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Forums - Microsoft - Mass Effect 2 sales in the toilet-- is the reason ME1?

mrstickball on 01 April 2010
SaviorX said:
mrstickball said:

Lets compare a few current-gen IPs against eachother:

Title 1st Game 2nd Game 2nd game lead (in %)
Mass Effect 1,306,000 1,622,000 24% (9 weeks)
Uncharted 1,373,000 3,078,000 124% (23 weeks)
Resistance 2,648,000 1,829,000 -31% (70 weeks)
No More Heroes 141,000 82,000 -42% (8 weeks, US only)
Assassin's Creed 3,561,000 3,530,000 -1% (19 weeks, X360)
Gears of War 4,965,000 5,633,000 13% (73 weeks)

I'd say that the success of sequels has been incredibly varied. UC2 is the only sequel (AFAIK) to really get massive boosts from its debut launch. I am sure my list is suspect - as I am probably forgetting a few titles. However, in general, you can see that there is no definable metric to gauge ME2 against.

Unlike every other game on the chart, though, Mass Effect 2 is the only one (AFAIK) that launched in a different season than the original. Uncharted, Resistance, NMH, AC and GoW all debuted at similar apples-to-apples launch periods, whereas ME2 was launched in January coming off of Christmas boosts vs. ME1 which debuted in early November. That would play a big part.

Throw in the fact that ME2 also had a day-and-date PC launch, and I would think that some sales may have went to the PC vs. the 360. I don't have ME2 vs. ME1 PC numbers onhand, but I would venture to say that ME2 was a bit more successful.

Ultimately, ME2 is a great game, and its sales will persist for a long time, I think. Is it slowing down? Yes. Should it sell better? Absolutely, yes. But I think that overall, BioWare should be happy with what its doing.

....why did you throw No More Heroes in there? In terms of sales, it isn't even the same ballpark. In terms of budget...it isn't there either. If you wanted to use a Wii title, you should've used maybe Cod: WaW vs Reflex, or....Umbrella Chronicles vs Darkside Chronicles.

It just seemed really out of place is all.

Like I said, it was incomplete. NMH was the one title I knew had a sequel that was a new IP. Resident Evil and Call of Duty are both established IPs.



Back from the dead, I'm afraid.

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Huya on 01 April 2010
shio said:
Huya said:
shio said:
Huya said:

Your also forgetting that Mass Effect 1 kinda got a price cut fast~~ for the past year it was only 19,99 here!

If anything the PC version did is increase the amount of pirates, you still need a high end pc to play ME2 so why bother if you got a xbox360

 

 

Edit: All my friends that got Mass effect pirated it on the PC :(. Apart from 1

ME2 doesn't require a high end PC : Where did you hear such lie. Infact, word is that ME2 runs even better than ME1 on PC.

ME2 has pretty low requirements imo. A $300 PC can definitely run ME2.


A 300 dollar PC including everything can run better then a xbox360?

$300 for a PC that runs on low settings atleast. The Xbox360 version should be comparable to the lower settings of the PC version, and it defintely loses in gameplay/controls against the PC version.


And where could I buy these wonderful PCs :/



Jereel Hunter on 01 April 2010
Gojimaster said:

I haven't played Mass Effect 2 yet, but I definitely would like to play this game in the future.  All the reviews and gameplay videos have been stellar.

That said, the reason I don't want to play Mass Effect 2 is because I haven't played Mass Effect 1.  The majority of people out there have claimed that one shouldn't play Mass Effect 2 without first playing the 1st game.  But is this statement harming Bioware's sales of Mass Effect 2?

ME2 sales have dropped like a rocket in the past few weeks, and the game is no longer in the top 50 best selling games.  ME2 is already dropped to $40 in several major retailers.  Is ME2 a completely front-loaded game that is going to be completely reliant only on the fans that bought ME1?  This is not a good predictament for BioWare.  Sequels should grow a fanbase.  Recent successful sequels include Uncharted 2, Assasins Creed 2, and Modern Warfare 2.  None of these games required someone to play the 1st game to understand the story.

Trilogies can be wonderful, but investing 20-40 hours is alot of time to impose to new fans of a series.  There are only so many hardcore fans out there.  A good portion of my gaming friends like the idea of RPGs, but don't want to play them because they are so time-consuming.  They will only play the occasional great RPG such as Zelda or Final Fantasy. 

Trilogy movies only involve a couple of hours of time to be caught up.  Video games take much longer.  I applaud BioWare for the innovative concept, but also wonder how much this is going to effect their long-term sales. 

I know ME2 can be played without playing the first game 1st, but most fans of the ME series actively dissaude people from playing this way.  This hardcore nature of ME, may also be a big hindrance to overall sales.  The other hindrance, from what a certain ME fan told me, is that ME has a lot of annoying gameplay issues that turn off several people. 

Well, I make SURE my friends play ME1 before playign ME2 - and they've all thanked me for the suggestion. But I don't think that's the issue for less-than-expected sales. ME1 was exclusive to the 360 for a while... ME2 launched on the 360 along with PC... which meant that X number of possible sales went to PC, and X*5 possible sales went to pirates :p.

And it's still on pace to sell more than the first, so not bad. Though if it had been a timed 360 exclusive... for say 6 months, it would have blown past the original's LTD totals very quickly.



Barozi on 01 April 2010
shio said:
Huya said:
shio said:
Huya said:

Your also forgetting that Mass Effect 1 kinda got a price cut fast~~ for the past year it was only 19,99 here!

If anything the PC version did is increase the amount of pirates, you still need a high end pc to play ME2 so why bother if you got a xbox360

 

 

Edit: All my friends that got Mass effect pirated it on the PC :(. Apart from 1

ME2 doesn't require a high end PC : Where did you hear such lie. Infact, word is that ME2 runs even better than ME1 on PC.

ME2 has pretty low requirements imo. A $300 PC can definitely run ME2.


A 300 dollar PC including everything can run better then a xbox360?

$300 for a PC that runs on low settings atleast. The Xbox360 version should be comparable to the lower settings of the PC version, and it defintely loses in gameplay/controls against the PC version.

360 version runs at least on medium, if not high settings (depends on if the PC version does have a very high option) and better controls/gameplay is purely subjective in this case.



Black RL on 01 April 2010

Mass Effect 2 sales are better than Mass Effect 1 so.....

40 Hours a lot to impose? So you think games with 5 to 10 hours are good? That kind of game respects your money?

Mass Effect is a RPG shooter, and like any other RPG has a long play through, and that's the way it should be.

Going back to sales, 90% of the people that wanted Mass Effect 2 have it already, and that's why it doesn't has big legs. And you are in VGChartz, this isn't official.




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Barozi on 01 April 2010
Black RL said:
Mass Effect 2 sales are better than Mass Effect 1 so.....

40 Hours a lot to impose? So you think games with 5 to 10 hours are good? That kind of game respects your money?

Mass Effect is a RPG shooter, and like any other RPG has a long play through, and that's the way it should be.

Going back to sales, 90% of the people that wanted Mass Effect 2 have it already, and that's why it doesn't has big legs. And you are in VGChartz, this isn't official.

more like 60%



Aion on 01 April 2010

Lol no it sold more in less time than the first one plus the first one came out in the holiday season.



 

   PROUD MEMBER OF THE PLAYSTATION 3 : RPG FAN CLUB

 

dobby985 on 01 April 2010

As much as I dislike Mass Effect 2 (I thought it was inferior to the original which I didn't like that much either) I don't see anything wrong with the sales at all.
I love how people on this site think they are gaming industry experts who can decide whether a game is a failure in sales or not. That's for the publisher to decide.



dirkd2323 on 01 April 2010

Its not that you need to play ME1 to understand the story, I think the biggest thing is Bioware made ME2 so much better, that after you play ME2 you don't want to go back and play ME1, I am having the same problem, ME2 is one of my all time favorite games, I bought ME1 on XBL, and the controls suck, it plays nothing like the ME2, so I have not played ME1 more then 2 hours, I want to , the controls just suck compared to ME2, the gameplay is just not even close to as good as ME2, So I think that is the biggest problem , I understood the story just fine, but going back and playing with a totally different gameplay, one that is much much worse, will detour you. I still plan on playing ME1, but I already know I will need lots of pacience, the controls to me are very frustrating after playing ME2, I wish they could do a update to change the shooting system on ME1 to work like ME2 , and we would be all good.



rossoner on 01 April 2010

no matter how some of u spin it sales re really bad(or not good at all if u like it that way) considering its probably best 360 game(judging by critics and i played it on pc,amazing game).Good opening but legs?I havent seen worse legs in a long time.

YES better sales than first 1 in same time,but judging by its legs it ll strugle tu surpass first one.
and it was funny reading some of ur comments

recession?
summer time?january?

and it received price cut really quick(by the middle of february) at least in eu.
http://www.shopto.net/XBOX%20360/VIDEO%20GAMES/XB2MA09-Mass%20Effect%202.html

and when product gets cheaper so quickly u know what its means.Well at least those who know anything about economy.

what is more sadly when u look at mw2(camping crap)weekly sales on 360.
Im not saying 1.6 mills.is bad but this game deserves at least 3,4 millions,which is impossible at this rate