BioWare rush DA2; blame release date for bad sales.

[WalmartJesus]

Of course Gaider!

It's obviously the release date that caused bad sales,even though other mainstream/blockbuster games like God Of War 3 and Final Fantasy 13 released around the same time last year,and did just fine in sales.

It could never be the fact that DA2 simply just looked like a "Pile of Shit" to the average consumer.

Even the Xbawks kiddies on IGN and Gamespot thinks the game looks mediocre.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Of course Gaider!

It's obviously the release date that caused bad sales,even though other mainstream/blockbuster games like God Of War 3 and Final Fantasy 13 released around the same time last year,and did just fine in sales.

It could never be the fact that DA2 simply just looked like a "Pile of Shit" to the average consumer.

Even the Xbawks kiddies on IGN and Gamespot thinks the game looks mediocre.

HERETIC!

Thou shalt not take the 'average consumer' to be a source of wisdom on general game design. Only 'interface' shall be streamlined to the satisfaction of the wretched 'average consumer'.

 

[x4nti]

Well, at least they're not blaming piracy..

 

[waywardOne]

What is there not to like when some people here go GUNG-HO on their fellow Kodexers, taking them for perfect crétins.

Try reading the second part of my phrase again. From there, wouldn't it make perfect sense that I knew how a lead writer contributes to the *production* of a game, and who the lead writer for this particular game was ?

I know, reading skills extraordinaire are required to detect sarcasm on the Kodex

it's not even as edgy as that. i knew the structure was confusing. the second sentence was completely independent of the first, and the first was just to draw attention to the absurdity shown in the third. i'm sorry for using you as a jumping off point for my rage against someone else.

 

[Karmapowered]

Among people of honor, no apologies needed.

 

[curry]

Damn what an asshole gaider is.

 

[Ebonsword]

Was that an admittance that DA2 is shit?

Seems like.

Maybe we can get him to admit that DA1 was crap, too!

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Well, at least they're not blaming piracy..

It'll be the second arguement he'll probably use claiming that all the 4chan and Codex trolls encouraged pirating the game.

 

[DraQ]

Yes, if DA2 has any sales, customer satisfaction or market perception issues, they're caused by: 4chan trolls, codex trolls, that new chair with the fucked-up right arm rest (so it's hard to concentrate on quality writing while sitting in it), the false son of a false god being born 3 months too early to boost game sales, a stray neutrino passing through the bank's computers and mysteriously removing about $ 10 million of well-deserved revenue, game release falling on the unluckiest day of the Mayan calendar, Caesar getting murdered on the Ides of March (just in time to steal major media attention from the DA2 release), etc. Pretty much, anything except the game being banal shit boring and not worth giving money to untalented hacks for. Ahem.

BTW:
You have either had an account here before or are a long time lurker - which one?

 

[CappenVarra]

BTW:
You have either had an account here before or are a long time lurker - which one?

The second.
Not that I expect anybody without Admin privileges to believe I'm not an alt, of course. Sticking to time-honored traditions and all M:

 

[Volourn]

"It could never be the fact that DA2 simply just looked like a "Pile of Shit" to the average consumer. "

I can play this game too. If DA2 dales are as 'bad' as people claim (which it isn't), it's because DA2 was so unpopular that nobody wanted to give DA2 a chance.

People brag that DA2'ss ales are because of 400k presales.. due to the 'love for DA1'... but, last i checked, DA2 sold 3.5-4.5 mil copies.. so that means 3.1-4.1mil people thought DA1 was so crappy because they played it and didn't even bother with DA2 and the DA1 haters are the ones who are hatin' on DA2. Like the Codex where we all Codexers would never play a 'shitty' game like DA2. R00fles!

That said, DA2 sales are fine espicially considiering how, relatively spekaing, it was cheap to make. Smaller dev budget, lower marketing budget, less time spent on it yet its sold in the nieghbourhood of 2mil already.

R00flegagz!

 

[J_C]

"It could never be the fact that DA2 simply just looked like a "Pile of Shit" to the average consumer. "

I can play this game too. If DA2 dales are as 'bad' as people claim (which it isn't), it's because DA2 was so unpopular that nobody wanted to give DA2 a chance.

People brag that DA2'ss ales are because of 400k presales.. due to the 'love for DA1'... but, last i checked, DA2 sold 3.5-4.5 mil copies.. so that means 3.1-4.1mil people thought DA1 was so crappy because they played it and didn't even bother with DA2 and the DA1 haters are the ones who are hatin' on DA2. Like the Codex where we all Codexers would never play a 'shitty' game like DA2. R00fles!

That said, DA2 sales are fine espicially considiering how, relatively spekaing, it was cheap to make. Smaller dev budget, lower marketing budget, less time spent on it yet its sold in the nieghbourhood of 2mil already.

R00flegagz!

May I ask you where do you get your information from? DA2 sales are not in the neighbourhood of 2 milion, much more in the neighbourhood of 1 million. Accourding to VGChartz, it sold 1.28 million worldwide on 3 platforms. While this site is not the most reliable when it comes to sales numbers, I bet the actual number is closer to their prediction than to yours. The sales are crap, considering that the game had a huge marketing behind it, it is a quite well known franchise, and it is a bioware product

 

[Volourn]

It sold 1mil+ in less than 2 weeks 9even VGChartz suggests , at mkinimum, that is what it is. Even if you took vghcratz's numbers as 'accurate' they don't keep track of online sales.

I'd wager that after over a month the sales are pushing, at minimum, 2mil sales overall.

The PS3 version doesn't count as nobody cres about the PS3. Just sayin'.

The sales are 'crap' thing is silly talk since we all know EA, comapritively spekaing, the money behind DA2 was pitiful. This includes amrketing which was nowhere enar the level of DA1.

I say worse case scenario is that after a year DA2 sales in the hieghbourhood of 3mil which is not as good as DA1 but nothing sneeze at but is solid numbers for a BIO game.


P.S. My numbers are from vghcratz (but taking into account their suspect sources and how they gather them), BIO/EA, and just logic.

 

[Befuddled Halfling]

I'd wager that after over a month the sales are pushing, at minimum, 2mil sales overall.

Oh fuck, this conversation again.

The trend is down down down. No spikes, even with the buy DA2-get-ME2-free promo. Even with the near 50% discount in some stores where I live (in week 4). Compare and contrast to Origins' trend. Compare Origins lifetime 4m. The first Origins price drop I saw was when Awakening pre-order started (ie 5 months after launch). DA2 is now a steady trickle at <10k per platform per week. That number is a bad for a major studio.

The reason BIO abandoned all (remaining) pretense at making RPGs with DA2 was to get MOAR sales from the twitch reflex crowd. "Sorry RPG customers, we fucked you to get more consoletard sales" Gaider cheerily taunted. Hilariously, they even managed to screw that up, and the Call of Duty crowd they sold their own drones out to ... never showed up. The only reason they got the 1.3m sales was from people who bought all things BIO on brand name alone. I'd wager that ~50% were so pissed off with the shit they got in DA2, that their auto pre-order attitude to BIO is replaced by a passing interest. And maybe 10% fucked off enough to never pay for anything BIO again (torrent only ... if reviews are good). So factor in the massive loss of goodwill to that awesome 1.3m sales number.

The only thing saving their pathetic whore asses is that DA2 only took 14 months' worth of salaries to build, so 1.3m does not mean any of the devs will need to any visits to a soup kitchen any time soon. Other than that, 4 May is the EA investor call for Q4, so expect these sales figures to be exposed by analysts and investors for what they are - shit.

 

[CrunchyHemorrhoids]

That said, DA2 sales are fine espicially considiering how, relatively spekaing, it was cheap to make. Smaller dev budget, lower marketing budget, less time spent on it yet its sold in the nieghbourhood of 2mil already.

R00flegagz!

"Fine" depends on what EA expects from Bioware. It's obvious that DA2's profit rate is higher than DAO's but direct sequels to an original on a similar platform using the same tech are already expected to have a higher return on investment.

DAO had a long, expensive, bumpy development, they had to develop a bunch of systems almost from scratch(tech, gameplay, art, IP etc) and went through a few iterations. The sequel on the other hand only had to refine its systems and the team would've been able to produce more per manhour.

You saw this with ME2 where it had a shorter development cycle but refined ME1's systems and sold even more than its predecessor, this is the kind of performance EA might've expected from DA2: to sell as much or even more than DA1 despite costing significantly less.

It would make no sense to knowingly cut your sales number in half just to have a higher rate of profit(not to mention less profit) especially considering that you're making a long series where satisfied customers will carry over from one game to the next, this will negatively affect DA3's sales too and there's only so much marketing can do to make people forget that. The value of a game series is measured in sales, not profitability.

I also doubt rate of profit is the bottom line for a dev studio that's just been bought by EA, otherwise they'd be making iPhone games. They probably have to make enough money in a few years to justify the purchase, and with the way Bioware seems to segregate its Mass Effect/Dragon Age teams there's little doubt which one would be the first to get "rearranged".

In before "Bullshit".

 

[fizzelopeguss]

I'd wager that after over a month the sales are pushing, at minimum, 2mil sales overall.

Except game sales are notoriously front loaded, you can pick the game up for 13 quid now. That's shovelware tree territory.

 

[deus101]

But But But...it reached 1 million FASTER!

It sold 1mil+ in less than 2 weeks 9even VGChartz suggests

see

That said, DA2 sales are fine espicially considiering how, relatively spekaing, it was cheap to make. Smaller dev budget, lower marketing budget, less time spent on it yet its sold in the nieghbourhood of 2mil already.

R00flegagz!

Keep in mind they basically rewrote as compared to tweaked the gameplay, added the usual shitload of shitty voice and cinematics, and the fact that testing for a console port still isnt for nickles and dimes.
Also...the usual publishing of the discs, in full tripple A production style...

Did they see red? ....probably not(though possible, all depends on how much they spent on marketing i would say, and EA is shitting marketing dollars right now).

But its clear as hell that they are not pleased with the net.

 

[Volourn]

"But its clear as hell that they are not pleased with the net."

Proof?

 

[WalmartJesus]

"It could never be the fact that DA2 simply just looked like a "Pile of Shit" to the average consumer. "

I can play this game too. If DA2 dales are as 'bad' as people claim (which it isn't), it's because DA2 was so unpopular that nobody wanted to give DA2 a chance.

People brag that DA2'ss ales are because of 400k presales.. due to the 'love for DA1'... but, last i checked, DA2 sold 3.5-4.5 mil copies.. so that means 3.1-4.1mil people thought DA1 was so crappy because they played it and didn't even bother with DA2 and the DA1 haters are the ones who are hatin' on DA2. Like the Codex where we all Codexers would never play a 'shitty' game like DA2. R00fles!

That said, DA2 sales are fine espicially considiering how, relatively spekaing, it was cheap to make. Smaller dev budget, lower marketing budget, less time spent on it yet its sold in the nieghbourhood of 2mil already.

R00flegagz!

What's up with the way you talk?.

..did having to make all those "tough moral choices" in DA2 turn your brain into goo?

 

[CrimsonAngel]

The issue is also that if DA2 underperformed compared to DAO in terms of sales then 3 will have a snowballs chance in hell of selling well.

 

[Seolas]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV97ozaD4vs

 

[Joghurt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV97ozaD4vs

:D :D :D

 

[Captain Shrek]

It sold 1mil+ in less than 2 weeks 9even VGChartz suggests , at mkinimum, that is what it is. Even if you took vghcratz's numbers as 'accurate' they don't keep track of online sales.

The latest online sales estimate for STEAM is 105K sales. It was on BSN somewhere. I am sure you know that.

I'd wager that after over a month the sales are pushing, at minimum, 2mil sales overall.

:poop:

The PS3 version doesn't count as nobody cres about the PS3. Just sayin'.

:poop:

The sales are 'crap' thing is silly talk since we all know EA, comapritively spekaing, the money behind DA2 was pitiful. This includes amrketing which was nowhere enar the level of DA1.

I say worse case scenario is that after a year DA2 sales in the hieghbourhood of 3mil which is not as good as DA1 but nothing sneeze at but is solid numbers for a BIO game.

:poop:

P.S. My numbers are from vghcratz (but taking into account their suspect sources and how they gather them), BIO/EA, and just logic.

:poop:

 

[Volourn]

"The latest online sales estimate for STEAM is 105K sales. It was on BSN somewhere. I am sure you know that."

The only thread I've seenin regards to sales is vghcartz sales, the BIO pimpage, and the NPD chart 9which has no numbers just rankings). Where isn this thread you speak of? BIO boards are too busy so it's easy to miss threads.

P.S. Heh @ vid

 

[Roguey]

Steam sales are right here Volly:
http://gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases ... _in_Q1.php

 

[Volourn]

Sounds good!