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Prey's debut sales in the UK seem quite low
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
It always seemed strange to me that the marketing budget for Dishonored 2 went down from the original, at least from what I saw here in the UK. Either they have some super smart analysts, or it was the original marketing along with reviews coming out beforehand that helped it.
The review copies not going out just seems strange as a blanket policy. Sure, I can see not doing it with Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Doom as they will get coverage and hype without it. But a confusingly named reboot with no marketing or reviews seems like a very silly thing to do.
Pandora012
Member
I'd hope that they won't be shuttered. Arkane has become one of my favorite developers.
Acquiescence
Member
I didn't know it was out already. It still feels like we're in the midst of its pre-release status.
Seems like there's weak demand for the genre and the past few months have seen a console launch and a relentless barrage of games, on PS4 at least. Wallets might be a little light right now. The online push was surprisingly strong though.
Zombie James
Banned
Maybe people are waiting for reviews.
Yes. You didn't know that though because:
Also no early reviews because Bethesda.
It's almost a stealth release tbh. I pre-ordered it last week and was legitimately surprised when it showed up Friday. Thought we were a week or more out still.
Saddest part is that, like Dishonored 2, it's super good and a masterclass in world building and game design (though imo not quite as strong as Dishonored 2). It's also basically System Shock 3.
Shortly before launch, Arkane gave kind of an odd interview where they said this, which sounds like they expected the game to not do well and were already thinking about the future: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-04-07-its-not-the-michael-bay-of-games
CassidyIzABeast
Member
That's a brick.
The Greek Freak
Member
Still have no idea what type of game it is based on the one trailer a first person horror puzzle thing?
Maybe if reviews were out and glowing I'd have cared to find out.
Maybe if reviews were out and glowing I'd have cared to find out.
thelatestmodel
Junior, please.
Most people probably have no idea what it is or that it's even out. A real shame.
Magic Mushroom
Member
Impressions on this forum are glowing, with many calling it a GotY contender. Which says something in a year as strong as this one.
velociraptor
Junior Member
Deus Ex is dead?
This still doesn't answer my question of "Why are you not giving your game a chance?".
I just don't see the sense in stealth releasing a game that is actually pretty good and isn't a niche genre.
Reviews are out and they are glowing.
It's got 87 on Opencritic at the moment.
KimonoNoNo
Member
Can't say I'm surprised, but strange as it may seem I don't think Zenimax will pull a Square.
Eidos Montreal's current project is Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and their next two projects are assisting with Crystal Dynamics' Avengers game, and making Guardians of the Galaxy, with reports suggesting Deus Ex is far away on the back burner at best.
My take as well. One of those cases where sending out review copies previous to release may actually build some pre-release buzz IMO.
Essentially Bethesda disagrees with the last part of your last sentence and thinks that more marketing money will simply cause them to lose more money overall.
It didn't work for Dishonored 2, another game that desperately needed the (very) high reviews hype and Bethesda blew it, it sold poorly.
It works only for mega franchises like Fallout and Elder Scroll, a game like Fallout 4 only needed a good demonstration in E3 to get to crazy hype level , remember the days when Pornhub videos of leaked Fallout 4 gameplay got millions of views? the no review policy was very smart there as it could only hurt the hype which it retrospectively would since reviews were pretty disappointing for such an anticipated title, when the fan base realized the game is pretty disappointing as well it was far too late and millions of copies were already sold, that was a smart move by Beth but for Prey, Dishonored 2 and even Doom in a way, it was stupid as hell.
Sectorseven
Member
Maybe the masses don't have the patience for these games.
I'm still confused as hell why Crystal got pulled off Tomb Raider which they are great at and familiar with to do another franchise while Montreal got thrown on Tomb Raider which they could easily fuck up. None of this seems like good management unless I'm missing something. How is any of this getting maximum value of these studios?
They didn't. Square Enix is making alternating Tomb Raider games a la Call of Duty.
This was also going to happen with Hitman between IO Interactive and Square Enix Montreal before the latter studio got converted into a mobile development studio.
Sodding_Gamer
Member
A brilliant game that had zero fucking marketing in the UK. If I didn't check out the OT I wouldn't have even known it was out.
It's even more frustrating having played about 10 hours of it and it's an amazing experience, knowing that a lot of people will have passed on it.
It's even more frustrating having played about 10 hours of it and it's an amazing experience, knowing that a lot of people will have passed on it.
If the masses knew it existed, they could make that call.
And the people that do remember are probably mad that this ahs nothing to do with the other games.
Bethesda review policy is hilariously stupid.
"Let's make good games and not let reviwers tell people about them at or before release."
I understand this, but this game was released on Friday with no advanced copies sent to the press.
Its understandable to be a bit skeptical of the reviews when critics have only had a weekend to consume it. I know I am.
Bethesda is such a piece of shit company. First they kill off Human Head Studios just because they didn't want to be owned by those assholes and now it seems Arkane is next.
it's a shame since Prey is a great game.
it's a shame since Prey is a great game.
Rexatality
Member
That's a shame, but not surprising. Though I'm not looking forward to some people on the internet gloating about this
Eh, you can basically play it like a straightforward A-B game anyway. Experimenting with the games systems is purely up to the player.
Triggerhappytel
Member
From that data in the OP - I'm surprised Doom launched to lower numbers than Wolfenstein and Dishonoured 2.
But yeah; no surprise on Prey. Haven't seen any marketing for it at all; if I wasn't a regular here I wouldn't know it was out. Was in a supermarket today and it didn't even look like they had it in stock, and there were no empty spaces to suggest it had sold out.
But yeah; no surprise on Prey. Haven't seen any marketing for it at all; if I wasn't a regular here I wouldn't know it was out. Was in a supermarket today and it didn't even look like they had it in stock, and there were no empty spaces to suggest it had sold out.
Spaced Harrier
Member
Suing that indie game was the closest I saw to some marketing.
Stone Ocean
Member
It's basically Bioshock on steroids and it's amazing
Which makes this such a pity. Zero marketing, friday launch, Bethesda can't help but be fucking assholes when it comes to the Prey franchise it seems.
It is really dumb, I thought Prey was pretty bad actually until reviews and gamers impressions started to come out, why would Bethesda do that for their smaller but very quality franchises that need every push they can get it beyond me.
That Tomb Raider idea is insane and I don't see any way it doesn't lead to bad things for the franchise. Hope I'm wrong. That Hitman idea seemed equally bad. Is there a good example of alternating titles with devs other than COD, which results in games feeling wildly different with each iteration along with fluctuating features and quality?
Big Green Anus
Member
Deus Ex is killed? I know sales were lower than Human Revolution, but I assumed Deus Ex was not a big budget game compared to Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy, so they can recover their losses.
Dishonoured 1. It outsold 2. Wolfenstien and the original Dishonoured had review copies and Doom didn't, but did get a very underwhelming multiplayer beta. I'm really not surprised because how good the single player was came as a bit of a surprise.
Lord of Ostia
Member
They should've sent out review copies. The game is great, and all of their recent games have been, so this review policy makes no sense.
Tomb Raider is also a series that is clearly out of sync with the market, so we're going to have a bad UK sales thread about Shadow of the Tomb Raider as well, but basically these were decisions made ages ago.
When Matsuda took over as CEO, he had basically every Square Enix new IP canceled in favor of existing titles. This caused IO interactive to lose half its staff, Crystal Dynamics to lose their new IP, and Eidos Montreal to lose their new IP and go into a variety of turmoil as they had to quickly get staff on a new project (which became Tomb Raider, along with canceling Obsidian's Deus Ex game and taking Deus Ex entirely in house).
These days Matsuda changed his mind as Square Enix's existing IPs all started facing significant sales headwinds, so now they're all on new IPs, whether they be based on licenses (see Marvel), or actually new (which is what Tabata's team of Final Fantasy 15 fame is supposed to be doing).
Which part of the dart board Matsuda will hit tomorrow is currently unclear, so for now, their focus will be on new IPs and Japanese eSports for new initiatives.
Xion_Stellar
People should stop referencing data that makes me feel uncomfortable because games get ported to platforms I don't like
This right here.
I'm not familiar with the franchise outside knowing it's a thing and the only exposure I ever got from the game was the red eye trailer last year. I didn't see any buzz about the title or reviews pop up on my usual gaming feeds so I was under the impression the game wouldn't be out until November.
The Greek Freak
Member
The game came out Friday. Its currently Monday.
The open critic could be 100 or 0, reviews done this fast mean jack to me (unless the game is only an hour or two long?).
By the time I hear about it from outlets I respect (not Gaf OTs which circle jerk praise even flaming trash more times than not) it will be a month or so after release and at that point it goes to a gamefly que or a buy for 10$ once it tanks list.
After being burned by the trash fire of FO4 Bethesda doesn't get the benefit from me.