Do gamers just want shooters in 2010?
If you saw yesterday's charts you'll have seen that Fable III is top and that Force Unleashed 2 didn't do quite as well as you may have expected. The big surprise for me though is the continued absence of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West from the Top 10. Given that the game was released a few weeks ago now you can assume ? with only 75K global sales of the PS3 version - that it has been a sales flop. The game is easily one of the most visually original of the year, tells a good story, is well acted, fun to play and has a decent Metacritic of 81. For me at least it was one of the best gaming experiences of the year. So why hasn't Enslaved sold?
You can't blame the advertising. Enslaved has had one of them more visible campaigns this year, with numerous ads on the London underground and TV as well as on and offline. So maybe it was the game itself? Did hardcore gamers think it was too "easy" ? those invisible barriers *do* take most of the challenge from the platforming ? and so not evangelise to their peers?
What probably hurt more though were the classic issues ? price and longevity. Enslaved is an old-fashioned single player game. There's no multiplayer at all. For me this is a good thing ? it would have only felt tacked on anyway. Actually, in the sequel that will probably now never get made, you can imagine that co-op could have worked well. But Enslaved is an 8-10 hour single player experience. Will gamers pay full price for this kind of game any more? Sales would suggest not. But can we expect to see Enslaved rocket up the charts once the price cuts kick in? We'll see.
Perhaps the saddest thing here is that it looks like hardcore gaming tastes have fundamentally changed. While once you would see Mario and Tomb Raider vying with the shooters at the top of the charts it looks like the FPS has won out. The next Call of Duty will be out next week and likely dominate the chart for months. Medal of Honor will probably stick around too. Single player story-driven adventures just don't seem to cut it sales-wise any more. For me that's a real shame.
What do you think? Does Enslaved's sales failure mean gamers tastes are just too conservative? Or is it simply a matter of price and review?
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/nov/02/enslaved-sales-flop-but-why
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