Ubisoft Cuts Sales Projections In Half For Red Steel 2.

[SaviorX]

This is seriously starting to piss me off. When I'm done cleaning my house, I'll be back here with some extra long postage, hopefully that will end this thread.

Expect an edit......

EDIT: Ok, lets see what the OP stated and dissect it:

Ubisoft projects sales of 500,000 for Red Steel 2.

Ubisoft's initial expectations of 1 million sales for the title have now been cut in half to a meagre 500,000 units as the game prepares for launch in March.

During a financial conference call earlier this week, Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot fielded a question on Avatar sales and expectations for Red Steel 2 with the following response: "For Avatar we said 2.5 million units and our expectations were more in the 3.5-4 million [region].  On Red Steel we decided, in our expectations, to divide the quantity by two and previously we had around a million."

Despite the fact that these sales expectations are low, they aren't necessarily representative of Red Steel 2's quality. Ubisoft may simply be accounting for the poor performance of other core titles on the Wii (e.g. MadWorld, The Conduit, and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles), as well as a 50% drop-off in Ubisoft's own casual market during the current financial year.

 

Mistake #1: Madworld & The Conduit were stated as successes for Sega several times. Besides the fact that a Conduit 2 is planned, one of the staff members behind Madworld (I forget if it is the producer or not) stated they have plans for a sequel and were comfortable with the 400k it sold.

Mistake #2: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles has sold 300k in two months, 60% of what they expect Red Steel to do lifetime, at full-price. The title has only released in Japan two days ago, where the previous title sold more than 150k IIRC.  It will not match the original's sales, but surely these should be taken into account. The fact that it is ON-RAILS and has yet to sell at a price point they thrive in is misguided assumption on their part.

 

Mistake #3: Ubisoft's casual market is not representative of their core. Just because their low-budget software has sold like it DESERVED is not indicative of the potential reception of RS2. Removing multiplayer will hamper sales of course, but the title should sell despite that.

 

In my opinion, based on what they stated here, their dismal expectations are unwarranted. If they advertise it, which I doubt they will for this or No More Heroes 2, than these expectations can be valid. If RS2 is anywhere near DECENT, which I believe it will be due to Nintendo's involvement and quality art style, it will blaze past 500k.

The Conduit will have 400-430k sold after a full year on the market (at .38m now, released in June). COD: Modern Warfare Reflex has sold about 650k so far, in less than 3 months. The previos two CODs before sold 1 million. Medal of Honor Heroes 2 sold 300k+....as long as they have faith within this title enough to promote it, it will surpass 500k after NO MORE than 9 months.

 

I might not have ended the thread, but eh, I try....