Do you think the way the western market marketed scarlet nexus and it's boxart hurt it sales?

AnimaRize · Jul 3, 2021

So I have been playing scarlet nexus and to be honest the game isn't really that edgy in terms of story and characters well not like it's contemporaries in code vein and god eater (don't really count tales here considering what art style it is going with)

The game itself is honestly far from edgy like those games atleast from what I felt but if you looked at the boxart and trailers you would never see that at least in the west (I know Japan has different boxart)

So I have a feeling that this might have hurt the sales because people were expecting the edgy god eater and code vein even though it really isn't like them at least in my opinion

Imran · Jul 3, 2021

Were sales hurt...?

dlauv · Jul 3, 2021

I think it's because it's sitting at 80 on metacritic and is anime without an established license.

SunBroDave · Jul 3, 2021

Edgy?

Jaded Alyx · Jul 3, 2021

Never got the impression it was like that at all so I'm not sure what you mean exactly.

And do we even know what the sales are like?

ILikeFeet · Jul 3, 2021

no. the game seems to just lack appeal

Oregano · Jul 3, 2021

It probably did a lot better in the west than it has in Japan so *shrug*

Wyze · Jul 3, 2021

Code Vein actually sold pretty well for a new a new anime looking game ip, iirc.

I want a new god eater by shift though.

EggmaniMN · Jul 3, 2021

It's too early to even say it sold well or poorly either way but I'd also assume the vast majority of people just buy games based off of trailers and don't even notice box art and of the people who do see the box art they won't care that the Japanese version looks different or that it's just some dark techno people.

_zoipi · Jul 3, 2021

Scarlet Nexus' name itself was... Just animegeneric in looks, and name says diddly dick about it. Bandai Namco promoted it a lot on social media but they really blew it up just by expecting weebs would cling to a no name anime game. Heck, even weebs are starting to struggle to keep caring about Tales of after the PS360 era default hype for anything JRPG releated. What possibilities did Scarlet nexus have where it screams generic anime game where we have plenty of souls line, action games and japanese games are just good again?

overtoncanon · Jul 3, 2021

Xbox marketing a japanese game usually turns out this way unless the series is something undeniable like Devil May Cry

trashbandit · Jul 3, 2021

Why would you buy/not buy a game based solely on the cover when you can watch gameplay on Youtube? People know how to use the internet, I doubt the cover has made much of a difference.

HououinKyouma · Jul 3, 2021

Has there been any indication that this isn't selling well?

ILikeFeet · Jul 3, 2021

HououinKyouma said:
Has there been any indication that this isn't selling well?

so far, JP sales aren't great (surprise surprise), and Steam Charts are showing the game not reaching Code Vein's highs (granted, SN is releasing during the summer sale and isn't discounted)

AshenOne · Jul 3, 2021

ILikeFeet said:
no. the game seems to just lack appeal

This. IMO.

Kalor · Jul 3, 2021

We have no idea what overall sales or even their sales expectations were so it's impossible to say. It seems to be down compared to Code Vein but that feels like a more clearcut pitch compared to Scarlet Nexus, which is a weird mishmash of stuff.

Amin_Parker · Jul 3, 2021

ILikeFeet said:
no. the game seems to just lack appeal

Mona · Jul 3, 2021

pics?

Deleted member 68874 · Jul 3, 2021

The demo put me off personally. Anyone that is interested in the game can play that for themselves.

I dont think it was marketed wrong, the game was never going to be a mainstream hit.

Gunny T Highway · Jul 3, 2021

I think it is a bit too early to judge. We don't have any full western sales data yet.

bytesized · Jul 3, 2021

I think they thought it could be another Nier automata but I guess it's lacking a certain something...

ErichWK · Jul 3, 2021

I think the box art looked pretty cool. So i watched a trailer and it just looked like generic anime

AnimaRize · Jul 3, 2021

Mona said:
pics?

West

Japan

CloseTalker · Jul 3, 2021

I think it'll find an audience, the game will have legs. It's really good, I think word of mouth will be strong. It will perform incredibly well when it hits game pass too

Yappa · Jul 3, 2021

The feedback from ppl who are remotely interested in these kind of games is really good, so I expect it to do well enough.
As for japanese sales, I dunno, maybe it would do better over there if it was on Switch as well and/or mobile?

KORNdog · Jul 3, 2021

The cover does look like a killzone Shadow Fall sequel to be fair. But I can't imagine it hurt it's sales. Lack of any real marketing push is likely going to hurt it more

slothrop · Jul 3, 2021

I think covers are highly overrated at this point. Nobody would be impulse buying this type of game no matter the cover. There's too much info available. I don't even know what covers most of the games I buy even are since they are digital.

KingM · Jul 3, 2021

It was either going to look like a generic anime game or a generic sci-fi game. Probably wasn't going to set the world on fire either way.

ILikeFeet · Jul 3, 2021

Yappadappadu said:
The feedback from ppl who are remotely interested in these kind of games is really good, so I expect it to do well enough.
As for japanese sales, I dunno, maybe it would do better over there if it was on Switch as well and/or mobile?

honestly don't think the switch would have helped much. it'd have more of an effect on PS4/PS5 sales than have a noticeable growth

AnimaRize said:
West

Japan

I don't see how the jp boxart would have helped. the audience this game aimed for would know if this is what they wanted. the trailers and demo didn't obscure the game's identity. Bamco went straight for the same audience as Code Vein, but with an anime and vtubers in tow. can't say Bamco didn't try

MonadL · Jul 3, 2021

dlauv said:
I think it's because it's sitting at 80 on metacritic and is anime without an established license.

That certainly didn't stop Code Vein

dlauv · Jul 3, 2021

MonadL said:
That certainly didn't stop Code Vein

It stopped a lot of others tho.

RoboPlato · Jul 3, 2021

This is the first time I've ever heard someone refer to the game as "edgy". I don't think that's a common sentiment at all

UraMallas · Jul 3, 2021

I like the US boxart, actually.

Deimos · Jul 3, 2021

AnimaRize said:
West

Japan

Were they trying to pretend this isn't a weeb game? Huge mistake trying to compete with the COD/FIFA audience. Probably didn't affect sales though.

Jaded Alyx · Jul 3, 2021

Shellshock said:
Anyone that is interested in the game can play that for themselves.

Well not anyone. There's no PC demo for some reason.

Gartooth · Jul 3, 2021

It's hard to tell who the target demographic for this game even was going by the marketing, but even then it just didn't look like a game that interested a whole lot of people.

AshenOne · Jul 3, 2021

Jaded Alyx said:
Well not anyone. There's no PC demo for some reason.

That reason is probably to prevent Day 1 Cracks but not having a Demo on PC has definitely not done a whole lotta good to their Launch CCU on STEAM. 15K vs 33K of Code Vein back 2 years ago. Code Vein had a much more anime setting and a Souls like appeal but this one seems lacking any particular appeal for some people at least.. like me for example and for that it would've been much better had it, had a demo for PC too... but alas.. we are not worthy! :P

Jaded Alyx · Jul 3, 2021

AshenOne said:
That reason is probably to prevent Day 1 Cracks but not having a Demo on PC has definitely not done a whole lotta good to their Launch CCU on STEAM. 15K vs 33K of Code Vein back 2 years ago. Code Vein had a much more anime setting and a Souls like appeal but this one seems lacking any particular appeal for some people at least.. like me for example and for that it would've been much better had it, had a demo for PC too... but alas.. we are not worthy! :P

I know I definitely bought it on the back of the demo (played it on Series S). I was barely interested in it beforehand.

Xeteh · Jul 3, 2021

I can't say the boxart has ever really influenced my purchasing choice, beyond avoiding the "Greatest Hits" versions on old PS1 games. I had zero interest in Scarlet Nexus but I heard some people say it was pretty interesting and that there was a demo so I checked it out, about 15-20 minutes in to the demo I bought the full version. Its a really fun game, it will be a shame if it doesn't do well because there's a decent bit here. I'm not a big anime fan but I really dig the style, it looks sharp.

Gamer @ Heart · Jul 3, 2021

This isn't the 90s where many consumers base purchases on boxarts and cool magazine ads or the occasional CG trailer on tv alone anymore.

I refuse to believe anyone remotely interested in the game didn't see an auto play ad or trailer recommendation on YouTube etc that didn't show what kind of game it was to base an adequate impression on. When the world is increasingly digital, and these digital store front have trailers and screenshots right next to boxarts, it's a wash how important that box is.

404LinkNotFound · Jul 3, 2021

Gamer @ Heart said:
This isn't the 90s where many consumers base purchases on boxarts and cool magazine ads or the occasional CG trailer on tv alone anymore.

I refuse to believe anyone remotely interested in the game didn't see an auto play ad or trailer recommendation on YouTube etc that didn't show what kind of game it was to base an adequate impression on.

Yeaaa
Boxrts are still important but its not as dominant as it used to be where games flopped if they were bad

asmith906 · Jul 3, 2021

It felt like I heard a lot about this game. And then there was very little talk of it for a while and then it just seemed to release out of nowhere. Honestly I feel like this would be a perfect title to put on gamepass even for limited time. It seemed to help outriders.

I'm actually interested in the game but so many games have released recently I'm in no hurry to pick it up.

Deleted member 64609 · Jul 3, 2021

The game has been out for a little over a week.

This game was never going to be a million in one week hit, but word of mouth seems to be positive

Pyro · Jul 3, 2021

dlauv said:
it's sitting at 80 on metacritic and is anime without an established license.

Which is why I don't think it's correct to set sales expectations for this game to other AAA games. Even on that spectrum it's more toward the B game side IMO.

So saying this game has flagging sales is a little too early to call and people need to properly set their expectations, like I bet Bamco has.

Bandai Namco Announces 6.6% Profit Growth for Games Following Code Vein's Launch

Today Bandai Namco announced its financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year, ended on September 30, and they're rather positive.

twinfinite.net

Mesoian · Jul 3, 2021

No.

The fact that it's an anime game that looks, externally, like the ilk of Code Vein and God Eater is what puts it in a tough position in the west.

Moves · Jul 3, 2021

won't be surprised if this game ends up a cult favorite.. been enjoying the full game a lot more than the demo and I think it's gonna take word of mouth to sell this game

EJS · Jul 3, 2021

Idk how the game ultimately sold but I think it has good buzz.

MonadL · Jul 3, 2021

dlauv said:
It stopped a lot of others tho.

Like what in recent memory? Genuinely asking because I can't remember too many anime games with good scores flat out tanking.

Roliq · Jul 3, 2021

Dont know why, they had VTuber power!!!

hydruxo · Jul 3, 2021

Demo hurt it for me. I was interested and then when I played the demo it pretty much turned me away. Did not like the combat.

Do you think the way the western market marketed scarlet nexus and it's boxart hurt it sales?

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