Update: Rumor: Poor Sales May Have Killed Dead Space
- Thread starter Karloff
- Start date
Hey, those companies took an evolutionary wrong turn. The way I see it the adaptations they made to themselves and their products (ie micro-transactions, Day One DLC, DRM, massive advertising budgets, etc) aren't helping them to survive the current market.major_chaos said:
They choose to go down and continue with that route. It's now a choice between staying the course or finding another way to adapt.
I really like how the whole "it needs to sell five million" thing is coming back to bite them in the ass. The only question is if people will still defend EA after this.
I can't count how many strawmen are in this post.major_chaos said:
I never liked the games anyways. Feel bad for the fans. I guess they are going to just tide them selves over with Pokemon: Wrath of the White Witch.
I don't think Microtransactions did this BTW. Most people did not know about them till after the fact and even then knew that they did not harm the game in anyways(or so I'm told, as previously mentioned not a huge deadspace fan). Can I just hold on to the hope that as games like deadspace fall out of style the industry will start producing more games I would like too play.
Dead Space 3, Diablo 3, Mass effect 3, the new Tomb Raider, Black Ops 2, Dragon Age 2. All games that I have loved in spite of people screaming about how they are evil and how the companies that made them need to die, and how you need to vote with your wallet and end the madness and if you don't then you are "ruining the industry". I'm sick of the nonsense and this is looking like the first time where these people have actually meaningfully hurt the sales of something I wanted to see succeed. And its a scary though that the absurd moral outrage crowd is gaining any kind of influenceLovely Mixture said:
I love the fact that you completely set yourself up as the sole voice everyone should listen to. "A game failing because people didn't want it? B-but, Major Chaos wanted it, you are all just stupid sheep!major_chaos said:
Here's a hint fella, there's no moral outrage here, just people voting with their wallets, the very foundation of the capitalism which the game market rests.
Funny coming from you, I seem to remember you basicly high fiving another poster for doing just that, the only difference is that he was riding the Bioware hate train full speed and calling people who disagree "biodrones" and therefor his bias lined up with yours, whereas mine does not. Also yes it is "moral outrage" when people are refusing to buy and game and telling others to do the same based of absurd slippery slope ideas and bloated anger over peripheral elements of the game("If we let EA put microtransactions in Dead Space 3 then soon you will need to pay to reload! And if you buy it you are RUINING THE INDUSTRY" is the kind of thing I see tossed around).NortherWolf said:
*chuckles*Difference: I don't expect anyone to agree with me, and just find it mildly pleasant when someone does.major_chaos said:
You first make a strawman post, then when responded too bawl about how mean customers are for not supporting your game of choice.
Yeah, well, I'm pissed about idiot gamers not supporting Bullfrog, Data East or SEGA but that's capitalism for you.
Hmmm, well I find it a little disturbing that at the same time we're seeing Dead Space 3 undergoing massive sales shortly after it's release (like just now on "Big Deal On The Internet") we have EA coming out to try and claim rumors about problems with the franchise are patently false, though I suppose that could simply be in regards to the definate cancellation of a Deadspace 4 that was already in the works.
It's probably just me, but the update added on here just struck me as being sort of like the Iraqi information minister telling us "All your bases belong to us", one one channel, where on another channel we're watching US Troops pretty much overrun everything unopposed with the Republican Guard and miltiary units setting land speed records in competitions as to who can surrender first.
Channel 1:
"Dead Space 3... 50% off, less than a month after a release with major criticisms"
Channel 2:
"Uh yeah, well on behalf of the guys here at EA we just wanted to say Dead Space 3 is doing great, and is an outstanding success, we haven't had any problems with this title, and anything you might have heard to that effect is just baseless rumors and speculation..."
Okay, okay, not fair. I do understand what they are probably trying to say (as I mention above) but despite that, the parallel still just kind of hit me for some reason.
Hmmm, you know this parallel with EA (or another major game developer) when they try and cover for a failing product could make for a pretty cool installment of "Critical Miss".
It's probably just me, but the update added on here just struck me as being sort of like the Iraqi information minister telling us "All your bases belong to us", one one channel, where on another channel we're watching US Troops pretty much overrun everything unopposed with the Republican Guard and miltiary units setting land speed records in competitions as to who can surrender first.
Channel 1:
"Dead Space 3... 50% off, less than a month after a release with major criticisms"
Channel 2:
"Uh yeah, well on behalf of the guys here at EA we just wanted to say Dead Space 3 is doing great, and is an outstanding success, we haven't had any problems with this title, and anything you might have heard to that effect is just baseless rumors and speculation..."
Okay, okay, not fair. I do understand what they are probably trying to say (as I mention above) but despite that, the parallel still just kind of hit me for some reason.
Hmmm, you know this parallel with EA (or another major game developer) when they try and cover for a failing product could make for a pretty cool installment of "Critical Miss".
I was crushed that Dead Space 3 is probably the last game. Then I played it. Every installment has succeeded only in making me want to reply the first game more. On "Hard" Dead Space 3 isn't hard. It isn't even slightly challenging. It's barely tense. Add in the micro-transactions, initial $70 cost, DLC up the ying yang, and Origin... well, it's just the diarrhea icing on the shit cake. At least Dead Space 2 was still kind of Dead Space and wasn't trying to slide it's hand into my wallet as I played.
Or it could have been the fact that Every. Single. Thing. that was revealed about the game was something that the audience didn't want? One of the first things that was announced was the co-op and that cut off a good chunk of the fanbase as already people were saying they had no interest in buying it.LordMonty said:
Maybe I'm just an optimist, but I'd say most gamers don't need a critic to tell them what a bad idea is. I don't think we've quite sunk that far yet.
OT: Not really much left to say after 4 pages of "And EA murders another studio." I understand EA's intent to try anything they can to make money for their shareholders. "They're a company, that's what they do." But when EVERYTHING you touch dies, I think it's time to sit down at a board meeting and have a serious discussion about your business plan, because clearly it's flawed. Like Monty said: the lesson is that people don't want you to take their favorite games and sodomize them to death. You want to acquire successful, popular franchises and studios. Fair enough. But here's what you do after that: leave them the fuck alone. Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, those games and studios were popular and on the rise WITHOUT your intervention, maybe if you let them go about their business they'll keep rising and make you even more money? The saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" definitely applies here...I mean seriously, it makes absolutely no sense to take something that people already enjoy for what it is, change it into something it was never meant to be, and expect those people to like it more than ever.
Oh, how hilarious it would be if EA actually went through with its idea that Dead Space 3 had to sell 5 million copies to keep the franchise "viable."
"Well, it only sold 3.5 million copies. What a waste of time. Throw it out and make another Battlefield game."
"Well, it only sold 3.5 million copies. What a waste of time. Throw it out and make another Battlefield game."
Id be surprised if it even sold that muchMPerce said:
in terms of physical copies it sold sjy of 0.9 million http://www.vgchartz.com/game/50254/dead-space-3/
while we dont know about digital sales from Origin, Xbox Live demand and PSN I'm willing to bet it would have been 1 million at most as digital sales havnt taken over physical on consoles and i highly doubt the PC version would be more popular
(correct me if im wrong people)
Stop hating what i like?major_chaos said:
This feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy, really. EA set an expectation of 5M units sold, so they made the devs make a game to appeal to a businessman's concept of the average gamer. This resulted in a low quality facsimile of a mass appeal game.
EA's been chasing the mythical Call of Duty megahit for a long time now (Medal of Honor: Brown Reboot, Medal of Honor: Won'tyoubuyitthistime?, Mass Effect 2&3's gameplay, Army of Two, Army of Two: Two Harder, Battlefield 3), and it keeps failing because CoD fans are just that - Call of Duty fans. Call of Duty already exists. If they want their CoD fix, they'll play CoD. Hell, even Wikipedia says EA is disliked (the Consumerist poll) because of "EA's history for closing high-quality developers in favor of mass-produced derivative games designed for mass appeal, but which usually end up alienating the fanbase without achieving any mainstream appeal.[100]"
EA's been chasing the mythical Call of Duty megahit for a long time now (Medal of Honor: Brown Reboot, Medal of Honor: Won'tyoubuyitthistime?, Mass Effect 2&3's gameplay, Army of Two, Army of Two: Two Harder, Battlefield 3), and it keeps failing because CoD fans are just that - Call of Duty fans. Call of Duty already exists. If they want their CoD fix, they'll play CoD. Hell, even Wikipedia says EA is disliked (the Consumerist poll) because of "EA's history for closing high-quality developers in favor of mass-produced derivative games designed for mass appeal, but which usually end up alienating the fanbase without achieving any mainstream appeal.[100]"
Really generalizing and projecting here my friend. Sure there are people like that, but the overlap isn't as clear cut as you're making it out to be.major_chaos said:
Ok you enjoy those games, fine. Do I think you're "ruining the industry" ? No I don't. But you're making it sound as if people are not allowed to vote with their wallet.
Why? Cause you don't like it? How do you even know the "moral outrage crowd" is responsible for this? EA said DS3 needed to sell five million copies, and the first two only sold about four million put together.major_chaos said:
How do you know people didn't just.....Choose not to buy the game because they didn't like the direction it was going in?
This isn't really true, 38 only partnered with EA to publish the game and they really went down the toilet when they took a risk and unfortunately released a lacklustre game which effectively bankrupt the company. So not EAs fault (that time anyway).ksn0va said:
It may be slow and painful, and we may see some great IPs and studios die along the way, but I've realised what it all means: Eventually, as EA continues to fail to realise what makes games successful and what constitutes a good game, all its franchises will end up like Dead Space, and at long last EA will die from an inability to support original content.
This is a joke of course, but I can dream.
This is a joke of course, but I can dream.