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Prey passed 500K owners on Steam, Dishonored 2 struggling to reach 1M

Cryptosporidium

Cryptosporidium

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Oct 25, 2017
7,624
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How well does prey control on ps4?

I played the demo a long time ago but cant remember besides not liking how fast the enemies were. Wish it was third person
 
Clowns

Clowns

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Oct 25, 2017
8,037
Mr. Tibbs said:
Well enough that they felt confident enough to tellDestructoid at release, that "Dishonored is far exceeding our sales expectations, which is especially cool considering it's new IP facing a host of well-established franchises this quarter...We clearly have a new franchise."
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So, it's not that there isn't(or wasn't) an audience for games like this. Are the people who liked this game last generation just not into the genre anymore? Marketing failure? The games were critical successes so it's doubtful the quality has fallen.
J_Viper said:
Dishonored 2 is a damn fine game, Prey much less so, but I feel what really hurts these games is a complete lack of character.

The art design in both games are top notch. However, the narrative and characters in all of their games have been dull or non-existent.

If the actual stories told were half as interesting as the environmental storytelling implied, it would go a long way to make these games seem more interesting.
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Was the narrative in the first Dishonored stronger than the sequel?
 
Hopping_Mad

Hopping_Mad

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Nov 13, 2017
1,077
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Prey had some horrible advertising and bad PR for pc version. They did some of this to themselves.

Dishonored 2 was just broken on PC. Fuck that.
 
Freddo

Freddo

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Oct 27, 2017
1,639
Småland, Sweden
This is so sad, both are brilliant games and they deserve to sell better. Love them both. Dishonored 2 was GOTY of 2016 for me, and Prey might as well be it for 2017.
 

Herbz

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Oct 25, 2017
589
Combined with the console sales, for Prey, not bad (not bad for Bethesda too I hope).
 
Remachinate

Remachinate

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Oct 27, 2017
253
While I don't mind evangelizing for Arkane's immersive sims every time they come up, it feels like they've gotten more exposure via forum discussion than actual marketing. I really hope Bethesda gets its act together for future games of its non-flagship studios.
 
thediamondage

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Oct 25, 2017
12,852
Word of mouth DOES work -- PUBG has sold 20m copies on basically just word of mouth -- but it didn't work in any of Bethesda's cases because most players were indifferent. I played Dishonored 2 at launch, pre order and everything. I sorta enjoyed the game but I never talked to anyone about it, it was just 'ok". Nothing bad, but nothing really great. Indifference is a far worse marketing hit than absolute hate (Battlefront 2) or love (BOTW). The first 30 days of a games (and movie!) release now are extremely dependent on strong word of mouth and none of the Bethesda games have had that.

Bethesda just has a huge range of problems they need to deal with, from picking absolutely shitty release dates - Dishonored 2 releasing the week between COD Infinite Warfare and Watch Dogs 2, Wolfenstein 2 releasing the same day as AC Origins and Mario Odyssey - to horrible marketing campaigns (DOOM was tragically bad in how little they talked about SP and too much about MP) to their weak relationships with press, twitch, youtube streamers, etc.

It must be trying times at Bethesda though, every Fallout and Skyrim game they release does gangbusters no matter how much its the same game whereas stabs at new directions is more or less getting rejected by the market.
 
beeeats

beeeats

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Oct 25, 2017
47
Mr. Tibbs said:
Bethesda tried to buy the studio that created Prey and Prey 2 through milestone abuse. HyperBitHero's video does a good job explaining what went down (there's a story on IGN, too):



A lot of people lost their jobs, and Human Head was placed in a seriously vulnerable position, which they struggled to recover from. To add insult to injury, Bethesda went out their way to sabotage future projects, including a Rune sequel they had lined up with 2K (Bethesda released a really passive-aggressive statement about the quality of their work the week they were signing the contract).
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Shady as hell. That's how these big publishers roll I guess.

I've never been a fan of Bethesda (publisher or game studios) but god damn they've published some of my favorite games in recent years. I'll do whatever I can to support the likes of Arkane, id and Machine Games.
 
Soundchaser

Soundchaser

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Oct 25, 2017
1,742
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Dishonored 2 and Prey both deserve better. The latter sets up a very interesting hook for the sequel, and it's sad that we will probably never get it.
 
Dr. Caroll

Dr. Caroll

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Oct 27, 2017
8,111
thediamondage said:
Word of mouth DOES work -- PUBG has sold 20m copies on basically just word of mouth -- but it didn't work in any of Bethesda's cases because most players were indifferent.
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PUBG is a multiplayer game. Most singleplayer games don't have the kind of word of mouth resonance that multiplayer ones do unless they're some kind of "cool" sandbox title. That's why everyone wants to make a cool sandbox title which does Skyrim numbers.
 

AdropOFvenom

Member
Oct 27, 2017
242
thediamondage said:
Bethesda just has a huge range of problems they need to deal with, from picking absolutely shitty release dates - Dishonored 2 releasing the week between COD Infinite Warfare and Watch Dogs 2, Wolfenstein 2 releasing the same day as AC Origins and Mario Odyssey - to horrible marketing campaigns (DOOM was tragically bad in how little they talked about SP and too much about MP) to their weak relationships with press, twitch, youtube streamers, etc.

It must be trying times at Bethesda though, every Fallout and Skyrim game they release does gangbusters no matter how much its the same game whereas stabs at new directions is more or less getting rejected by the market.
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The war on review copies I feel is one of the bigger ones. These are both games since they implemented that "No review copies until 24 hours pre-launch policy, well, unless you're a random Youtuber who will only say good stuff", but what they're ignoring is that reviews are also an essential part of the hype cycle and are pieces that drive huge web traffic numbers, and when those reviews don't come in until a week post-launch, it can be devastating in terms of turning that hype into sales, especially for a narrative based single player game where people can just watch the whole thing on Twitch. You need to get the money before they do that, so they actually want to play it for themselves.
 

Acquiesc3

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Oct 30, 2017
1,724
Cryptosporidium said:
How well does prey control on ps4?

I played the demo a long time ago but cant remember besides not liking how fast the enemies were. Wish it was third person
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Controls fine. But the long load times between areas during late game (where there's a lot of backtracking) kinda dragged down an otherwise awesome game for me.

I wish I played it on PC.
 
EndlessNever

EndlessNever

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Oct 25, 2017
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Honest to god, I feel so sorry for Arkane. They're easily one of my favorite studios, and their games deserve to sell so much more. Their world's are so wonderfully crafted and alive. The sheer amount of options and different paths to take. Arkane are, to me, the best of their kind. I've bought everything by them in the last couple of years.

And I see their demise coming, and that's what hurts most.
 
megalowho

megalowho

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Oct 27, 2017
2,565
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I suppose I'm part of the problem. I recognize Arkane's talents, enjoy the immersive sim genre and want it to be viable financially but unfortunately neither of these releases appealed to me that much.

The world and narrative of Dishonored 1 left me cold and the sequel came off as well designed but more of the same, with less forgiving stealth triggers. Just was not interested in returning. Prey I'm more inclined to try eventually, especially at $20, but the horror trappings are a turn off and I've seen enough gameplay footage consisting of frustrating combat alongside wonky sound cues that I never made it a priority. Cool premise and setting though.
 
RedSwirl

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Oct 25, 2017
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beeeats said:
But I think the sad truth is there has always been a limited appeal for these kind of games. For that small subset of players that have a history with them and love to explore every inch of every level and test and experiment with the mechanics - there's nothing quite like them (especially with these production values), but I think the majority of players just kind of blow through them from waypoint to waypoint until the credits roll. The first Dishonored really opened things up to wider audience at the time and kind of struck gold, but they shouldn't have expected lightning to strike twice. I actually think attempts to broaden appeal like objective markers actually do these games a total disservice, but that's another conversation.

First-person stealth in Dishonored can be pretty demanding at the best of times, but I think it's an order of magnitude harder on consoles where you can't really maintain the same situational awareness - I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people just bounce off completely.
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In and of themselves you're right. This kind of immersive sim, even back in the old school PC days, never had mass-market appeal. They CAN though if you sell them right. I think that's what happened in the case of Elder Scrolls, 3D Fallout, and BioShock.

Maybe Elder Scrolls started out by being in the right place at the right time, with Oblivion being one of the first notable Xbox 360 games (maybe Morrowind on the original Xbox also started up some groundswell), the main selling points being the hundreds of hours of shit to do and the freedom afforded the sandbox nature of the game. Fallout 3 built off that, and then Skyrim built off that on top of having a pretty simple marketing campaign that even penetrated as far as movie theaters. Top top of "holy shit it's another huge game from those guys who made Oblivion and Fallout 3" the message was "you get to be that mythical hero who kills dragons." BioShock somehow communicated to the masses that its setting and storytelling method were something most people hadn't seen in console games before. Prey and Dishonored had none of that.
 
Bohemian

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Oct 26, 2017
752
I really wish I could've gotten into Prey more. The opening was absolutely stunning, but it failed to keep me interested after that point. While it wasn't for me, I hope they're still able to continue making these type of games as I know of a folks really dig them.
 

Deleted member 9135

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,435
I'm a sum of all parts person when it comes to games . I look at them as an experience.

I have heard from so many how well thought out games like dishonored 2 and Prey were. When the demos for each came out, I gave them both a go. Surprisingly , nothing grabbed me and I found myself more annoyed than engaged. Dishonored's physics and movement felt off and was riddled with bugs. Prey annoyed me with its jump scares , combat and black blobs for enemies and that's all in the first half many people call brilliant before the lackluster last act of the game. I wasn't willing to risk getting that far into the game when it's "brilliant" parts weren't doing it for me. I rented both hoping more time would change my mind but it did not. Not even close.

Maybe it's a pacing issue, the demos put out, marketing, I dunno. Something about their product line just doesn't register with me.

I am truly frustrated that Prey didn't grab me the way it does a lot of people.
 
carlsojo

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Oct 28, 2017
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Another example of poor marketing of Bethesda games, I think.
From what I remember the demo was poorly done/received and the launch trailer was pretty terrible as well. I could probably dig up the Prey demo thread from The Other Place, but I don't know if that's allowed. The thread came pretty close to making me cancel my preorder though.
 
Cats

Cats

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Oct 27, 2017
2,929
I really loved dishonored 1. It was a big surprise for me when I expected something bad. I just felt like I got enough from it though, never really bothered to even look into 2. I wonder how many other people got 'enough' from the first game.
 
Doskoi Panda

Doskoi Panda

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Oct 27, 2017
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I wish I could support Prey, but the 1.5 update, which came out several months ago, broke Xbox controller support on PC by somehow removing it completely from the game. That has prevented me from playing the way I wanted to (in my living room, using a Dual Shock 4, configured for gyro assist). The community manager went completely silent soon after this bug was pointed out on the Steam forums, and it has not been fixed. There is a fan workaround that re-enables XB controller support, but I still can't use my DS4 controller through Steam, and I'm just really, really put off by Arkane's poor support for the game.
 
HeresSomeWeapons

HeresSomeWeapons

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Oct 30, 2017
181
foxxsoxx said:
It's a shame. Prey wasn't perfect by any means but it was for the most part a damn good game.
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Damn good! In a year full of great games, it's one of my favorites. The world building is top-notch and the story gives you back what you put into it. And I thought the way they left the door open for a sequel was brilliant. Hopefully it sold well enough to see it.
 
Digital

Digital

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Oct 28, 2017
1,166
Cryptosporidium said:
How well does prey control on ps4?

I played the demo a long time ago but cant remember besides not liking how fast the enemies were. Wish it was third person
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They fixed it since the demo. The demo was a disaster on PS4: frames were choppy, aiming felt sluggish, and you kept having to try and look down to melee quick moving small targets. It sucked. They've since fixed the frame issues, fixed the aiming, and slowed the enemies down to make them easier to deal with on a controller.
 
Mifec

Mifec

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Oct 25, 2017
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A shame since the game is vastly superior to any of the bioshock games and a true SS successor.
 
Alexander DeLarge

Alexander DeLarge

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Oct 28, 2017
1,277
Not surprised that Dishonored 2 did poorly. Scene groups were reluctant to crack it because what's the point if the optimization is terrible? It only became playable by my standards in like April. I hope they look at the numbers and take these factors into consideration. I mean, who would trust them after Dishonored 2 on PC? It was a shockingly awful port.

Also at least they figured out how to market death of the outsider
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0F-BF-aU18
 
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famikon

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matrix-cat

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Oct 27, 2017
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Dishonored 2's bad PC port at launch definitely didn't help. I bought it day one, because I absolutely adored the first game, and the bad performance and shitty new controller-focused control scheme they'd saddled the game with lead to me not touching it again for months. Eventually I heard they'd patched in a proper mouse and keyboard control scheme (with Q and E for leaning), and it seemed like the performance was as good as it was going to get, so I finally played through it and ended up loving the game even more than the first, but it really seems like it needed more time in the oven.

Likewise, Prey was plagued by reports of input lag on console at launch, and unfortunately it seems like these games are a hard enough sell even without other issues. Prey could well be my GOTY, and I've already bought it on both PS4 and PC, but I feel like there was basically no hype around the game. The generic-ass 'single random word' title did it no favours, and honestly probably just created confusion around whether it was supposed to be a sequel or a reboot of the other Prey, and Bethesda more or less sent it out to die with no real promotion.
 
Faintcolt388301

Faintcolt388301

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Oct 27, 2017
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I just bought Prey on PS4. I was interested in this primarily from word of mouth. Marketing sucked.

I bought 3 Bathesda games just now and realized the quality of that studio, yet all of those games seem to have underperformed. Shows how they make good games but are communicating that enough.
 
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dex3108

dex3108

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Oct 26, 2017
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It is still possible (and it will probably happen) for Dishonored to hit that 1M mark by the end of the year. But this whole thing made me think about System Shock 3. Otherside now knows how launching immersive sim looks like these days and I hope that they will manage to have successful launch.
 
Rickenslacker

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Oct 25, 2017
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I've always been lukewarm on Dishonored, as it's always been sold on some immersion sim merits but I find it pretty poor on that front, but I also just thematically find the game unappealing.

Prey however, Prey is going to be a monument to gamer sin with such a good game not given the traction it deserves. I don't really get why it needed to attach itself to the Prey namesake, but it's been one of the best games of its type I've played in a good long while.
 
The Traveller

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Oct 31, 2017
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I picked up the Dishonored collection and Prey (even Deus Ex) during the Xbox Black Friday sale. I'm already 15 hours into Prey and really enjoying it.
 
Nocturno

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Oct 27, 2017
860
Dishonored 2 is a great game but still runs poorly.

A shame, because the first game was Blizzard tier in performance/gameplay.
 
Culgan

Culgan

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Oct 27, 2017
464
Picked Prey up on PS4. Story seems interesting so far early on - not impressed with the performance on a PS4 Pro though. Making me wish I picked it up on PC.
 
John Frost

John Frost

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Oct 27, 2017
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Picked up Prey on the PSN sale, really good so far. Bought The Evil Within 2 as well but I have yet to play it.

Dishonored 2 with the stand alone game will be my next Bethesda games, as well as Skyrim since I never really played it.
 
Isee

Isee

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Oct 25, 2017
6,255
Releasing both games in bad technical conditions surely didn't help. After several patches prey is at least playable, while dishonoured 2 can't shake of its engine roots. Even the console versions weren't great, especially prey on PS4. I have the feeling Bethesda sent the game to die, for reasons unknown to me. But the same goes for evil within 2. Cool game, with terrible and inconsistent performance. It's definitely playable on my system, but the engine just can't handle 60 fps well.
I'd like to buy Wolfenstein 2, but can't stand the terrible, overdone censorship in the German version. No idea what Bethesda is thinking lately.
 
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