Prey's Sluggish Sales Are Partly Down To Bethesda's Failures

Sean Halliday of GameRaven.com writes:

''Prey is currently impressing critics and consumers alike, but the sales aren’t reflecting its quality. Naturally, people have begun to discuss why a game of such quality is failing to hit high sales numbers. The release of the weekly UK sales charts showed Prey failing to knock Mario Kart8: Deluxe from the top spot.''

[Erik7357]

Knowing Bethesda, they are in it for the long run.

[PixelGateUk]

I'd agree if the game was multiplayer focused or had an established road of DLC, but it doesn't seem to be the case. It feels like they had a product they wanted to ship, but did not want to invest marketing resources and effort into it. That's fine and all, but it seems like a disservice to the game itself. But hey, they've got a lot going on across there, i'm sure they won't mind a few trips. Console versions are already lowering in price, sales + word of mouth could see it recover somewhat

[Erik7357]

I mean as expect sequals

[naruga]

the game lacks good art design and has far too generic FPS gameplay with its ultra uninspired enemies -wtf are they ? are they bored to use some concept art and made shapeless smoke maze crabs ? how prottoype enemies/s....put your asses down and hire some talented artists, not people who just know to use photshop and 3d max

[Malacath]

This article is a load of click-bait crap. Games are normally released on a friday in the UK which means they only have a day or two to chart.

Charts are usually compiled on the sunday. If you check the current charts now which are dated week ending 13th may you will see that Prey is number one and Mario is number 3.

[PixelGateUk]

'click bait' bless you

[Axonometri]

The game is great. Very much enjoying it. I would recommend it to anyone...

[freshslicepizza]

I would too but perthaps, not to insult anyone, it's console gamers who aren't really that impressed since it's not third person and doesnt hold your hand for everything. Some have already said it looks boring.

[joab777]

Believe it or not, we don't want our hand held. The problem is that there are too many other options. While it may be a good game, there are much better games to get caught up on first. May have been a better June/July game.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

It's the only 2017 game I've purchased so far this year and I love it. Also, I only own a PS4.

[UCForce]

They should have stick the old marketing policy. Dishonored 2 is a great game but had an awfully marketing and commercial failure because it's like you kinda scare the big site review, only for consumers feedback which is good thing but you need to do this both. Look, I get it that big website like IGN, GameSpot and others are kinda annoying and garbage but you need them to boost your sales. Otherwise, your marketing and commercial will fail miserably.

[PixelGateUk]

It's not just the big sites, it's all the other sites too. The only resources a consumer has is youtube videos (often from control events held by Bethesda) or official footage showing the 'best' of what the game has to offer. An advert pretty much. Dishonoured 2 had a fair few TV spots in the UK, but they were all live action and made it look like a film more than a game.

[joab777]

Dishonored suffered a similar fate for similar reasons. The competition is absurd!

[-Foxtrot]

Their own fault

Prey 2 please with Tommy

Thanks

[PixelGateUk]

I would have taken the original Prey 2. I was at Euroegamer 2011 when they showed live gameplay and talk about it. It was everything i wanted, but alas it faded away

[-Foxtrot]

Only issue with it is it also looked like a new IP

Generic space marine bounty hunter aswell with Tommy as s NPC

[psuedo]

Agreed with foxtrot. Although I liked what they showed just fine, but when you end the game with a cliff hanger you want to play as that character again. Tommy should of been the bounty hunter. If not the story should have been heavy on the first one. I think they werent going to go heavy on the story from the first anyways so maybe ot wasnt much lost.

Could of been another Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter. Wheres that other game that was about a cybernetic type chick? I just remembered that one. That was shown when the ps4 was newer.

[MAULxx]

I'm with you on that.

[UnHoly_One]

@psuedo

"Should have"

not "should of"

I'm sorry but that drives me nuts.

[DevilOgreFish]

I thought the original prey was pretty interesting. I would have liked a continuation to the story. The new prey though doesn't look too bad.

[JasonKCK]

Agree this is not what I think of when I think of a Prey sequel.

[Garethvk]

I think Bethesda is doing fine. Fallout 4, Dishonored 2 did well and won awards, let us also not forget that DOOM was a hit. They have a strong lineup of games coming so I think PREY will find a place. Just wait until It is $39.99 and there is new DLC. Many companies have a review policy like them. Most cherry pick larger outlets to give review units to first and the rest get them day of launch. I have zero issues with them as honestly they have been one of the better companies to work with in terms of response time and support.

[SaveFerris]

A new IP with a Sci-Fi setting and single-player story only vs. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a port of a popular game on the WiiU with single or multiplayer gameplay released on new hardware. I'm surprised gaming journalists would think it would have a chance at claiming the top spot from Mario and the Nintendo fanbase.

[PixelGateUk]

Few things - Well done on voting everyone down for no real reason, great place to start. Secondly, the post really doesn't look at 'Mario Kart Vs Prey' in the way you think it does. You'd know that if you went beyond the opening sentence. Additionally, a multiformart title releasing on three systems with large install bases versus a new console, come on now ' I'm surprised gaming journalists would think it would have a chance at claiming the top spot from Mario and the Nintendo fanbase.' think about the numbers here.

[SaveFerris]

PixelGateUk, it wasn't me who downvoted everyone. Though I do concede that I did not think too deeply about the multi vs. 1 platform issue.

[Krysis]

The downstairs could be because people don't agree with you.

[PixelGateUk]

My bad, just seen all the downvotes and your reply was 0mins in.

It's cool, it's quite easy to overlook. Mario Kart has the brand power for sure, but it was also in its second release week in the UK. Prey was coming off a launch window across three major platforms, but with none of the marketing. It struck me as odd

[SaveFerris]

No problem.
The lack of marketing by Bethesda is odd, but I wonder if there might be other reasons such as apathy towards a certain genre? Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Dishonored 2 also underperformed in sales compared to their predecessors. Could it also be due to other high profile games being released around the same with gamers occupied with completing them before buying a new game? With single player games, there may be less of a FOMO amongst some gamers, knowing that they can pick it up after the reviews, complete it, and trade it in, or wait until the price drops.

[GameCrateEd]

Being second to Mario Kart 8 is still pretty good.

[kevnb]

Are they considered sluggish though? I think sales expectations are relative aren't they?

[Blu3_Berry]

Thing is though, is it considered a failure? We don't know the budget they spent on Prey, and for all we know they probably saved alot of money just from a marketing standpoint. So even if the sales may be slightly lower than other releases, it is probably still a success for them in the end. It balances itself out. As someone has pointed out, I don't think Bethesda cares if they have a few stumbles as long as it isn't major. This is a corporation and they want to make money. That's nothing new.

The bigger question, is what if other major companies started using a similar policy? How will we react? I don't want to be that guy, but I do have a feeling at some point other companies will use a similar policy for their games like Activision, Ubisoft and maybe Capcom. Mind you that not every company will do this as some have much more confidence in their games like Sony, but some will which is probably inevitable.

[Guyfamily999]

I know this is VERY minor for sales, but I personally put it off my radar because of the lack of pro support despite having the Pro enhanced sticker. Not gonna support lazy development.

[Anzil]

Good!!! Terrible terrible publisher!!!
No marketing. I hope Pete Hines is getting shit on the most;)

[DaFeelz]

I was wondering how this game was doing. I'm thinking it might have to do with the initial shit storm of games that came out in the 1st quarter and people are playing catch up with their back log. I know I am. Finished BotW 2 weeks ago and went straight into Nier. After that I destroyed MK8. Now I'm jumping straight into HZD. After that, The Last Guardian. Still haven't tried FH3's Hot Wheels expansion. Then Dishonored 1+2 and so on and so forth. I know I'm not alone in this wonderful problem. This could be a contributing factor to the low sales. Supreme backlog! It's why I didn't buy it. No time.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I don't think this game was expected to light up the sales charts. The original Prey was not a huge seller. Many people, have also been vocal about Prey (2017) lacking any connection to the original game. Although Prey (2017), is getting good reviews, it isn't the type of game many of the fans of the original wanted (or where expecting).

[Hozi]

they will make lots off of Prey...just need time for people to find out about it....since it wasn't marketed very well.

[WeAreLegion]

Well, I wanted Prey 2.

[jer1122]

SJW bulls hit that's why. What the Devs get for going on interviews talking about diversity gay characters lesbian likes its more important then gameplay itself. People are just tired of it. I think it's starting to affect sales. That and there was a lot of performance issues and the input lag on PS4 but I'm telling you as soon as I read the interview with the devs talk about diversity being so important already know the game's going to have a bunch of shoehorn crap in. Praise pretty decent I like the demo and I played the final version for a couple hours. Combat could be better. No ps4 pro support kinda hurts it to. I was pretty disappointed we didn't at least get a resolution upgrade

[SquillieDeeWilliams]

The gameplay is fantastic if you take the time to figure it out 🤔

[joab777]

They are down like so many b/C the competition is fierce. We just had R7, Nioh, Horizon, Nier and Persona 5 release, alongside Zelda and the Switch. Injustice 2 just released also. There's only so much room. I used to buy every game I wanted to play. Not anymore. The length of games and dlc support make it very difficult now. I still haven't played games like Titanfall and Dishonored 2 from last yr, much less Nioh or Nier this yr.

[kindkinesis]

it will keep happening till you fix their anti-consumer review policy, good work everyone on letting your money do the talk. Btw I love Bethesda games.

[C4rnos]

"Sluggish sales" 0 figures shown in the article other than the game didn't beat out Mario Kart 8 deluxe (in the UK alone).. It's not exactly time for the mortuary just yet is it..

[PixelGateUk]

'It's not exactly time for the mortuary just yet is it' At no point in the post is there a mortuary pal. End of the article talks about room to increase via word of mouth and positive reviews.and since posting that's exactly what's happened.

[Nivekki]

Why do you feel the need to jump into the comment sections and defend your article? Let the article speak for itself.

Just seems very unprofessional if you want yourself to be taken seriously.

[mogwaii]

It is an uninspired looking game, from the most boring monster design ive seen in a long time to a drab locale, it just doesnt grab people.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I just thought it was an underwhelming game, it didn't look that good in the trailers. After playing the demo, I'm glad I didn't buy it, the gameplay feels sluggish, it feels bad to play. I've got friends who really enjoy the game, and I've got one other friend who like me, didn't like it but he was hyped to play it. Although I did see alot of TV ads for the game.

[svoulis]

I am not touching this game again until they fix the PS4 version of the game. The latency is horrible, makes aiming and stuff feel so sluggish and wonky. I should've just got it on PC where I played the OG back in 2006

[opinionated]

I knew the review policy was going to be first. There is no evidence at all to suggest this as fact. This isn't the first game under that review policy. Quite frankly, I'm tired of butthurt journalists bringing it up in an attempt to change the policy. We get it, you want review copies. Stop pretending like it hurts anyone but you, it's not a consumer issue. The reviews are out and they are still sluggish despite being well received critically. The word of mouth is as good as the reviews and the demo was fine. Maybe, just maybe, people have other stuff they want to play...

[kindkinesis]

i as a consumer feel like this is an issue for me and lots of other people who feel the same way. Btw did you saw the dishonored 2 sales were poorer compared to the first game. why are game companies so fiercely defended, btw if you think this is only my opinion then listen to ACG talk about it being anti-consumer.

[opinionated]

What is acg? I will fiercely defend all of the freedoms including enterprise. It's bethesdas right to have a terms of service agreement and choose policies that they feel benefit them.

What is your issue exactly?You have to wait a few days for a review? I think a demo is better than a day one review. Many people on this site canceled their preorder because of the demo. That's a pro-consumer policy. That's the second part of the article which is also nonsense. Bethesda isnt screwing up by releasing demos lol. That's shady logic..

They lost some sales sure, they might have gained a couple as well. Either way they did the right thing. Dishonored 2 had a demo as well if I'm not mistaken. I have played quite a bit of prey and the demo is a good representation. If you like you'll like if you don't you won't. It's not anti-consumer. Saying they shouldn't release demos kinda is though lol.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I'm glad I played the demo, sometimes reviewers get it horribly wrong. E.g. I felt that FFXV got too much positive praise rather than an objective look at the game as a whole. It wasn't until after the game had been out for a while, that non-pro reviewers looked at the game more critically and I felt that their reviews were more accurate. After playing the Prey demo, I knew my initial assumptions about the game were pretty spot on and didn't change my decision to not purchase it.

[PixelGateUk]

'butthurt journalists'

Bit of a tricky one this but errr...i pay for 90% of the game i review. Most of the promo copy based reviews are indie based. I know it might go against your theory but not everyone relies on review copies.

'Stop pretending like it hurts anyone but you, it's not a consumer issue' It doesn't 'hurt' me, see for the reasons above. Must be hard fighting the power huh?

[opinionated]

- Then you really have no reason to be complaining about their review policy. Why 90% lol? Who pays the other 10?

- "must be hard fighting the power huh" no it's actually pretty simple to see through these arguments.

[SyWolf]

There's a crap ton of latency that makes the game unplayable on the PS4 that wasn't fixed with the patch and there wasn't a demo on the PC.

[edeprez]

They absolutely fixed the latency in the latest patch 1.02. But they also ruined the stable framerate they had, it's kinda choppy now. And there's still zero dead zone in the left stick, so my character floats around randomly because of the 1° of deflection in the analog stick when resting. All this and i still enjoy the game quite a lot.

[SyWolf]

Glad they fixed the latency in the second patch, although they kind of didn't really fix anything if the framerate drops and they couldn't get controllers to work properly.

[BlackIceJoe]

I personally believe a part of it is because people wanted Prey 2 from Human Head Studios and not the game we got instead.

[joethetimelord]

A lot of people weren't really impressed with the demo, either.

[SquillieDeeWilliams]

People really just don't understand this game or how to get the best out of it. It's a damn shame because I think it is a fantastic and original game in a sea full of the same old BS. I just finished it and it's easily my GOTY. Story , setting and gameplay were outstanding!!

[MorpheusX]

If this version of Prey were REALLY impressing the Fans as you say, it would have sold more,...... Truth is it has impressed only "SOME" fans who are in this particular situation in the Minority, not ENOUGH fans are impressed with this version of Prey to increase its sales.

57mill PS4 owners , 27million (around that) XB1 owners, & God only knows how many PC gamers there are........The majority disagree this version of Prey is a worthy play through or something interesting, a MINORITY say otherwise.

It is what it is. To me its as clear as the blue sky, You made a game that most gamers did NOT ask for while CANCELLING 1 they were VERY EXCITED about Bethesda/Zenimax.

Its KARMA.

Disagree once again til your heart is content, BUT I did said this game was going to score some 6/10's & that it wasn't going to sell very well, I was RIGHT, not 1 disagree had ANY power to change the Reality. lol

#2. If your remember correctly, Mass Effect : Andromeda, Dishonored 2, Watch Dogs 2, were all lauded by so called unbiased reviewers [ smh yea right uh huh ] & "SOME " game consumers, yet each 1 of those games FAILED to meet sales expectations, they didn't sale well either.

Listen, this isn't a popularity contest, I truly don't care who does or doesn't agree with my opinion, but I was right when I said this version of Prey WOULD NOT SALE VERY WELL.

Class Dismissed.

While the Industry "SUCK BOYS" continue to pretend like they don't understand or know why Most Gamers passed on this game, I'll just keep being right when I say, your lying & you do know but your either 1. A game Addict Fanboy or 2. A paid apologist who has a business arrangement as an insider in this Industry.

[PixelGateUk]

Parody posts are my favourite

[MorpheusX]

The Truth Hurts doesn't it. Too Bad.

[TheSaint]

Dear Bethesda,

Just make Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.

Thanks,

Saint.

[SideNote]

Should've called it something else. Simple as.

[rezzah]

The game received negative publicity when Bethesda parent company forced an Indie developer to change the title of their game because they used "Prey" in the title (Prey for the Gods now Preay for the Gods).

[Malacath]

They need to stop using the UK charts to see how well a game is doing.

A high proportion of game sales on both xbox one and ps4 are digital.

Digital sales do not count in the UK charts which makes the charts misleading.

If most switch sales are physical and a lot of ps4 and xbox one sales are digital then the charts are not an accurate representation of how the game is doing.

Until the charts start combining digital and physicals sales data then they are not worth looking at.

[Malacath]

Actually this article is a load of crap. Just checked chart-track which are the UKs charts for physical games and Prey is number one and Mario number 3

[PixelGateUk]

Look at th date it was published...and then look at how the article ends. Less gobbiness

[OffirYehezkel]

This game is very very good, especially on PC, i recommend it alot if you got a decent PC.

[Tzuno]

the game is nothing out of extraordinary, figures.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I don't understand why it's getting so much praise, I've played much better games this year. The story seems somewhat interesting, but the game play makes it hard to tolerate a good play through.

[Tzuno]

The game should have been a straight shooter like the new Doom, instead they bore players with find keys bla bla bla. Uninstalled after 15 min.

[mochachino]

When is number 2 on the charts sluggish?

[TheCommentator]

It's because Arkane studios doesn't make good games.

[MorpheusX]

@TheCommentator

Finally, someone said it. The obvious truth.

[Nacho_Z]

I was quite hyped about it until I played the demo and quickly realised I didn't like the gameplay. If it wasn't for the disappointing hands on then I'd have bought it as it was marketed well and seemed right up my street.