The Stupid Season
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
An informative article, Shamus. You took the complex science of gaming economics and packaged the Christmas difference duly, without glitz, in layman's terms. Yet, it was unsurprising to me to read that brand loyalty is the guide to success at Christmas time.
This is true of me as much as perhaps most other gamers. I can still remember my childhood and the Christmas that brought me Ocarina of Time. In that case, I would not have been as happy if it was a new franchise with no history and no fame or emotion attached to it already. But then, we are talking about Ocarina of Time. So on that count, I disagree with you that the Christmas phenomenon is always bad for the industry. Some sequels deserve the attention we lavish upon them in December.
With that said, I can see that there are a lot of brilliantly designed new games that miss the Christmas sales hit because they're new and have no brand power. This is a sad fact of how commercial gaming is. If ever coding becomes as easy to learn (yet hard to master) as brush painting, then we might see the light at the end of that tunnel. Until then, your views make sense.
This is true of me as much as perhaps most other gamers. I can still remember my childhood and the Christmas that brought me Ocarina of Time. In that case, I would not have been as happy if it was a new franchise with no history and no fame or emotion attached to it already. But then, we are talking about Ocarina of Time. So on that count, I disagree with you that the Christmas phenomenon is always bad for the industry. Some sequels deserve the attention we lavish upon them in December.
With that said, I can see that there are a lot of brilliantly designed new games that miss the Christmas sales hit because they're new and have no brand power. This is a sad fact of how commercial gaming is. If ever coding becomes as easy to learn (yet hard to master) as brush painting, then we might see the light at the end of that tunnel. Until then, your views make sense.
this year is a little bit different from most years I believe... with the barrage of delays being announced for many key titles such as Bioshock 2 and Heavy Rain means that the Christmas season has very few games? The reason? Modern Warfare 2. Pretty much everyone has cleared the doors for this game leaving pretty much its only serious competitor (in the shooters department) as Halo: ODST. Therefore, I believe that this year a lot of games are going to be fighting for a small amount of cash in Janurary... should be interesting 
Well, to those who doubt the numbers, I can tell you this: I work in a game retailer in Australia. We do something like 3-4x a normal day's sales every single day of December. It's ludicrous, and just ramps up as you get closer to the end.
Next year, now, THAT should be interesting. I expect Heavy Rain to flop HARD, and StarCraft II to sell faster than anything I've ever seen. No matter how screwey Blizzard makes their online service. And to Shamus - good, nice read. I'd just love to know what you think should be done about all this.
Where I work, at least, PC has taken a massive backseat to the Wii, and the other consoles. And if it's Wii, with a shiny cover, cool name, and even the tiniest bit of marketting behind it, it'll sell like you -would not believe-. It's actually really saddening, as an informed, educated gamer. The best I can do is try to pass on what I know... but when it's that busy, I don't have time to ask how people are going, let alone comment on their gaming choices.Shamus Young said:
It'll be very interesting. We've sold out of Modern Warfare II Prestige already - company and country wide. This is less than a week after we announced we were stocking it. I know some stores sold out the -day- it was announced. So shooters will be a little light this year. Oh well, more Wii shovelware or DS drivel. They just churn that stuff out. It's scary. There are still big titles, and titles I HOPE will sell well (Scribblenauts, yay!), but really... at Christmas time, nothing matters but the media.Simalacrum said:
Next year, now, THAT should be interesting. I expect Heavy Rain to flop HARD, and StarCraft II to sell faster than anything I've ever seen. No matter how screwey Blizzard makes their online service. And to Shamus - good, nice read. I'd just love to know what you think should be done about all this.
Christmas has become a stupid time and it is getting worse each year.
It is no miracle that this fest of soulless santas, crappy toys and new socks is pulling down the gaming industry. Well, it is pulling down most other media already!
I'm missing the old time when I was young and my parents managed to save me from that american-invented time of madness. Spending christmas with the family, having a few quiet days, going to church and maybe getting one nice present instead of 10 bad ones was great
It is no miracle that this fest of soulless santas, crappy toys and new socks is pulling down the gaming industry. Well, it is pulling down most other media already!
I'm missing the old time when I was young and my parents managed to save me from that american-invented time of madness. Spending christmas with the family, having a few quiet days, going to church and maybe getting one nice present instead of 10 bad ones was great
Well, I've had the same games all year long, so I'm hoping for Christmas to get some new stuff, so i hope someone is gonna release a good one between now and Christmas. It's sad, if all game companies would actually polish there games til they were good, all the months sales would probably be equal, but since that will never happen and Yahtzee will always be able to fuel his reviews with shit games until Armageddon, or he decides to get a more normal job.
January seems to be the good time for a release, like Shamus said, people have the cash, gift cards, and probably haven't gotten there credit card bills yet, so release early to mid January and you will get success mostly, because by then people will have realized that most games they bought/received are shit and they will look for something better.
January seems to be the good time for a release, like Shamus said, people have the cash, gift cards, and probably haven't gotten there credit card bills yet, so release early to mid January and you will get success mostly, because by then people will have realized that most games they bought/received are shit and they will look for something better.
While I agree with many of the reasons thrown at me, rest assured, Mr Young. I will be talking about Duke Nukem Forever... I will be...
But good article. Makes me laugh everytime I read the statement by Activision for Singularity's Delay. "The New Launch window, Which has fewer competitive Titles releasing..."
They are so wrong.
But good article. Makes me laugh everytime I read the statement by Activision for Singularity's Delay. "The New Launch window, Which has fewer competitive Titles releasing..."
They are so wrong.
You know, I have noticed it getting better. The top 4 games on my list* are not coming out Christmas, although the 5th is.
*In chronological order:
-Arkham Asylum
-Alpha Protocol
-Assassin's Creed 2
-Modern Warfare 2-the holiday game I mentioned
-Mass Effect 2
*In chronological order:
-Arkham Asylum
-Alpha Protocol
-Assassin's Creed 2
-Modern Warfare 2-the holiday game I mentioned
-Mass Effect 2
For everybody saying that publishers should just release good games outside the Christmas season, this doesn't work because people aren't in a frenzy to buy everything for everyone they know, so you loose a lot of the mainstream audience.
I hear you there. Growing up, Christmas was the time of year that you gave out presents since birthdays were usually just celebrated with a small cake. Because Vhristmas was less about getting everyone everything they wanted, you appreciated what you got more. I remember the year we got a N64 and Banjo Kazooie for Christmas. It was tehe only game we owned until te following Christmas, and we appreciated the hell out of it.rofltehcat said:Christmas has become a stupid time and it is getting worse each year.
It is no miracle that this fest of soulless santas, crappy toys and new socks is pulling down the gaming industry. Well, it is pulling down most other media already!
I'm missing the old time when I was young and my parents managed to save me from that american-invented time of madness. Spending christmas with the family, having a few quiet days, going to church and maybe getting one nice present instead of 10 bad ones was great
I doubt brand recognition has much to do with it.
Who buys all these games during christmas? That would be the parents, buying gifts for their kids.
You'll be lucky if they know other brands beside Nintendo.
I believe teen an adult gamers are more discerning and will buy the games they want, when they want.
I think it makes sense for publishers to release all their shovelware based on movies and the like on christmas. Parents may recognize Harry Potter or something.
Who buys all these games during christmas? That would be the parents, buying gifts for their kids.
You'll be lucky if they know other brands beside Nintendo.
I believe teen an adult gamers are more discerning and will buy the games they want, when they want.
I think it makes sense for publishers to release all their shovelware based on movies and the like on christmas. Parents may recognize Harry Potter or something.
Isn't there a bit of irony in your post? You say brand recognition is not important, then contradict yourself by saying certain brands are more appealing/recgonizable to audiences and thus will help gain more sales. Like you said, brands like Harry Potter.veloper said:
At any rate, yeah, I don't like how the holiday season changes sales. I'd love it if games were evenly spread out but that'll never happen. And thus it's a busy spam-fest of sales at stores in a single month. Increases the likelihood of injuries too. People getting stomped to death due to shopper's adrenaline, huge amounts of traffic, etc.
The biggest problem with that is that summer is the time when all the good weather happens, so people are less likely to be hibernating in front of a console and more likely to be enjoying the fresh air. Movies get all the love in summer because they get you out of the house and surrounded by people.Lvl 64 Klutz said:
Back on topic, what I view as the most tragic victim of the Christmas season is Knights of the Old Republic 2. Here we had a game which improved on its predecessor in every conceivable way; story, gameplay, characters, world-building, all that. And then, when Obsidian was still in the process of finishing the game, the design team was told to hurry it out to meet a deadline. As a result, the game was never truly completed, and what could've been a gaming classic was crippled. Hours of cut content, plot lines that go nowhere, and the infamously disappointing ending. All because of a rush to meet a deadline. No prizes for guessing as to when that deadline was.
"For everybody saying that publishers should just release good games outside the Christmas season, this doesn't work because people aren't in a frenzy to buy everything for everyone they know, so you loose a lot of the mainstream audience."
Lose not Loose
Anyway, it really doesn't matter for good games, Blizzard/Valve can release any game at any time and still get 90% of their 'supposed' sales, the other 10% random buys might or might not be on Christmas, start selling in October and by the time Christmas comes around, send out another marketing blitz
Even if it did, a good game would have no difference from a crappy game at Christmas time, take the risk, if you think your product is good, you can release it at any other time
Lose not Loose
Anyway, it really doesn't matter for good games, Blizzard/Valve can release any game at any time and still get 90% of their 'supposed' sales, the other 10% random buys might or might not be on Christmas, start selling in October and by the time Christmas comes around, send out another marketing blitz
Even if it did, a good game would have no difference from a crappy game at Christmas time, take the risk, if you think your product is good, you can release it at any other time