This is what I was going to say. I think I remember an interview with sometime from From Software who basically said they lied to Sony about the difficulty to get the game funded and published. The Soulsborne genre has sold millions since.
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Games so amazing they became majorly successful with word-of-mouth alone
- Thread starter Revolsin
- Start date
This is what I was going to say. I think I remember an interview with sometime from From Software who basically said they lied to Sony about the difficulty to get the game funded and published. The Soulsborne genre has sold millions since.
Don't think I'd call it majorly succesful, but I remember the first Ace Attorney game getting a bunch of positive word of mouth around its release that ended up selling people on the game.
Simple : Demom Souls. I remember showing the game to my best friend and he thought it was too difficult. I liked it at the start because I love niche game but when Dark Souls got popular, he jump on the bangwaggon (and strangely it took me a few years to start the serie) now my friend have tattoos of Dark Souls on his arm
This is a hard one for me because almost every game I buy is because of word of mouth. So the big ones that come to mind, Hollow Knight and Stardew Valley, I bought because of recommendations from the old place. I actually loved Stardew Valley so much I bought 4 or 5 copies for my steam friends.
Even while it was in alpha/beta stages that game caught on super quick. It was nuts.
This was the first game that came to mind for me. No one cared about James bond or Goldeneye back then and it was just a weird ip for Nintendo to work on. But then it was actually a damn good game and succeeded solely on wom
In Australia, Halo CE
Microsoft didn't really market Xbox or Halo down here. At all. It grew with word of mouth from people playing this game and realising how incredible it was. It then grew further with LAN parties.
Microsoft didn't really market Xbox or Halo down here. At all. It grew with word of mouth from people playing this game and realising how incredible it was. It then grew further with LAN parties.
LISA had little if any marketing and it became popular through word of mouth to the point it spawned three fan games.
I'm honestly surprised at some of the answers here, though. Like so many listed games that had a lot of marketing
I'm honestly surprised at some of the answers here, though. Like so many listed games that had a lot of marketing
PUBG
Apex Legends
Rocket League
Many games get released on PS+ but none of them got as big as Rocket League. It was word of mouth that made it successful.
Apex Legends
Rocket League
Many games get released on PS+ but none of them got as big as Rocket League. It was word of mouth that made it successful.
Apex Legends had a super bowl ad, EA paid Ninja 1 million to stream it. No way did that only spread by just word of mouth.
Yeah it's really surreal really did not expect to see that coming into this thread haha.
I wouldn't say word of mouth did it alone, but Pokemon Red & Green in Japan. Iwata credited word of mouth and Mew as being critical to it becoming the behemoth it is.
Katamari is absolutely one of the earliest, best examples in the Internet era. Well, tipping point of the internet
I would say Batman Arkham Asylum. Nobody expecting anything from it. I remember some magazines even giving it 5s and 6s. Ended up being a extremely good game once some magazines actually realised it was actually a good super heroe game.
After that the consumers follow. Ended up being so big from mouth to mouth (and from critical media, sometimes), that the sequel became one of the most anticipated games from that year
After that the consumers follow. Ended up being so big from mouth to mouth (and from critical media, sometimes), that the sequel became one of the most anticipated games from that year
Nier. Yes there's way more methods of communication today (social media, forums, texting etc.) but this game got huge enough for a sequel and eventually a reprint! Crazy.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
Can't believe is still selling, especially compared to how its predecessors did.
Can't believe is still selling, especially compared to how its predecessors did.
Who knew Batman was this such obscure IP even after The Dark Knight.
I distinctly remember advertising for Sacred Stones on GBA being commonish.
MGS already had a ton of hype following that year's E3. I remember the official PS mag having a big feature on it where they were already proclaiming it to be one of the best games ever made.
As for FF7 I can vividly remember the first time I ever saw it in a copy of Computer & Video Games just after the Japanese release, tons of coverage. The lead in was "the game that will do for RPGS what Star Wars did for Sci-Fi".
I followed it for the next year and devoured as much info as I could... people definitely knew what was coming.
I got it a couple of weeks ago. I wish I had boght it when it first came out. What a great game!
Yeah, I keep seeing videos praising the game a year after its release so it definitely got people talking.
The Ys games. I remember absolutely nobody knew what Ys was when Ark of Napishtim was announced. It was super weird that Konami of all companies brought it over. Since then every new release has gotten more and more word of mouth, to where the series is legitimately are successes here in the west now.
I think the scenario in the OP is a little naive. For one Golf Stories name isn't generic and boring as suggested, and it's success can largely be attributed to two simple factors a) it's a good game b) the early thirst for new switch content.
Dwarf Fortress. That has to be it.
A game so weird and complex and indecipherable that the only reason it got as "big" as it did was through word of mouth
Also people have been asking for a new Mario Golf since....the GBA days?
A game so weird and complex and indecipherable that the only reason it got as "big" as it did was through word of mouth
Also people have been asking for a new Mario Golf since....the GBA days?
You are missing the point here. The thread is about games that became popular due to his quality. At that's the point with Arkham Asylum. It became popular because of that. The fact that it was a Batman game with such a weird cover art and published by Eidos definitely didn't help. Hell I didn't even knew it was a good game after a friend actually told me it was a good. Bought it on steam on a discount and the impact was so big for me that I pre order Arkham city as soon as it became available.
I'm not saying Batman it's a obscure ip. I'm saying I didn't expect a Batman game to be this good after a friend told me. And that's the point of this thread. Try to follow the idea
OP
OP
I'd actually consider this the antithesis example.
Comparatively to other games with a similarly huge level of marketing(being featured in every direct, big push as a holiday game, getting prominently featured at E3), it sold just okay, mostly because of its genre but yeah.
XC1 fits this well though.
Super Mario Brothers which by word of mouth help sell the NES platform. Call it what you want today, but that game was the system seller and it was all done by one friend showing another friend and so forth. It helped reboot the industry 35 years ago to get us where we are today.
I came here to say Demon's Souls. It was Gamespot awarding it game of the year and the way they described the game there and in the review that made me think hey this is something that I could really get on board with if it clicks.
If you have an SA account, you can do a one time purchase to get access to all archived threads if i remember correctly.
For me it was Hollow Knight and Soma.
Some in particular was one of the most memorable gaming experiences in recent time. If I'd listened to the couple review outlets I follow, I'd probably skipped it.
Some in particular was one of the most memorable gaming experiences in recent time. If I'd listened to the couple review outlets I follow, I'd probably skipped it.
I don't know if it's been said, but Persona 3/Persona 4 kinda of fit.
3 came out completely under the radar and only started to gain steam around when FES came out. 4 came out way late into the PS2 lifespan and built on the buzz of 3, while gaining more of an audience as it went on.
3 came out completely under the radar and only started to gain steam around when FES came out. 4 came out way late into the PS2 lifespan and built on the buzz of 3, while gaining more of an audience as it went on.
Disagree with that one.
Awakening was the game that got me into Fire Emblem, and I still remember the TV-promo that got me interested in it
Edit: Here it is
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Mine craft and dota. They basically went on to be close to the biggest games of all time based on nothing but WoM. Not sure anything else can compare.