked for a company that was smart enough to let them go.
These ridiculous projections are nigh fantasy. Like the sales forecaster had a pleasant daydream in which their company sold more copies than possible and they were riding a white unicorn amidst all their weeping exes who wanted nothing more than a second chance.
But the problem is, the budget then gets rolled out based on that number. Forecast 6 million copies and then you create a budget that leaves enough profit to make hitting that number worthwhile. Get than number horribly off and you miss the target by that much. I'm not sure where they got the forecasters. I'm not sure what metrics they're using that they're leaning so heavily on, but there are price forecasters puling a check at the absolute loss of the company they're working for. I'm not entirely sure that they shouldn't be held criminally liable for defrauding investors with projections like that.
If there is any forecaster reading this (doubtful), please know that projections are supposed to be realistic and err on the side of being conservative well before erring on the other side. If any upper-level management is reading this (even more doubtful), put real time into understanding forecasting and make sure your employees are doing it right. Your company lives or dies on good forecasting with such advanced budget planning.
Really?Voulan said:
Then why did the successes/failures of the 12 previous Tomb Raider games not seem to radically affect them over a 12-year period until Underworld? (13 games in a 14-year period if you count the downloadable Guardian of Light) Why is this game considered an underachiever already?
It couldn't be due to lack of advertising. I couldn't avoid any advertisements for this game, and I actively tried to. (compared to Sleeping Dogs where I don't remember if there even WAS a TV commercial made for it) That combined with every reviewer/gamer who played it elbow-checking each other to get to a computer fast enough to tell the entire world what a "shining beacon of light" this is in the "dank cellar of overpriced mediocrity" that is the video game industry that was supposed to bring in both new and existing Tomb Raider fans should have assured the game would meet that minimum 5-6 million first month sales quota easily. There's obviously something about the game that made them think that after sinking that much money into it that this is how much they needed to get back just to break even. And overinflated expectations or not, if this was one of their goals for the game and they failed significantly to reach it, then there must be some deeper things that are wrong with it that they need to address than just brushing it of as "it features a woman".
Although, interestingly enough, Mass Effect 3 (aka: The Bane Of Everyone Else's Existence) sold over $200 million (that's just under 3.5 million copies) in its first two months of release and the "soulless, money-sucking bastards" at EA considered that a pleasing success. This despite (or perhaps because of) the controversy surrounding it at the time. Maybe name recognition would have helped...oh wait. That's ANOTHER advantage this Tomb Raider game has. Go figure...
Don't spoil the kid, Jim. "I want a puppy, but I am not getting one!" said Elizabeth (BioShock Inf.)
Have to disagree with you Jim, having absurd expectations because the project costs an absurd amount of money is very coherent as I see it. It's another thing it indeed is a shitty business model and a part of me hopes that this all devolves in the triple A industry market crashing. The problem here isn't unreal sales expectations, that's just a symptom, the real problem is the tech arms race and the need to get Angelina Jolie and photorealistic tears even though nobody will actually give a fuck except for the graphics nuts, and frankly, they can go burn in hell for all I care. Thing is the industry has to get it's head out of it's ass and notice that you don't need to put everything into the oven to make an atractive project. It's better for a project to cost you 20.000.000$ to make and sell 2.000.000 copies than having it cost 50.000.000 only to sell 3.000.000 copies.
