All this publicity could be great for Rise of the Tomb Raider

[Zanten]

VanceIX said:

Avro1958 said:
How did the publicity around the XB1 reveal help MS? Pretty sure bad publicity is bad publicity sometimes. Square Enix is making terrible decisions lately and are a shadow of there former self.

The XB1 did pretty damn well the first few weeks after it was released, actually. It dipped after that though, for a myriad of issues (Kinect, price-point, etc) that would have been there regardless of publicity.

The thing about that is, MOST products will do very well during the initial launch. The PS4 did very well during the initial launch in Japan, before sales dropped off a cliff; the original Kinect did very well (something about the fastest selling consumer something or other,) buuuut apparently not well enough for Microsoft to feel comfortable initially making its successor optional. I think even the PS3 did pretty well during its initial launch. When you have an install base for the prior generation in the tens of millions, you're pretty much guaranteed to sell like hotcakes at first, especially during the busiest time of the year. (Keep in mind, this was released during the holiday season.) The most enthusiastic and dedicated people will be all aboard early on, ready to get on with the new generation.

Sustainability, on the other hand, is something else entirely. Consider the post-June dropping of the Kinect. If price and Kinect had been the sole reasons holding the Xbox One back, then there should have been people lined up from Day One (new Day One, rather) to purchase it. Instead, for a five-week NPD, it didn't do that well objectively. (Sure, it more than doubled May's sales, but those sales were in the toooilet. x.x Meanwhile, the PS4 is basically blasting along despite having, many would argue, a comparatively weak lineup.)

That's PR. That's a comparatively stellar reputation trumping pretty much everything else. Especially in gaming, which is filled with people who closely monitor the industry, like you or I, and people who RELY on said people (be they friends or family,) for information down the road, the last thing any game, any company, wants to hear is "So and so REALLY sucks balls, Goddamnit complete tripe, they can go to hell..." Indie games that have tried, for example, Content ID blocks on negative reviews have OFTEN found their sales tanking shortly after, because while there might be come buying it 'Out Of Curiosity,' many more won't even bother, especially when they can just Youtube footage. =P