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[mansoor1980]

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

dont forget these 2

 

[Kadve]

Are i just out of the loop or between this, Gotham knights, Bayonetta 3, Mario/Rabbids and F1 Manager. Is there a Lot of AAA games underperforming right now?

 

[BabyYoda]

I'll still get it on 75% off sale most likely, but it's odd to me the decisions they made with this game. Surely the natural progression of this genre is to realise something the original DS hinted at. A fully explorable space station akin to 2017's Prey (brilliant game) or the better RE games, odd they would make it a much more linear affair... On top of that, the combat is reportedly lame, the enemies lack variety and the story was apparently lacklustre. I mean, wow...it never stood a chance considering the performance was also terrible!

But it was very pretty! I recommend people play the RE 2 remake or Prey instead (if you haven't already).

 

[Ceadeus]

I would have bought if it was lower priced than 89$. Makes it a 15 hours, replayable campaign, with loads of unlockable like RE4 and add some unique multi-player and I'm in at full price.

Otherwise, 89$ is just insane to me.

 

[midasmulligan]

The consumers or the publishers

 

[balls of snow]

Actually, Control cost around $30 million to make.

https://www.gamespot.com/amp-articl...ed-with-a-modest-30-million-bud/1100-6471937/

Damn. What a dev.

 

[M1chl]

dont forget these 2

Never heard of them, probably in D-list

 

[Kikorin]

What? I was expecting like a mid budget game targeting AA space, even with all the "AAAA" talks before the release. I can't believe they spent 160 millions on this expecting to sell 5 millions copies, even with 90 on metacritic sales would have not been close to this number IMHO.

Budget was close to what Rockstar used to develop GTA V, unbelievable.

 

[Nautilus]

dont forget these 2

Its a rant for another time and thread, but I hate with a passion this trend to use famous people faces as carachters for games. I want to see new, original carachters with brand new faces in these games, not "Look, its the guy from the Transformers movies!". And that point its not the guy from the callisto protocol anymore, its the dude from real life who is an actor. And I hate it.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I am replaying Dead Space 2. I’m having a lot more fun with the fast pace, shooting the limbs off necromorphs, and explosions happening out of nowhere. I finished TCP and enjoyed it. It’s just not something I’m not looking forward to playing again unless it’s DLC.

The atmosphere was cool and then it didn’t change much. The movement was slow at times and the combat didn’t feel as fun as DS. It was cool, but it reminded me of all those QTE close combat scenarios games have. You know where you approach a particular enemy and the game takes you into a QTE?

 

[TGO]

Does the $160 million include marketing budget? If it does, prob $60 million to $80 million (maybe more) was marketing expenses.

Dead Space 2 cost £60mil
For reference GOW2018 was over $100mil
MGS5 was $80mil.
I know they spent half the budget on sound design.

 

[JimmyRustler]

160 Million? For what?

 

[Jaybe]

Are i just out of the loop or between this, Gotham knights, Bayonetta 3, Mario/Rabbids and F1 Manager. Is there a Lot of AAA games underperforming right now?

Yeah, many sales failures this year in the AAA space. Seems outside of the big annual franchises and Sony exclusives most are not doing well. Notable exceptions being Elden Ring and Lego Star Wars. Not sure if it’s quality, price point, or GaaS / subscriptions taking player’s attention that contributes to this (or all three).

 

[Jaybe]

160 Million? For what?

Financial audit will reveal:

 

[winjer]

160 Million? For what?

Probably hookers and cocaine.

 

[Facism]

£30 pc release masquerading as a £50 cash-grab that shamefully launched a broken stuttering mess.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Probably hookers and cocaine.

Must be. Gaming budgets ballooning like that is insane. No wonder we only get this live service trash now.

 

[SportsFan581]

That's what happens when you release your games on Game Pass.

When the drive by shit post goes bad.

On topic: This game seemed like it had a decent amount of hype pre-release. It really goes to show you that maybe giving a game an additional 6-12 months in the oven might be the better option over the increasingly buggy releases we get. That and maybe these developers need to lower sales expectations and budgets a bit, when almost every game gets tagged as under-performing the goals likely need a reset.

 

[Clear]

Not sure why people are so hard on this game. Can't say anything definitive as I haven't played it yet, but a friend of mine has and thought it was great once you figured the combat out. His only complaints were about the lack of ng+ and that it really needs to be played on high difficulty to get the most out of it once you have all tools and abilities unlocked.

Kinda feel like the kicking it got for the stutters on PC was a bit unfair given that it wasn't the first and surely not the last game to suffer from an issue that is an integral problem with how shader compilation has to work on the platform. Sure, you can circumvent the problem with a lengthy pre-comp pass, but the reality is that processing needs to be done at some point in order to accommodate all the different driver versions and hardware configurations on an open system.

So basically, its a systemic problem for anything that makes heavy use of shaders and unless you think that going forwards devs shouldn't use the tech... better get used to it..

 

[ANDS]

How can an ostensibly indie game reach ANY kind of sales expectations if the fucking thing costs 160M Freedom Bucks. What in the actual fuck. There's either been some translation issues with that number or someone is in trouble in the game management department.

Not sure why people are so hard on this game. Can't say anything definitive as I haven't played it yet, but a friend of mine has and thought it was great once you figured the combat out. His only complaints were about the lack of ng+ and that it really needs to be played on high difficulty to get the most out of it once you have all tools and abilities unlocked.

Kinda feel like the kicking it got for the stutters on PC was a bit unfair given that it wasn't the first and surely not the last game to suffer from an issue that is an integral problem with how shader compilation has to work on the platform. Sure, you can circumvent the problem with a lengthy pre-comp pass, but the reality is that processing needs to be done at some point in order to accommodate all the different driver versions and hardware configurations on an open system.

So basically, its a systemic problem for anything that makes heavy use of shaders and unless you think that going forwards devs shouldn't use the tech... better get used to it..

Stop. The game was also poorly received on consoles as well, where this wasn't an issue. It is at an anemic Fair (67%) on OC with only 41% of critics recommending anyone play it. That's a game only for enthusiasts if I ever saw one.

 

[Big Baller]

I did my part

 

[TLZ]

200 billion korean won = about 160 million US dollars.

 

[Clear]

Stop. The game was also poorly received on consoles as well, where this wasn't an issue. It is at an anemic Fair (67%) on OC with only 41% of critics recommending anyone play it. That's a game only for enthusiasts if I ever saw one.

I couldn't care less what critics think, the opinion of people I actually know is infinitely more valuable to me. Mainly because I know how their tastes compare to mine and know that their opinion is coming from a place of truth after actually stumping up the cash to play!

Public opinions are almost always coloured by the fact that they are expressed to an audience, so there's always an element of performance to it regardless of whether the person is a YouTube creator or someone working as a writer for an enthusiast press outlet. Which means that their opinion is curated to some degree in order to serve that perceived audience.

 

[ANDS]

I couldn't care less what critics think, the opinion of people I actually know is infinitely more valuable to me. Mainly because I know how their tastes compare to mine and know that their opinion is coming from a place of truth after actually stumping up the cash to play!

Public opinions are almost always coloured by the fact that they are expressed to an audience, so there's always an element of performance to it regardless of whether the person is a YouTube creator or someone working as a writer for an enthusiast press outlet. Which means that their opinion is curated to some degree in order to serve that perceived audience.

That's fine but the comment that laser focused on the stuttering makes it seem like this was the driver of the response to the game and. . .that's just not at all the case. Why not try it for yourself, I'm sure it's cheap enough (given that your friends have unique opinions that are not at all replicated within the general or game journalist population).

 

[Badlucktroll]

I have lofty expectations for Silent Hill 2 Remake

 

[Clear]

That's fine but the comment that laser focused on the stuttering makes it seem like this was the driver of the response to the game and. . .that's just not at all the case. Why not try it for yourself, I'm sure it's cheap enough (given that your friends have unique opinions that are not at all replicated within the general or game journalist population).

My point about the stuttering is that its not an issue specific to this game, its a systemic problem that needs a systemic solution. Lengthy pre-compilation phases are more a clunky and intrusive band-aid than a real fix for the problem.

I mean I'm sorry but you need to factor in people who's systems are on the low-end performance wise, who could potentially be looking at delays on par with OG C64 loading times in order to avoid the effect! That's not a good solution in my opinion, and its going to become increasingly prevalent because console builds (which don't suffer this issue due to fixed hardware) are not going to skimp on using shaders heavily in the years ahead.

What I was getting at is that I felt like it was easier to blame Striking Distance for this, than accept that right now shader compilation woes are a real problem on PC generally -regarcless of it being handles asynchronously, or in a pre-comp pass.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Too much money put on cutscenes, actors and such.

 

[Fermbiz]

Wasnt Callisto Protocol dubbed "AAAA" game?

 

[kruis]

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.

The game also had several patches after it's release on Dec 2nd. Digital Foundry's frame rate analyses were based on either the pre-launch version or the day one update. It makes sense that people who started playing the game in mid/late December didn't notice any major issues, since framerate and raytracing issues had already been taken care of by then.

 

[hlm666]

My point about the stuttering is that its not an issue specific to this game, its a systemic problem that needs a systemic solution. Lengthy pre-compilation phases are more a clunky and intrusive band-aid than a real fix for the problem.

I mean I'm sorry but you need to factor in people who's systems are on the low-end performance wise, who could potentially be looking at delays on par with OG C64 loading times in order to avoid the effect! That's not a good solution in my opinion, and its going to become increasingly prevalent because console builds (which don't suffer this issue due to fixed hardware) are not going to skimp on using shaders heavily in the years ahead.

What I was getting at is that I felt like it was easier to blame Striking Distance for this, than accept that right now shader compilation woes are a real problem on PC generally -regarcless of it being handles asynchronously, or in a pre-comp pass.

Honest question because I havn't really seen it brought up before and i'm normally running a cpu on the higher end of the scale and by god loading things on my c64 tape was torture after seeing a friend with a disk drive load stuff. But how long is the shader comp times on something like metro exodus or forza horizon 5 on something the speed of whatever they list as cpu min spec?

 

[wipeout364]

I really enjoyed it. Played on Xbox sets X and had a couple of lock ups which sucked but was otherwise a pretty smooth experience.

I hope we get a sequel, but 160 million seems like a lot for a game. Seems crazy to have invested that much in a single player new IP. I know games are expensive but if they get on average 30 dollars a copy that means they need to sell over 5 million copies just to recoup the 160,000.

 

[WoJ]

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.

I get the math. My point was that creating a new horror IP that needed that level of sales to be successful is basically a recipe for failure in my opinion.

 

[chromatic9]

Crazy budget if true and what they got for their money was really poor. Spending such a large amount doesn't mean you'll get all the necessary talent, it's quite limited out there and probably requires a slow build approach. Aside from some of the visuals it does feel indie-AA and even a well executed game would probably struggle, I remember how Dead Space sold, it's a tricky genre.

 

[sainraja]

The game is actually good. I am enjoying it and it is also challenging so I mean, unless, people want every game to be a replica of another game they like, you all should learn to enjoy some variety.

 

[Arun1910]

“Don’t know why its not selling.”

*releases stuttering mess of a PC version*

Come on man…

This is literally what put me off... as well as knowing its a short game.

Short games, bad launch = Big price drops in the months after.

 

[Imtjnotu]

160 milli for a 6 hour game?

released two months two early

needed alot of post release work.

word of mouth already bad on the technical issues

surprised by shotfall on sales

 

[Arsic]

Whats with all the hate on this around here? You guys act like it's the worst thing ever. It's not that bad. Yet gaas Shit gets a pass. We need to support single player games, and realize launch issues sometimes happen. Im having a great time with the game. Why does everything need to be open world now? There is room for both

I personally don’t like open world games. I love survival horror.

Glen is the cuck who hyped up this game as AAAA .

He couldn’t even get a jump scare out of me when Dead Space 1&2 were making me feel nervous always when playing and getting scared quite well.

This game is cool for about 3 hours then you’ve seen it all except one boss the game has to offer.

All of this is fixable stuff in a sequel but it’s also things that could’ve been entirely avoided by just one gaffer play testing to go “bro this ain’t it chief.”

 

[xrnzaaas]

The game cost 160 million? What the hell did they spend the money on? That's an insane number for a reasonably short singleplayer game, even if it includes marketing costs. Sounds to me they should look how they're spending the money, not why it didn't sell 5+ million copies (which is a very big demand from a new IP).

 

[sinnergy]

I don’t believe it costed 160 million ..

 

[Lions Gate]

expecting new horror ip to sell 5 million in just 2 month is fucking stupid. actually 2 million copy is not a bad number, when prices goes down this game gonna shine

 

[AngelMuffin]

Lot of people buying this one used.

 

[Puscifer]

"160 million over three years, is observed to badly influence its future performance due to sales shortage."

What in the actual fuck did they spend that money on? TLOU PT 2 was only 100 million.

 

[MikeM]

This is literally what put me off... as well as knowing its a short game.

Short games, bad launch = Big price drops in the months after.

Its why I never preorder nothing anymore

 

[Del_X]

“Cinematic”, shallow combat, broken at launch. Yeah, fuck this game.

 

[Strider Highwind]

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.

The PC version only got sorta stable after 3 patches lol, it wasn't a day later either. Hell I refunded it the week it launched..and said yesterday "Oh its on sale for 47 bucks, lemme go ahead and buy it since a few patches are out!"

Im running it on a 4090 by the way.

Played for 43 minutes yesterday and it's still all over the place...terrible pop-in, framerate will drop to 25fps randomly, bad clipping, and just all around a horrible janky experience. Got another refund, i'll buy the game in like a year or two, no more for me:

I wanna support, but im not gonna force myself to act like its anywhere close to decent with regards to performance just yet.

 

[Rendered Tangent]

Dead Space is a lazy, last gen as fuck looking cash grab.

I suggest you give Specsavers a call.

 

[kittoo]

expecting new horror ip to sell 5 million in just 2 month is fucking stupid. actually 2 million copy is not a bad number, when prices goes down this game gonna shine

I am still hoping that they somehow create a banger of a DLC/expansion that gives this game second life. I can't get over how much more they could've done with this.

And I really hate seeing big budget single player games fail. We have few of those as it is (although things have improved a bit again in last couple of years I feel).

Are there any plans of big DLC/expansions?

 

[semiconscious]

Wasnt Callisto Protocol dubbed "AAAA" game?

they didn't mention that the extra 'a' stood for 'aggravating'...

 

[ungalo]

I kinda like the game but it's definitely a flash in the pan if i were to speak objectively.

Curious to know what's the part of the budget dedicated to marketing because the game was everywhere (there are still ads on youtube) but it's not a very impressive AAA when you think about it. Very straightforward and simple structure, not a lot of huge setpieces. It's just that the game is visually stunning, every room is well crafted with a lot of details, but that's about it. A game like A Plague Tale Requiem is labeled as midbudget so it puts things into perspective, Callisto didn't feel like a huge game despite having a huge budget, so something went wrong or the publisher didn't approach it the right way.

 

[Filben]

New IP, somewhat niche, weird DLC policy, PC version a mess on launch, high budget (that requires considerable sales it couldn't live up to with all these things accumulated). Not a mystery.

Still plan on playing it. Liked what I've seen in the trailers and will see for myself when playing.