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[sonycowboy]

http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=7962&section=toppers&email=

Another nice article by gamedaily

Molyneux Strikes Again

Despite a long development period, the removal of features, and incredibly high expectations, Peter Molyneux's Xbox RPG has been performing quite well at retail. Who says original games can't make it?

Fable has faced many challenges on its way to ultimately finding success. In development longer than the Xbox has been available, Fable saw its public hype level become a finicky beast. In 2003 more and more promised features were being cut, and it appeared to many that the once revolutionary Fable was going to be a bust. Once near-final builds began to show up in 2004 and it dawned on gamers that there truly was a real game dropping in early September and not just a huge Lionhead Studios/Big Blue Box pipe dream, the hype from the press once again became deafening. One media outlet even asked "Is Fable the greatest RPG of all time?" shortly before release.

An uphill battle
The very genre of the title itself might also have worked against it becoming a blockbuster. "There's no question Fable is a very good game, but the RPG genre doesn't hold much mass appeal," Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter explained to GameDAILYBiz. "It is the definition of a hardcore gamer's game." RPGs can and do become bestsellers, but they're much less likely to do so than a quality first person shooter or sports title. They have a much rougher uphill battle in cracking the mainstream market.

Over 2 million Final Fantasy X owners would seem to contradict the mainstream appeal of the role-playing genre, but that title had the luxury of being one of the most recognizable names in all of gaming. "One of the most difficult aspects of selling this game is that it is a new game - not a sequel, not a licensed property," Fable Product Manager Josh Goldberg told GameDAILYBiz.

Essentially, to be successful, Fable had to meet near impossible fan expectations, overcome being an unknown brand, and reach the mainstream gamer in a genre that rarely does it.

Filling a hole
Upon release, Fable leaped every hurdle placed in front of it and performed better than nearly anyone had expected. "All game developers/publishers are anxious to see the reviews when their game hits store shelves. Especially when you have put years of effort and energy into development and created one of the most highly anticipated titles ever. The reviews have been great and we love hearing about the wide range of experiences that gamers everywhere are having with Fable," said Goldberg.

In an odd twist of events, Fable being an RPG most likely ended up boosting sales, rather than hindering performance. The Xbox is largely light on the genre, with only a couple of quality RPG entries in its entire lifespan. "There's simply not much like it on the Xbox, and very little in the way of high-profile exclusives for the next couple of months," said Pachter. Tales of Symphonia selling through 200,000 copies since its release is a great example of how a title filling a genre hole can be much more successful than it would be otherwise.

Sky Captain who?
Fable's years of hype, coupled with appearing on the market at the perfect moment, allowed it to overcome its RPG niche and become a mainstream success. "We are setting records with retailers, and the game grossed more at retail than the #1 box office movie last week," said Goldberg.

Indeed, Fable grossed more money than Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow, according to the USA Weekend Box-Office Summary on IMDb.

Surpassing expectations
Despite heavy competition for gamers' dollars from titles like Sly 2 and Gradius V, Fable stole the retail show. In its first week at retail in North Americas, the game sold through more than 375,000 units—grossing roughly $18.7 million U.S. Additionally, it amassed the biggest first-week sales for any Xbox title ever at EB Games. "Fable surpassed our expectations. It was our top performer last week. We had to obtain additional copies to meet demand," EB Games' Divisional VP of Marketing, Debbie Mola told GameDAILYBiz.

Dan DeMatteo, president and chief operating officer of GameStop, added, "Fable has been a huge hit for us, and it was our number one-selling title across all platforms over the last week."

Staying the course
Microsoft couldn't have asked for greater short-term success. The question now facing the title is "Does the game have any legs?" "We have experienced a drop in sales this week, due to the number of new releases, but it's still performing admirably," said Mola.

Fable's more action-oriented approach to the genre was intelligently featured quite prominently in the title's ad campaign, along with the extreme freedom of choice. When looking at the short list of successful RPGs that have been successful on the Xbox, one can see that it has been virtually impossible to be successful with a more traditional role-playing experience. Fable's sales are proving that it's not the swords and sorcery or character growth aspects of the genre that Xbox owners shy away from; it's the plodding pace typically found in the genre.

Fable was able to surpass retail expectations by not only timing its release perfectly, but also filling a void in the Xbox's library with a more easily accessible RPG experience. Fable is the RPG that Halo fans will buy.

 

[DarienA]

Fable Shows that Original Games Can Succeed? God even the media has picked up the no new original games anymore mantra.... and comparing it to that bomb Sky Captain? God give me a break.

 

[cybercrash]

Fable has decent sales because everyone was expecting it to be 'that revolutionary XBox title'.

 

[open_mouth_]

Fable >>> Sky Captain

 

[Prine]

The cunts over at BBB better start working on part 2 now. I want to buy it on launch day of Xennon, along with that other long delayed title. Perfect Dark

 

[PhatSaqs]

Applause.

 

[belgurdo]

Fable...original?

 

[TheGreenGiant]

Fable...original?

I don't think ANYONE in their right mind would argue with that.

 

[Razoric]

Despite some flaws this game deserves all the praise it gets. I'm having a blast with it. Hopefully this secures Fable for Xbox Live support and a sequel.

 

[open_mouth_]

Before Xenon comes out, we'll likely get a Fable Booster pack and then we'll get Intrepid's Xbox game, B.C., which, hopefully, will be polished up and released by next summer.

If both titles sell as well as they're expected to, then Xenon sequels for both should be expected.

 

[xsarien]

Sky Captain who?
Fable's years of hype, coupled with appearing on the market at the perfect moment, allowed it to overcome its RPG niche and become a mainstream success. "We are setting records with retailers, and the game grossed more at retail than the #1 box office movie last week," said Goldberg.

I can't possibly be the only one on the planet who gets annoyed whenever any company pulls this cheap-ass comparison out of their hat.

 

[jedimike]

Fable was able to surpass retail expectations by not only timing its release perfectly, but also filling a void in the Xbox's library with a more easily accessible RPG experience. Fable is the RPG that Halo fans will buy.

Here's the key sentence.

 

[Deku Tree]

"Succeed" is a relative term... I mean Fable is selling good so far, but with all that development time and the TV ads how much does Fable need to sell to make a decent amount of money?

 

[Ghost]

Personally i think having my name in the credits was the key to sucess (take note developers, im the holy grail)

 

[open_mouth_]

"Succeed" is a relative term... I mean Fable is selling good so far, but with all that development time and the TV ads how much does Fable need to sell to make a decent amount of money?

I'd say about 700k @ close the full price will do the trick, plus another 500k or so @ discounted prices for an added bonus.

 

[djtiesto]

Personally i think having my name in the credits was the key to sucess (take note developers, im the holy grail)

Really, how did you get your name in the credits? Testing?

 

[rastex]

This made me laugh

Despite heavy competition for gamers' dollars from titles like Sly 2 and Gradius V, Fable stole the retail show.

Sly 2, maybe. But Gradius V was never going to set the retail world on fire no matter how good a shmup it is.

 

[Ghost]

Really, how did you get your name in the credits? Testing?

Lionhead did a scheme a couple years ago where you volunteer and they let you come test for them for 2 weeks, i signed up but i had to pull out at the last minute (family stuff) no idea if the name refers to me and just wasnt removed (there are hundreds if not thousands of volunteers there) or if its some other Josh Butterworth.**


**This Story may read slightly differently on my CV

 

[Duckhuntdog]

Lionhead did a scheme a couple years ago where you volunteer and they let you come test for them for 2 weeks, i signed up but i had to pull out at the last minute (family stuff) no idea if the name refers to me and just wasnt removed (there are hundreds if not thousands of volunteers there) or if its some other Josh Butterworth.**


**This Story may read slightly differently on my CV

Two weeks testing on a game in your resume... I am in the closed Beta of WoW and putting that on my resume wouldn't impress any HR person outside of say SOE.

Not saying you should not put it there, especially if you are looking to break into the industry, but you would want something that clocks in at atleast a few months. Some places want to see if you can finish a project or do you just jump around.

 

[Ghost]

was a joke.

 

[Folder]

Fable...original?

Oh yes! Molyneux himself says so. Must be true.

 

[TTP]

Maybe by "original" he means "original IP", not original game design per se.

 

[Cold Shadow]

Fable Shows that Hyped Games Can Succeed

I fixed it for you

 

[ManDudeChild]

With all that Fable was supposed to be ... and what it is, i'm concerned about BC.

 

[SantaC]

Fable is the RPG that Halo fans will buy

uh am I the only one that find that quote weird?

 

[sonycowboy]

Maybe by "original" he meana "original IP", not original game design per se.

Thank you.

The point isn't about the "quality" of the game. It's more a message to the industry, that sequels and licensed games aren't the only way.

If you look at the top 10 games this year, 8 of them are sequels or licenses. Only Halo is in the top 5.

 

[DarienA]

Thank you.

The point isn't about the "quality" of the game. It's more a message to the industry, that sequels and licensed games aren't the only way.

If you look at the top 10 games this year, 8 of them are sequels or licenses. Only Halo is in the top 5.

Developers have to balance the idea of launching a new IP vs. the current life cycle of consoles... you're always going to see more new IP's near the beginning than you are near the end. Therefore it should be no surprise that most of the top 10's are sequels... most of that top ten is on the PS2... and how long has the system been out now?

 

[Sho Nuff]

 

[TTP]

Developers have to balance the idea of launching a new IP vs. the current life cycle of consoles... you're always going to see more new IP's near the beginning than you are near the end.

It's the opposite actually. Publishers wouldn't risk a new IP until the installed base is big enough. No?

 

[open_mouth_]

With all that Fable was supposed to be ... and what it is, i'm concerned about BC.

hehe, yeah, B.C. is probably gonna end up being a hack-n-slash action game based in a prehistoric world that has non-stop dino baddies comin' at you from all directions! Sweet!

 

[DarienA]

It's the opposite actually. Publishers wouldn't risk a new IP until the installed base is big enough. No?

Depends on the publisher and their available funds/resources. SSX was a new IP. Some developers have no problem launch new IP's at system lauch(EA), some developers are more conservative(Square/Konami). That also seems to apply to the end of a systems "current generation" live as well. Some will, some won't.