HappySqurriel on 29 July 2007
Being that this discussion has turned to sales, without considering quality Lair has a lot of problems which will prevent the kind of sales some people expect.
- Not a popular genre. As much as people will argue this one, flight simulators rarely ever break 1 million units sold and almost none pass that mark without the Starwars licence or cool planes. By going with Dragons Factor 5 may end up targeting gamers who normally don't play flight simulators but may also lose gamers who normally play flight simulators.
- New IP. There are countless properties that they could have licenced (Dragon Lance, Dungeons and Dragons, etc.) that would have given them a built in audience. By going with a new IP they have an uphill battle in making customers familiar with the title.
- Unique on the console. As much as being a unique game on a console can be a strength (everyone who wants that kind of game on that console will buy it) it also acts as a weakness because fans of a genre or topic may probably not own the system.
- Released on unpopular platform. Simply a numbers game, if the PS3 had four times the userbase and/or was selling 4 times as many units in a given timeframe games would sell better. It is simply a numbers game as there will always be a certain ratio of buyers who become interested in a game through reasonably random channels; the more people who own a console or are buying a console will increase your sales.
