Why were US sales of Alan Wake, Blur and Prince of Persia so disappointing?

Guarduan: They were among the most anticipated titles of the year, yet according to new US sales data, all sold less than 200,000 copies in their month of release.

[GWAVE]

Because none of those games were all that great?

Just sayin', because a lot of gamers seem to think that sales are a sign of quality...

[Blaze929]

you played Alan Wake GWAVE? I'm having a hard time believing you did....just me though. Alan Wake was an amazing game with no advertising what so ever.

As for Prince of Persia - that game sucked ass and that's the end of that story. Was a rush $60 job to cash in with the release of the movie. Any Prince of Persia fan knows that game is an embarrassment to the series.

Blur I'm actually shocked about. The game is damn addicting online and great fun.

[ClownBelt]

"amazing game with no advertising what so ever."

Really blaze? Really? Saying there were "no advertising whatsoever" is a pure lie and ignorance in your side brah.
http://kotaku.com/5568948/a...

Here's another one for you guys crying there were NO advertising made for this game.

http://www.strategyonline.c...

[kissmeimgreek]

the problem wasnt the exclusivity of the title (its a shooter thwith a great story which is exactly what yall say 360 users play). The problem is that there really was ZERO advertising for this gme. Never did i see a commercial on tv and only a few online ads (and the prequel series that was pretty much hidden on the dashboard).

@clownbelt: I like how you just showed a couple of posters.What Blaze said is true. MS could of had a big hitter if they just advertised the game with just 10% of what they do with halo.

[Danja]

PoP wasnt good

Alan Wake's main audience probably owns a PS3..

Blur I dont know came out at the wrong time with other big games

[jetlian]

the prince was a good game. fighting was decent and platforming was tight. that 08 version had you fight 1 person tops

edit i own all these games in fact RDR too. And to me RDR is the weakest

edit Alan wakes biggest fault is the lack of multyplayer.

[Arnon]

Implying Canada is relevant. There were no advertisements for Alan Wake in North America aside from it being in a GameStop.

[The Lazy One]

there was crap for advertising on all these games in NA.

I think I saw an alan wake tv spot maybe 3 times EVER. With a better media push it probably would have sold a lot better.

Prince of Persia I didn't even know what coming out this soon. I think I found out about the release date after reviews were already out for it.

[Blaze929]

Correct me if I'm wrong but we only know the sales of Alan Wake in the United States right? You gave me two advertisements in Canada. Freakin' Canada. So what point are you trying to make? There was no advertising in regards to Alan Wake's known sales amount which is KNOWN for the UNITED STATES.

[Anon1974]

That's what stopped me from picking it up. Here in Canada they still want $70 for this game. I fully plan on picking this title up as I've been anticipating this game for the past 5 years but I'm not spending $70 on a game that's going to entertain me for a weekend when I can pick up a game like Red Dead Redemption for $59, or an excellent game like Demon's Souls for $40 new (which is what I came home with after going out to buy Alan Wake. Great game, btw.)

I'll either pick this game up when the price comes down or rent it, but when the average game is $20 less than your title, expect to be overlooked to some extent.

[TotalPS3Fanboy]

You know, with all those 360 gamers hyping up Alan Wake on N4G, I was expecting that they would actually went out and buy it come release time, but nope, apparently, no one wants to buy it, they just like to hype it up.

Maybe this converstation between a 360 gamer and a PS3 gamer can help explain it better...

360 Gamer: Yeah, Alan Wake is the best game this generation!

PS3 Gamer: You gonna buy it?

360 Gamer: No. I rather buy Red Dead Redemption. But still, Alan Wake IS THE BEST game this generation though, just that I am gonna buy Red Dead Redemption instead.

PS3 Gamer: I buy both Heavy Rain and Red Dead Redemption.

As for Prince of Persia, everyone knows it's a movie-tie-in game, meaing it's gonna suck.

And as for Blur, honestly, most people can not even tell the difference between Blur, Dirt, Grid, Fuel, Shift, Pure, and Split/Second. They have the impression that all those games are just typical generic racers. Unless they read a preview, they would have never been able to tell the difference between them. For all they know, all those games could have been just made into one game.

[beardpapa]

funny heavy rain didn't have much advertising yet it did well. And I have seen alan wake ads on tv, not as much as I saw me2 ads, but to say there were no ads at all is ignorance. AW was featured in magazines. And not just in game magazines.

[Unicron]

I didn't see a single commercial for Heavy Rain. Why didn't it sell so low?

There's more to it than just advertising.

[Blitzed]

Canada happens to be a part of North America you ignorant fool!

Lol It just happens to be the largest country in NA!

You think Canada is irrelevant? Don't let me catch you touting UK sales on here then since there are well over 2 million 360s sold here compared to the 3.9 million in the UK (from the info I can find)

[Arnon]

The 360 has over 12 million sold in the UK and Europe, jackass. Why do you think everything other than Europe, America and Japan are considered "other"?

Also, if you add up the sales...

# Canada - 870,000 - August 1, 2008
# USA - 18.6 mi - December 31, 2009
# EMEA - 10 mi - November 13, 2009
# UK - 3.9 mi - January 13, 2009
# Japan - 1,235,975 - March 2, 2010
# Australia & New Zealand - 1 million - April 19, 2009
# Worldwide - 40 million - April 23, 2010

So yes... Canada is pretty irrelevant.

[Blitzed]

Dude, are you 'special'? Honestly, because if you are I apologize but if not, you a moron.

First of, I said UK, not europe plus the UK! The UK does not equal europe, there are many other countries which reside within the continent of Europe. Guess what, those countries actually have millions of people living in them! I'm not surprised you were not aware of this, considering you were not even aware that Canada (that massive country above the US on a map) is part of NA!

You do realize that number you listed for Canada is 2 years old don't you?! So it shouldn't surprise you to learn that the number has now tripled. Lol I know geography isn't your strong suit, apparently math isn't ethier. Did you think we all stopped buying shit after August 2008?!

Just so you know, your list adds up to 35.5 milllion, not 40. Finally, do you know based on population,(US 309 million to Can 35 million), we buy more consoles per capita than you guys.

[Boody-Bandit]

Compared to what? I am being serious. What was "amazing" about Alan Wake? It was repetitive, game play never really evolved, didn't care for the story, characters looks stiff and the voice acting was meh, graphics were meh, I hated the ending, have no interest in playing it again and most of the people that I know that have completed or are still playing the game all pretty much feel the same way.

I would go into details about what I mean by the game play not evolving but I don't want to ruin it for those that have yet to play it. It is a really good game. I'm not sorry I bought it but I would not call it amazing. It has some really great part but some very mediocre ones as well.

That is just my opinion though.
Please explain to me what you found amazing about Alan Wake.

[Blitzed]

'Arnon 19min ago Block
It's called statistical data. You were not able to provide me with any, so I pulled up the recorded numbers for each country. It has nothing to do with math. The numbers pulled are official recorded numbers that were recorded at the time of date listed. Whether they add up or not doesn't entirely matter. You were not able to provide factual statistics aside from "Well, I think it's around this number".

By the way, you've been reported for excessive personal attacks which had no relevance to the data provided. Enjoy.'

Well, if there was an option to report you for being an ignorant moron that doesn't even know the 3 countries within the continent you live, I would have.

[scofios]

There's always an excuse if a xbox game didn't sell well .
A: there was no advertising .
B: wrong time to release it .
C: coming soon when A and B are overused .
But the reality is turning out to be different , when its not a shooter , halo , gears , call of duty , ......... , it won't sell , whether you like it or not.

[badz149]

just saying. but honestly, why should gamers discuss THIS deep into this matter anyway? some games are selling and some games are not whether they are good or bad games! it happens, ok? and these games fell under those not really selling. not every game can be a million seller, you know.

[Elven6]

ClownBelt: A better way to put it is that the advertising was limited, you could have ads like that in downtown Toronto but what about the folks outside of the city, in Edmonton, Vancouver, etc? They wouldn't see them and I'm sure Microsoft didn't have the billboard campaign in all major Canadian cities either.

Online advertising is ok but a lot of the marketing was directed to gaming sites which in my opinion is a waste since most of the people who visit gaming sites already know about big titles like Alan Wake. TV ads are still the best route to explore, games like Red Dead Redemption did really well and I'm sure the TV campaigns played a role.

Heck, Microsoft to look no farther than Halo to see the power of TV advertising.

As an aside, has anyone seen any TV ads for Crackdown 2? I've only seen online ones, what the heck is Microsoft doing?

[kneon]

I agree Microsoft have been getting their advertising all wrong lately, Kin RIP :)

As you said advertising on game related sites is a waste of time. People who frequent such sites are not normal (that would be us). Most "gamers" don't go scouring the net every hour looking for the latest gaming news. In fact I find most "gamers" I know are relatively clueless about what is coming in games apart from their few favorites.

I was at a party at a friends on the weekend and we had Halo 3 going and most people there were XBox owners. No one bought Alan Wake, most didn't know what it was. They knew RDR and they knew Halo Reach was coming. Kinect awareness was about %50. They were even more clueless about the PS3, many didn't know a slim existed or the price had dropped and most only had a vague awareness of what Uncharted, Killzone or LBP were.

Heavy Rain is a good example of some good use of advertising. The only ads I saw were in magazines at the movie theater, this is targeting the masses that may not be aware of this game. And it seems to have worked.

[Motion]

I browse gaming sites frequently, so I see ads/news for pretty much all games that are coming out. But as far as for on the street or on television, the only game I've seen an ad for that I can remember is Halo. Maybe I've seen one for blur? I know sony shows clips of multiple games in their Ads, but doesn't really have game specific commercials that I've noticed. I guess what I'm saying boils down to, I don't think that lack of advertising will kill a game, because for most games in general ads aren't all that prevalent.

[lelo2play]

The title should be...

Why were US sales of Alan Wake, Blur, Prince of Persia, Split Second, 3d dot game and Modnation Racers so disappointing?

[TotalPS3Fanboy]

No one expected it to sell as well as FPS games.

As for ModNation Racers, I do not about other peoples, but for me, I am still on the fence about it because I do not like the drifting control. I want the drifting control to be like Crash Team Racing.

[Natsu X FairyTail]

Alan wake is currently 69.99 @ my local EBGame.

I wouldnt buy a 6hour game for that price. I bought SSFIV instead.

and by the way I dint see 1 TV spot for AW. oh and it went against RDR which was Multiplat

oh and dont mind Gwave.

[MONOLITHICIDE]

Why does it matter if he played it or not. GWAVE never even mentioned Alan Wake specifically, only you did. And hes right. Go play your spectacular xbox please, i heard crackdown 2 is awesome with all ther improvments and such. lol

[Bzone24]

Umm... he said NONE of those games were all that great. He didn't have to mention it specifically, he grouped it with the others. If he didn't play all of them, then he doesn't know how good they are.

[ABizzel1]

To be honest Prince of Persia deserves the sale, the movie was bad, and the game's demo was bad as well.

Alan Wake was good, but not great which was the problem. It deserved more sales than this, but you have to think about the audience on the 360. They want online, and 9 times out of ten they want online shooters. Alan Wake was set up to fail by putting it exclusively on the 360. Also how the game plays out is kind of off putting. It's more like a TV series which takes away from the suspense and the flow of the game IMO. Alan Wake should have been multiplat, and Remedy is probably thinking WTF are we going to do, after putting all that time and money into it.

Blur, I have yet to play still, but everyone I know who has played say it's good. The problem with Blur is the same thing with shooters, there are too many racing games. Burnout, Need for Speed, Split Second, Dirt, Midnight Club, Grid, Pure, and that's not counting the exclusive racing games. It's racing overload and if your game doesn't offer somthing vastly different or superior to the competition then your sales are going to suffer.

[AAACE5]

Alan Wake was a victim of circumstance (came out with RDR)! BLUR just happened to come out at a time when people weren't too excited about racing games anymore! And I think people are just tired of the Prince of Persia games!

[outrageous]

Alan Wake is an amazing game in many ways. Don't waste your time explaining to kids that never played the game. They are clueless as usual.

The game has sold 520,000 copies in 6 weeks. While not Halo numbers, that's not a flop and the DLC may get the sales rolling again. First DLC drops July 27.

Please stop saying that the game did not receive any promotion. They released a mini-series ( $$$ ) to co-inside with the release with the game. Released many AW in game videos and promo's.

The big issues are piracy, RDR releasing on the same day and a lack of any kind of multi-player. The game is an artsy game that will cater to smaller group than the MW2 FPS shooter genre which sells extremely well on 360.

Doesn't matter to me. I really enjoyed the game and bought the collectors edition and was worth every penny. For those reading this and are on the fence, rent it first. If it's something you would like for your collection, buy it. I saw a used copy at a local blockbuster for $49.99. Otherwise wait for the eventual price drop to $20-30. Remember, The first DLC is free to first time buyers only.

Some of the best graphics, story and game play this gen on ANY platform. It still may release on PC.

[dizzleK]

no advertising outside of "preaching to the choir" on game sites.

[jack_burt0n]

John Marston was his name.

[Obama]

They should have make Alan a bald space marine with steroid pumping muscles, and change the game play to a fps where all you do is shoot and kill, shoot and kill...

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

I believe Alan Wake would sell a lot better on PS3.

Why?, because it is only Single Player, and is not an Action Shooter.

[Jay520]

Look at some popular ps3 exclusives: god of war, heavy rain, uncharted, Infamous, MGS4, ratchet and clank, etc. All famous for their single player as opposed to 360 exclusives which are mainly popular for their online content. I'm not saying the 360 is lacking in single player, I'm just saying it's more multiplayer than single player.

[wiggles]

I loved Heavy Rain...and i'll basically eat up anything that seems to be about story rather then about juiced up space marine....it's really a shame...

[JumpNPlayBon]

Now this is the truth. why more people don't realize it is beyond me. I have my 360 for my shooters, and my PS3 for games like this. I didn't buy Heavy rain because I'm not interested in what I think is a movie game, and I can't see myself BUYING AW because I'd only play it once. A suspense thriller loses it's edge when you know what's about to happen, no?

Going back to collect things is NOT what I consider replayability. I hardly ever try and find all the crap that's in these games. But I do want to play AW so it's on my gamefly que

[PSfan09]

i do notice all fps sell better on xbox but everything else, not so much

[Whoooop]

Ask 360 fanatics...

They were the ones drooling over sales when this gen started.

[DARK WITNESS]

you can ask them about Alan Wake, but Blur and PP are multi, ps3 owners are the ones who like verity, where was their sales ?

The simple truth is this;

POP was crap

Blur was crap ( ok a few people like it, but after playing pgr 2 and 3 and then pgr 4 going downhill Blur just wasn't the game it should have been )

Alan Wake was good, very good..... but it still was not quite the totoally mind blowing experience we had been hoping for after all the delays etc.

Not all 360 fans are fps shooter obsessed, and for all the games on the ps3 it's still all the fps shooter that get all the hype.

So far this gen Dead Space has been my no 1 game, but thats just me.

[Whoooop]

I was referring mainly to Alan Wake and I agree... Alan Wake was a great experience limited by everything except interesting story, atmosphere and somewhat good combat mechanics.

While shooters and multiplatforms tend to get the most sales, there's a consistency with PS3 exclusives sales... Games as varied as Uncharted 2, MGS4, LBP, Heavy Rain, Motorstorm etc. all sell well between 1.5 mill and 4 mill.

PS3 owners are buying exclusive games in a healthy way and that's why Sony/Developers keep making sequels.

Also... I was pointing out that 360 fans started all that nonsense that if a game doesn't reach Halo sales, it's a flop. That's just ridiculous.

[StarScream4Ever]

Alan Wake is great, just not great at the same time. Not selling well is a bad sign for the 360 exclusives line up. I was thinking it might sell well.

Blur is more like a typical Mario Kart for grown ups.

PoP is ok...

[Unicron]

AW is not the second coming, it IS a solid game and it deserved better sales than what it got. Very disappointing when people hype titles nonstop (AW, Modnation) or begs for a US port (Yakuza) and then no one goes out to buy them.

People need to put their money where their mouths are and support the titles out in the real world, instead of just for some BS message board console war.

IMHO.

[N4BmpS]

Prince of Persia was Highly Anticipated? Okay Blur yeah and Alan Wake yeah buut not so sure about PoP.

Anyway on point...I don't know, it's disappointing that they didn't do so well. Alan Wake had it's promotion but it didn't have it's own bus or anything. Even so, Blur had a few billboards here in Florida, still was a no go. I don't know maybe it's that time of year where there is a slump. The Heavy Weights did good (GoWIII, RDR etc.). It's unfortunate but it will happen. Not to mention the reviews, some reviews could be a killer for games a long with hating fanboys.

[itsralf]

I honestly had no idea there was another Prince of Persia game until I saw the reviews for it about a week after it's release.

[Greek God]

only shooters sell on 360
... i mean big ass numbers (HALLLOOOOOOOOOOO)

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Alan Wake - PS3 has a better audience for this.
Blur - VERY bad timing...
PoP - Sucked. Repetitive, short, uninspired story, forgettable script, and lackluster combo system.

[Allowen]

I liked the PC version of Blur ! It is a fun game but it is not worth $50.

[Allowen]

Add Fable3 to the list of games that will sell bad in USA too !

We all hate games that are not complete, that comes in several episodes via DLCs.
Alan Wake as far as I know is a "complete" game but lots of info about the story we will only know if we buy the 10+ DLCs that will pop for this game.

Fable 3 was already releaved that it will be split in lots of episodes too but it will be worst then AW.

Jesus, just release the damn game in 4 DVDs and make it epic.
But nooo, they like to make Xbox360's games in one disc and then launch lots of DLCs .... I hate that .

[Elven6]

The episodes are only if you want to buy the game digitally, you get the first episode for free and if you want the rest of the game you just buy it, kind of like a demo 2.0. If you don't want to do that, you can just buy the full game on a disc at any store.

For Alan Wake, the arch that was started in the game was finished, the DLC episodes are just expanding on it. Alan Wake was always intended to be told through other medias, sequels, etc like all Remedy games since Max Payne.

[P_Bomb]

Alan Wake was on the wrong platform. Blur, SplitSecond, ModNation kinda cancelled eachother out. PoP is in the middle of an identity crisis as they just rebooted their reboot while a reboot movie plays in the background. Why invest in a continuity that they're probably rebooting again as we speak (a sequel to the PSN/XBL PoP Classic perhaps, lol?)

[coolbeans]

Pop-a plethora of reasons ( one of them COULD be meh-quality judging by the average review)

Blur- The only kart racer that seems to be selling greatly was/is Mario Kart Wii. That's how it has always seemed to be for quite some time.

Alan Wake- Virtually no real advertising outside of certain tidbits on the internet, exclusive horror titles don't exactly pen to a huge crowd (although I still call AW a psy. thriller, I don't see that sort of genre for it), and May was a pretty packed month.

[maxx1223]

"Alan Wake- Virtually no real advertising outside of certain tidbits on the internet, exclusive horror titles don't exactly pen to a huge crowd (although I still call AW a psy. thriller, I don't see that sort of genre for it), and May was a pretty packed month."

Bioshock sales seem to disagree with this notion. Then again, it was a fps type "exclusive" horror title..... "exclusive" for > year a least...

[coolbeans]

Bioshock is not a horror title. It's tough for me to imagine how it could be considered one. That's an FPS plain and simple.

[GameScrub]

I played the game twice and bought the book for my pop to enjoy and have a nice discussion. My brother is playing it now my wife is reading the book to join on the experience.

Good game, good times!

[patterson]

I'm sure Alan Wake is a decent game, it's just that it can be finished in like 6-8 hours. Probably why people didn't rush out to buy it immediately. They're waiting for the price to drop.

Plus Xbots preferred game of choice is the online shooter to help justify the cost of paying for XBL.

For MS, this is a blessing and a curse.

[IHateYouFanboys]

lots of big sony exclusives are finished in 6-8 hours too though. remember, 10 hours is the average length of a single player campaign on normal difficulty while taking your time, so 8 hours is pretty acceptable.

God of War, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted, Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 - all can easily be completed in 6-7 hours. skip the cutscenes in MGS4 and you can breeze through it in 3, without even rushing.

i bought Alan Wake on launch and loved every minute of it. i also bought every other game that i just listed on launch. also, alan wake took me about 9 hours to finish, getting probably 90% of the collectibles, so that is more than worth the money for me as im definitely going to replay it on the hardest difficulty so that will add another 10 hours or so.

people on here get too caught up in the '360 owners only buy xxxx type of games' and 'PS3 owners buy all types of games' bull$hit. its NOT true, and its just a typical fanboy statement.

there are many reasons why games dont sell well - what console theyre on is not one of them.

[dkgshiz]

You could beat it in 6 hours. Its really not worth buying.

[-Mezzo-]

Yup, Alan Wake would have much better on PS3 and even better as a Multi-Platform title.

[xg-ei8ht]

There was an advert in the uk on tv, but showed none of the game, but more bs type stuff like halo3.

If you can't show ingame, the game must be pretty bad.

[OmarJA-N4G]

Alan goes back to sleep.

[Redempteur]

blur = nothing original in that title and it's an immitation of mario kart ..
prince of persia = seris went downhill since the sands of times.
alan wake = the public of 360 isn't ready for these kind of game .. where as it's been proven by heavy rain that the ps3 public is diverse enough to enjoy them

[deadoralive1337]

Correct if I am wrong. Blur, an activison game, did not sell good! OMG Kotick must be mad now!!!!

[itsralf]

Because they weren't very good. Just telling the truth. I've tried all of them.

[ironmonkey]

isnt it obvious? the games were not that great.

[MidNite]

Alan wake was an amazing expierience, it would of sold a ton more if it didn't release on the same date as RDR! I saw that coming month in advance...

[cobpswii3600]

It was a very good game but I believe it would've sold much better on Ps3. Their is always a large amount of people who play niche games on the Ps3. See Demon's Souls or Heavy Rain. All 360 gamers play are: MW2, Halo 3, Gears and L4D. All shooters. Throwing Alan Wake into the mix... Not a good idea.

[ECM0NEY]

When i showed up at midnight for RDR the gamestop by my house didnt get a single copy of alan wake. Maybe there was a shipping problem? So when gamers couldnt get it day one they forgot about it. idk...

[Braid]

It's simply because POP and Blur are sh#tty games, and Alan Wake could not be sold millions because Xbox 360 is the house of piracy.

[Baba1906]

i would have bought Alan Wake on ps3, couse i dont have a 360.