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505 Games parent Digital Bros. has published its Q1 earnings release
- Thread starter Shard Shinjuku
- Start date
This forum is really bad about thinking games are a disaster because they didn't sell a bajiliion copies instantly. Some games do have tails and sell well over time.
I mean do you think a single player metriod style game has a tail? I guess we will be.
Alan Wake has one. Plenty of games sell over time with sales, and extra content. Control will have several expansions over the next few months that will be advertised on platforms with bundles and deals. The idea the game will stop selling entirely is silly.
I would argue that Remedy would be more valuable to MS in promoting game pass than another publisher who has to rely on traditional game sales. Control was a relatively inexpensive game to make.
Low to mid 80s doesn't make for a prestige studio. They make good games. Not sure they have made a great game since the Max Payne days.
Yeah, the Epic deal seems like the only thing that staved off disaster in favor of mere disappointment.
But I seriously have no idea how Remedy pitches their next game in a world where they released a game that did everything right and still flopped. After Quantum Break you could say that they just needed to drop the TV stuff and all that, but now it just seems like the market doesn't care for their style, which really sucks to see.
They're already past the initial word-of-mouth period. Any further sales at this point are largely going to be at massive discount. Tails are great sweeteners for already successful games, they can turn a moderate success into a big one, but you're really not going to turn around a project that made a loss after 3 months.
I don't get the impression Remedy wants to make Game Pass fodder, but it might be hard to get an AAA budget with their recent commercial performances.
by doing the thing that people who love them fear: make a GaaS loot shooter
Agreed. It has been a long time since they have had a hit.
Steam vs Epic but most of the posts in this thread have been pretty positive.
On PC? Epic Store Exclusive. Game had virtually no buzz around it already and was sent out to die on a contrversal platform. I do hope the deal had enough money in it to justify the exclusivity in the end.
The game didn't do well anywhere else. I doubt the steam hardliners would have been enough to save the game
honesly the game came out at a bad time. I was prity deep in shadowbringers at that point.
There are two reasons you might see some glee regarding this performance. Both have to do with exclusivity or lack thereof.
They still have several opportunities to get some money out of this.
Steam release/sales, Gamepass/PSNow, Black Friday sales, PSN sales etc.
Doesn't seem all that great for Bloodstained ROTN either...
Not as much of a bomba as Control, but it didn't do well either.
Not as much of a bomba as Control, but it didn't do well either.
When you end up signing deals with everyone, you end up selling the game to no one.
A harsh lesson to remember.
A harsh lesson to remember.
I bought Alan Wake and Quantum Break shortly after release and I loved both, especially Alan Wake.
But, yeah, this is why I haven't bought Control yet. I'll either wait for Game Pass or until the Xbox version has the same content as the PS4 version. Sorry, Remedy.
it wasnt that great on all platforms. but yeah basically Remedy don't have any mainstream reputation at all. All of their recent games bombed since Alan Wake and their output is way too slow
legit the selling point of Control is that you'll get to see Alan Wake in a dlc / down the line and thats it. But since its remedy you'll not get a follow up so why would you even bother
Does Control still run really poorly on OG PS4s? I really wanted it but after hearing about the performance I put it off
It ran flawlessy on Xbox One X except when you pulled out the map.
I think the game is excellent but it's a cult game at best. It just doesn't have the personality or star power to be a hit. It's Remedy game, probably their best though. My personal game of the year for sure, it's odd you compare it to Alan Wake considering Alan Wake's gameplay was its weakest point.
What I'm trying to say is that Remedy just don't have mainstream reputation since their Max Payne days. They pander to people who like their almost eerie approach to the medium, but even their try at doing something more appealing kinda failed. (talking about Quantum Break)
They don't manage to create something hitting all the right notes at once, which is a shame given that they got the talent. (well at least it seems like it)
they don't get anything from Epic until the sales guarantee is over (which was included in the quarter before this one)
They had same issue Prey had. Marketing was bad, really bad. They went with streamers for marketing instead going for ads on TV, YouTube... You can't sell something between AA and AAA from reputable studio without proper marketing. And studios and publishers need to understand that streamers don't sell games.
Ah, that's totally right. That's what I meant that it's a Remedy Game. It's for people who like their games, its mainstream appeal is very limited.
I should probably play Quantum Break at some point.
Control is one of the best games of this year, maybe the generation for me. It's sad to see it fail.
To be fair, it had close to 0 marketing. 505 Games seems pretty bad with that.
To be fair, it had close to 0 marketing. 505 Games seems pretty bad with that.
People don't tend drop $60/ÂŁ50 on fairly short single player games anymore. It will be the last mid tier single player game I will buy day one (unless I am really hyped for it and get good reviews) , as I am now prepared to wait for games to hit a subscription services, The Epic/Steam didn't help.
Gone is generation of kids/adults who would trade in a new game every few weeks, therefore picking up the more niche titles.
Gone is generation of kids/adults who would trade in a new game every few weeks, therefore picking up the more niche titles.
You can't market a title like that like you would a AAA-game; the marketing costs for AAA-like marketing are so high that you have to have a much better return from the game that your average boxed title can do (most AAA-games yield additional returns from MTX, so they can afford to pay a lot more more in marketing, because the average return per customer is much higher, or they can subsidize the costs by other things like moving more consoles etc.) or you have very strong brand where the advertisement is much more effective (not something that's applicable for a game like Control). I hear the "next no marketing" argument so often, but almost always it has nothing to do with the publisher not knowing their work, but the economics of the games and marketing industry these days. The advertising costs are being driven up by games that get 100-200€ back per customer, and if you aren't doing the same, you can't compete in the same advertising spaces.
Marketing is expensive for sure. But many publishers and developers are wasting money on marketing that has no effect. I don't know how many times I saw indie developer say how paying "bigger" streamer to play the game resulted very low amounts of sales.
Next time Remedy please don't make these 'Sci-Fi cinematic experiences' Remedy especially the ones inspired by quantum break. I've had enough of those. Maybe they should make something that goes back to their roots and also is popular among their fans?
As a remedy fan i've been totally off with their choice of work Post Alan Wake.
As a remedy fan i've been totally off with their choice of work Post Alan Wake.
If it was fully ineffective, the publishers would not be doing; they have a lot of analytics to work with than indie developers and having some experience from that department, if something is not ROI positive, it's going to get dropped soon. Yes, not every marketing campaign is going to work, but when it comes to marketing Dunning-Kruger effect is massive when people seem to have the idea that they know marketing a lot better than professionals who we've been working on it for a long time. You say publishers are "wasting money on marketing that has no effect" yet I see no data in front of me - but from experience I know that these publishers actually do work with said data. I've seen plenty of influencer campaigns that have also been massively effective, so one anecdote of an indie title, isn't enough for me say that it's a waste of money (and also a ton of poor influencer campaigns, it's too broad of marketing tool to say it's only good or only bad).
But that said, yes marketing becomes easily ineffective and expensive if a game does not have natural traction with the audience - but that only means the concept of the game is not easily marketable / does not contain enough of an audience. But thankfully least in the case of Control it'd seem like the EGS exclusive has definitely helped a long way with covering the costs.
A cinematic movie like gaming experience with umm big known voice actors from TV shows further giving it a cinematic tone?
But well I said 'Sci-Fi Cinematic experience' and not just purely a cinematic experience. I really don't like these two things bonding together in a game.
I guess I just don't see how it's more movie-like/cinematic than any other third-person shooter with cutscenes. Is it the use of FMV or returning VAs from previous Remedy games? I don't really remember any of the VAs being from big TV shows.
Quantum Break and Control are recent examples of Sci-Fi Cinematic experiences. Not the use of FMV or returning VAs from previous Remedy games here but more like having the game feel like a cinematic sci-fi movie with lots of cutscenes and the gameplay having also a very cinematic feel? I personally don't mind the gameplay having a cinematic feel since max payne has this embedded into it also but when all these things mesh together to create this sci-fi experience, i really really don't feel like touching it.
Also I guess Control didn't have these VAs i was talking about but Quantum Break certainly had the MC and the antagonist as one of those.
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I mean, their games seem to be pretty good overall, get good MC scores and are received pretty well by the consumers, so is the fault really with them or is it something else with the market or that they are failed by poor marketing? Seems like Max Payne did better than Alan Wake did better than Quantum Break did better than Control. Would they do better with a big publisher like Sony who suits their style of game and could put more marketing in?
I think most people had no idea the game existed, and the title and cover don't sell it at all. EGS exclusivity on PC and bad performance on consoles didn't help either.