One had a great story and fantastic gameplay, the other had a fantastic story and garbage gameplay.
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Why does God of War look likely to succeed sales wise while Wolfenstein 2 mega bombed?
- Thread starter ItWasMeantToBe19
- Start date
One was perceived to be a massive event that was overdelivering on quality, the other was perceived to be "another good shooter".
Wolfenstein didn't seem as special as GOW was. Of course it's a multitude of factors, but I believe that was the biggest one.
There's also the fact that PlayStation really cultivated an audience for a specific type of game. There's a built-in audience in the PlayStation ecosystem. I don't think Bethesda is quite there yet, but a few really good hits that really hit it out of the park will get them there.
Wolfenstein didn't seem as special as GOW was. Of course it's a multitude of factors, but I believe that was the biggest one.
There's also the fact that PlayStation really cultivated an audience for a specific type of game. There's a built-in audience in the PlayStation ecosystem. I don't think Bethesda is quite there yet, but a few really good hits that really hit it out of the park will get them there.
God tier story? Granted tno already had some of it, they turned something with a ton of potential into even more of a goofy ass b movie.
Not to mention, the interesting stuff that people wanted to see (alt timeline America) was barely even in the game. It was literally the two streets they showed in trailers. The rest of the game was boring bases.
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It's no real surprise it got this large. One is ERA's current darling, the other is a game that many people here were greatly disappointed by. Don't need a common thread for people to throw their hat in. Add in a few reasonable answers and people wondering why these games were compared in the first place and you've got a thread going.
God of War has:
- Really great reviews (and a high metascore)
- Exclusive status and the Word of Mouth that comes with it.
- Is the return of a series that was dormant for a while
- The full marketing brunt of Sony
- A 25 hour story (good length for single player)
Word of Mouth > Big Marketing
You absolutely need word of mouth to make a game truly popular, many publishers failed to understand that.
Minecraft, PUBG and even Fortnite never had any big marketing, and yet they are among the most popular video games nowadays. Word of mouth is the best marketing tool, period.
Big marketing won't do shit if everything you hear about the game is negative, Battlefront 2 and Destiny 2 are the best examples.
The mainstream audience aren't deaf, they might not read IGN or watch E3 but they still know a thing or two about what's going on.
You absolutely need word of mouth to make a game truly popular, many publishers failed to understand that.
Minecraft, PUBG and even Fortnite never had any big marketing, and yet they are among the most popular video games nowadays. Word of mouth is the best marketing tool, period.
Big marketing won't do shit if everything you hear about the game is negative, Battlefront 2 and Destiny 2 are the best examples.
The mainstream audience aren't deaf, they might not read IGN or watch E3 but they still know a thing or two about what's going on.
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This thread had 426 replies before God of War reviews and release,before become a "darling".
The majority of this thread's posts happened before God of War came out.
Yeah I recognise that, maybe I phrased it poorly. But ERA was anticipating it to be the better game which would sell more, even though nobody had played it yet and there was no cause to compare the two games.
Now the dust has settled and we're actually informed about how good GoW is and how well it sold, it still doesn't make the comparison any less weird now that it is the darling.
Wolfenstein didn't improve on the previous game. It had a good story, but the gameplay was much worse. GoW completely reinvented the series, and was polished to perfection.
Wha-.......?!?
I must say again... wha-....?!?!?!?!
Wolfenstien 2 was a huge disappointment after W:TNO. The story was a mess, characters were bad caricatures and the cutscenes were equally as comical. The gameplay, which was perfect in the first, got ruined again, since the stealth option was completely broken with enemies able to see you through walls and other silly bugs like that.
They took what was already a fantastic template from the first game and hammed in up so much that it ruined it... essentially W2 was the Saints Row 4 of the franchise.
God of War on the other hand is a phenomenal game all round, both in terms of story, characters, gameplay, scale and epicness. It took everything that was great about the previous games and improved on them, whereas W2 took everything I liked about the previous game and fumbled it.
Anyway, all of the above is beside the point. The two games don't sell similarly because they're both two completely different games, appealing to very different audiences... also, shooter fatigue.
Halo still sells millions of copies, how the hell is that 'almost dead'?
Disappointed since you are cleary a Dark Tower fan. ("It was meant to be 19")
Jokes aside I think my post above explained it perfectly, Wolf 2 did not have good word of mouth at all.
Review and Reception are two very different thing, in the end of the day it's the gamers that decide what's a good game and what's not.
As for why some games gets more hype than another before release, I don't really know tbh.
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Wolfenstein 2 is dog shit, and God of War is one of the best games of all time. End of discussion.
I have apparently been teleported to planet fuck while I slept last night
I guess that's why Call of Duty: Ghosts sold way more than both of them, since it's a vastly better game. That's all there is to it folks.
I think its largely down to the fact that wolfenstein 2 had really bad gunplay. I do not remember another game I was so disappointed by when it comes to game play expectations.
This. Utterly ballsy.
Especially when compared to the first game that had sprawling levels that allowed you to choose how you play. Loved going stealth commando. This is just enter room, kill nazis, and become a bullet sponge. Rinse and repeat. The first game ever had a proper final boss!
The storyline wasn't as good as the first game too. Way shorter. I would argue it was the worst big shooter last year. I had more fun with CODWW2
Wolfenstein 2 was great in fleshing out BJ living in this nazi ideology and how it ties back to his past. The many successes of BJ are made possible by his racial passing as a polish jew looking like the perfect aryan template. His father, his military background, his own body and America itself informs how much of his life should have steered into the hate-filled fascistic nazi ideology, but he doesn't do that at all. Many of the themes revolving around Wolfenstein 2 shows the ability to rebuild yourself and how your past can be cut down in order to bring the change you need to combat the enemy.
But that passing came to an end. I didn't see that before in games, I didn't see a man so broken like the way I saw BJ in Wolfenstein 2, everything about him was failing him, his body would cease to function if he wasn't literally powered by jewish technology. Wolf 2 would also go on to question his role as a killing machine, for a man so broken his only way to go through life is to act like a drone, blocking all thoughts of a future he doesn't see himself alive for. Delaying the inevitable again and again until the final confrontation with his past is met with his demise, because of something he admits he couldn't just let go.
But this was the start of a second life for him, what he blamed himself over was what made him be able to confront who he is, and what he wants to be. By confronting his past, he gave himself the ability to have another shot at life, even as he hit the lowest depths that a human could possibly manage to withstand. BJ's own revival is surreal, even fantastical, something that BJ doesn't even believe himself. A new body, a new chance to live, a future where he could see his children be born. It's not the outlook of God of War with Kratos congratulating himself to have changed his ways. Kratos becomes successful because he is better than ever and showing how great and unfailing he is as he pays respect to his late wife. He looks good while doing so, always. BJ is messy, wavering, self-conscious and depressed, but he comes through because he acknowledges who he was, what he lived through, his position as a citizen of america, his origins and puts an end to this to understand why he is motivated to fight against Hitler's army and what future he wants to see.
Kratos remains the symbol he always was, BJ was made a human.
So, even if it's a goofy ass B movie, I still think that B movies can tell stories that are fucking great. Wolfenstein 2 is an excellent sequel that really pushes the envelope of character development in BJ Blazkowicz. It was fascinating, especially how BJ's state was represented in gameplay. Instead of being the power fantasy we expected, it was a harsh, difficult game that subverts expectations to ask questions about the role of the player in the way he sees himself as a killing machine in BJ. That we don't see many streets of nazis parading around in America doesn't detract from the way the story tries to say that the elements that makes America fascist goes much further than being invaded by Nazi Germany, but by deep rooted fascist values that the country has and are displayed throughout BJ's life. That BJ, a product of this country manages to go against it through clear ideological difference rather than the use of the usual "traditional american values" is why I think Wolf 2 is an excellent game.
I'll echo some others here. To me it's a mixture of a few points, namely Marketing, Release window, and Word of Mouth wasn't strong.
Personally I liked the game and thought it had superbly done cutscenes, but it's narrative and plot were inconsistent with some logic leaps that I couldn't get past.
Personally I liked the game and thought it had superbly done cutscenes, but it's narrative and plot were inconsistent with some logic leaps that I couldn't get past.
Just a shadow of it's former self, Even Uncharted remaster sold more
Gow sold 3 millions in only 3 days, while Halo 5 took a few months to reach that number
Like they're not even in the same league
I haven't read the thread but I assume most people have pointed out the insane review scores for GoW.
As an aside I liked Wolf 2, but it didn't address any of the problems of the first one, namely it's terrible pacing. I dreaded having to wander around that poxy boat looking for whoever could move the story along.
As an aside I liked Wolf 2, but it didn't address any of the problems of the first one, namely it's terrible pacing. I dreaded having to wander around that poxy boat looking for whoever could move the story along.
Oh, I see that you haven't played GoW. On the off-chance you have, you didn't pay any attention to what actually was going on at all.
People want cinematic adventure games. However GoW and Wolf are leagues apart.
One is a 20+ hour game, the other is about 6-7 hours.
One had a good marketing push. The other just sort of dropped after being revealed.
After that I'd argue the word of mouth for Wolf 2 wasn't very strong. Not compared to say Doom that went on for a big success because of that. A lot of the Wolf 2 talk was "it's good" and not much else.
Even with more marketing, I'm not really surprised Wolf 2 didn't do well. It doesn't have much going for it I feel. Even in the story department. Some of the best aspects play such a small aspect to it.
One is a 20+ hour game, the other is about 6-7 hours.
One had a good marketing push. The other just sort of dropped after being revealed.
After that I'd argue the word of mouth for Wolf 2 wasn't very strong. Not compared to say Doom that went on for a big success because of that. A lot of the Wolf 2 talk was "it's good" and not much else.
Even with more marketing, I'm not really surprised Wolf 2 didn't do well. It doesn't have much going for it I feel. Even in the story department. Some of the best aspects play such a small aspect to it.
Everyone believes it out to be but Wolfenstein 2 sales did not flop, were almost at 3 million copies sold and the switch version hasn't come out yet. The only negative reviews were about the DLC's that were released that Machine Games did as extra, possibly for a spin off or crossover. A million copies sold is enough for a sequel
User Banned (2 Days): Unironic use of the pejorative "SJW"
I loved wolfenstien, wolfenstien II however was a clusterfuck of SJW shit to the extreme to the point where the whole fucking game was just a giant cutscene of various political tropes surrounded by some of the worst level design imaginable.
How they went from the first having a believable story to the second shitshow is beyond me.
GoW had me story wise until a certain someone turned egomaniac and the ending pissed off my friends and I because like usual they gotta pander all these revelations for the inevitable sequel. It was however a fantastic reboot to the series.
Wolf got so god damn cringe worthy it was just in eye rolling territory.
How they went from the first having a believable story to the second shitshow is beyond me.
GoW had me story wise until a certain someone turned egomaniac and the ending pissed off my friends and I because like usual they gotta pander all these revelations for the inevitable sequel. It was however a fantastic reboot to the series.
Wolf got so god damn cringe worthy it was just in eye rolling territory.
that game still sold 1.6 mln copies more than what it deserved
I think the combination of marketing, release dates and design. One thing Sony's kind of nailed with some of their titles is the first gameplay footage shown. Horizon, God of War and Uncharted. It leaves a huge positive impression. Basically one lengthy footage of uncut gameplay. Horizon showing it's open world with the unique robots and fighting, Uncharted showing the libertalia the biggest level seen in the series so far and God of war completely revamping the title and showing what looks to be more open kind of world and giving a good clear look at it's new combat system and characters. One things for sure is that games are becoming much more open and trailers and marketing have to kind of show that. Bethesda doesn't allow the game enough time to breath from reveal to launch and doesn't help the trailers don't seem to give clear indication on the gameplay for newcomers as well. They've seem to got a lot SP games that just completely seem to be not performing well. Dishonered 2, Prey even Evil Within 2.
As for the concept, I wouldn't be surprised if people actually didn't like the Nazi theme of the games. Even some of the WW games don't really touch that at all.
As for the concept, I wouldn't be surprised if people actually didn't like the Nazi theme of the games. Even some of the WW games don't really touch that at all.
I think the timing and the subject matter really hurt Wolfenstein. Swastikas all over the cover probably didn't help much.
If the recent backlash over Battlefield V is anything to go on, it could also be that the very large group of creepy gamers were offended by the negative portrayal of a facist regime in control of America.
That was a pretty dark piece of conjecture. Maybe the difficulty? Everyone commented on how the game felt really hard.
If the recent backlash over Battlefield V is anything to go on, it could also be that the very large group of creepy gamers were offended by the negative portrayal of a facist regime in control of America.
That was a pretty dark piece of conjecture. Maybe the difficulty? Everyone commented on how the game felt really hard.
I think Wolfenstein bombed because the alt right clowns who were riled up about the whole nazi thing didn't buy the game....
lol. dunno. I don't know why it bomed
They've already said it sold 5+ million copies. (oh this thread from april)
lol. dunno. I don't know why it bomed
They've already said it sold 5+ million copies. (oh this thread from april)
I honestly heard poor things about Wolfenstein, specially that it was much more focused on the story instead of the shooting. Story over gameplay in a Wolfenstein game is an instant no-buy from me.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but maybe more people are in the same boat as me in that they didn't hear such good things about the game, while not only the reviews but also word of mouth was top notch for God of War.
I know this doesn't answer your question, but maybe more people are in the same boat as me in that they didn't hear such good things about the game, while not only the reviews but also word of mouth was top notch for God of War.
Yep. Wolf went up against the kings and lost.
Marketing, release date, and brand ID all played into it. People might have also just have had enough Wolfenstein, while they were thirsty for a new take on Kratos.
According to Vgchartz (fake numbers). But still, 1.6 million isn't that undeserved for a nice tech-demo =P
Because one of these games is much better and more interesting than the other.
Wolf 2 ain't bad but it's far from being an "essential" game. It's the perfect game to get while it's on sale.
Wolf 2 ain't bad but it's far from being an "essential" game. It's the perfect game to get while it's on sale.
God of War is just more epic, has a cool story with these titans and shit, amazing graphics, a dope fantasy setting and a huge budget. Wolfenstein 2 while a good game, it's just another shooter among a ton of other shooters, there's already too many shooters imo on the market competing against each other.
At the end of the day, shooters play almost all the same. Not saying action games like God of War don't play the same either but we get a lot less of them and especially not in good quality like God of War.
At the end of the day, shooters play almost all the same. Not saying action games like God of War don't play the same either but we get a lot less of them and especially not in good quality like God of War.