I'm curious :
What allowed you to say that Death Stranding marketing was ineffective?
What allowed you to declare that DS wasn't successful?
We have no sells numbers and no idea of the expectations...
Where did I say that it wasn't succesful? That part is unrelated to my words. As for the first point, I consider it that way because it was, without a doubt, the biggest commercial hope that SIE had for the May '19-May '20 period, or whenever The Last of Us had to release. That after years of continuous bombardment (which I commend them for), the whole focus of attention set on it since June or earlier, for the launch to come and go as it did, with no legs to speak of, and two and a half millions being the highest estimate thrown around, it makes me think that at some level, something didn't work, either the game, the marketing, or both.
Knowing that Death Stranding got all kinds of accolades and awards (a fact I totally agree with), yet apparently considerable groups of people had no idea on what the game was really about, until it got released or they got their hands on it, I put the blame on the marketing team. They tried to sell it as the new star-studded, weird action-adventure from the creator of Metal Gear. What we played was a weird, contemplative exploration-trekking game from the designer of Boktai. This disparity always works against the company after the first few weeks, that's what we've been seeing since its debut back in November.
By the way, speaking of expectations, it was said last week during Q3 earning announcement that software sales didn't meet them, both in an external and internal key. No title was specifically called out (they don't even give numbers anymore, unless they're earth-shattering), but aside of Death Stranding there was Medievil and Concrete Genie. One or all of them didn't reach internal projections.
www.eurogamer.net
