Has the series become irrelevant? Or maybe the whole genre of melee-based action adventures has become kinda underground?

God of War Ascension and MGS Revengeance are also doing pretty poorly imo. Personally I'm looking forward to these!

This genre used to be pretty popular back then, but now it seems like less and less people give a shit about it.

Besides God of War 3, all those kind of games have sold pretty badly this gen, imo.

I'm talking about good games like Castlevania Lords of Shadows, Enslaved, Devil May Cry 4 or Bayonetta. Even Darksiders.

What's wrong with them? Discuss!!

Considering that, with the exception of enslaved, all of those games are recieving sequels i'm pretty sure the genre itself is doing just fine.

DMC is definitely concerning though, especially since capcom expects it sell 2 million copies worldwide by march. With RE6 also failing to meet expectations i dont see capcom being in a very pretty situation come march.

Hack N Slash games haven't had true hype since the 90's and early 2000's. They are all pretty much under the radar unless their publishers make their existence known to the world.

I think most of the games released this generation had some issue or another that kept them back from shining. Ninja Gaiden 3 definitely did not deliver in the gameplay department and suffered critically, which I think spilled over and negatively impacted its sales (I wouldn't play that game if you gave it to me for free, and I love the series). While Castlevania was great in my opinion, I know a lot of people who did not like the direction and thought it was too action oriented for them. Some do not intend to purchase the second game as a result. Darksiders' lack of commercial success baffles me to be honest. I thought that was a really good game, and I really hope there will be a third installment.

Well with respect to DmC, I think it is safe to say a lot of people are still opposed to the new direction, and that may be a serious contributing factor. Personally, I'm a fan, and I'm going to be open minded and give this game a shot. However, I noticed some performance hiccups in the demo for PS3 and after playing Enslaved which also runs on UE3 I decided to stave off my purchase and employ a wait and see approach. I got Enslaved when it was cheap, but I'm not paying $60 for a game with technical hiccups.

As for MGR ... there is still a lot of ambivalence and confusion concerning that game. I know some people who love the genre (hack and slash), but they do not follow game related news like more informed gamers. Many of them assumed it was just another stealth based action game in the vein of the solid series (and plenty of them dislike that kind of gameplay). When I told them it was h&S and it was being developed by Platinum games their opinions changed instantly. We'll have to see how that ones does, but I'm sure if more people realized what kind of game it is their interest would rise.


Do you think pre order incentives have any sort of (major) influence? I plan to get MGR, but the incentives were not good enough to get me to pre order. I think the Last of Us is a great example of how incentives should go. I pre ordered as soon as I saw the incentives.
Also, have you pre ordered any of those games you mentioned for this year? If not ... why not?

I don't really pre-order stuff. My webshop here in Switzerland has always stock and even Limited Editions are available several weeks after release. I use to wait till the first reviews come out to make my purchase. Pre-order numbers are normally a good indicator of how good the initial sales of a game in the US will be and it bothers that all these games we're talking about are pretty low right now, specially DmC. I doesn't look like it will get close to DmC 4 sales-wise. Neither does GoWA and as for MGSR pre-orders are pretty poor for a MGS game.... :(

I almost feel bad for Ninja Theory; both games they have released this generation have sold poorly, with the possible exception of Heavenly Sword--though the developers claim they were unsatisfied with the sales of that game; this new game appears to be following that trend.

maybe....just maybe the pre order charts are way off :]

I think DmC is in a troubling position. We will have to see how it goes. I would have pre-ordered, but I already mentioned why I will not. Plus the incentives from Amazon/Gamestop are not impressive. I suspect the game will be good, but I will not buy until I am clear it runs smoothly.

I don't expect MGR to sell anywhere near what the solid games sold, but I hope it does well enough to encourage a sequel. Most people who like the traditional MGS games don't seem interested in MGR because of its hack and slash roots. I happen to like both, so I find it is a perfect combination. But plenty of people don't see it that way. I recently erected a thread on PS3trohpies for this and quite a few people stated similar sentiments (they like MGS, but are not interested in MGR due to a lack of stealth and emphasis on sword play). Unsurprisingly, most seem interested in GOW: A. I have a feeling GOW: A will do well. Whether or not it will eclipse GOW 3 commercially I can't say. But some people are skeptical due to the lack of details surrounding the campaign. While the MP looks fun, the majority of people are interested in the series for solo play and not MP. Maybe we should monitor the pre-orders after more details have been released closer to its release.

I'm interested in the game and am gonna get it eventually. Also i don't preorder games because as gettoglamour said i can most likely get the game with preorder bonus long after it released.

I really hope it does well tough as i've always liked the franchise and have no problem with them trying to freshen it up a bit and i'm sick and tired of only getting fps so we could really use other genres racking up some sales.

MGR is an spin-off so it won't sell 5M like MSG4 and GOW:A is kind of not considered a direct sequel, also both games are coming at the end of the generation (GOW2 on the PS2 didn't sold that well for that reason).

The new DmC is a disaster, the loyal fans know that the game is slow and unchallenging, combat has been dumbed down for the casuals and the new settings and characters are a failure, we are encouraging people to buy Anarchy Reigns and MGR.

And Japan would not even bother to look at the new DmC.