Jimquisition on expected sales
Just thought I'd share some discussions I've been having around the office about The Jimquision's last vid (if you haven't watched before, Jim is annoying at first, but he says astute things). The jist is that Dark Souls sold 2 million units and are doing backflips of joy, whilst Square Enix sold around 3.5 million for Tomb Raider and Hitman Absolution and and have CEO's resigning faster than a CEO who hasn't hit their sales target.
There is the argument that the big games require big money to be a success. I don't think it's a good argument, but it's there! With fantastic statements such as "ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space".
I am very unsure about this, I dug up sales figures of video games, and in general only the top games break 5 million sales (be careful, some of the 15+ million figures are because some games come bundled with hardware). And there are loads of really good games that sold under 2 million that have strong and steady IPs with a following willing to give their money up for it (Dark Souls being a point in case). I also looked up sales figures from 2011 and 2012 (you'll need to group some of the multi platform ones in your head) and only the top 10-15 make it past 5 million sales. Jim's argument is that big publishers expect at least 5 million from pretty much every game. And while I'm sure there are loads of complicated issues at hand around their sales and development, not every game will be a top 10-15 of the year. It is a bit ridiculous when you look at the figures.
Although I'd like to think that the publishers will basically cave themselves in with stupidity, it looks like the studios usually get the short end of the stick (SAD-face D: )
On the other hand, I was discussing 2K games with a colleague, and you play many of their games (XCOM ( <3 ) , recent GTAs, Bioshock Infinite) and many of the annoying tell-tale signs of publisher intervention and rot are not present in the game, and you are left to enjoy a great game made by great game makers. (HAPPY-hopeful-face :D )
[Edit: These are all opinions formed over the last hour or two and only after some fairly lackluster google searches for sales figures. So if anyone has anything to add/oppose, these are not opinions that I will necess. defend to my dying day :p but they are mine... for now ...]
There is the argument that the big games require big money to be a success. I don't think it's a good argument, but it's there! With fantastic statements such as "ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space".
I am very unsure about this, I dug up sales figures of video games, and in general only the top games break 5 million sales (be careful, some of the 15+ million figures are because some games come bundled with hardware). And there are loads of really good games that sold under 2 million that have strong and steady IPs with a following willing to give their money up for it (Dark Souls being a point in case). I also looked up sales figures from 2011 and 2012 (you'll need to group some of the multi platform ones in your head) and only the top 10-15 make it past 5 million sales. Jim's argument is that big publishers expect at least 5 million from pretty much every game. And while I'm sure there are loads of complicated issues at hand around their sales and development, not every game will be a top 10-15 of the year. It is a bit ridiculous when you look at the figures.
Although I'd like to think that the publishers will basically cave themselves in with stupidity, it looks like the studios usually get the short end of the stick (SAD-face D: )
On the other hand, I was discussing 2K games with a colleague, and you play many of their games (XCOM ( <3 ) , recent GTAs, Bioshock Infinite) and many of the annoying tell-tale signs of publisher intervention and rot are not present in the game, and you are left to enjoy a great game made by great game makers. (HAPPY-hopeful-face :D )
[Edit: These are all opinions formed over the last hour or two and only after some fairly lackluster google searches for sales figures. So if anyone has anything to add/oppose, these are not opinions that I will necess. defend to my dying day :p but they are mine... for now ...]