Thank god a publisher has finally figured out that even if a game is bad in some sense then it can still be 'fun'. Also Sands of Time probably sold less than expected because people were aprehensive after Prince of Persia 3D. | |
Assasins Creed sold well because of clever marketing. Altair looked very cool, and the basic premise was very good on paper. | |
SoT only sold 2m?! Oh come on!!! Way, way better than AS. Guys, come on. The game's 360 and PS3 conpatable, and it's on the PC. I bought I new copy resently for £3. If you havn't played it go get it. NOW! Get up now, and go get it! Don't look at m like that, just go! | |
Assassin's Creed was a fun and beautiful game, unfortunately it was also repetitive and had some gimmicky mechanics. I'd imagine they can take a lot away from that to make a great sequel. I'm glad it sold well enough despite its flaws to make it a success in the eyes of the company though, or we'd never see what they could do with an informed sequel. | |
[2.5 to three million [units sold] is clearly achievable." "If it goes to four or five [million], then there is an upside factor for the company," he continued. "If it goes to 1.5 million, then there is a downside factor." ] Thank you for pointing that out. Now we know why he gets paid the big bucks. | |
Are these people under the impression that 82% on metacritic means the game is mediocre? | |
These days, it is. | |
Dear Ubisoft, Spend more than 4 months making a game before you complain about review scores. Love, The internets | |
Oh the standards we set....sad isn't it? | |
I'd question that, actually. People moan about high review scores, but if you actually look at the averages for all the games coming out... normally only about two out of twenty to thirty have scores above eighty. | |
Creed was a fun game, but it was repititive like the other guy said, it wasn't GOTY, it was a decent middle ground kinda thing under a pretty gloss finish OMG GRAFIX =/= good gameplay. I wish people and reviewers would actually stick to that rather than keep using it as a hollow catch phrase to tell themselves over and over so they think they're into something deeper than the shiney packaging. | |
Considering that a 82% in a test isn't doing so well in my school... yes, 82% ain't so good. Though, I suppose many of those were because of hype-influenced (both positively and negatively influence) reviews. | |
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Ubisoft Exec: Review Scores Aren't Everything
Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez said the company was "desperate" when Assassin's Creed launched to middling review scores, but the game's huge success in spite of that has led him to stunning revelation that there's more to the formula than just review scores.
Speaking at the UBS Annual Global Media Conference, Martinez noted that Ubisoft has lagged behind competitors Electronic Arts and Activision in releasing "top five hit" games, which he said has become increasingly important as economic conditions continue to deteriorate. As a result, the numbers put up by the recently-released Prince of Persia have become very important to the publisher. While the game was only released just over a week ago, Martinez said Ubisoft believes "2.5 to three million [units sold] is clearly achievable."
"If it goes to four or five [million], then there is an upside factor for the company," he continued. "If it goes to 1.5 million, then there is a downside factor."
He also pointed out that while high review scores look good in promotional materials, they don't always translate into strong sales numbers. "To be honest, when Assassin's Creed launched and got 82 percent, we were desperate, and we thought we were going to die," Martinez said. But the game turned out to be a major hit across numerous platforms, with some sources reporting sales levels of over five million units. By contrast, the 2003 title Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has a Metacritic average review score of 92 on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and the string of high scores led Ubisoft management to believe the game would do extremely well. "But it did two million, so we were kind of disappointed," he said.
The bottom line? "It's not ratings that mean everything, but we think quality and innovation are the key," he told the audience.
And that's why he gets paid the big bucks.
Source: Gamasutra
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