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Forums - Gaming - So, what exactly was the Darksider franchise's problem? Anyone say marketing?

Farsala on 27 January 2013

I would say same reason for Dead space 3. Production costs were unreasonably high. The brand power of new ips is very weak at the end of the generation, I suspect Bioshock infinite will not do very well compared to production costs. Exclusives tend to have a slightly better chance imo.



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BaldrSkies on 27 January 2013

At the end of the day people would rather buy a Zelda game. This was just a non-family-friendly Zelda clone, and the sales were mediocre at best. It really doesn't help that the latest release, Darksiders II on the WiiU, only sold 50k copies worldwide.

Buying the studio would have meant financing and marketing the next game from virtually scratch, and it wasn't a big seller by its name alone. That's bad business, even if it's sad for the studio.



richardhutnik on 27 January 2013
Screamapillar said:
Well it just released at a time when there is gamer fatigue with consoles. The current generation has lasted *WAY* too long and sales of games as well as consoles are reflecting that.

Darksiders is a mid-tier franchise and as such I don't think expectations were all that high to begin with. If it's not a giant blockbuster like Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, or a durable, well-known series like Mario or Pokemon, it's just not going to sell all that well.

Why should gaming suffer platform fatigue when stuff like DVD/Blu-Ray players don't?  Heck, even boardgame doesn't suffer from fatigue of any sort.



Cheebee on 27 January 2013

It's a typical case of the original being an unexpected sort-of hit, which drives the devs to make a sequel, which then doesn't sell nearly as well. It happens a LOT.
Too bad, 'cos it's a really interesting franchise, imo.



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snyps on 27 January 2013

I think the title should have been "Four Horsemen"



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Screamapillar on 27 January 2013
richardhutnik said:
Screamapillar said:
Well it just released at a time when there is gamer fatigue with consoles. The current generation has lasted *WAY* too long and sales of games as well as consoles are reflecting that.

Darksiders is a mid-tier franchise and as such I don't think expectations were all that high to begin with. If it's not a giant blockbuster like Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, or a durable, well-known series like Mario or Pokemon, it's just not going to sell all that well.

Why should gaming suffer platform fatigue when stuff like DVD/Blu-Ray players don't?  Heck, even boardgame doesn't suffer from fatigue of any sort.

Film platforms change just like video games.  We've gone from film reels to Betamex, to Laser Discs, to VHS, to DVD, to now Blu Ray & HD digital distribution.  Formats change over time, just as video game formats change over time, as new technologies come into existence and people want something better than what came before.  Board games have evolved quite a bit, it's just not as noticeable as they're not on a TV screen, they're made of paper and plastic and that can only improve so much.  But if you went to the toy department in any major retail store you would see how much "board games" have evolved from Clue or the original Monopoly.



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richardhutnik on 27 January 2013
Screamapillar said:
richardhutnik said:
Screamapillar said:
Well it just released at a time when there is gamer fatigue with consoles. The current generation has lasted *WAY* too long and sales of games as well as consoles are reflecting that.

Darksiders is a mid-tier franchise and as such I don't think expectations were all that high to begin with. If it's not a giant blockbuster like Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, or a durable, well-known series like Mario or Pokemon, it's just not going to sell all that well.

Why should gaming suffer platform fatigue when stuff like DVD/Blu-Ray players don't?  Heck, even boardgame doesn't suffer from fatigue of any sort.

Film platforms change just like video games.  We've gone from film reels to Betamex, to Laser Discs, to VHS, to DVD, to now Blu Ray & HD digital distribution.  Formats change over time, just as video game formats change over time, as new technologies come into existence and people want something better than what came before.  Board games have evolved quite a bit, it's just not as noticeable as they're not on a TV screen, they're made of paper and plastic and that can only improve so much.  But if you went to the toy department in any major retail store you would see how much "board games" have evolved from Clue or the original Monopoly.

The platforms change, but I don't see the movie industry blaming the video format for poor sales.  I personally believe an industry pinning its hopes on new platforms to be the magic bullet, is setting itself up for major disappointment.

In regards to the boardgame side, it isn't a change in technology that results in changes, it is in play mechanics.  Boardgames sell independent of technology.