Isolation sales, not high enough?

[Sturmlocke]

Sup,

-> http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/11/sega-laments-weak-sales-as-alien-isolation-shifts-21-million

-> http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/09/30/alien-isolation-2-doesnt-seem-likely-sega-revenue-forecast-down/

So what exactly happend here? Colonial Marines, a game I very much enjoyed even more than Isolation (no joke; coop and online were and continue to be just pure fun), sold over 1.3 million units. So a game that critics and gamers liked more did just a bit better in terms of sales? Okay... didn't see that one coming. I got Isolation for my console and I will be getting the Linux version, but it's sad to see that the Alien franchise isn't working out for Sega.

I wonder why Isolation didn't take off as... expected? What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Soniee

[Zyro]

It's still to come to Linux, so it will sell another million!

;-)

[BROOD-SkorpioN]

Originally posted by Soniee:

Sup,

-> http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/11/sega-laments-weak-sales-as-alien-isolation-shifts-21-million

-> http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/09/30/alien-isolation-2-doesnt-seem-likely-sega-revenue-forecast-down/

So what exactly happend here? Colonial Marines, a game I very much enjoyed even more than Isolation (no joke; coop and online were and continue to be just pure fun), sold over 1.3 million units. So a game that critics and gamers liked more did just a bit better in terms of sales? Okay... didn't see that one coming. I got Isolation for my console and I will be getting the Linux version, but it's sad to see that the Alien franchise isn't working out for Sega.

I wonder why Isolation didn't take off as... expected? What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Soniee

Alien:Isolation sold almost twice as many copies as Aliens:Colonial Marines. Also keep in mind that people were hyped and preordering like crazy to get Aliens:Colonial Marines, which left them burned. When Alien:Isolation came out, almost nobody wanted to preorder because of that. People treated Alien:Isolation more suspiciously in general due to the Aliens:Colonial Marines debacle. Aliens:Colonial Marines definitely had an impact on Alien:Isolation's sales.

That said, this whole thing still sounds odd to me. To my knowledge, Alien:Isolation had the highest sales figures of all Sega games in 2015. How does a game that sells well and gets praise and awards from fans and critics alike (including several GOTY awards) doesn't get a sequel?

[-|Nur|-]

It sold very well. SEGA merely had unrealistic expectations.

[=Palynzer=]

wtf,,,colonial marines is trash, not fun.
Isolation is a piece of art.

[Wraithverge]

Originally posted by Palynzer:

wtf,,,colonial marines is trash, not fun.
Isolation is a piece of art.

It was my personal "GOTY 2014" :)
Would prepurchase a sequel blindly.
I'd even be willing to back it on kickstarter if they'd wanted to give it a try.

[Lava Alien 1000]

it was my GOTY of 2014 as well. :(

i hoped for sequal they would fix the human enemies.

also i wished the vent part of DLC were part of main campaign.

[DOOM SLAYER]

Originally posted by Palynzer:

wtf,,,colonial marines is trash, not fun.
Isolation is a piece of art.

yep colonial marines is go to the trash can

[DOOM SLAYER]

Originally posted by Soniee:

Sup,

-> http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/11/sega-laments-weak-sales-as-alien-isolation-shifts-21-million

-> http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/09/30/alien-isolation-2-doesnt-seem-likely-sega-revenue-forecast-down/

So what exactly happend here? Colonial Marines, a game I very much enjoyed even more than Isolation (no joke; coop and online were and continue to be just pure fun), sold over 1.3 million units. So a game that critics and gamers liked more did just a bit better in terms of sales? Okay... didn't see that one coming. I got Isolation for my console and I will be getting the Linux version, but it's sad to see that the Alien franchise isn't working out for Sega.

I wonder why Isolation didn't take off as... expected? What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Soniee

sorry soniee colonial marines is stupid game in the world stupid Ai and story awful bad ending

[DOOM SLAYER]

Originally posted by Soniee:

Sup,

-> http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/11/sega-laments-weak-sales-as-alien-isolation-shifts-21-million

-> http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/09/30/alien-isolation-2-doesnt-seem-likely-sega-revenue-forecast-down/

So what exactly happend here? Colonial Marines, a game I very much enjoyed even more than Isolation (no joke; coop and online were and continue to be just pure fun), sold over 1.3 million units. So a game that critics and gamers liked more did just a bit better in terms of sales? Okay... didn't see that one coming. I got Isolation for my console and I will be getting the Linux version, but it's sad to see that the Alien franchise isn't working out for Sega.

I wonder why Isolation didn't take off as... expected? What do you guys think?

Cheers,
Soniee

colonial marines dumb ass game

[Berserk Slayer]

1) It's a horror game.

2) As gamers, we can be fond of getting grumpy with a developer and saying "never again" and look at the preceding Sega Alien verse title.

3) For what it's worth, this game has restored the prestige of Sega a bit for some of us, by underlining the fact that Sega trusting developers to the ends of the earth actually *works* when the developer is good, rather than being... all the things gearbox behaved like with ACM.

[Max Headshot]

I think development costs of AI were relatively high, so it's hard to make a profit. It's great but also challenging, a wrong decision means immediately a sentence to death. This makes no fun to a large consumer class, which does'nt like to deal with tactics and difficulties. The mixed reviews are proving this, mostly hiding behind ridiculous and unsubstantial complaints.

[-|Nur|-]

Originally posted by Max Headshot:

I think development costs of AI were relatively high, so it's hard to make a profit.

They had to build the graphics engine from scratch. It'd be a waste if they made only one game with it. Already having a great, functional, proven engine could severely reduce costs for a sequel.

[eispfogel]

Sega does what Nintendon't - guess those days are over :/
We don't know what Alien Isolation cost them, maybe even those good sales figures aren't enough to get the cost back. Guess a real VR-Support is now cancelled too :/
This could have been the KillerApp i was waiting for to try in the Oculus Rift or Vive

[[TW]Sergeant Beanbag]

It sales very well for a horror game, it's a shame that there's only numbers than potential in SEGA's eyes.

[zorlag]

IGN is a bit responsible for a few missed sales themselves. Their abortion of a review of this game was just horrible. Same goes for Gamespot. Their reviewers completely missed the plot, probably trying to get through the game fast and got chewed up. One more problem was TotalBiscuit, who refused to cover/review the game because he was angry at Sega (which was a shame).

And yes, that Colonial Marines. It´s difficult to believe Sega would first publish an utter turd like that and then right after it something great like A:I.