Was Dragon Age: Inquisition a commercial failure?

[Mexi]

I hope they stop making Dragon Age games. It just makes me feel sad because DA: O had potential, in my opinion. Instead, they went a whole 180 and did that "press a button and awesome happens" campaign.

I never played Dragon Age: 2 nor Inquisition. I already knew they would be crap. I used to post on the BioWare forum, and the apologists were out defending the demo like crazy saying it's not the finished product, etc.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Maybe they were aiming after Skyrim, but I don't think they expected a similar success. Story heavy, party based and with RtwP combat seems to be a much smaller market than a no frills FP hiking simulator. We don't know EA's expectations, but I think they have pretty good metrics and therefore had realistic expectations (unlike in the mobile sector, where they though Dungeon Keeper Mobile would be a good idea).

 

[cvv]

Maybe they were aiming after Skyrim, but I don't think they expected a similar success. Story heavy, party based and with RtwP combat seems to be a much smaller market than a no frills FP hiking simulator.

I'm not sure the highest brass of game publishers even understand this. Seems to me they think like all genres have the same selling potential "if you werk haaard enuf". They see GTA selling a billion copies in the first five minutes, pound their fist on the table and shout "Kevin, dig up some ancient niche IP of ours and turn it into a money printer. GET IT DUN!"

 

[vonAchdorf]

I'm not sure the highest brass of game publishers even understand this. Seems to me they think like all genres have the same selling potential "if you werk haaard enuf". They see GTA selling a billion copies in the first five minutes, pound their fist on the table and shout "Kevin, dig up some ancient niche IP of ours and turn it into a money printer. GET IT DUN!"

Well, of course one shouldn't underestimate the ignorance executives can have, but I still think not all of them are clueless. EA has their CoD copy, but until now they didn't copy GTA or ACreed. And with games like Mirror's Edge 2 they even have some mid budget game in the making, even though it will be of course "more accessible" than the first one. But then again, it's EA which promoted Lucy "no offline mode" Bradshaw to SVP after the glorious SimCity reboot.

 

[Infinitron]

but until now they didn't copy GTA or ACreed

And neither did Activision. Now, what do those games, and Skyrim, have in common? Open world.

For the longest time, the largest publishers have ignored the single player open world sandbox genre. My long-standing theory is that it's because they don't see it as a worthwhile return on investment. By their logic, if you're going to make a large game world with hundreds of hours of gameplay, make it an MMO (subscription-based or F2P). MMOs earn more money.

 

[vonAchdorf]

And neither did Activision. Now, what do those games, and Skyrim, have in common? Open world.

For the longest time, the largest publishers have ignored the single player open world sandbox genre. My long-standing theory is that it's because they don't see it as a worthwhile return on investment. By their logic, if you're going to make a large game world with hundreds of hours of gameplay, make it an MMO (subscription-based or F2P). MMOs earn more money.

Yes, I think there was a period, where the bug publishers regarded single player as a dying "feature". But since MMOs require an insane amount of money and work now, I think they focus has shifted again. Bethesda would have been better off producing the next 3 Skyrims for the time and money they spent on TESO. Also the western market seems to be quite saturated with MMOs and totally averse to the Asian style pay-to-win revenue model, where the real money is to be made (if you aren't WoW).

 

[Bulba]

I think they have lost shitload of sales by their drm that prevents pirating, cos popular game = lot's of sales and you can't become popular if poor kids that can't afford to buy the game don't play it, don't talk with other kids about. Skyrim was popular and it was pirated like there was no tomorrow.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Im sure if sales where stratospheric we would have read it already.

 

[Space Satan]

We mostly estimate EA AAA demands from their statement about Dead Space 3 and how it has to sell 5 mil copies to survive. Other than that - I would fire anyone who would leak ANYTHING about current sales, especially if they are not meeting executives' expectations. I cannot imagine devs complaining about low sales - that looks pathetic and will hurt sales even more.

 

[Jaesun]

Maybe they were aiming after Skyrim

The new game that is in development is "supposedly" going to be like Skyrim. Not this game.

 

[Akratus]

I am a skyrimer, my favorite videdoskyrim is morrowind, but I have a lot of fun playing the videoskyrim skyrim. I just love most roleplayingskyrims.

 

[imweasel]

The new game that is in development is "supposedly" going to be like Skyrim. Not this game.

I suppose you mean Mass Effect 4.

The game is supposed to be about exploration hiking/driving with the Mako. So yeah, 150+ hours of fucking boring, banal, copy-pasted filler content bullshit.

 

[Bubbles]

The game is supposed to be about exploration hiking/driving with the Mako. So yeah, 150+ hours of fucking boring, banal, copy-pasted filler content bullshit.

It's going to be Skyrim in space.

 

[Daemongar]

For the longest time, the largest publishers have ignored the single player open world sandbox genre. My long-standing theory is that it's because they don't see it as a worthwhile return on investment. By their logic, if you're going to make a large game world with hundreds of hours of gameplay, make it an MMO (subscription-based or F2P). MMOs earn more money.

I agree with your theory. To simplify, I believe that publishers are very hesitant to put anything in the game that most players won't see. The illusion of choice with the same consequences so they won't have to pay to develop a branching storyline and keep additional units of programming to a minimum. In addition, EA and similar developers don't want players playing the same game twice, unless it is with DLC or something else they can make money off of. This varies on the type of game, tho.

Like it or not, Bethesda is the exception, as well as a few other companies. If EA were to make a Skyrim, I would think it would have day one DLC (duh), minimum if any modability, and an open world with very little in the way of scripted events dependent on player choices.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I agree with your theory. To simplify, I believe that publishers are very hesitant to put anything in the game that most players won't see. The illusion of choice with the same consequences so they won't have to pay to develop a branching storyline and keep additional units of programming to a minimum. In addition, EA and similar developers don't want players playing the same game twice, unless it is with DLC or something else they can make money off of. This varies on the type of game, tho.

Like it or not, Bethesda is the exception, as well as a few other companies. If EA were to make a Skyrim, I would think it would have day one DLC (duh), minimum if any modability, and an open world with very little in the way of scripted events dependent on player choices.

One problem is that with the analytics they have, they now know which parts no one uses / plays and then draw premature conclusions. "Only 5% of the players picked the "evil" path" - axe that. They don't ask, why players did that. Same with difficulty, before Demon Souls, easy was the new normal, not unlikely because analytics. Or 4h campaigns because of low completion rates for games in general. Why make a long game if only 20% will ever finish it?

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

To simplify, I believe that publishers are very hesitant to put anything in the game that most players won't see. The illusion of choice with the same consequences so they won't have to pay to develop a branching storyline and keep additional units of programming to a minimum.

Yes, I often imagine what a publisher would have made of a game like AoD. In a recent dev update VD was talking about making completely different versions of a City based on choices you made early in the game - loads of work that someone playing once would never see. I could just picture the meeting where some producer contemplated all that extra time and money...

 

[Volourn]

DA3 sells the same amount of copies - more or elss - a typical BIO game sells. Not surprising at all. BIO has a base audiience range. It's not changing. BIO has never been 'main stream' no matter how desperate EA/BIO leftovers want to be.:incloosive:

 

[pippin]

I think publishers aren't giving open world games enough support because it's an oversaturated market. If I were a publisher, I'd not give money to another Skyrim/GTA wannabe, because it's very likely in the end I won't be completely satisfied with the results. See how Watch Dogs was received. It's mostly a commercial thing.
By the way, I think EA already did their attempt at a Skyrim-like game with Amalur, and yeah, it had stupid DLC. It included, of course, Shepard's armor

 

[Gozma]

I think any attempt to replicate the inexplicable success of Obliviskyrim would have to involve sacrifices to Moloch, because there is no other way to understand why regular, non-astrosperg people buy those in huge numbers

I understand Bioware's pandering; it makes sense. Playing Obliviskyrim feels like I've found something made for a space alien

 

[Clockwork Knight]

It's really not hard to understand. It's a big open world where you can go wherever you want whenever you want. Show it to someone who isn't a jaded cunt and they're going to love it, flaws be damned.

 

[Jaesun]

The new game that is in development is "supposedly" going to be like Skyrim. Not this game.

I suppose you mean Mass Effect 4.

Nope. It is a completely new setting.

The new Mass Effect will just continue to be the shitty Multi-Player Co-Op Maps: The Game!

 

[Gozma]

It's really not hard to understand. It's a big open world where you can go wherever you want whenever you want. Show it to someone who isn't a jaded cunt and they're going to love it, flaws be damned.

Skyrim loading screen tip: You can adopt up to 2 children!

 

[vonAchdorf]

Skyrim loading screen tip: You can adopt up to 2 children!

Only when you own the DLC.

 

[Infinitron]

I think publishers aren't giving open world games enough support because it's an oversaturated market. If I were a publisher, I'd not give money to another Skyrim/GTA wannabe, because it's very likely in the end I won't be completely satisfied with the results. See how Watch Dogs was received. It's mostly a commercial thing.
By the way, I think EA already did their attempt at a Skyrim-like game with Amalur, and yeah, it had stupid DLC. It included, of course, Shepard's armor

Amalur wasn't EA's game - they just had a third party distribution arrangement with 38 Studios.

I would say that publishers are giving the genre plenty of support, EXCEPT for the big two, EA and Activision. Although for EA that may now change.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Skyrim loading screen tip: You can adopt up to 2 children!

Exactly! It's like the Sims but you fight dragons.