Roma said: lol when something from that company flops the rules need to be changed!

I vote for this.

The poll is missing "less than 200 million sales".

Solution: a game that fails to meet the sales expectations of the publisher by a considerable margin is a "flop." Obviously, we won't necessarily know what kind of sales the publisher expected most of the time, so we'll have to use our own discretion when labeling something a flop. On the other hand, a game that doesn't even break even is a MAJOR flop. Look for comments from the publisher or developer like, "We won't make a mistake like FFXIV again... If we did, it would be like at the level of destroying the company."

When do we determine if a game is a flop or not? After FW? 10 weeks? a year? when it stops selling?

I went with profit but it's a very hard thing to determine with games since the publishers/developers don't report how much a game cost to develop or how much a game sold unless they hit milestones.

Films are easy we get a reported production budget and working it out from there is easy.

Production budget $100 million

film makes less than $100 million = major bomb

film makes between $100 - $200 million = flop

film makes over $200 million = profitable

Resident evil 6 has sold over 3 million copies it is as far from a financial flop as you can get. Rating and expections it's a huge disappoinment but it still made money.

game is a flop = franchise dies

game is not a flop = sequel

You could also use the sales method. If the sales are X% lower than the prequel then you're looking at a flop.

So RE is not a flop because it sold 3 million

Therefore Guitar Hero 5, which sold ~5 million copies, at a higher price is presumably not a flop.

But GH 5 was the last in the franchise, so it is a flop?

You have 2, very inconsistent definitions.

Face it, if Black Ops 2 and Sony Smash Bros both sold 5 million accross all platforms, they would both make a profit, both would have sequels, but one would be a flop and one wouldn't.

I'd go with forum members' expectations.
The profits method is absolutely silly. I mean, Sony fans here will crucify me if I say that the PS3 is still the floppiest flop in floptown, right? By this method, that would be a reasonable statement to make. Also, Mario will always make profit, even if it only sells 1m. Does that mean that NSMBU will not be a flop if it sells 1m?
Going by publisher expectations would make sense, but it doesn't. Publishers will always change their "expectations" to match their agenda. Don't wanna make games for this console? "This game only sold 2m; we expected so much more!" Have to justify wasting more resources here to investors? "This is selling exactly according to expectations."

I think we should just give one member the power to call something a flop: I nominate Rolstoppable