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makingmusic476 on 14 January 2010
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slowmo said:
CGI-Quality said:
Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
CGI-Quality said:
Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
kay' next question, why didn't it do halo sales? please dont bite my head off im just curious.

A better question: why WOULD it do Halo sales? It doesn't have the brand following, word of mouth, previous iteration respect or marketing of Halo. In fact, the two games are only comparable in genre.

eeek! please no need to get iffy, i getcha' that does make sense.

Don't mean to be snotty, it's just that these two games are compared so frequently and I just don't get it. Yes, their FPS. Yes, their the two big FPS franchises of the HD console manufacturers. BUT, they're not comparable on any other front. I just don't get the frequent comparison and hate when it seems like Killzone 2's sales are bad because Halo's are HUGE, even if I think Killzone 2 should have performed a tad better.


I don't think sales necessarily always equal a better game but its quite clear the games are absolutely comparable.  They're sci-fi FPS first party games with a emphasis on both campaign and multiplayer.  It's quite clear that they're targetting a very similar audience and demographic so can and should be compared.  Sony must have tried to understand why Halo is a huge brand with the sales it obtains and the Killzone franchise isn't performing as well, it would be gross incompetence if they didn't themselves. 

When you compare how Killzone 2 did critically then look in comparison at COD and Halo sales something has gone very wrong.  I personally think its a combination of poor marketing, average first game in the series, control scheme thats not familiar enough to people and ultimately its on the wrong system with a smaller group of the demographic of users it targets. 

The question Seraphic_Sixaxis asked is perfectly valid and one that Sony must have asked too so don't be so harsh on him.  That being said there are too many Halo fanboys that use the comparison to somehow dismiss the quality of Killzone 2 so I can understand why you get tired of seeing the argument raised as it probably brings the same haters into discussions constantly. 

Perhaps Killzone 2 going platinum and marketed (possibly bundled) well around E3 with any potential announcement of a sequel will drive it up to near 4 million LTD which would then in my opinion be classed a real success given the investment and quality of the title.

If things are really as dire as they seem, Sony could probably whip up a "Shooter of the Year" edition that includes all DLC and all patches (particularly the control patch).  It's won the award from enough sites, and that plus a bit of advertising could give the game a new lease on life (much like the LBP GotY edition), and the patched controls + the "_____ of the Year" branding could give it a more positive impression than it originally had.

They also need better commercials.  Uncharted 2 and the LBP GotY edition had great commercials, and it obviously effected their sales (LBP sold 600k in its second holiday season!).  Killzone's NA commercial was just a tech demo that said nothing about the game.  I wanna say the Killzone 2 ads were the last of the "old" ps3 ads - ones that favored cinematic presentation over relevent information that made you want to buy the game.

Prior to Killzone's release, I predicted the game would only have a 450k or so opening week, but that it would have CoD4-esque legs, carrying it over 4 million eventually.  They game had a much better opening week than I ever could've imagined (it topped CoD: WaW's opening week on ps3!), but it now looks like it won't even break 2.5 million lifetime.  Barring any drastic changes to the status quo (GotY edition + new commercials) it won't ever near that 4 million figure.

It sucks, but at least it will provide some decent ground from which to launch Killzone 3.