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Forums - Sales - Killzone 2 SALES are Very Disappointing (Just Realized)

Grimes on 31 August 2009
Kantor said:
Grimes said:
I don't think you need to specifically market to casuals. You just need good marketing period. The Gears commercials are a perfect example. They weren't necessarily targeting casuals, but the commercials told a story that anyone could understand. I have read a lot of about Killzone, but I still have no clue what the story is about.

What story? The story of Gears consists of:

1) Aliens hide underground

2) Humans form massive army

3) Humans kill aliens from underground

4) More aliens come from underground.

Then on the opposite end of the spectrum you have Killzone 2 which is just ridiculous. If you're going to put in that much backstory, include some story in the damned game beyond "Let's go to this planet and attack it because they attacked us!" The backstory is fascinating, but it's convoluted, and for some reason, they can't put any story into the game.

I could argue that most of the casuals bought 360s for Halo and games like that, but what explains CoD4's 4 million+ sales then? The 360 version? If KZ2 had a 360 version, would it have sold more on PS3?

I'm talking about the commercials. The Killzone commercial did not tell much of a story, just a guy shooting a bullet. There was a commercial for the video game Wanted that was playing at the same time that looked just as good to the ordinary viewer. There was nothing that stood out. It gave the viewer nothing to get excited about. The music was boring. The visuals were detailed but boring.

There is no comparison really.



Anyone can guess. It takes no effort to throw out lots of predictions and have some of them be correct. You are not and wiser or better for having your guesses be right. Even a blind man can hit the bullseye.

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darthdevidem01 on 31 August 2009
Kantor said:
darthdevidem01 said:
@kantor

Maybe we should keep sending SONY e-mails saying

Market to casuals

we'll send 1 everyday until they do that!

Killzone 2 received a fair bit of advertising, though, didn't it? People would have seen the ads, but probably dismissed them because they were too busy playing Call of Duty. I DON'T GET IT! Why are CoD, Halo and Gears so popular with casuals? Why, when a game becomes PS3 exclusive, is it suddenly uncool and unheard of?!

Since we'll never know the answer, let's just blame America and be done with it

Yeah lets blame NA, its all their fault!!!

On another note, MGS4 managed to sell so well with crappy marketing.......Uncharted showed legs

I think we need to imagine a possibility that mabe KZ2 didn't have the "best" word of mouth

or the "good word of mouth" was overshadowed by the "ZOMG HAVE YOU PLAYED COD YET" shouts (as you mentioned)



All hail the KING, Andrespetmonkey

Kantor on 31 August 2009
Grimes said:
Kantor said:
Grimes said:
I don't think you need to specifically market to casuals. You just need good marketing period. The Gears commercials are a perfect example. They weren't necessarily targeting casuals, but the commercials told a story that anyone could understand. I have read a lot of about Killzone, but I still have no clue what the story is about.

What story? The story of Gears consists of:

1) Aliens hide underground

2) Humans form massive army

3) Humans kill aliens from underground

4) More aliens come from underground.

Then on the opposite end of the spectrum you have Killzone 2 which is just ridiculous. If you're going to put in that much backstory, include some story in the damned game beyond "Let's go to this planet and attack it because they attacked us!" The backstory is fascinating, but it's convoluted, and for some reason, they can't put any story into the game.

I could argue that most of the casuals bought 360s for Halo and games like that, but what explains CoD4's 4 million+ sales then? The 360 version? If KZ2 had a 360 version, would it have sold more on PS3?

I'm talking about the commercials. The Killzone commercial did not tell much of a story, just a guy shooting a bullet. There was a commercial for the video game Wanted that was playing at the same time that looked just as good to the ordinary viewer. There was nothing that stood out. It gave the viewer nothing to get excited about. The music was boring. The visuals were detailed but boring.

There is no comparison really.

The Mad World commercial, while awesome, is nothing but an overly buff guy walking around and shooting things to quiet music. The KZ2 ad was no better (it sucked). I don't think the Gears ad has anything on the GC 2009 Uncharted 2 trailer.



(Former) Lead Moderator and (Eternal) VGC Detective

NiKKoM on 31 August 2009
JEDE3 said:
In 2005, the Amsterdammers had started with 45 man to the first set-up of the continuation. Previous year summer, then the leeuwendeel of the work had be resisted, was the army designers, programmers and driving forces uitgedijd to 200 man. Tell me where these extra 70 people came from and their sources?

Hey man.. that's from the Volkskrant.. that's like the most respected newspaper from the netherlands..

But anyway: from Herman Hulst Director of Guerllia Games:

http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=582752mh

De cijfers die Hulst wel geeft, spreken voor zich. 'We hebben vier jaar lang met 140 mensen aan het spel gewerkt, onder wie overigens vier Vlamingen. Het laatste jaar hebben we het team zelfs uitgebouwd tot 200 mensen.' Killzone 2 is dan ook een echte blockbuster met Hollywoodallures. Hulst: 'We werken met échte acteurs, met scenaristen en regisseurs. Dit is een gigantische productie.'

Short recap: 4 years with 140 people for THE game.. 4 from Belgium.. the last year it went to 200 people...

edit: they are talking about KZ2.. not Liberation or anything other.. 140 people on 1 game..

 

 



 

Face the future.. Gamecenter ID: nikkom_nl (oh no he didn't!!) 

Grimes on 31 August 2009
Kantor said:

The Mad World commercial, while awesome, is nothing but an overly buff guy walking around and shooting things to quiet music. The KZ2 ad was no better (it sucked). I don't think the Gears ad has anything on the GC 2009 Uncharted 2 trailer.

You're intitled to your opinion, but the Gears commmercial has over 6 million views on that single youtube upload, and probably a lot more once you add in all the other uploads of the same video on youtube and other sites. People like to watch it.



Anyone can guess. It takes no effort to throw out lots of predictions and have some of them be correct. You are not and wiser or better for having your guesses be right. Even a blind man can hit the bullseye.

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Kantor on 31 August 2009
Grimes said:
Kantor said:

The Mad World commercial, while awesome, is nothing but an overly buff guy walking around and shooting things to quiet music. The KZ2 ad was no better (it sucked). I don't think the Gears ad has anything on the GC 2009 Uncharted 2 trailer.

You're intitled to your opinion, but the Gears commmercial has over 6 million views on that single youtube upload, and probably a lot more once you add in all the other uploads of the same video on youtube and other sites. People like to watch it.

I don't disagree with those 6 million people. It's one of the best ads I've seen for a game. But I don't see how it tells a story.



(Former) Lead Moderator and (Eternal) VGC Detective

Grimes on 31 August 2009
Kantor said:
Grimes said:
Kantor said:

The Mad World commercial, while awesome, is nothing but an overly buff guy walking around and shooting things to quiet music. The KZ2 ad was no better (it sucked). I don't think the Gears ad has anything on the GC 2009 Uncharted 2 trailer.

You're intitled to your opinion, but the Gears commmercial has over 6 million views on that single youtube upload, and probably a lot more once you add in all the other uploads of the same video on youtube and other sites. People like to watch it.

I don't disagree with those 6 million people. It's one of the best ads I've seen for a game. But I don't see how it tells a story.

It tells a story of a solitary soldier fighting on a ruined world. There is a sadness demonstrated by the way he looks at a broken statue and the music reinforces that emotion. Just when you think he's about to get out of trouble, oh crap huge monster!



Anyone can guess. It takes no effort to throw out lots of predictions and have some of them be correct. You are not and wiser or better for having your guesses be right. Even a blind man can hit the bullseye.

JEDE3 on 31 August 2009

nik - so they claim the game was in development for 5 years... riiiiight... I'd love to see the numbers of how it went from 45 employees to more than they currently have employed now a year before they had 45 employees...



chrisrulz555 on 31 August 2009
nojustno said:
Yeah overhyping is dangerous, still, they prob made a decent profit.

I'm not so sure about this, in a recent EA interview they stated they needed to sell more than 1.1 million units to break even on their annualized need for speed franchises. If this is true for a game that takes 1 year to make, has a pre-established engine and a relatively small team size how many copies would Killzone 2 have to sell with 4-5 years in the making, working on a new engine and a team of 100+. In the cost you also have to include Voice Actors and marketing budget. Just because ads are bad does not make them cheap.



JEDE3 on 31 August 2009

link to EA's interview.