AHA-Lambda
Member
Hadn't even thought it, but yeah you're right. Didn't hit me as much as Destiny, probably cos Ubi didn't wear their heart on their sleeves like Activision did.
So what were the bombas of 2014?
- Thread starter AHA-Lambda
- Start date
Hadn't even thought it, but yeah you're right. Didn't hit me as much as Destiny, probably cos Ubi didn't wear their heart on their sleeves like Activision did.
bananafactory
Banned
I thought it was 99k on PS4 and 34k on PS3 - 133k total.
Yeah, I mean they might be able to redeem themselves with a Watch_Dogs 2 (like assassins creed 2) but who knows. Sucks since the premise was interesting it just got ruined by the typical "big budget big development" engine.
ALLseeingEYE
Member
When I say bomba, the game can be a financial success but still considered disappointing compared to relative expectations.
BOMBA:
Assassin's Creed - Both the PAL and NPD threads have shown that Rogue + Unity is down on Black Flag across all platforms, and thoroughly deserved after the game's issues (plus I hate Ubi's handling of the franchise anyway). In the UK Watch Dogs on PS4 at launch outsold Unity across all platforms!
Call of Duty - The decline continues, we just have a thread detailing that CoD is down 27% yoy in the US, and as for the UK AW did outsell Ghosts on launch week but it had an extra day and no staggered launch.
Murdered: Soul Suspect - nuff said the game killed it's studio before it even came out, shame as it's got some really good ideas and is worth a look.
MAYBE:
Dragon Age: Inquisition - the absence of this game in the latest NPD top 10 has to be a worrying sign but that alone isn't enough to comment =/
Alien: Isolation - so many significant discounts on this game so quickly can't be a good sign.
The Evil Within - same as above.
SURPRISE:
Lords of the Fallen - this game was apparently profitable, who'd a thunk it? Glad to see smaller AA titles like this thrive
Agree? Disagree? Any others people want to chime?
Uhhh, I don't think you have any idea what it means to be a bomb, judging by the games you are listing.
COD - Hell no, even if it's currently down 27%, a game still selling over 15,000,000 units in the end could never be considered a bomb. If anything, series fatigue, console transition, anything could be attributed to this, but I think it's very possible this is a console transition issue and next year sales will be up again.
AC - Once again, a bomb? Considering we have no digital sales data, it's way too early to call this. This can possibly still sell several million copies in the end, nevermind that the X1 AC bundles seem to be selling incredibly well.
Dragon Age - Still too early to tell. We don't have any significant sales data, especially not for PC, the #1 platform for this. The holidays aren't over, and great games tend to have legs. Probably not going to bomb in the end.
Evil Within - Why is this even on the list? from everything I've seen, the game is selling very well. What data has lead to this conclusion?
Real Bombs:
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
- Murdered: Soul Suspect
- Little Big Planet 3? (I doubt this will bomb in the end either, childen's games tend to have legs. Even LBP1 didn't have great sales out of the gate.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Again, first 2 I mentioned could be bombs relative to publisher expectations and performance of the IP, even though they've sold well, it's a question of if they've sold enough. Also, I can't be confident in your assessment on CoD this is another year of decline for CoD that has been ongoing since MW3.
The other 2 I admit I could be wrong on, hence the maybe tag, those were based on observations I'd made from sales pricing and placement in NPD. TEW for example 6 weeks after release top be 66% off on Steam certainly raises eyebrows to me.
Call of Duty and AssCreed can both sell a lot of units and simultaneously fall way, way short of publisher expectations. You can probably throw Titanfall into that quasi-category too given EA's complete silence on the sales. All successful games in a vacuum, not quite as much compared to what publishers' wanted.
BOMBA to me are games that are heavily hyped by the press, or at least decently marketed by the publisher, that do not even land in the top ten on their debut month. 2014 was not exactly a minefield of compelling new releases, so if you're landing outside of the top ten, something went wrong.
BOMBA to me are games that are heavily hyped by the press, or at least decently marketed by the publisher, that do not even land in the top ten on their debut month. 2014 was not exactly a minefield of compelling new releases, so if you're landing outside of the top ten, something went wrong.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
I hope Lords of Shadow 2 bombed so we don't get a third. First game was a disappointment, second was a piece of garbage through and through.
Rats. I got an extra code from an event and I've been trying to sell it. I'm going to have a bad time am I?
AHA-Lambda
Member
Not as hard a time as I am having trying to get a decent sale price on the AC Unity download card. People are passing that thing off like a soiled mattress.
He's right though. The first game was alright, albeit way too long. Never played the second, but that's because of player impressions/reviews.
SuperDowns
Banned
OP, good thread idea but you need a lesson in what Bomba means.
COD and Assassin's creed are not Bomba, they most DEFINITELY turned profits, large ones.
COD and Assassin's creed are not Bomba, they most DEFINITELY turned profits, large ones.
AHA-Lambda
Member
As I said earlier in the thread I really liked LOS 2
See my above posts, they can still fall way short of publisher expectations.
ALLseeingEYE
Member
Yeah, it's too early to say anything about the newly released games. Even compared to company expectations, a game being down 27% could hardly be called a bomb in my opinion. That's far more in the realm of 'disappointing', or 'mildly upsetting'. I would classify a bomb as a game being financially disastrous. A game selling a fraction of its predecessor, and especially if its sales are low enough that the publisher cans an entire franchise is certainly a bomb, for example.
Lords of Shadow 2 fits that bill tragically.
I feel your pain.
I'm interested to see if Dragon Age is going to have legs, lots of players cooled on BioWare after DA2/ME3 and I can see a scenario where more people give it a shot as it racks up awards. Sunset Overdrive probably bombed but I'm hoping it showed enough promise to get a sequel. I see TItanfall popping up here and there in this thread and while I think it's reasonable to assume EA wanted higher sales, did anyone think it would do COD numbers? I think keeping the X1 afloat (and being a fine shooter in it's own right) is impressive enough.
Wildstar is a tough one as we don't know the numbers, at launch the amount of sales apparently far exceeded their expectations but the retention was something that lacked. I feel sorry for Carbine as some things weren't in their control. When they announced the release date, you could tell that they weren't happy. Clearly something decided by NcSoft and not when the game was ready to be shipped (too many bugs)
One of their key promises of monhtly updates backfired horribly. They did keep on their promise early on but the Quality Assurance couldn't keep up which just caused frustration. That I think drove people away the most. I don't think the gameplay itself really drove people away. Are their other factors, absolutely, but I think the bugs was the biggest factor.
Servers appeared empty: This is I think a problem of the housing system which is probably the best in the genre. It's amazing, problem is. It's amazing and offered you so much that there was at times little reason to go to the cities anymore except for perhaps the Auction house.
The hardcore problem, this was a big problem. The problem is that hardcore=tedium. Reputation grinds, extremely difficult attunement quest. Dungeon competitiveness as unless you got a gold medal you didn't get jack shit. So the first wipe usually meant disbanding. Awful.
All of the above is pretty bad. However,the future seems cautiously optimistic. Everyone seems to be super excited about the upcoming Fourth Content Patch (Drop 4) Which adresses a lot of people's concerns they had with the game and weren't so easy to fix.
A lot of the hardcore hardcore stuff has been toned down significently. The 40 man raid has been repurposed to a 20 man raid so it's way more manegeable and is in line wiht most public events (which are for 20+ players)
The Attunement quest got cut down, the dungeon rewards system got changed up. (Higher medal gives more amounts of loot, but even with no medal you still get worthwile amount of loot). They've really been listening to the feedback in the last couple of months and caused me to subscribe again. (Didn't play for 4-5'ish months I think, WoD was fun)
I really really personally hope Wildstar can turn things around in 2015. The changes upcoming are great, and the combat system is (imo awesome, but I get why people wouldn't like it either). A wonderful art style, awesome races and world.
I really hope NcSoft doesn't pull the plug anytime soon like some of their other games and gives them enough time to Carbine to prove. It would be a shame for Wildstar to go under. It definitly had/has some major flaws, but it's by no means a bad game at all.
One of their key promises of monhtly updates backfired horribly. They did keep on their promise early on but the Quality Assurance couldn't keep up which just caused frustration. That I think drove people away the most. I don't think the gameplay itself really drove people away. Are their other factors, absolutely, but I think the bugs was the biggest factor.
Servers appeared empty: This is I think a problem of the housing system which is probably the best in the genre. It's amazing, problem is. It's amazing and offered you so much that there was at times little reason to go to the cities anymore except for perhaps the Auction house.
The hardcore problem, this was a big problem. The problem is that hardcore=tedium. Reputation grinds, extremely difficult attunement quest. Dungeon competitiveness as unless you got a gold medal you didn't get jack shit. So the first wipe usually meant disbanding. Awful.
All of the above is pretty bad. However,the future seems cautiously optimistic. Everyone seems to be super excited about the upcoming Fourth Content Patch (Drop 4) Which adresses a lot of people's concerns they had with the game and weren't so easy to fix.
A lot of the hardcore hardcore stuff has been toned down significently. The 40 man raid has been repurposed to a 20 man raid so it's way more manegeable and is in line wiht most public events (which are for 20+ players)
The Attunement quest got cut down, the dungeon rewards system got changed up. (Higher medal gives more amounts of loot, but even with no medal you still get worthwile amount of loot). They've really been listening to the feedback in the last couple of months and caused me to subscribe again. (Didn't play for 4-5'ish months I think, WoD was fun)
I really really personally hope Wildstar can turn things around in 2015. The changes upcoming are great, and the combat system is (imo awesome, but I get why people wouldn't like it either). A wonderful art style, awesome races and world.
I really hope NcSoft doesn't pull the plug anytime soon like some of their other games and gives them enough time to Carbine to prove. It would be a shame for Wildstar to go under. It definitly had/has some major flaws, but it's by no means a bad game at all.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Barry Burton
Member
Wasn't The Evil Within up at #3 in the October NPD? I was surprised by that, but I'm pretty sure it's not a bomba.
When people make this kind of drive-by posts, all I can do is shake my head and rarely write this kind of post.
Its safe to say that each and every game mentioned by poster has sold hell'a well. OP asks which game post release have SOLD POORLY and/or did not meet sale targets (if information available).
For what we know:
Titanfall: sold well but ahs poor staying power.
Watchdogs: sold well but had poor staying power
Destiny: Sold really fucking well and despite criticism by minority (vocal) and few outlets, it has insane staying power even 3 months after it was released (but hey I might be biased here, since we are on to OT12).
Its bizarre that people mess up their own perception of the game with general reception of sales by public on monetary level.
ALLseeingEYE
Member
Yup, all three of those games were very successful. Perhaps Titanfall less so, but Watchdogs and Destiny were huge hits.
Some random poster in a thread listing games has no bearing on whether or not a game is a bomb, of course. As mentioned above, Titanfall isn't close to being a bomb, Respawn as a studio seems very healthy, and I would assume Titanfall 2 is definitely in the cards unless Respawn has something even better in mind. They did just hire Cory Barlog afterall.
The other two though...hard to say.
- Sunset sales seem disappointing, but without digital sales numbers we aren't going on much. MS has lots of time to push this still.
- For LBP3, this does seem to be in the realm of bomb from what I've seen, but once again we don't have much to go on here. I'd be very surprised to see LBP die as a series at this point, especially since games targeted at younger crowds tend to sell low out of the gate and have legs, especially as they hit $20. The PS4 bundle could already be ensuring it has an audience as well, but I doubt many younger kids will be getting PS4's and X1's for Chistmas until these hit $300 or less. Low sales at this point could be more due to a lack of the younger crowd being on PS4, but those review scores aren't inspiring.
joey_bone_bomb
Member
In some parallel universe Alien Isolation won every GOTY award and sold crazy numbers, like it deserved to.
Even just the possibility of this game being a sales bomb makes me die a little inside.
Even just the possibility of this game being a sales bomb makes me die a little inside.
I thought it was 99k for both combined. I could be wrong though. That NPD thread was a complete clusterfuck to read properly.
Destiny is a "Diablo III" type bomb. It sells gangbusters, a vocal portion of the audience pans it. I imagine Destiny gets "fixed" like D3 ultimately did. A lot of people playing D3 now say it's much improved from the original release.
Titanfall was propped up a lot with bundles, and being in that launch window.
D3 was "fixed" by making a console version that was loved, firing the director of the original PC version and then bringing in the console guy to do a complete rework.
So I mean its possible buts its not the same situation as Destiny. Would be cool though since I enjoyed my time with Destiny until it kind of become horrible since there's no content?
YatÅkiri_Kilgharrah
Banned
It was also the Wii U's biggest sales wek so far. The console hasnt had any momentum so please dont be an idiot.
Thats the most the Wii U has ever done in any november since launch
YatÅkiri_Kilgharrah
Banned
Is 300k sales worldwide considered a bomba now?
We dont even know the game's budget...
Its sold 78k in US and 60k in france and 56k in Japan.
Dragon Age did >600k in America. Im sure the game sold fine worldwide
As for LBP... well LBP is a slow burner and 135k at launch is okay I guess. the game ould have done better but they eek by on lower sales compared to other genres. Im sure they'll be fine and profitable
Low selling =//= bomba
low profit = bomba
Selling lower than it used to = underperforming expectations.
Just wait until you conceder that many of this games don't get proper PC treatment or locked behind strict means of accessing...once generation is up bye bye goes the obscure games.
ALLseeingEYE
Member
I think you are mixing up a game being a creative disappointment or critical disappointment with a game being a bomb. Neither Diablo III or Destiny were close to being financial or sales bombs. In fact it's the exact opposite, they were both massively successful.
As for Destiny, even looking at the player retention numbers they seem to have been incredibly successful. It's possible that player disappointment could lead to poor sales of Destiny 2, but we'll see. People still seem to be playing the crap out of Destiny for whatever reason.
SturokBGD
Member
I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say, sorry.
Isn't Elder Scrolls Online doing well for an MMO? I mean, it isn't F2P yet (SWTOR was by this point in its life, IIRC), and it does not even have a trial, so they're not exactly desperate for new players, i think. It is getting content.
Just because it isn't a mass success (like WoW) does not necessarily mean it is a failure, as MMOs are a niche genre anyway (WoW aside, seriously that game is a freak when it comes to its success).
Just because it isn't a mass success (like WoW) does not necessarily mean it is a failure, as MMOs are a niche genre anyway (WoW aside, seriously that game is a freak when it comes to its success).
I would never call Destiny a bomb. Like I said, "It [sold] gangbusters." I was comparing it to D3 only in that "a vocal portion of the audience [panned] it."
Titanfall I suspect of being a bomb, though. That 5 buck "bomba" price on PC last month shocked everyone.
SomedayTheFire
Member
You obviously have no idea what a bomba is considering you've named 3 of the biggest games of the year
YatÅkiri_Kilgharrah
Banned
Is it flaming to call people out on being idiotic? I was quite respectful in my post. I asked him not to be an idiot. I did not attack him personally. I'm also not angry,simply being informative. Perhaps I suggest you stop reading into things. You can't really infer anger from my post without making assumptions of how a person who's a "fan" of nintendo might react. To that I'd say, "spend less time on the internet cavorting with easily angered children".
My personal predilections,including an admiration for Nintendo's products/business practices/ec,t to designate me as such a "fan" has little to do with my approach in commenting on his poorly thought out,snide,post.
It irks me beyond beleif when people open their mouths and have nothing of use to say. Especially when what comes out of their mouth is either blatantly incorrect or a distortion of reality.
WIi U is a sales bomba, its a machine with zero momentum besides what the tentpole first party releases have inspired in it. It's likely to remain that way and never sell past 20 million units after 5 years on the market. That's them breaks.
But its asinine to write such a post.Thus I called him out on it. It adds nothing to the topic at hand.
Perhaps I should have refrained from entering this topic at all, people on Neogaf have a tendency to jump to call anything a"BOMBA" without having clear sales and budget data, is another thing that "rustles my jimmies"
Its physically painful for me to read eager stupidity.It hurts my brain.
AC Unity was definitely a bomb on the PS4, and probably would have bombed on the Xbox One if it weren't for the crazy bundle price and the insane Black Friday bundle price.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
I couldn't possible disagree with someone more on the subject.
Would absolutely love more Lords of Shadow.
And will sell another 500k bundled. But compared to 12m Black Flag less than 10m for Unity/Rogue combined isn't that hot.
ALLseeingEYE
Member
I agree that Destiny seems to mirror Diablo III in a sense, regarding a vocal audience being disappointed.
Regarding Titanfall though...the game has already come on record as selling over 2 million copies months ago (I'll dig into this a bit more when I get a chance). EA going gangbusters with sales is interesting, but there are also good financial reasons for doing that such as advertising for future sequels, filling out your userbase, and also possibly making tons of money with a surprisingly awesome sale that basically everyone will buy on a whim.
Personally, I think that Titanfall sale was mostly because EA wanted player mindshare. They wanted everyone playing Titanfall in a season where it would have been forgotten, so that we can all compare it directly to COD and Destiny and remember how damn fun it is.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Pretty sure its already sailed past a million worldwide. Similar horror-themed games like Alien Isolation wished they "bombed" like that