Eternity PoE II: Deadfire Sales Analysis Thread

[ArchAngel]

Sequels of A where nostalgia is now not a factor in the sales because that nostalgia wave has already come and gone in the first game.

Do you seriously think that one million people bought PoE because of nostalgia? Maybe the backers, but that is about it.

Backers and nostalgia led people kept the hype on and others latched onto that not knowing what to really expect.
Then PoE was a disappointment to backers, nostalgia people and new players that now knew they do not enjoy this kind of gameplay.
Then PoE2 comes along, everyone knows what kind of shitty game to expect. Backers and nostalgia people are no longer generating hype and people that didn't play PoE got no reason to buy and try PoE2.

If this is true how come 80%+ of user reviews are positive recommends even years after the fact? You make it sound like the game came out and everyone hated it when that's measurably untrue.

I guess that is not enough. Maybe many people didn't even bother rating it. I would have also rated it positive* at the time but didn't bother buying PoE2 (even without all the MCA stuff).

*mostly because of nothing similar to IE games being released for 15 years.

 

[Elex]

there is no press release “game is selling xxxk copies in only xx hours” so it’s not selling good.

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

How well did Planescape: Torment do at release? I'm not even a Pillars fan (yet), but this kind of opening response is just dumb....and I think you know it. You just don't like the game or the developer(s) for whatever reason and you want to find a reason to take a dump on it. We all know long-term sales for massive RPGs like this are what really matter....D:OS2 was a fluke.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

SteamSpy is about as reliable as my grandfather's penis.

Well,it did manage to make at least on of your parents.

Yeah, 50 years ago, which is also the last time when SteamSpy was reliable.

 

[Mustawd]

How well did Planescape: Torment do at release?

PST did not sell well over all. It only became a cult classic among crpg enthusiasts.

We all know long-term sales for massive RPGs like this are what really matter

Actually, that's not true. Do crpgs have long sale tails? Sure. But Obsidian needs money to operate NOW. Not 10-15 years down the road.

Also, from an investor's point of view, there is a concept called the time value of money as well as risk adjusted return. Which basically asks the question "Sure you made money but could you have used it better elsewhere and was it worth it base don the risk you took?" Telling an investor "no worries, just wait 10-15 years and this thing will eventually sell a ton!" doesn't really help.

You just don't like the game or the developer(s) for whatever reason and you want to find a reason to take a dump on it.

I personally don't like any of their games, but we're only able to "take a dump on it" as you say because POE2's performance is not very good. But hey, it'll be all ok right?

 

[Mustawd]

this place hates real RPGs and tries to sabotage them

This place loves Obsidian games. Not quite sure what you're referring to. What this place really hates is my poor animu jrpgs.

Also, we're just discussing its poor (potential) sales in a gaming forum. Is that sabotaging a game?

 

[Swampy_Merkin]

Actually, that's not true. Do crpgs have long sale tails? Sure. But Obsidian needs money to operate NOW. Not 10-15 years down the road.

I'm thinking more like 2-5 years down the road, and I'm sure Obsidian and their backers are thinking more along the same lines. If, on the other hand, they were looking at D:OS2's numbers and assuming something similar then they were deluding themselves. They were also deluding themselves if they thought that even half the people that paid for Pillars1 had even finished it (like me).

I kind of doubt there was that much delusion going around, and I'm pretty sure they knew what they were getting into.

 

[jf8350143]

Wait, since when did Obsidian goes back to the edge of bankrupt again that they need Deadfire to be a monster hit right out of the gate to get the money to operate? Am I missing something? Don't they have another big project going at the same time?

 

[Mustawd]

Wait, since when did Obsidian goes back to the edge of bankrupt again that they need Deadfire to be a monster hit right out of the gate to get the money to operate?

I don't think they are, but sales now are always better than sales later, all things being equal. I wasn't trying to say they're done or anything.

 

[Urthor]

200k sales minus the 30% cut is what, an average sale price of approx 30 dollars? 30*200 that's still 6 million dollars of revenue, and Pillars 1 was made on about 5 and a bit million dollars according to the run out of money in October story

The game will break even, impossible for the studio to go bankrupt if the game actually breaks even. There's also DLC coming along which brings in some more high margin revenue.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Well they already got my 20 bucks for the season pass!

 

[Puteo]

Steam user review score has dropped down to 82%. For comparison, Resident Evil 6 is at 79%, and that's a game the internet loves to hate and mainstream game reviewers™ shat on en masse.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Many negative reviews say it’s too easy. So how did balancing this game for SA morons and casualtards work out for you Josh? We need that balance fix now

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

If this is true how come 80%+ of user reviews are positive recommends even years after the fact? You make it sound like the game came out and everyone hated it when that's measurably untrue.

I don't think hate is the right word. Most players had no interest in it to begin with. The trailers, the updates and the interviews suggested it was more of the same (which is true for the most part) so they just moved along. Even most backers of the first game didn't want to support the sequel. You have at the present moment 1186 reviews on steam (some are negative, obviously). The game had 33,614 backers (I think they include some investors here?). In any case, most players that backed this thing were not motivated enough to help spread the word on release or add a simple positive review. That's a lot of apathy.

this place hates real RPGs and tries to sabotage them

If I really wanted to sabotage PoE 2, I would post negative reviews on GOG and Steam, downvote every single positive review and upvote every single negative review. I would also spam negative reviews on metacritic. But I don't do that.

200k sales minus the 30% cut is what, an average sale price of approx 30 dollars? 30*200 that's still 6 million dollars of revenue, and Pillars 1 was made on about 5 and a bit million dollars according to the run out of money in October story. The game will break even, impossible for the studio to go bankrupt if the game actually breaks even. There's also DLC coming along which brings in some more high margin revenue.

But how much of the profits go to the publisher? How about the hundreds of employees in payroll? How about the fact it was Armored Warfare that maintained the studio afloat and not PoE, despite being much more sucessful than the sequel? Have you learn nothing about Avellone's inside information about Obsidian management practices? The problem is not breaking even or making a profit eventually, but being able to maintain the sudio afloat. The profits will not be reinvested. They will go directly to the owner pockets.

 

[fantadomat]

PoE 1 was well received. Nobody outside of the Codex gives a crap about that ridiculous "muh IE combat" whining.
Most people can't even define what they like or dislike about combat or any other aspect or gameplay or story.
Its like with people who shat on The Last Jedi (rightly so) but loved The Force Awakens. Totally random.

This place hates real RPGs and tries to sabotage them while buying and playing every piece of shitty console garbage churned out by EA and the likes /roqua

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...-eternity-ii-deadfire-coming-to-consoles.aspx
It is pretty old,but still true.

Pillars Of Eternity II: Deadfire Coming To Consoles

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is nearing completion for PC, Mac, and Linux, with a release planned for April 3. For players without a dedicated gaming PC, you can still look forward to a chance to try out this sequel, as Game Informer has learned that Deadfire is set to come to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch during the holiday season of 2018.

While Obsidian heads up primary development duties for Pillars II on PC, the game is being ported to consoles by developer Red Cerberus. Versus Evil and Obsidian are working together to publish the game.

For more on Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, check out our four-page feature in the latest issue of Game Informer, releasing today. You can also read our in-depth interview with game director Josh Sawyer, where he talks extensively about the game's systems, a new party member, and more.

Yeah,lets support real RPGs and not the consoletarded one!

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Who cares. As long as it’s not developed for multiple platforms from the start and dumbed down in effect, as was the case with Torment unfortunately.

The game is out for PC and now they can take it and port it to the Super Nintendo for all I care. Nobody in their right mind can say that PoE II makes any concessions towards a later console release, except maybe the full VO...

 

[Roguey]

So how did balancing this game for SA morons and casualtards work out for you Josh?

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Steam user review score has dropped down to 82%. For comparison, Resident Evil 6 is at 79%, and that's a game the internet loves to hate and mainstream game reviewers™ shat on en masse.

Many negative reviews say it’s too easy. So how did balancing this game for SA morons and casualtards work out for you Josh? We need that balance fix now

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Roguey True, but 9/10 from some clueless shill doesn't mean anything if the steam score isn't stellar.

 

[Roguey]

Roguey True, but 9/10 from some clueless shill doesn't mean anything if the steam score isn't stellar.

80+% is good. Steam's not metacritic, it's a simple up or down vote. 4 out of 5 people give a thumbs up.

 

[fantadomat]

Roguey True, but 9/10 from some clueless shill doesn't mean anything if the steam score isn't stellar.

80+% is good. Steam's not metacritic, it's a simple up or down vote. 4 out of 5 people give a thumbs up.

And 1/4 of person plays the game.

100,000 owners and 8.000 players a week later.

It doesn't matter how you turn it,the game is a dead flop.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Sawyer better patches up this puppy real quick, I don‘t want another shit tier game CE in my collection like Tworment.

Anyone else here was deranged enough to pledge for physical items? Did they say anything about an ETA for those?

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

100,000 owners and 8.000 players a week later. It doesn't matter how you turn it,the game is a dead flop.

You can assume that some of them are waiting for patches, while others will simply ask for refunds (more negative reviews and less sales).

 

[fantadomat]

Sawyer better patches up this puppy real quick, I don‘t want another shit tier game CE in my collection like Tworment.

Anyone else here was deranged enough to pledge for physical items? Did they say anything about an ETA for those?

Will the patches be physical too? That will a lot of floppy discs.

 

[Flou]

But how much of the profits go to the publisher? How about the hundreds of employees in payroll? How about the fact it was Armored Warfare that maintained the studio afloat and not PoE, despite being much more sucessful than the sequel? Have you learn nothing about Avellone's inside information about Obsidian management practices? The problem is not breaking even or making a profit eventually, but being able to maintain the sudio afloat. The profits will not be reinvested. They will go directly to the owner pockets.

Publisher's role is quite minimal, so I doubt Versus Evil is taking a huge cut of profits. Paradox most likely took more.

It's a shame though that most of the profits will go to building that beachhouse for Mrs. Parker and getting Ferraris to Feargus' kids so they can drive around Anaheim wrecking everything.

Armored Warfare keeping the company alive shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone. They had 100 people out of the 175 working on the game. Pillars of Eternity allowed them to work on an actual fucking crpg instead of just a tank game.

Private Division is keeping quite many of the Obsidian employees on the payroll currently. They had something else in the works as well, but since Feargus has been too busy hiring everyone he knows we haven't received any hints on that project lately.