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Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3 See Low Sales Debuts
by Chris Remo, Dec 14, 2007 11:40pm PSTWhen November industry sales data was released this week by tracking firm NPD, the PC platform was notably absent from the list of top ten best-selling games despite the release of high-profile titles such as Epic Games' Unreal Tournament III and Crytek's Crysis. Now, according to NPD data released by market tracking site the simExchange, it seems both games kicked off with disappointing initial sales--neither approached 100,000 units.
The report shows Crysis as selling 86,633 units at retail since its November 13 release; the game's potential audience has no doubt been limited by the game's notoriously steep system requirements. Meanwhile, Unreal Tournament III saw considerably flatter sales, tallying 33,995 since its November 19 release. Prior to the release of this data, many gamers had predicted low sales based on the game's sparse player count; at the time of writing, its current online player count is actually below the single-player-oriented Crysis.
It should be noted that Unreal Tournament III in particular released about halfway into the month, with only two full business weeks of availability, though the numbers are undoubtedly lower than publisher Midway and developer Epic expected.
Comments
UT3 - it just sucks.
Crysis - it may be awesome, but my computer can't run it.
it's quite simple, really. too bad the respective developers/publishers couldn't see this coming. maybe Crysis is a bit ahead of its time?
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If you're not an IT guy, I don't think you want to bother with it. And that's the problem with PC games. You need to be a somewhat techie kinda guy in order to fully enjoy them most of the time. Steam I think is the only exception to this because most of the games coming out on Steam install very easily. Plus, games like CS and TF2 run better on older systems. Even still though, I have plenty of friends who wouldn't even know how to launch steam. They aren't stupid people.. they just don't have a PC or a use for a PC somehow in this day and age (other then paying bills)
The difference between friends playing games on consoles compared to PC is huge.
Now think back to when BioShock was released. There was all this bitching about the anti-piracy put in place. Compare how much can be made off console sales to PC sales + worrying about your game being pirated on the PC + worrying about supporting all of those different variances in PC hardware + dealing with "omg fuck you and your anti piracy shit!!" posts all over the internet.
Yeah, PC gaming will never die... but it looks like a lot more of a hassle for studios to have to deal with for less money. So how is that going to turn out in the long run?
What will be interesting is in 5 or 10 yrs when consoles and PCs are all just one device. When say the Xbox 720 or whatever they call it is capable of doing everything your PC can do, but plugs nicely into your TV and requires zero hassle to setup properly.
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Unreal Tournament 3 felt like if you ripped all the fun out of Unreal Tournament 2004, and then painted it to look like Gears of War. I was super pumped for the game... until I played the Demo. I gave it a try for 5 minutes then never had any inclination to ever play it again. I might pick it up when it's $10.
The requirements to play Crysis are beyond what 95% of people have. I don't buy a game to have it play "good enough," particularly when the only thing that sets the game apart from anything else is its graphics.
Orange Box sold boatloads on PC I'm certain. Starcraft 2 will sell a bajillion copies, guaranteed.
PC Gaming is definitely on the decline, but I don't think it will ever die. It's just changing.
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Grew up playing consoles until my brother and and his best friend at the time introduced me to PC gaming, both of which were died hard PC gamers who would upgrade every few months up until last year. Last I heard his friend even switched over the the 360/PS3 and put PC gaming on the shelf.
Until prices on hardware become more reasonably close to what consoles sell for, developers learn that ridiculously amazing graphics aren't what make a game, and their more PC games on the market - that are developed for PC , I just don't see any of these heavy spec requirement games selling very well.
I'ts a shame, Ive put close to 2500 into my computer over the last 2 years probably, and these days it's really only used for the part for Visual Studio, Office and communicating with friends.
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Yeah i do have an SLI setup but don't let that discourage you from trying Crysis out. The SP is awesome!
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- Crysis is from EA
- Quake > UT (for me)
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Hopefully Crysis will have a long tail and pick up in popularity once systems catch up. It had everything I've mentioned working against it, plus it released in one of the most competitive release quarters in PC gaming history. It isn't surprising not many people wanted to upgrade for that game when so many other games are out that will run just fine.
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Frankly I fed up with all this "PC dying business". For me its PC is teh platform that has provide me with teh ebst gaming hours of my life.
I didn't bought Crysis for one particular reason. My 6800GT can't handle it. Maybe I bought it next year but now I will focus in the best games for this holidays: TF2 and COD4.
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I predict that, even though initial sales are lower than expected, sales of Crysis will undoubtedly grow at a steady rate. It's the most amazing PC game ever made -- as the word spreads from that 1% of the population that can actually play it with decent framerates we'll see more PC gamers upgrade and buy it.
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I will always love my PC, but I know I will be playing more on my console.
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People exclaiming the death of PC gaming because their 2 friends don't play PC games any more, or the made up statistic brigade saying 9302% of people won't buy crysis because it is beyond what they have computer wise.
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UT3: sorry, it sucks ass.
And I was a loyal lover of Unreal, Unreal Tournament, (U2 sucked), and UT2004. Played a LOT of UT2004.
UT3 sucks ass. It just. Sucks. Ass. Go back to what made your games enjoyable. Also, make them visually cleaner. The vehicles were good as you had them, the new dumbed down consoleish stuff just sucks ass.
Did I say UT3 sucks ass yet? Is my argument that UT3 sucks ass reasonable? I find this truth to be self evident, that UT3 sucks ass.
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1. Perceived hardware requirement issues with Crysis, even though it's not really THAT unreasonable, when you realize that it will run fairly well on certain lower-end systems
2. A fan backlash to the consolized portions of UT3 - I still think the game is quite good but expectations may have hurt the game.
3. Also with UT3, there's the issue of 'sameness'. Despite the new Warfare mode, much of the game still revolves around classic DM which FPS fans may be getting somewhat tired of...(not me, though)
And the final reason for this, and perhaps the main reason as well as the most accurate reason:
4. These titles were released into a ridiculously HUGE crap-storm of AAA titles and game releases (some that weren't as AAA but still very good). When you look at the recent game releases starting in Aug/Sep, it's easy to see that a lot of this is probably just gamer wallet fatigue.
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There's no need for us die-hard PC gaming fans to panic, or for devs to panic. Sales will more than likely pick-up and/or remain consistent over a longer period of time, it's just a far too crowded release period and that is the most likely reason for these 2 game's suffering sales #s. Also, it's important to remember that low sales figures doesn't equate to poor game quality. For every person that I've heard gripe about the UT3 UI, I've heard an equal number who have really enjoyed the gameplay and the graphics.
4.
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-Crysis has the most highest hardware requeriments ever. 90% of the people with computers can't run it.
-UT3 has bombed, just itself, without any help. It's the same game as ever, but now with shiny (and messy, all the detail and bloom and shit makes hard to see things) graphics. Warfare? That's not a new mode, It's Onslaught with a ball. A modder could make the same thing with a mutator for UT2k4.
Also, it's not set in modern times, the prefered setting right now. There are more people interested in fight with AK and MP5s than with lasers. CS, CoD4, etc etc.
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There is no console game topping that. None.
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Developers need to stop with the uber team approach of how many people can we stuff on the payroll to make cooler water animations and ask themselves: If there were only four of us, with not very good computers and a damn small budget, what is the coolest stuff we could pull of with just that. When you've got that and you actually want to play it and get a kick out of it, that's when you slap on the graphics.
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But Crysis *is* on my list its just that, as everyone else has said implied I dont have the hardware to enjoy it at the experience level I want to. Crysis's visuals *are* a huge part of the experience and that hurts them for the time being. But I'm building a new rig right now, and I will be buying the next top line video card in the spring and then I'll be able to (hopefully lol) enjoy the thing in its full glory.
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Crysis is neat and all but I found CoD4 much more enjoyable. I still haven't finished Crysis' sp campaign and haven't even touched mp. Reading the InCrysis forums really dissuaded me from trying mp since there are so many complaints about rampant cheating and exploits and whatnot.
UT3 is just plain boring-looking in comparison to Crysis and CoD4, plus they came out and said they won't be fixing things people hated in the demo/beta so it's good they aren't selling much because that is what they deserve for their attitude. The funny thing is how they'll just use this to justify making console-exclusive games in the future. They'll blame PC gaming as a losing marketing but the reality is they are the source of their poor sales.
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Crysis - Unfortunately the bleeding edge is a bad place to be in this day and age when people are little tired of upgrading their PC's, myself included. Before you only had to buy $150 video card to play Quake in glorious OpenGL - yeah that's right, my first experience with Quake was software :(
Now I want to play Crysis but my machine is no where near the point it needs to be to enjoy it because I need more memory, better video card and faster processor which ultimately means a new motherboard.
Both these companies will make their money on console releases, not PC.
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I guess my question is...if good quality mods come out for UT3 (not necessarily mine...I suck afterall!) would those of you who aren't liking the game that much pick it up later for mods if they seem like something that would appeal to you. And just in general curiousity...would you pick it up if the remaining issues you don't like get patched away...or if mods render those issues irrelevant and said mods get any sort of momentum (thats sort of catch-22...no one plays mods because there's no one playing them). Hell its not a UT3 specific question even...games in general...if they get better in general do you pick them up later?
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Load up this level and try to take a shot at this angle if you can.
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2007/191/928117_20070710_screen002.jpg
Maybe it's already be proved but I would be shocked if this shot and almost all of the UT3 marketing media shots were not done in 3dsmax or some other rendering engine. There's just no comparison between the game and these shots.
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I have the PS3 version of UT3 and there are over 1k players within the first week playing online during peak times it seems. I will be interested to see the first week/month sales for UT3 on the PS3 versus the PC, even with the so-called low amount of 7million installed PS3 base.
When blockbusters like this choke on sales for the PC, it really seems that gaming on the PC is really dead. MMORPGS seem to be the only genre pushing PC gaming at all.
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I use my PC for many things NOT related to games at all.
My CPU and RAM I need for a quick smooth work flow of digital images (4 core 4+ gigs of RAM)
The added cost for games is really just the video card and speakers...and if I wanted...I could just plug it into my TV and home theater.
Would I drop $2,000 on my PC for just games? Hell no.....but thankfully my PC does many different things.
Just like would I drop $300+ on a PS3? Hell no...but since it plays BD movies and a dedicated BD player is damn expensive for just a movie player...it is not as bad a deal...the PS3 might even get a game worth buying soon!!!
PC games sales are still very strong, and there is a lot of money to make. Wasn't last year over 1 billion dollars?
Digital distribution makes getting a game out cheaper than ever...MUCH cheaper than publishing a game for any console. MS and Sony don't make money on hardware...they make it on software.
Any guess on how much money a smaller developer gets when their games are published on a console? Do you think it is even $20 per unit sold?
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Crysis - I still haven't played it lol. Which is obviously the issue here, it's sales are going to be spread out over hardware transitions since really you need one for it, so who knows how they'll do. I admire that they push the limits and won't turn their games to garbage for the mass market's old pc's though; you have to respect any developer with an uncompromising desire to innovate.