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Great Games, Commercial Failures


Yantelope
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Some games get fantastic reviews but sell practically nothing. Discuss them here.

 

Mirror's Edge was apparently a commercial flop. Everyone I know loved it but apparently it didn't do well at all. Was there any reason why?

 

The other two games I can think of off-hand were Psychonauts and Beyond Good and Evil. I never played either of those though because I don't remember hearing anything about them when they were released. Those might just have died for lack of promotion?

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I stopped playing Beyond Good and Evil after I reinstalled my OS and didn't backup my saved games. But it was a very good and fun game. Haven't played Psychonauts yet.

 

Another example is God Hand. I think the 3.0/10 from IGN buried it. I think most reviewers missed the point of the game and it created a bad image for the game when sales were relevant.

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Approximately 2 million sales for Mirror's Edge. Not amazing, but not terrible. I think it suffered from being too different from other FPS's without the marketing clearly branding it as such.

 

That left reviewers playing what they thought was an FPS with parkour elements, finding the FPS elements lacking and being a bit down on the product. In retrospect, reviewers who have revisited their opinion have looked at it in a different light and feel that it was a fantastic free running game let down with some less than brilliant combat and worthy of higher praise for being different and bold and executing what it did differently really well.

 

I honestly believe that Mirror's Edge could go on to be an amazingly successful franchise, especially now that it has some more games to be compared with. Assassin's Creed, Brink, Infamous, all embrace a new way of moving.

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Well you'd know better than others but I thought EA wasn't moving forward with Mirror's Edge. I really think of all the games that really deserve a second push it was one of them.

 

At the same time if it was released by anyone but EA (or Activision) it likely would have gotten a sequel.

Edited by Faiblesse Des Sens
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Hmmm, I might have been mistaken but I thought EA said they were dissapointed with Mirror's Edge sales. If you remember Dead Space was released at the same time as part of EA's push for new IP and its sequel is being released soon. Even if it is in production they're certainly dragging their feet on the sequel.

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Zack and Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

 

What went wrong: Well in was the Autumn of 2007. The Wii was still in relatively short supply thanks to all the casuals and soccer moms buying them up. Hardcore gamers who owned a Wii dismissed the game as "kids' stuff" while children and their parents seemed to only want generic minigame fests like Carnival games or licensed recognizable characters.

 

Zack and Wiki was an awesome game that sold very few amounts. Word of mouth was strong for this game with different sites having "Buy Zack & Wiki" campaigns. I was in a Gamestop where a mother was trying to choose a Wii title for her son and the clerk pointed out Zack and Wiki as a great game for everyone and she bought Carnival Games.

 

My sisters gave me Zack & Wiki for Christmas. It's one fun game!

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I was in a Gamestop where a mother was trying to choose a Wii title for her son and the clerk pointed out Zack and Wiki as a great game for everyone and she bought Carnival Games.

 

 

Why do all mom in gamestop stories end this way?

 

Because mom + video games = either buying shovelware or a game her kid shouldn't be playing anyways, I.E. buying GTA4 for a 12 year old.

 

I remember going to Gamestop and asking if they had Ikaruga for Gamecube. The clerk looked at me funny. That made me sad.

Edited by Vargras
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Speaking of great games, commercial failures; Bizarre Creations is shutting down. Apparently poor sales of Blur are to blame. I guess I can't say much since I didn't buy it either, but I heard it was good. Sucks that poor sales of a new IP are enough to take down legacies like Geometry Wars or PGR.

i-has-a-sad.jpg

 

Most importantly, we'll never get that sequel to The Club that was totally going to come out eventually at least in my mind. The Club is like the ultimate great game/commercial failure imo.

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