SimCity Sells a Bundle Despite Launch Woes

[Johnson McGee]

Now if only we could go back in time and re-release the game without DRM and see how the sales of that version would compare.

One thing that EA continually seems to not be able to even consider is whether their games are selling because of things like DRM or microtransactions or day-1 DLC or in spite of it.

The lesson for consumers is: Stop pre-ordering things you stupid d*cks, no matter how shiny the bonus.

 

[Genocidicles]

And once again the majority of consumers prove themselves to be simpletons with the self control of a brain damaged chimp.

No wonder publishers keep fucking over their customers, they know the idiots will still come back for more if they get a shiny game out of it.

 

[RicoADF]

What does this teach us?

That most consumers are ignorant or stupid and blindly buy games on the name alone.

It also could mean the city tycoon genre is seriously lacking in options. I like cities XL but many dont seem to for some reason.

 

[direkiller]

And once again the majority of consumers prove themselves to be simpletons with the self control of a brain damaged chimp.

No wonder publishers keep fucking over their customers, they know the idiots will still come back for more if they get a shiny game out of it.

They did speak
1.1million copys is rather lackluster to downright bad for a AAA title despite the spin they are trying to put on it.

For some perspective:

This is about half the sales that Mirror's Edge got and was considered poor.
This is less then semi neech titles like Blaze Blue has.

 

[Genocidicles]

They did speak
1.1million copys is rather lackluster to downright bad for a AAA title despite the spin they are trying to put on it.

For some perspective:

This is about half the sales that Mirror's Edge got and was considered poor.
This is less then semi neech titles like Blaze Blue has.

I suppose that's true, but wasn't Mirror's Edge was released on every platform except the Wii? Whereas Simcity 5 is a PC exclusive.

 

[direkiller]

They did speak
1.1million copys is rather lackluster to downright bad for a AAA title despite the spin they are trying to put on it.

For some perspective:

This is about half the sales that Mirror's Edge got and was considered poor.
This is less then semi neech titles like Blaze Blue has.

I suppose that's true, but wasn't Mirror's Edge was released on every platform except the Wii? Whereas Simcity 5 is a PC exclusive.

Yes it was
It's part of the Reason I included Blaze Blue a game that had no where near the target market of SimCity.

The outer Reason is the only outer PC titles with first week sales figures I could find were Sims or Blizzard games and there is no way Sim City will outsell them.

 

[shintakie10]

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me - As the saying goes. They got excellent launch numbers. But I doubt as many people will buy the next iteration. Or the next game. Or the DLC.

They traded bits of trust for dollars and it will hurt them in the long run.

Considerin people keep gettin burned by day 1 buys lately, I'd say we're on our thousandth fool.

I know a guy who bought Aliens Colonial Marines on launch day. Hated it, was so pissed. Said he'd never buy a game day 1 again. What happened? He bought SimCity launch day.

We'll continue to see this trend for basically ever because we've been this way since forever.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It also could mean the city tycoon genre is seriously lacking in options. I like cities XL but many dont seem to for some reason.

There's definitely a high demand for the genre; high enough for people to blindly preorder even when history suggests against it. I had hoped a juggernaut launch like Diablo 3 would expose the average consumer to the dangers of Always Online DRM, but once again I put too much faith in the average intelligence (or interest) in the common gamer.

I'd almost expect this to become an annual thing.
I mean despite all the negative buzz about SimCity, it still went platinum.

If it weren't for the concessions to gameplay titles like this seem to demand, I'd accept it if only to point and laugh.
SimCity is a hilarious game with hilarious bugs caused by staggering incompetence in design.

 

[Strazdas]

Really? I thought it taught us that people will take whatever BS EA will throw at them as long as they hold titles hostage that gamers can't or won't resist.

I already knew this game was going to be a success when I saw it a #1 seller on amazon for 2 weeks straight. In a sadistic way I am kinda glad this was successful because I want to see more and more games come with always-on-DRM. If people are happy to take it up the ass from publishers/developers, then they should get ready for the double penetration that is about to come in the future games.

Or because people are REALLY REALLY dumb.
i actually saw people defending DRM and thinking its a good thing. yeah, im not coming back to gamespot.

 

[Kahani]

On the bright side, if those 1.1 million players all choose a copy of Visceral's Dead Space 3, the beleaguered shooter just might come close to reaching the ludicrous five million sales figure that EA says it needs to continue the series. [http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/06/15/dead-space-needs-around-five-million-fans-to-survive-according-to-ea/]

This is really the important point. EA themselves have said that 1.1 million sales is not anywhere near enough for them to consider continuing a franchise. It remains to be seen how well SimCity 6 will do eventually, but at this point it's a failure, not a success.

 

[Dartinin]

I hope none of you like the sims becosue i can assure you that The next Sims game will have always online DRM infact i already know how they will sell it "the new sims go f### over someones elses town and be apart of whole world full of peaple who randomly apear in your town every now and then to give you a weadgy and drink all your beer... oh and did we mention you need to be online all the time or you wouldnt get the pleasure of sims you dont know from peaple you dont know visting your town for no reason im sure you understand" love (for your money) Ea and maxis ^_^ PS sorry if i missed a (a) there i have to paste everyone of them in now that my a key stoped working -_-