-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Games ruined/screwed by their release date
- Thread starter Prolepro
- Start date
I'm going to say Dragon Age: Inquisition in some ways. While it was good for its popularity and critical response that it was released in 2014, I feel 2015 would have eliminated the need for it to be cross-gen which I feel really limited its design. There's obviously no reason for EA to extend its development for another year so there's not much that could have been done about this, but I can't help but feel a 2015 DAI looks completely different as a game.
Show game in pre-alpha state
Pre-release market the game when it's "Alpha"
Release the game in Beta.
> The EA way ;)
OP
OP
Ive said the same of Destiny but honestly I dont know nearly enough about development if I were to assume just dropping a console generation would suddenly fix the problems of the game while also missing out on potential revenue from those older consoles.
Doesnt mean I dont wish I could see what would have happened differently, though.
The US release date wasn't until November (with the Xbox a few days earlier). I doubt 9/11 impacted things in Japan that much around a video game system.
It's an indie game that, as of last June, had sold over 1m on pc, then sold 250k in its first 2 weeks on switch. That's before it came out on ps4/xb1.
I can't believe no one has posted this one:
The game was all about racing through cities and battling other planes and it was scheduled for release on September 19, 2001. Summarily, it was cancelled by Sega a few days before release. There are ROMs out there and supposedly it's another quality arcade style Sega game.
The game was all about racing through cities and battling other planes and it was scheduled for release on September 19, 2001. Summarily, it was cancelled by Sega a few days before release. There are ROMs out there and supposedly it's another quality arcade style Sega game.
Here are some hardware that I think fits the bill:
The Sega Saturn as a console that launched too early. It lost a lot of good will from developers and retailers that were caught off guard. There was no hype because in those days the internet was not as prolific as it is now so it just showed up on shelves. Also the 32X, Sega CD, and the unreleased Sega Neptune made it all blur together. Had Sega launched neck and neck with the PS1 and had some of their arcade heavy hitters ready to go they could have been more competitive that generation.
The Wii U came too late. It finally allowed Nintendo gamers to get premier non-gimped 3rd party games (Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Batman, Splinter Cell, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Darksiders 2, Assassin's Creed) but it happened right at the end of the PS3/360 generation with their successors right around the corner. Had the Wii U came out a year or two earlier AND had a better name that didn't confuse consumers I think it could have done more like GameCube/N64 numbers instead of the complete sales failure it turned out to be.
The Sega Saturn as a console that launched too early. It lost a lot of good will from developers and retailers that were caught off guard. There was no hype because in those days the internet was not as prolific as it is now so it just showed up on shelves. Also the 32X, Sega CD, and the unreleased Sega Neptune made it all blur together. Had Sega launched neck and neck with the PS1 and had some of their arcade heavy hitters ready to go they could have been more competitive that generation.
The Wii U came too late. It finally allowed Nintendo gamers to get premier non-gimped 3rd party games (Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Batman, Splinter Cell, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Darksiders 2, Assassin's Creed) but it happened right at the end of the PS3/360 generation with their successors right around the corner. Had the Wii U came out a year or two earlier AND had a better name that didn't confuse consumers I think it could have done more like GameCube/N64 numbers instead of the complete sales failure it turned out to be.
Hitman 2 (2018)
Nov 11th -2018 - Mega fucking whoops
about a month after RDR 2 (oh you know only one of the most anticipated games of the year, by the publishers of what is it the best selling game of all time??)
Close to Fallout 76 (whoops)
Same day as Spyro Trilogy
One Month Before Smash
Nov 11th -2018 - Mega fucking whoops
about a month after RDR 2 (oh you know only one of the most anticipated games of the year, by the publishers of what is it the best selling game of all time??)
Close to Fallout 76 (whoops)
Same day as Spyro Trilogy
One Month Before Smash
I can't believe no one has posted this one:
The game was all about racing through cities and battling other planes and it was scheduled for release on September 19, 2001. Summarily, it was cancelled by Sega a few days before release. There are ROMs out there and supposedly it's another quality arcade style Sega game.
Literally the worst timing imaginable, wow.
This is the most glaring example I can think of. It still was only a few months into the systems life and its bomba status wasn't even solidified yet. Really one of the dumbest moves from a company I have ever seen, especially after all the promo N gave it (and the fact it was delayed like a month before launch, and it was a completed game, only delayed to port it to the other systems).
I could be wrong, but I don't see why DMC5 could ever harm sales for Left Alive. Those games are very different, and DMC's genre has not been selling very well, save for GOW.
I really don't feel like the release date was a big problem for this one. RDR and Smash are both multiple weeks in each direction from it, Fallout was a huge bomb anyway, and Spyro is about as different of a game as you can get from Hitman. Can't see it doing much better at any other time of the year.
Oh man, forgot about DS:R. Almost as bad as the Rayman scenario. I bet you the Switch version still performed the best overall.
Very good hardware example. Change Wii U to WiiHD, drop the pad, and release it 1.5-2 years earlier and it would have sold great I bet. Would have been stronger than the 360/PS3 and would have rode the Wii fad. Dumbest major decision N has ever made. However, it led to the Switch so I cant be too upset lol.
There are no free lunches during the holiday season. Especially since the big AAA titles are leaning more GaaS.
You are overly optimistic about Metro considering that even a lousy Far Cry game such as Primal usually tops the charts.
You are overly optimistic about Metro considering that even a lousy Far Cry game such as Primal usually tops the charts.
I don't think it would have been all that different, really. More destructible environments, maybe some decent crowds in Val Royeaux. It would still be the same game.
i thought it would lead to the game being a complete bomba, but the physical copies seem to be sold out and the game has been doing great on the eshop charts.
Horizon: Zero Dawn
I guess maybe not ruined, but releasing so soon next to BOTW not only blunted its impact, but caused people to point out flaws in its open-world by the direct comparison to BOTW's groundbreaking open-world elements that I think diminished the game somewhat.
It certainly wasn't ruined, but its reception would have been even more favorable had it released a little earlier.
I guess maybe not ruined, but releasing so soon next to BOTW not only blunted its impact, but caused people to point out flaws in its open-world by the direct comparison to BOTW's groundbreaking open-world elements that I think diminished the game somewhat.
It certainly wasn't ruined, but its reception would have been even more favorable had it released a little earlier.
Dragon Age 2
I still enjoyed it but sadly the team was forced to develop a sequel to a critical and commercial darling like Dragon Age: Origins in a 16-18 month timespan.
I still enjoyed it but sadly the team was forced to develop a sequel to a critical and commercial darling like Dragon Age: Origins in a 16-18 month timespan.
This is such a bad example, it's reception have been fantastic, +89 on MC, second most awarded game of the year (+50 awards), +7.6 million sold in just a year, only console warriors have been comparing the games and downplaying it.
I think I was clear that I didn't say ruined, but rather I think its reception (particularly its critical reception) and how people are going to remember it years from now may have been diminished a bit by the proximity of its release to Zelda. We got a lot of videos like this and direct comparisons to Zelda that I think hurt it. Sales-wise and review-wise it did well. I just think it got diminished a bit in terms of legacy for comparisons to Zelda that weren't really fair.
It does, but those are still incredible numbers for an indie game, and they're likely far, far higher now.
As I've said, these comparisons are done by fanboys, I'm not sure why you even are paying attention to them, pretty sure I've seen similar videos (probably from the same guy) comparing BOTW to every other big game.
I'm pretty sure they said they had to cut whole systems that were supposed to represent a dynamic war because they couldn't get it to work on the old consoles.
Of course it's vaporware at this point since we don't know if those would have needed to be cut for other reasons or even have been any good.
It's all the more incredible when you realize TR is a Square Enix game as well! DQXI should've launched at least a couple weeks earlier.