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The Callisto Protocol underperformed expectations

Thebonehead

Gold Member
If a game cost $160m, then you need 5m or more to break even.
5m copies at $65 average price ($60 and $70), you get around $227.5m after 30% cut. That is just $ sales, not counting other region sales.

So pretty much, you need 5m or above to get your investment back.
You also need to factor in the much lower margins that box sales have and also that 5% goes to E-e-e-e-e-e-epic for using their engine, which gave them all that marvellous word of mouth about it's performance.

Sorry had a bit of a stutter talking about U-u-u-u-u-u-unreal.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I’d be shocked if the actual game cost that much to make.
This probably includes marketing, plus the cost incurred in setting up Striking Distance Studios, including their new building in California and hiring talent.

Relatively small dev team + approx 3 years of development…no way did this game itself cost anything over $100 mln
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
One of the better 2022 releases.

You're lovely but you've got lots of problems. No NG+ on day one actually hurt replay value. Not the only thing hurting the game...
One of better releases?! It’s one of worst games I’ve ever played. What are we doing here
 

GymWolf

Member
Good, at least they know that they have to fix a buckload of stuff for the sequel.

Imagine if this thing was an actual success...
 
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kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
16 million per hour of gameplay.

I blame Digital Foundry. I saw how badly it ran on expensive PC and just completely tuned out. Like I had zero interest in following a broken game.

All games media jumped on this stutter issue. Only the PC version was affected by this problem, but people incorrectly got the impression that the console versions too were badly broken. The problem with the PC version was fixed a day later, but this good news got only a fraction of the traction of that first report. Many media that wrote that CP was a technical mess never published a follow-up that there was a day one fix and all was (mostly) good with the PC version.

You only get one chance to make a first impression and the devs blew it through a dumb mistake. But I think the media jumping on this problem, misreporting and blowing up the issue and not bothering about a follow-up played a part too. It created a lasting bad impression that killed sales and cost the devs/publisher millions of dollars in sales on launch day and afterwards.
 

feynoob

Banned
Well ya, I mean they had such a long tack record of trying game pass and then it not working out, so they had a lot of first hand experience..........oh wait, it was their first game.......
And how did they spend 160 million to make this game if the average AAA game is 60-80 million?
Graphics and marketing.
 

RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
I can't wait to play it when I see it for £20, amifuck paying £70 for a one and done 8hr long game in this day and age
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
All games media jumped on this stutter issue. Only the PC version was affected by this problem, but people incorrectly got the impression that the console versions too were badly broken. The problem with the PC version was fixed a day later, but this good news got only a fraction of the traction of that first report. Many media that wrote that CP was a technical mess never published a follow-up that there was a day one fix and all was (mostly) good with the PC version.

You only get one chance to make a first impression and the devs blew it through a dumb mistake. But I think the media jumping on this problem, misreporting and blowing up the issue and not bothering about a follow-up played a part too. It created a lasting bad impression that killed sales and cost the devs/publisher millions of dollars in sales on launch day and afterwards.
You clearly weren't paying attention. As of today, the reviews are still mixed on Steam with many users still reporting performance and stuttering issues. The performance on consoles was bad and still is on everything except for the PS5.

It wasn't only stutters. The frame rate is subpar, there are massive random fps drops, RT was broken on Series X, even after the patch, RT reflections on Series X still look like shit. Fog was broken on SX and PC. Massive pauses when transitioning from one area to the other, and a myriad of other problems.

You framing it as the only problem being stutters on PC that were quickly fixed is false. It's a technical mess of a game.
 

Neff

Member
It’s one of worst games I’ve ever played.

vN3pqm.jpg
 
I seriously can't believe that the game's studio managed to convince external partners to invest that much capital into a horror game, it just feels crazy to know that an ''AAAA'' horror game actually exists and that it also bombed hard.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Always said this game had disappointment written all over it even from before release, and i still don't know why people thought otherwise.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
It always amazes me how these massive-budget titles that get playtested to death end up disappointing. I mean, did no one on the team play their own game? How can the tepid response come as a surprise? It's not like the game's shortcomings snuck up on anyone.

You've made a game that looks amazing but plays dull, boring, monotone with extremely linear level design with zero incentive to explore, combined with extremely tedious combat mechanics. There's almost no redeeming qualities.
 

Nautilus

Banned
You clearly weren't paying attention. As of today, the reviews are still mixed on Steam with many users still reporting performance and stuttering issues. The performance on consoles was bad and still is on everything except for the PS5.

It wasn't only stutters. The frame rate is subpar, there are massive random fps drops, RT was broken on Series X, even after the patch, RT reflections on Series X still look like shit. Fog was broken on SX and PC. Massive pauses when transitioning from one area to the other, and a myriad of other problems.

You framing it as the only problem being stutters on PC that were quickly fixed is false. It's a technical mess of a game.
I played on PS4 since launch day, and outside of a crash here and there, the performance was flawless. I don't know about the PC version, but I really don't get where this narrative comes from.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
You clearly weren't paying attention. As of today, the reviews are still mixed on Steam with many users still reporting performance and stuttering issues. The performance on consoles was bad and still is on everything except for the PS5.

It wasn't only stutters. The frame rate is subpar, there are massive random fps drops, RT was broken on Series X, even after the patch, RT reflections on Series X still look like shit. Fog was broken on SX and PC. Massive pauses when transitioning from one area to the other, and a myriad of other problems.

You framing it as the only problem being stutters on PC that were quickly fixed is false. It's a technical mess of a game.
It still doesn't matter. even if this game was technically perfect, it wouldn't change how it plays... poorly
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
I played on PS4 since launch day, and outside of a crash here and there, the performance was flawless. I don't know about the PC version, but I really don't get where this narrative comes from.
WTq5Ww1.png

BhezIqA.png


"flawless". Runs like ass on X1. Poorly on PS4 but nowhere near as bad as on X1. Okayish on PS4 but when your target is 30fps and you still can't maintain it, it's not good. Same story for X1X.

It still doesn't matter. even if this game was technically perfect, it wouldn't change how it plays... poorly
That's true but it would be at least a starting point. A game being a technical shitshow is a non-starter for me. No matter how good Elden Ring was, I put it down for one week because of the horrible frame spikes and overall lackluster performance (that often got me killed).
 

Lions Gate

Member
In the true words of the developer


They could have had the same success as high on life. But chose to risk it.
high on life is super low budget compare to callisto. CP is a single player liner game not a live service or online mp only game. doesn't matter how many ppl play it on gamepass. game like this needs to sell copy to success unless microsoft drop 500 mill up front.
 
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feynoob

Banned
high on life is supper low budget compare to callisto. CP is a single player liner game not a live service or online mp only game. doesn't matter how many ppl play it on gamepass. game like this needs to sell copy to success unless microsoft drop 500 mill up front.
Both are SP, doesn't matter how much they cost.
CP being on gamepass would help the game as its new game, which people have no idea about it.
 

Nautilus

Banned
Performance was flawless? On the PS4?
You are clearly lying.


It was my own experience. You guys, obsessed with frame skips and the such, think that if the game drops 1 or 2 frames 5 times through the game, is inexcusable and makes the game unplayable.

When in reality 99% of the players either don't care or don't notice.

I didn't notice, so my experience with the PS4 was great.
 

Nautilus

Banned
WTq5Ww1.png

BhezIqA.png


"flawless". Runs like ass on X1. Poorly on PS4 but nowhere near as bad as on X1. Okayish on PS4 but when your target is 30fps and you still can't maintain it, it's not good. Same story for X1X.


That's true but it would be at least a starting point. A game being a technical shitshow is a non-starter for me. No matter how good Elden Ring was, I put it down for one week because of the horrible frame spikes and overall lackluster performance (that often got me killed).
It was my own experience. You guys, obsessed with frame skips and the such, think that if the game drops 1 or 2 frames 5 times through the game, is inexcusable and makes the game unplayable.

When in reality 99% of the players either don't care or don't notice.

I didn't notice, so my experience with the PS4 was great.
 

winjer

Gold Member
It was my own experience. You guys, obsessed with frame skips and the such, think that if the game drops 1 or 2 frames 5 times through the game, is inexcusable and makes the game unplayable.

When in reality 99% of the players either don't care or don't notice.

I didn't notice, so my experience with the PS4 was great.

All cutscenes have a broken frame pacing, and there are several drops to the low 20s. This is not something small.
How the f*** did you not notice something like this when playing?
But the worst part is that despite proven very wrong, you keep pretending it's nothing.

WTq5Ww1.png
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
It was my own experience. You guys, obsessed with frame skips and the such, think that if the game drops 1 or 2 frames 5 times through the game, is inexcusable and makes the game unplayable.

When in reality 99% of the players either don't care or don't notice.

I didn't notice, so my experience with the PS4 was great.
You said "I don't know where the narrative comes from", then were shown a video where the performance drops by 10fps and went "1-2fps is nothing". Now we're at "it was my own experience". Well, guess what? The world doesn't revolve around you.

Players and reviewers alike panned the game for the poor performance (except on PS5 and to a lesser extent, PS4 Pro) so you're wrong on all accounts.
 

Nautilus

Banned
All cutscenes have a broken frame pacing, and there are several drops to the low 20s. This is not something small.
How the f*** did you not notice something like this when playing?
But the worst part is that despite proven very wrong, you keep pretending it's nothing.

WTq5Ww1.png
Im not pretending anything. Its not a big deal, I didn't noticed it, and if I did back when I played the game, it was so minor that I can't even remember it now.I'm not digital foundry which keeps counting each frame and once it drops slightly, I go "There! Fuck, how unforgivable!"

Why are you guys so obsessed with shitting on this game? Sure, it was dissapointing, but it doesn't deserve this crusade. It seems that you and the others are more worried about this game's tech and performance, than the game itself, if its fun or not. Are ypu gamers, or just tech savvys?
 

SCB3

Member
Underwhelming very much describes this game, I was looking forward to it immensely but a new Dead Space it was not, and thats before the performance issues, now I played it on PS5 so didn't experience any real bugs but yea the PC version looks a mess
 

winjer

Gold Member
Im not pretending anything. Its not a big deal, I didn't noticed it, and if I did back when I played the game, it was so minor that I can't even remember it now.I'm not digital foundry which keeps counting each frame and once it drops slightly, I go "There! Fuck, how unforgivable!"

Why are you guys so obsessed with shitting on this game? Sure, it was dissapointing, but it doesn't deserve this crusade. It seems that you and the others are more worried about this game's tech and performance, than the game itself, if its fun or not. Are ypu gamers, or just tech savvys?

A drop in performance of 40% for you is "minor"
WTF are you smoking man?
 

Nautilus

Banned
You said "I don't know where the narrative comes from", then were shown a video where the performance drops by 10fps and went "1-2fps is nothing". Now we're at "it was my own experience". Well, guess what? The world doesn't revolve around you.

Players and reviewers alike panned the game for the poor performance (except on PS5 and to a lesser extent, PS4 Pro) so you're wrong on all accounts.
I'm not pretending anything, and I do not know where this comes from. Several games have these dips, shown by Digital Foundry themselves, but rarely they get a crusade against it like this game is getting. And its not a big deal, I didn't noticed it, and if I did back when I played the game, it was so minor that I can't even remember it now.I'm not digital foundry which keeps counting each frame and once it drops slightly, I go "There! Fuck, how unforgivable!"

Why are you guys so obsessed with shitting on this game? Sure, it was dissapointing, but it doesn't deserve this crusade. It seems that you and the others are more worried about this game's tech and performance, than the game itself, if its fun or not. Are ypu gamers, or just tech savvys?
 

Shifty1897

Member
Even if it reviewed better, expecting 5 million in sales from a new IP is out of pocket for 99% of games. Also I saw zero commercials for this game leading up to launch.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
My friend who is a huge Dead Space fan bought it and liked it to some extent but he said its overall inferior to Dead Space. He hated the combat in particular, the fact that you can't escape battles. Its dumbed down version of DS and I wonder if the publisher has anything to do with it.
 

Nautilus

Banned
Then stop pretending like the game runs flawlessly. And that a 40% drop in performance is nothing.
I'm not pretending anything. I am telling you and everyone else my experience with the game.

If those drops do happen, its just so unregular or rare that I never noticed.If that's the case, those "problems" would be more widespread and people would complain more.

Now, go outside and take a walk. It feels like you have a grudge against this game, and that's never healthy.
 

kittoo

Cretinously credulous
I don't preorder games now but if this had reviewed better, I'd probably have picked it up.

I'm not sure if they're still updating it, but if they are I might pick it up later if they can fix the combat, which I gather is a bit poor.

They've been updating it continuously. While the performance issues have been resolved for the most part and they have done tweaks to combat also...the core loop will remain same. The game is not very bad. They have some good atmosphere and scary bits. It's just that in some places it's very frustrating with its stupid design and gameplay choices.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Wonder how much that C-level Hollywood actor cost, because it is impossible for them to even touch 100mils USD. And it's really short
 
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