Why was this game not successful?

[DuraNext]

I've seen a lot of jokes about this game's failure and now I'm curious to know what happened (I admit I haven't played it).

I know there was a controversy with Helldivers 2 and the requirement to use a PSN account after launch and this game has had this requirement since the beginning. Could this be a reason for the failure?

Is the game bad? Is the game good but are there better alternatives on the market?

[Hurkyl]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von CrabNicholson:

I had heard people refer to Hogwarts Legacy as woke despite the massive woke boycott AGAINST Rowling.

From what I saw....

In the character creator, the palest skin you can choose is not very pale at all, and the red hair is rather quite dull despite the series having an iconic large family notable for bright red hair (although to be fair, the green/blue/purple hair was rather dull too).

(to be fair, I think maybe it's possible the character creator had some lighting issues, although I didn't care enough to investigate to confirm or deny)

Despite being set in 1800s Britain in a culture that, in canon, is rather insular and xenophobic... most of the peers you befriend are not British, the dark arts obsessed Slytherin the main exception. One of your peers, a child sent to Hogwarts by her foreign parents even has a whole scene where she explains how her native African magic school is so grand and Hogwarts is a backwater in comparison to her home. A surprising percentage of your professors are not British, and the foreign flying instructor hates the English way of flying brooms and thinks her way is superior.

You know how old American movies would allegedly do the thing where they'd be set in foreign countries but mysteriously most of the prominent cast are American? Hogwarts Legacy is extremely that, but flipped around: you're in a very British setting but pandering to people who want anything but that.

Having the flight instructor make that comment about flying style was the final straw for me, and I couldn't stand watching streams of the game anymore, even from the one streamer I found whose genuine excitement was conveyed through the stream. If none of those things kill your suspension of disbelief, then the writing is probably serviceable and won't get in the way of enjoying the game -- although I don't recall anything standing out as being particularly good either, except possibly for that one goblin who got killed early on. (admittedly I was mainly putting streams on a second monitor rather than focusing on the game)

Rowling, AFAIK, is heavily on board with most woke stuff -- it's specifically the "what is a woman" question where she takes a position contrary to the woke crowd. And that question is dear enough for them to excommunicate her.

This comment is not meant to suggest Rowling had anything to do with anything I described above. I don't actually know how much input Rowling had with the creative direction of the game, although I had the vague impression it was 'not that much'.

AFAIK the attempted woke boycott of the game had nothing to do with the content of the game itself: it was pretty much entirely because Rowling profited from it, and they want her thoroughly cancelled.

[Rekkie]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DuraN3rd:

So far, most people seem to be saying that the problem is that the game is "woke".

To these same people I ask: Do you think it is possible for a game to be good and "woke" at the same time, or if it has any element considered woke, do you automatically consider it bad?

Good game is good game. Bad game is bad game.
IF you fail to understand this, then PC platform will give you same fate and treat as Concord's.

[Sir Random]

From my perspective it's a multitude of reasons.

The marketing, or what passed for it, involved the developers saying it was made for a "modern audience" and not for us, gamers. (so no one showed up)

The character design is ugly, offensively ugly.

The woke ideology is so strong in this one that you feel treated similarly to a goose bred for foie gras.

The game plays like a hero shooter at half speed and the bullet magnetism is absolutely outlandish, shots that clearly should've missed still hit.

The hero shooter genre is already oversaturated as is and all the competitors with an established player base are free to play, why would they switch over? They have the sunk cost fallacy to deal with.

The game took 8 years to develop, trying to cash in on a hype.

The game requires a PSN account and seeing as sony cares so little for cyber security that them getting hacked is a Tueseday, PSN accounts are seen as ticking timebombs for most steam users.

When no one bought the game developers called the potential customer base that didn't buy the game "talentless freaks" and we all know that insulting your potential customer base is the best sales pitch.

[Poyzo]

I added this game to my 'ignore game' list since I saw it was DEI/woke, and I want no part of that. I have played Paladins, Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch before, so that proves that I enjoy this genre and am always looking for new hero shooter games. I feel many people are like me and did the same thing.

[NerdCuddles]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Poyzo:

I added this game to my 'ignore game' list since I saw it was DEI/woke, and I want no part of that. I have played Paladins, Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch before, so that proves that I enjoy this genre and am always looking for new hero shooter games. I feel many people are like me and did the same thing.

People didn't ignore it cause it was "woke", people ignored it because there's already enough hero shooters.