Okay, so this one took us by surprise. From the moment Enslaved: Odyssey To The West was unveiled, momentum became apparently instantly. Sites great and small were hailing it as unique and appealing. The developers said it was beautiful as Uncharted, and the industry on a whole thought it would at least sell a few million copies.
In fact, Ninja Theory said if Enslaved didn’t sell extremely well, meaning at least 3-4 million units, there wouldn’t be a sequel. It’s sold, thus far, 80,000 copies. The franchise is dead.
Dead indeed, because Namco Bandai spent big bucks to give the game global recognition, that, coupled with development costs and you’ll come to understand why I feel bad for all involved.
What happened? Let’s talk, do it here: The Official Games Thirst Talk House.
It’s sad, but I saw it coming. The game was a new IP with okay reviews releasing among established franchises with better marketing, and fan bases. They also expected way to high sales. I though it might sell a million or a million and a half, but 3 to 4 million is outrageous expectations.
It’s a shame really. And to think the game’s a really good one. Not perfect but many than many of the best selling titles out there.
I seriously don’t know what happened.
I did not see barely any advertising. Also, it released the same day as Castlevania, and a week before MOH, and 2 weeks before Fallout. Those are all established franchise, while Enslaved is a new game that was not getting great reviews.
Yeah, great points there, bro. But still, 80,000 copies? That’s not good at all. The game won’t ever sell 1 million at the rate it’s going. Wonder what’s Ninja Theory’s take on this. What will be their response, and whether Capcom feels the same about them messing with DMC…. Yet, we must remember the game wasn’t bad, just poor marketing amongst other things for sure, but not the title itself.
well DMC has a huge following, so I do not think it will do bad. The thing that I find funny is that Ninja Theory went multiplat because Heavenly Sword did not sell as well as they wanted it to, but Enslaved is doing much worse on a much, much, much, much larger install base.
Yeah, that’s a strange phenomena. I think it would have sold better was it an exclusive game. PS3 or Xbox 360.
I just hope they learn from this.
Lesson: Multiplatform doesn’t equates to more sales.
no it didn’t sell cause it sucks. if they learn this they’ll make a better game next time. i mean they haven’t put one good game out so far (and no heavenly sword sucks too), i feel sorry for DmC. for the love god ninja theory needs to stop making games as much as bobby kotick should get fired from activision because he is the Anti-Christ in the flesh.
ghost is there anything that does not suck?
back on topic ultimate irony!
they bitch and moan that heavenly sword did not sell well when it did considering the time it released.
so there next game sells horribly, not just worse than its last but completly tanks!
icing on the cake not only has the ps3 base sky rocketed since, it was also on the 360.
eh, serves them right!
fantastic game, only parts i was disappointed in is the combat is really shallow and repetitive and the character design is really lame.
i was expecting a complex full combat system like heavenly sword or DMC has, not the shallow simplistic crap enslaved had.
the characters, i could not develop a relationship with.
in heavenly sword i really cared about nariko, i really cared about kai, i even hated the main baddy it really did such a great job of invoking human emotions.
enslaved though did not do that, it lacked the soul.
shame, so close but so far.
add in a decent combat system, make the characters much more engaging and this would of easily been a GOTY contender!
its a real disappointment to see games suck, but nothing is more disppointing than seeing a game not reach its full potential, especially on something so simple, and something the developers seemed to be masters on!
they said characters, story were the most important part of a game, than they make a game with those the weakest.
@nick, LOL yeah there is games that do not suck but i could type for hours how many games that do not suck. but in this case enslaved sucked ass.
“shame, so close but so far.” True. To be honest, I’m still stunned by this. Wonder what will they do next?
@At Ghost: You meant type for hours games that DO suck, right?
i hope they do a prequel showing how the world got the way it did.
theres so many unanswered questions like who were the mechs working for?
i first thought pyramid but than the reaction why are you attacking me and he sounded genuienly puzzled made me think maybe not.
its clear he had some mechs because you start on a ship on the way to pyramid and that had mechs, but why are they killing humans?
he wanted to capture them and bring them back, not kill them.
really enjoyed the ending, leaving it up to the player whether the right thing was done or not.
but theres far too many un answered things in there, so they need a sequel to show how the world got to where it is in enslaved and who the mechs are working for and why they were trying to kill you.
A sequel after such dismal sales numbers?
not a sequel, a prequel.
i know it sold poorly but if done well and released at a better time with a decent advertising it could sell way better!
only sold poorly because it released in the busiest month of the year!
if they released it in july it would of sold way more.
True. It’s a shame that happened after spending millions to develop. This goes to show how important not only development, but release dates are…. Everything must come together seamlessly.