Look at the list below and you'll notice seven of the biggest games in 2010 are hitting store shelves one-after-the-other. If you only own one console, (PS3 or Xbox 360) then your problem won't be as serious. But if by chance you have the Xbox 360 and PS3, your problem is daunting, the only way you won't miss some of these titles is if you're millionaire, and I suspect most of us aren't. Do publishers coordinate the release of their games at all?
Because if they do, I'd fire the department responsible for strategizing and if they don't have a devision that solely handles when games should be released, one is desperately needed ASAP.
- FFXIII - March 9th, 2010
- GoW III - March 10th, 2010
- Bioshock 2 - Feb. 9th, 2010
- Heavy Rain - Feb. 16th, 2010
- Splinter Cell: Conviction - Feb. 26th, 2010
- Mass Effect 2 - Jan. 26th, 2010
- MAG - January 29th, 2010
All the aforementioned titles are heavy hitters and it's guaranteed that all the IPs that are already established will sell really well. But new entries into the market like Sony's new shooter, which holds a lot of promise will no doubt suffer. MAG as it is called will need massive hype and some extra offerings to pull me away from purchasing Mass Effect 2 for my Xbox 360. There's nothing Qunatic Dream can say that would draw me away from Splinter Cell: Conviction. Bioshock 2 will be out of Feb. 9th, which brings the amount of big titles released in said month to three, a dilemma which has serious implications, at least for the developers and publishers of said titles.
Even the established franchises are hindering the success of other. Take for example God of War III and Final Fantasy XIII, I recently wrote an article asking Santa Monica to please push back the release date of the highly anticipated, and what will be a highly successful game, and it seems as if they've taken notice, apparently the GoW III will be released on a later day in March than what they'd previously settled on. Which is good logic because I don't care what explanation one comes up with, releasing these games just two days apart is marketing and financial suicide.
Now, this article is NOT meant to start some fanboy rant, it's a simple observation that needs to be addressed. And just like Sony and Santa Monica took notice and pushed back the release date of God of War III (albeit by a few weeks), the publishers of the other titles need to consider the same. You see it's not only Modern Warfare 2 that needs to be feared, I'd say Bioshock 2 is a darn serious threat Heavy Rain...
But I'm sure Quantic Dream will make a wise decision, after all there's still time to adjust...
12/19/09 Ernice Gilbert
So if you change Heavy Rain's date, where would you fit it then?
ReplyDeleteIf you send it back later, that would kill some of the hype and anticipation. I'd say it's best to leave the game where it's placed now and just hope games like bioshock don't hinder success too bad.
Good ready by the way.
Great read thank yyou
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