How are the sales numbers looking right now?

[Res]

This game is an absolute masterpiece... I'd bloody well die inside if you guys went under or we didn't get another Zeno Clash. This game deserves quite a few sales man... the BEST game I've played in bloody well forever. I really needa know how the sales are going so far, the curiosity is burning!

[bean]

they cant really talk about that, or at least thats what they have said in the past. I often find myself feeling the same way. I really hope ACE team sees great numbers on both the PC and console front... excellent team ! Unmatched loyalty to their customers, the FOV issue being a perfect example of what makes them so win in my book...

I can't wait to see what they do next

[2point4]

Currently, it's #71 on Steam's top sellers list. That doesn't seem so great just a couple of days after release, but given there wasn't anything like a media blitz before release day it isn't too surprising. And I bet most of the preorders were from people that were already invested in the story after having played the first, but that seems pretty obvious anyway.

I haven't purchased ZC2 yet because I wait for the $5 or less price for just about everything now. Maybe ACE Team will see some more returns when it's on sale during the looming Steam summer sale. That isn't to say it hasn't met expectations because what do I know? But being so low on that list so soon can't be great, sadly.

[sere]

i dont remember too many atlus published games (whole deal, not just limited regional distribution) needing to sell really well to keep the sequels coming. I am not sure if ACE is even in the position where they need to sell a million just to break even. They definitely have loyal fans for support and with having made all platform versions themselves (is that right? i think it is) combined sales should be ok.

THANK GOD THQ WAS NOWHERE NEAR ZENO CLASH OR ROCK OF AGES !!

look up info on atlus, will give you a good idea of the level they operate.

[tschumann]

Escrito originalmente por sere:

having made all platform versions themselves (is that right? i think it is)

I believe so.

But yeah, they won't release sales figures for whatever reason.
I think some Steam achievement tracking site used to have rough game ownership figures which it got by iterating over all public Steam Community pages and seeing who owned what but last time I checked (a while ago) it didn't do this any more.

[Animasta]

Don't worry, Atlus was stoked when Catherine shipped 500,000 copies. They probably knew it was never going to light the world on fire.

[Res]

Escrito originalmente por Animasta / Caitlin-Teh:

Don't worry, Atlus was stoked when Catherine shipped 500,000 copies. They probably knew it was never going to light the world on fire.

Yeah... I should probably stop worrying. Atlus supports tonnes of cult classic games and their devs beautifully.

[Newblade]

Let's hope it has legs. I'm really enjoying it and I'm sure by the end of it I'll want to see more of this world.

[vyggo]

They are probably really bad to be honest. The game didn't even make it in the top 10 on release day. Which is a bummer because the game is pretty awesome, just finished it.

[Rubicanto]

I think the real problem is NOBODY know Zeno Clash 2 is out ! I am shocked to note this on a lot of video game forums when i post screenshot of the game.
There is very few advertising so far and test on major websites... I see "Don't Starve", "FEZ" but no ZC2.
Look at EDGE in England, JeuxVideo in France, nothing in Germany... but a lot in USA.
Just like cinema, i think European peoples are more ready for strange story and universe.

Maybe it is possible to help the ACE team : if some european fans (English, German, Spanish, Italian, and other countries) are ready to help me, we can found a way to force gamers to think and talk about ZC 2. How ? Events and positive reviews.

[Uro ★]

It's disheartening to see reviews like IGN's. I can't help but think if this was a game made by a more well-known studio it would have been given a much better pass on the score, and to say there's minimal visual improvement over the first Zeno Clash is nuts. That or the FoV problem colored the reviewers' opinions elsewhere.

I really hope this game picks-up for ACE. I adore the world, it's lore, and the gameplay idea. There's literally nothing like it. In addition to Rock of Ages's unique visual quirks, ACE is providing a quality few developers are these days, artistic originally. This goes doublely for first-person games.

[sere]

dont forget, both console releases have yet to happen. you could, in a way, count the pc release as the advertising and marketing for both the xbox and playstation releases. since it's assumed that is where the most money is to be made then it makes sense that their modest means (atlus is not a gigantic tower full of gold) is being saved for a substantial marketing push immediately leading up to the xbox and playstation release.

given that, they don't seem poised to just abandon pc players for more biz anytime soon. i hope they sell on consoles well beyond any expectations.

professional video game reviews have been mostly discredited thanks to gamespot a few years back with kane and lynch. the double standards and greasy palms are commonplace within that world.

[bean]

Escrito originalmente por sere:

dont forget, both console releases have yet to happen. you could, in a way, count the pc release as the advertising and marketing for both the xbox and playstation releases. since it's assumed that is where the most money is to be made then it makes sense that their modest means (atlus is not a gigantic tower full of gold) is being saved for a substantial marketing push immediately leading up to the xbox and playstation release.

given that, they don't seem poised to just abandon pc players for more biz anytime soon. i hope they sell on consoles well beyond any expectations.

professional video game reviews have been mostly discredited thanks to gamespot a few years back with kane and lynch. the double standards and greasy palms are commonplace within that world.

I hope that this is the case, and that the ps3 and xbox launches are a little louder... It kinda hurt my feelings when i saw the sleepy launch on Steam... geez... I own the game and still didnt get a notification of its release, no nifty popups or any of that... /sigh

I figured they would get mediocre reviews because it seems the last thing reviewers look at nowadays is your game... but i hoped it would create a huge buzz on Steam and people would wanna get in on it.. trashing IGN and metaclinic (where fail games go to win) for once again overlooking a great game... that does WONDERS for sales numbers as hipsters jump on and wanna say "i was punching birdmen before it was cool" and the sales spike. :D

I guess it was just wishful thinking

[Z-Nine]

The dev kind of had a rant/essay here: http://forums.aceteam.cl/index.php?showtopic=3712 on their forums about the reviews. I'll quote it.

Escrito originalmente por Carlos Bordeu:

Which is pretty unfortunate because those who don't try it out themselves will just listen to the reviews and will discard it, and that means we'll be hit on our sales.

We're not another zombie shooter. We sort of need more open mindedness when approaching this title, and obviously reviews are a way of suggesting a game to the uninformed crowds.

It saddens me to see that reviewers focused strongly on the game's flaws (which exist - I'll be the first to accept this isn't a perfect game) and gave almost no real credit to the things we did to innovate. Obviously in a game with such an atypical design your bound to have some unorthodox implementations because for starters - you're not doing the 100th version of the same thing again. I also feel few compared the game against other titles of the same price range. It felt like we were being held to the same standards than something like Bioshock Infinite, and just because our game is also a first person action adventure. But it is an indie game... and one that is extraordinarily ambitious - we're just 15 people who made a game that is of the scale of some AAA titles.

-Need to deal with highly flashy technical graphics, high resolution textures and models - Check (not even considering art here)
-Need to have a large world full of interesting new locations - Check
-Need to have a good story - Check
-Need to have good AI - Check
-Need to have great combat design and implementation - Check
-Need to have hundreds (maybe thousands) of animations, ranging from mocap to painfully hand made - Check
-Need of having a casting of dozens of voice talents to perform for your multiple characters emotionaly or convincingly - Check
-Need of having to create maybe as much as 100 cinematics to convey the story - Check
-Need of composing and recording dozens of unique themes to support the game - Check
-Need to create over 100 character/creature models fully rigged and textured with high quality art - Check (In terms of character variety we DESTROY almost any single AAA game - and there are 2 character modelers in the studio).

Etc...etc... I can go on with more... Most small developers will not even have to deal with half of those requirements. Damn... I'd say that even some AAA games don't have to deal with as many requirements. Most of them have little to no story, and it doesn't even matter.

There aren't a great amount of independent developers willing to work on the first person genre. MUCH LESS willing to make a single player game with a complex world and story. (Even the developers of Hawken when asked why they didn't do a single player game, responded that it was impossible for a small team). There must be a handful of us willing to try breaking conventions and to do things that are truly different and break norms. It would sadden me if indie devs were marginalized to having to make just pixelated platformers and side-scrollers.

We improved everything the fans asked for with ZC1. I'm happy to see we delivered something that was greatly received by almost all of you. Hopefully you guys will be able to spread out the word and give us the "press" that we needed from the press.

Ok... it's late and I've already ranted far enough...

[Res]

Escrito originalmente por Uro Uro Blue:

It's disheartening to see reviews like IGN's. I can't help but think if this was a game made by a more well-known studio it would have been given a much better pass on the score, and to say there's minimal visual improvement over the first Zeno Clash is nuts. That or the FoV problem colored the reviewers' opinions elsewhere.

I really hope this game picks-up for ACE. I adore the world, it's lore, and the gameplay idea. There's literally nothing like it. In addition to Rock of Ages's unique visual quirks, ACE is providing a quality few developers are these days, artistic originally. This goes doublely for first-person games.

Yeah... that IGN review seemed rather ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. But remember, those are the same people who gave God Hand a 3.0!

[Messofanego]

I really hope this does well for ACE Team, their ridiculous ambition needs to be congratulated.

I left my own lengthy thoughts on the reviews in the NeoGAF thread, and was mostly baffled by them: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=56809274&postcount=159

I don't want it to be like, Zeno Clash 3 is never happening and we have to wait 10 years for a Kickstarter which will be a sequel with the ambition lowered.