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Were sales really that bad?

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Jordan Cantu said:
It apparently sold 1.1 million copies by June, who knows maybe by the end of the year it will make atleast 2 million like they planned
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Nah the sales aren't bad, they were mentioned to be solid, so it's doing okay. But is it high as they were hoping? Nope. Most of that will be from fan response, poor debut trailer, and some of the guys higher up not thinking before they speak.

Likely it'll be what you said, maybe they'll hit the 2 million by the end of the year or eventually.
 
1.1 million copies sold are bad sales? Not really, those are solid sales. Pretty good for a new IP...but this is not a new IP. DmC was made because Capcom thought that DMC sales weren't enough, the game was supposed to appeal a wider audience. DMC4 was around 2.4 million sales, so it's safe to say that the sales were bad.

Can DmC achieve 2 million sales at the end of the year? I don't think so. Most games sales are expected to be in the few months after the release day; marketing, reviews, news and articles from journalism are supposed to build "hype" to make people buy the game in those first months. There's no way to get another million sales from nowhere, and even like that it can't surpass DMC4 sales.
 
Considering following:
  • DMC 4 that was rushed i.e did not have 3 years development time as DmC did, it sold 2.7M in it's months
  • Other DMC games sales, the worst being DMC 3 (ONLY on PS2, not multiplat like DmC)
  • New IPs in same genre sold better than DmC (DmC gameplay = NOT NEW!!!!!!!!) : Darksiders #1 sold 1.2m in it's first four weeks and Bayonetta sold 1.35M. Minami (president of talented Platinum Games) rated Bayonetta sales as a C or D.
  • Capcom's intial ambition with DmC reboot was to "save DMC from fizzling out", and they hoped to appeal to bigger audience, and also a factor for reboot was to reach 4-5M sales as they looked at other games in genre (God of war) and wondered "Why is our games not selling over 2M :blink:?".
  • Capcom expectation of sales, first being 2M, then 1.5M and then lowered more. DmC didn't even reach the second forecast(1.5M).
  • Darksiders 2 (a good game, improved from Darksiders 1) sold 1.4M, and THQ said "It did not meet our expectations". And what happened to THQ? They went bankrupt.
I'd say the 1.1m sale DmC got, is nowhere near solid.
Solid sales from perspective are:

1M for a new IP - thats solid.
1.5m+ for established IPs e.g Darksiders 2

I get why THQ feels that Darksiders 2 did not do as well as they expected. Their disappointment is highly understandable. Darksiders 2 is a pretty good game, and it definetly should have sold a bit more than 1.4m.


EDIT:
If DmC's sales were solid, Capcom would have given out a statement of joy like Kojima did about Metal Gear Rising REvengeance.
Also where did the "solid" word come from? A business report.

Business...investors...presentation...prospect...u get the idea.
 
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Just wondering does this track PC sales as well? Sometimes PC sales aren't tracked since they're digital or something. In fact, games sold digitally through retailers like Steam aren't even tracked at all.
 
If you ask me, I think the sales were fairly solid. What they hoped to sell was horribly unrealistic, considering what god-awful PR they had and the lack of advertising.

Had DmC been presented in a different way, gotten some TV spots, and a better spokesman, the game could have gotten closer to its intended sales target.

But who knows? We've seen some games with horrible sales get sequels before.
 
Loopy said:
Sales weren't bad, but the sales target was unrealistic considering the controversy, negative reaction and PR.
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yeah, this had a lot to do with it. When you make a drastic overhaul like this, you try and include things for the old fanbase while making things a new fanbase would appreciate. You don't tell the old fanbase to get ****ed repeatedly
 
TWOxACROSS said:
C'mon man. Don't bring that sh!t up again :/ No one but disgruntled fans told anyone to get ******.
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I brought it up because it was relevant. Ninja Theory's attitude toward the game was based around mocking the source material, something made plain looking at a series of thematic pieces used to set the tone around the studio since day 1. This is not respecting the older fanbase, this is an entire studio laughing at them behind their hands while they swear up and down to love the source material.

To me it looks like the original characters were a target of open ridicule, and it's not easy to take a deeply ingrained attitude like that and disguise it as respect when it comes time to talk to the fans, something nearly all of the older fans picked up on pretty quickly
 
Considering the controversy that surrounded it, I think it sold fairly. But i don't play a game by sales or reputation it has, but that meets my expectations.I can live with a few aspects that don't meet my criteria to the max. DmC did a few things right and few things ,not so right. But credit should go to capcom for polishing it and giving a final product that is way better than initial concepts in TGS and E3 of 2011.I remember Ninja theory wanted to add nipples and such in the game, but capcom strictly refusing it. Though, I am skeptical about a sequel. I'd rather treat this game as a spin-off.
 
BLACKSWIPE said:
If you ask me, I think the sales were fairly solid. What they hoped to sell was horribly unrealistic, considering what god-awful PR they had and the lack of advertising.

Had DmC been presented in a different way, gotten some TV spots, and a better spokesman, the game could have gotten closer to its intended sales target.

But who knows? We've seen some games with horrible sales get sequels before.
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Which is why I think it's possible it'll happen. Capcom said themselves they were happy with what Ninja Theory did and would like to work with them again. If they really will who knows, but Capcom were pleased because that team helped give them a fresh take on Devil May Cry that they probably weren't sure on how to handle themselves, considering how many times DMC has changed over the years, along with Dante himself. Whatever they choose to do with the reboot and how they mold it from here on out is up to them. People forgave DMC3 after DMC2, and even if DmC was too a drastic change for some fans, there's nothing preventing Capcom from turning that around creatively speaking.

Also you could say the point of a reboot is to be different, but you could also agree DmC is too different [I've heard of some fans that played the original from the beginning say they like they game but they can't consider it a DMC or that there are things they're still let down by on it.] And hell, if people are calling for a DMC5 it pretty much shows fans out there want an injection of the old DMC style, just like Resident Evil fans have been wanting to return to the survival horror in RE games.

If Resident Evil gets a mini reboot with it's series and DMC has gotten such ones over the years, DmC is just as entitled to one as well.
 
TWOxACROSS said:
Or...you know, if anything, regardless of a new IP or not, sells mover a million, that's considered pretty damn good.

Game sales are just as idiotically skewed in the business as rating scores, where anything below a B/80 is apparently a bad game :/.
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Realistically speaking yes but from a business standpoint.

How does this sound?

Your the head of an multi-million dollar video game development/publishing company (Capcom) or a director/producer there and you have this IP (Devil May Cry) which sold 2.4 million units with its latest release but you see that other games in the genre are doing much better (God of War) and you wonder why since your game was renowned as the king of the genre, it created the very genre itself and redefined itself but yet another game is doing way better than it. You see that its a western game and its due to appealing to a larger western audience than your game. So you decided to do something drastic, a reboot/westernization of the series in the hopes to broaden its audience to reach a more western audience. Now you hope it sells 4-5 mil units but seeing fan outrage sends back to like 2 mil units (reasonable enough). I mean 2 mil is reasonable especially if you wanted to appeal to a larger audience. They were hoping it would draw in a good enough new faces to the franchise to replace a strong majority of the old and at the same try to bring back old fans by claiming how it had the "DMC DNA"

They said stuff like the old series was getting stale, they wanted to broaden its horizon, and trying to make it true to its predecessors and spent 3+ years working on the game (the most dev time for any DMC game even if a lot of it was planning). It used a western studio with high end cutting motion capture technology so it had a pretty large budget so it was an AAA game.

The game failed to meet its original expectations and it even failed to meet its lowered expectations and another lowered expectation. Capcom even states the game failed to reach a large audience and a strong majority of people who bought it were already fans or played the old games.

I've seen games that sold better than DmC (some of which WERE NEW IPS give the company a lot of trouble).

Bayonetta is a good example, it sold only 1.35 mil units and SEGA couldn't even fund a sequel or Darksiders II which sold 1.4 mil units which sent THQ to go bankrupt (I know it was due to other reasons but DS2 was supposed to be the game that at least saved them or help them out but it didn't).

DmC may be "solid" but its only due to how Capcom is currently doing but seeing how their recent reports displays drastic losses.

Guess what Capcom considers the sales for Dark Arisen (550,000) and Resident Evil: Revelations HD Edition (900,000) solid sales (well for what they are they're actually pretty solid) but regardless of solid sales they still lost money in this quarter of the financial year. Now they're hoping on Monster Hunter 4 (2.9 mil units) and Lost Planet 3 (1.3 mil units) to turn that around. If Lost Planet 3 (an outsourced game) fails (cause Monster Hunter 4 pffffffffffftttt doubt it will fail) and they lose more profits they might just stop outsourcing games all together especially if MH4 succeeds.

Capcom right now are having financial issues (as are a lot of other companies) and "solid sales" are definitely not helping them at all. DmC may be solid to your eyes but even Capcom knows having "solid sales" isn't good enough.

I mean if the whole point of the reboot was to broaden the audience and sell more having just getting "solid sales" really defeats the whole purpose of the reboot.

The real goal, the real purpose for the reboot wasn't creative integrity, or a fresh new take on the series (granted those are incentives) but its been stated time and time again that the point was to reach the Western audience and broaden DMC's fanbase NOT make a game that is the lowest selling in the entire series.

DmC succeeds its job at being a traditional reboot but in line with CAPCOM'S actual purpose of the reboot (to make them more money DUUUUHHHHH) it failed.

It's not a matter of what we think Capcom should do next. Its a matter of what Capcom think they should do next considering they actually can't afford another flop considering they just went through a major reorganization and are now having money problems.

I would really laugh if Capcom decides to make DmC2 and it sell like 1.5 mil units and they file bankruptcy....like good ole THQ. I would laugh and say "You have no one to blame but yourselves. You've brought this upon yourself."
 
It's both sad and absurd that every so called "AAA" game needs to sell 5 million copies or more in order to be considered a success. Major publishers have a really screwed up view on how games should be made these days. They throw ridiculous amounts of money to promoting and advertising, while thinking every game needs to have photorealistic graphics and cinematic set pieces. Previously unique and interesting games (Dead Space for example) need to be dumbed down and made more generic in order to cater to a "broader audience" while old fans are not going to buy a game that violates their favorite franchise. Then the publishers wonder why they don't make enough money with their products. Sigh.
 
Kam said:
I brought it up because it was relevant. Ninja Theory's attitude toward the game was based around ridiculing the source material, something made plain looking at a series of thematic pieces used to set the tone around the studio since day 1. This is not respecting the older fanbase, this is an entire studio laughing at them behind their hands while they swear up and down to love the source material.

To me it looks like the original characters were a target of open ridicule, and it's not easy to take a deeply ingrained attitude like that and disguise it as respect when it comes time to talk to the fans, something nearly all of the older fans picked up on pretty quickly
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What Kam really said:
I brought it up because it was relevant, and there were some pretty obvious jabs at older fans, the most obnoxious one for me was this one. That's not respecting the older fanbase, that's giving them the big fat middle finger and wrapping it in a gay joke.

And then there was the community around that time. There are all kinds of articles like this one where if you scroll down to the very first comment, boom, it's everyone's favorite subject again: the ******* hair. Between the new fanbase and its hair fixation, and the developers with the "your favorite character was ****, blah blah gay weeaboo white hair etc" attitude, it was really hard to actually give this game a chance. The game ended up being pretty good, but if I have to sit through more of their obnoxious attitude for a second release of a DmC game, I don't think I'll make it till launch
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Kam, a lot of what you said was easily described as you completely not understanding the point of that entire panel. You can keep looking for some slight, but it wasn't there. That entire panel had nothing to do with implying anything other than talking about the sort of inspiration and mindset they wanted to get into; that Dante wasn't a highly romanticized and popular hero in his world - he was just the everyman on the street who became a hero by chance, and didn't wear a flashy costume.

Either you get that, or you don't. But there's so much telling you how it is, quit trying to bullsh!t that misinformation around.

Characters weren't "openly ridiculed," but they also don't have to completely revere the characters in order to respect them. Now, was this "seen by all the older fans," or was it a disease of misinformation that infected the older fans, giving violent shape to their shapeless anger? I'd definitely think the latter, because so much of it was people being exceedingly oversensitive about everything, and just looking for more stuff to feel slighted over.

It's like you think they had a bunch of 'shopped shots around the office of DMC4 Dante in a bunch of gay orgies that they threw darts at all day, while twirling their evil curly mustaches and cackling maniacally. The PR was bad, yes, but it was distorted and blown way out of proportion by people who wanted everything to look way worse than it actually was, and by misinformation being spread to both sides.

The second link of your second quote doesn't make much sense either, because comments in a comment section have nothing to do with NT, those again, are a disgruntled fans. Seriously, the only people who actually talked copious amounts of sh!t was the fanbase; one side aiming their vitriol at the devs, and the other aiming it at the other side.

And maybe, if there was a DmC2 on its way, you could do your best to stay objective, and prevent the spread of misinformation, instead of letting unfounded bullsh!t get to you. DmC was plagued by misinformation, rumors, and hearsay from the get-go, and I'll never understand why people actually bothered listening to that stuff when there was never any proof, other than to perpetuate a specific belief. That goes for both sides, too; the ones who believed everything sh!tty they heard about the game was true, and the misinformed portion of the fanbase who for some reason still felt it was all 'bout the hair.

Now can we please stop bringing this sh!t up? It's a f#cking skeleton of a dead horse, ground up into bone dust by now :/
 
sales weren't bad as a game but since they wanted to sell up to 4 million copies...then...yeah. thats pretty bad
 
Considering that they wanted to sell ****ing four million copies, they had their hopes up WAY too much.
Seriously.
For a reboot that had terrible PR, a bad adverting campaign and so many other things...this was lucky to even sell a million copies. This should have been expected, and this is just the first step. NT went ahead and did their own thing, it was more of an experiment if anything. Based on what feedback they've gotten back, I can easily see DmC 2 in the next 5 to six years, with a better improved everything.
 
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