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Xbox One Exclusive D4 is selling like complete shit, please help me #SaveD4

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
not port begging, just interested to know:

Is there anything the developer can do in this kind of situation to release the game on additional platforms?


edit: according to that tweet, I guess not. Even though the current situation is good for nobody...
 

Mask

Member
Don't have the cash to grab it now, but I will sometime in October.

It's confusing though.. It's not like there's hundreds of other games to sift through on the store, and since it launched, there's been a big D4 picture on my home screen, so either people just aren't into buying digital games, or they see that it supports Kinect, and assume it only supports that.

It'll be a damn shame if we don't get the rest of the episodes though, because I'm planning on getting it within the next week or so, and more Swery madness is my kind of game.
 
I want and NEED this game as Deadly Premonition is one of my all time favourite stand alone games, so I want to help, but I can't afford an Xbox One right now :( I want this game to do well
 

MUnited83

For you.
not port begging, just interested to know:

Is there anything the developer can do in this kind of situation to release the game on additional platforms?


edit: according to that tweet, I guess not. Even though the current situation is good for nobody...

Their studio own the IP, so they can publish the game on PC. It just won't come to Playstation platforms(think Ryse/Dead Rising 3)
 
Turns out I had $8 leftover from the Gold Mine last summer, so I used it on this!

jojiisqqXeM8g.png


I'm looking forward to playing this next week. :)
 

EGM1966

Member
I wonder if the extra sales on PlayStation that this game would have got would have generated more cash than what Microsoft gave him for his exclusivity deal?

I didn't buy his last game on Xbox, I bought it on PlayStation much later when Deadly Premonition Directors Cut came out.
Depends on the deal structure. If MS merely funded development then they may not be covering any lost sales and the deal's success or failure rests purely on him getting to make the game and hoping it sells enough on Xbox.

Or maybe he got some additional support/money as a result of being exclusive.

Reading more of the thread the issue seems to be a combination of title being associated with a device that's been dropped (Kinect) and lack of PR and Marketing for the title.

Seems to me MS could at least give it some further promotion and work to put it on PC given they promised better support for that platform and more focus on content being accessible on other platforms.

It might be too late already though; damage is done and new and bigger titles will be arriving soon on Xbox and PC.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Don't have the cash to grab it now, but I will sometime in October.

It's confusing though.. It's not like there's hundreds of other games to sift through on the store, and since it launched, there's been a big D4 picture on my home screen, so either people just aren't into buying digital games, or they see that it supports Kinect, and assume it only supports that.

It'll be a damn shame if we don't get the rest of the episodes though, because I'm planning on getting it within the next week or so, and more Swery madness is my kind of game.

it's been on the dashboard and the trailer MS put on their YouTube page has 68k views.

maybe it's the $15 price or the stink of Kinect. Maybe people are waiting for things to go free with Gold. It would be interesting to see how well other games on there are selling.
 

Shauni

Member
Well shit, I missed the free $10 I guess. But I do dig the directionless fury of the OP, so I may give this a shot after all.
 

LowerLevel

Member
Just bought even though I am broke as fuck... Don't really know when I can play it either so I won't be able to "contribute" to the leader board.
 
Leaderboards for the game. It's pretty easy to assume that since there's only 10k people on it, 10k bought it.

It's not exactly correct, however, since many people, myself included, tend to buy games and leave them lying in their backlogs for many weeks or months, even years. But D4 is not doing particularly well, that's for sure.
 

TomShoe

Banned
It's a shame too, I played the game at a friend's house and enjoyed it. Game just doesn't appeal to the audience it's targeting, and I'm not sure any amount of marketing can fix that.
 

Ploid 3.0

Member
not port begging, just interested to know:

Is there anything the developer can do in this kind of situation to release the game on additional platforms?


edit: according to that tweet, I guess not. Even though the current situation is good for nobody...

Maybe they can do a PC version, IOS, or some such. Microsoft seem to allow that type of thing as long as it's not on another console. Or maybe they allow it on PC since they see the synergy in more games on Windows still helping them out.

This makes me very sad. Swery is a great person, and I love his games, but I don't have an Xbox One.

As someone else pointed out, he made this bed, he has to deal with it. He knew the risks I'm sure, maybe he doesn't really need it to sell as much as the risk isn't on him other than possibly not seeing a project he's invested in through to completion and letting down fans.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
The way XBLA and demos are set up on Xbox One is a huge step down from 360.

I bought tons of xbla titles on the 360 through demos. It was really neat having the demo carry progress forward if I bought right then. Really pushed more impulse buys for me, but I guess that was too much work for them or something.
 
Wait, if Microsoft has already paying him to develop this game for their console, why does it matter for the sales to do well? He already has his money.
 
It's a shame too, I played the game at a friend's house and enjoyed it. Game just doesn't appeal to the audience it's targeting, and I'm not sure any amount of marketing can fix that.

I think it's more down to the fact that DP came out at a time when the X360 userbase was in the many tens of millions, where finding an audience within that mass of owners could be much easier. This game only really appeals to DP/Swery fans and those who might have been impressed by the pre-release videos. There's no demo, and there not real marketing to speak of, so this stealth-release coming in at a time when the X1 has anywhere from five to seven million units max is really pushing the limits of reasonable expectations for great sales anywhere near DP, a $20 retail game which got plenty of growing exposure to a massive group of potential buyers over the year and a half following its release via Let's Plays and other video features across the internet. DP also released in February, a slow time better-suited for smaller games that don't have a marketing machine on their side. They should be looking at those sites and video makers who championed their greatest success early on and target them for promotions.
 
Wait, if Microsoft has already paying him to develop this game for their console, why does it matter for the sales to do well? He already has his money.

It's his follow up to Deadly Promotion, which I'm sure managed to surpass all expectations. Of course he's upset that this isn't selling as well as he'd hoped or getting the kind of attention DP did.

There's also the fact that he likely wants to make more episodes. I've said it numerous times, MS are missing a beat here by not funding more episodes. This could become a really amazing IP and a must have killer app if they support it properly.
 

Omnipunctual Godot

Gold Member
As someone else pointed out, he made this bed, he has to deal with it. He knew the risks I'm sure, maybe he doesn't really need it to sell as much as the risk isn't on him other than possibly not seeing a project he's invested in through to completion and letting down fans.
Oh, I know it was definitely a gamble on his part, but it doesn't make me feel any better about the situation. The way I feel with this is similar to how I feel about Murasaki Baby launching on the Vita with next to zero fanfare and little recognition. It makes me sad to see developers (especially ones I like) try new things in gaming and not be successful.

It's his follow up to Deadly Promotion, which I'm sure managed to surpass all expectations.
I wonder how true this is, though, since Deadly Premonition was in development a long time (2004–10) and debuted at the $20 mark.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I don't have a One, but I loved Deadly Premonition and hope this does well.

Still, I think the bigger problem here is MS's poor treatment of the product. If they aren't called out on this, it'll just happen again, and they'll have a stupid look on their faces when the game doesn't sell and proceed to point the blame at the devs.

I'd be more interested in journalists flooding MS with questions about why they didn't market a first party product.
 
It's his follow up to Deadly Promotion, which I'm sure managed to surpass all expectations. Of course he's upset that this isn't selling as well as he'd hoped or getting the kind of attention DP did.

There's also the fact that he likely wants to make more episodes. I've said it numerous times, MS are missing a beat here by not funding more episodes. This could become a really amazing IP and a must have killer app if they support it properly.

I'm confused with the way MS is handling this. :(
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
No XB, can't help. Maybe if we get a PX port down the line. Game looks worth trying but can't say much more than that.
 

abadguy

Banned
I don't have a One, but I loved Deadly Premonition and hope this does well.

Still, I think the bigger problem here is MS's poor treatment of the product. If they aren't called out on this, it'll just happen again, and they'll have a stupid look on their faces when the game doesn't sell and proceed to point the blame at the devs.

I'd be more interested in journalists flooding MS with questions about why they didn't market a first party product.

I would imagine that gamers should get at Phil Spencer on Twitter about that sort of thing as well. Though i have no idea how you could market a game like this, nothing wrong in raising awareness.
 
I wonder how true this is, though, since Deadly Premonition was in development a long time (2004–10) and debuted at the $20 mark.

Seems you're right, Swery went on the record last year to say that DP wasn't an economic success.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...on-had-no-economic-success-according-to-swery

He seems to be chasing a hit and probably hoped this would be it.

I'm confused with the way MS is handling this. :(

As am I. I wonder if there's some truth to them not wanting to support this as much due to its Kinect focused nature and their abrupt decision to drop it from all bundles?

While it can be played with controller, it's primarily been demoed as a Kinect title and Swery has said numerous times that Kinect is the best way to play the game. Could be that it unluckily got caught in the crossfire of them ditching Kinect.
 
He probably wants to make more episodes. Also, I'm sure he would like people to play his game.

It's his follow up to Deadly Promotion, which I'm sure managed to surpass all expectations. Of course he's upset that this isn't selling as well as he'd hoped or getting the kind of attention DP did.

There's also the fact that he likely wants to make more episodes. I've said it numerous times, MS are missing a beat here by not funding more episodes. This could become a really amazing IP and a must have killer app if they support it properly.

Ah okay, so the deal with Microsoft was for one game only, but the game itself is like Telltale's so there are multiple episodes...
 
God forbid a console have any sort of veriety in it's gaming library.
Indeed. It's a lot of people who don't own or don't care to own an X1 making these sorts of statements in the first place. A sort of mild port-beg from the entitled other-platform crew. There's no need to think of other platforms when there is no chance it will happen outside of a PC version in the near term, anyway, so it's best to explore the possibilities left on the table. Offering a demo, putting out some real videos to promote the game, spending time/money to advertise and cross-promote it on various internet sites and among video makers. If DP was 'made' by Giant Bomb and Let's Play video makers, then D4 needs to follow suit or try, anyway.
 
As am I. I wonder if there's some truth to them not wanting to support this as much due to its Kinect focused nature and their abrupt decision to drop it from all bundles?

While it can be played with controller, it's primarily been demoed as a Kinect title and Swery has said numerous times that Kinect is the best way to play the game. Could be that it unluckily got caught in the crossfire of them ditching Kinect.

It's a good theory. I'm convinced Swery has a hit in him, though. Seems stupid for MS to burn a bridge with him.
 
It's a good theory. I'm convinced Swery has a hit in him, though. Seems stupid for MS to burn a bridge with him.

Yup this will definitely result in a burned bridge and it's one MS can ill afford.

With how they've handled D4 though, I can't say I'd blame him for burning that bridge. I can't imagine it would cost much in the grand scheme to fund a few more episodes and throw some money behind advertising it properly.

Yes, I just really hope he stays in the industry. He's like a Suda51 who still directs games.

Would be a tragedy to lose him to mobile gaming, which I'm almost positive is where he'll go next in search of a hit. Hopefully MS can stop that from happening...
 
As am I. I wonder if there's some truth to them not wanting to support this as much due to its Kinect focused nature and their abrupt decision to drop it from all bundles?

While it can be played with controller, it's primarily been demoed as a Kinect title and Swery has said numerous times that Kinect is the best way to play the game. Could be that it unluckily got caught in the crossfire of them ditching Kinect.

That would be really dumb of Microsoft. I have Kinect and I'm still playing the game with a controller and it's still amazing. They don't need to tie it to Kinect to promote it.

I wonder what type of promotion they could give it though to be honest. Generally a digital title like this would not get any kind of commercial time. I've seen it on the front page of the store and they've put trailers out on their YouTube channel. What are the other options? Like DP, this seems like a title that needs word of mouth more than anything.
 
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