Headed by "Swery" (creator of the 2010 cult-classic Deadly Premonition), D4 is an episodic adventure game following the surreal mystery of David Young, a private detective with the power to "dive" into past events in order to investigate the murder of his wife.
@slag: My guess? They got his game to help sell and promote Kinect. But Microsoft left the Kinect to die, and so they felt no obligation to promote D4. I feel just awful for Swery.
Me too dude. Like or don't like his work is unique. We need more games that have the kind of personal creative vision his games do. It's a damn shame to see his work just crushed like this.
What you said sounds very plausible to me, not to mention the new regime at Xbox is probably more than happy to throw anything related to the old one out the door as well.
That is very not cool. I feel very bad for Swery and his studio, I don't understand why Microsoft won't even do the bare minimum to help them sell their game.
Why did they bother to fund it, just to leave it to die?
And here I thought that dark dreams don't die. Sorry couldn't resist.
@mrfluke: Geez, they even had a vacant slot open under "exclusives" in which to put D4:
Eventually, I will get an Xbox One. And I will buy D4. Unfortunately, that might be in 1-2 years.
Well at least they highlighted that hot exclusive that everyone is talking about, Kinect Sports Rivals!
I kinda wonder what employee retention is like at Rare at this point, given that all of their Kinect games get panned and Avatars were pretty short-lived in the grand scheme of things.
I picked it up to support Swery, even though I haven't got to it yet.
Should anyone really be surprised at the low sales though? It's one hell of a niche game after all
While it is niche, Microsoft did next to nothing to market or advertise the game despite funding its development. The game went up on the marketplace with little warning or fanfare, as though it was expected to live or die purely by word of mouth.
@bisonhero: Job's a job I think, it's not like most of them were the creative lead or anything. "Someday I'll be one of the 3000 names that worked on Watch_Dogs_2_Dogs_2_Furious" doesn't really sound like a glorious ambition/lateral move.
Well at least they highlighted that hot exclusive that everyone is talking about, Kinect Sports Rivals!
I kinda wonder what employee retention is like at Rare at this point, given that all of their Kinect games get panned and Avatars were pretty short-lived in the grand scheme of things.
I have to imagine that nearly everyone that was with Rare during the glory days has moved on at this point. Anyone that's stayed on and anyone that's been hired since their transition to what they are today likely bought into the vision of what the new Rare was deigned to create.
do U think it would have sold more on PC? I personally think that since Valve introduced the most popular new releases tab, games that have any sort of buzz, even minor one, will appear on that tab for at least a few hours, which would be alot better then no front page time at all (which it what happened on Xbox One). So I think it could end up selling more, although still low I would guess.
I'd buy it, but I just don't have the funds right now. Contract ended, so I'm between jobs for now. Too bad Microsoft sent this out to die - I like Swery games and want them to succeed.
do U think it would have sold more on PC? I personally think that since Valve introduced the most popular new releases tab, games that have any sort of buzz, even minor one, will appear on that tab for at least a few hours, which would be alot better then no front page time at all (which it what happened on Xbox One). So I think it could end up selling more, although still low I would guess.
PC (Steam specifically) would likely be the most profitable platform for this game. Microsoft and Access Games could make a decent chunk of money if they funded to have an outside developer or Swery and his team do a PC port.
@zamolxes: Yeah I think due the sheer size of of the userbase of Steam compared to Xb1 owners they would've sold a lot more. hard to say whether or not they would've sold enough for it to be considered a "success" without knowing how much the game cost, but their chances would definitely be better if you ask me.
The trouble with exclusives - you either become an AAA system seller, or you sort of fall into oblivion.
While I do really enjoy the game - heck even the kinect stuff is fun to use - D4 would probably do better on PC.
I really hope MS is going to accept the blame for this, and not just tell Swery to pound sand or w/e. They did a super stealth release with no marketing whatsoever. Now, I don't know what goes on between MS/Swery and places like GB, but it sounds like they didnt even offer anyone advance copies for review/coverage.
This feels like a game that would have been a great thing for GB to pull out for a video, or even just a UPF segment in the weeks leading up to release.
The trouble with exclusives - you either become an AAA system seller, or you sort of fall into oblivion.
While I do really enjoy the game - heck even the kinect stuff is fun to use - D4 would probably do better on PC.
The true irony is that by all accounts, compared to the other Kinect games released on the Xbox One so far, D4 made much better use than most if not all of them. The game would have made an excellent showcase for the hardware had Microsoft not tossed it aside.
@mrfluke: Geez, they even had a vacant slot open under "exclusives" in which to put D4:
Eventually, I will get an Xbox One. And I will buy D4. Unfortunately, that might be in 1-2 years.
Well at least they highlighted that hot exclusive that everyone is talking about, Kinect Sports Rivals!
I kinda wonder what employee retention is like at Rare at this point, given that all of their Kinect games get panned and Avatars were pretty short-lived in the grand scheme of things.
Worst thing is that THERE'S A SPACE FOR ANOTHER DAMN EXCLUSIVE RIGHT THERE!!!!
@mrfluke: Geez, they even had a vacant slot open under "exclusives" in which to put D4:
Eventually, I will get an Xbox One. And I will buy D4. Unfortunately, that might be in 1-2 years.
Well at least they highlighted that hot exclusive that everyone is talking about, Kinect Sports Rivals!
I kinda wonder what employee retention is like at Rare at this point, given that all of their Kinect games get panned and Avatars were pretty short-lived in the grand scheme of things.
Worst thing is that THERE'S A SPACE FOR ANOTHER DAMN EXCLUSIVE RIGHT THERE!!!!
seriously,
a microsoft funded game, and microsoft doesnt even want to put it in that empty space.
I'm in the same boat I was in for Deadly Premonition. I really want to play this game, but I don't want to get an Xbox for it. Luckily, Deadly Premonition eventually came to PS3. Sadly the same will probably not be true for D4.
This whole situation just sucks. I feel so sorry for Swery and his team. It must be upsetting to see something that you so much effort and love into not get supported by the company who funded it. I watched the VGA stream of this and it really made me want to play it. I really do hope it comes to PC.
And Microsoft, when you have an interesting and unique game that will differentiate you from your competition, ADVERTISE IT!
It's a damned shame, because I love SWERY and I'd play this game but I have no intention of buying an xbox one. The game seems like it'd be more at home on the PS4 anyways, since Sony still seems like the friendlier company for indie/smaller esoteric games. I understand Microsoft funded development, but I can't help but wish it had turned out differently for SWERY.
SWERY should be used to his games not selling but I'm not sure the marketing push would've made a difference. He's catering to the Deadly Premonition crowd which already are aware of its existence.
You guys do know he retweets a ton of peoples tweets about his good or bad. This tweet in itself is not sad. As it's really just him interacting with his fans. Hell he's retweeted me twice.
@metalbaofu: shrugs. Well all im seeing is people tweeting him about wanting to buy it on a other system and him flat out saying if you want to play it get a Xbox one.
Yeah, of course he says that, because there's no other choice. That's the only way to play the game, and probably always will be. A lot of people sending those tweets probably have no idea that it was published by MS and really has no chance of going to a Sony console, and they're not going to buy an Xbox One just to play D4. If I end up with an Xbox One some day in the future, then there is a good chance I will pick it up(even though I really dislike Deadly Premonition), but until then all I can do is wish that it ended up on a system I own.
I was holding off on buying this til it goes on sale (my back catalogue is always huge) but reading this topic convinced me to buy it now and support the guy.
@metalbaofu: I can't see why anyone would not pick it up honestly. It's 15 bucks lol. And hell of a lot better then otgwe games of this type.... Yes I'm looking at walking dead.
@corevi: Your post hurt my head on many fronts. Did you forget the horrible bro ads for ps4? Eww. Lol on top of that the game is not weird in a Japanese way, its weird in a SWERY way. And there is a huge difference.
@connerthekewlkid: just show a few gameplay clips, some weird scenes, a few nonsequiturs, and end with a bizzare question posed in the game. Let the weirdness market itself? /shrug
I mean anything is better than nothing, I think.
I'd love all 4 of the D in my eyes and ears, but I don't have an xone... Aaaaaamd it's the type thing I'd want to play with friends but I moved away recently. So regardless I would/will be watching a lets play
@gonmog: I will buy an XBone eventually, but I'm not spending 400 bucks on a system just for this game and probably that Halo collection when I've got more than enough on my plate gameswise. Most people aren't asking for a PS4 port because that's like all the people asking if Bloodborne is gonna come to PC. A PC port makes perfect sense though for numerous reasons and since Microsoft obviously doesn't seem to care about marketing it as an exclusive for their system I don't know why they wouldn't let a PC port happen.
As an owner of both an Xbox One and D4, I can say with some certainty that it's the most fun I've had on the system. SWERY's brand of crazy is clearly not for everyone, but in terms of platform exclusivity this thing is a huge differentiator between the Xbone and any other gaming device. Not only that, but it is without a doubt the best damn argument for owning a Kinect. Microsoft should be putting a copy of D4 in the box with every standalone Kinect that goes on sale. This should be on the dashboard home page as a reason for early adopters to feel happy about owning a Kinect. Hell, they're obviously not gonna put a huge amount of marketing money behind this thing, but at least drum up a bug social media push - encourage people to post clips, PUT DOWNLOAD CODES IN PACKETS OF FUCKING CLAM CHOWDER OR SOMETHING. It makes me sad.
I look at this game and see it way more aligned with the weird stuff you see on Steam instead of XBox. Maybe the mistake was that he went with the wrong platform. And again I have to point out doing a pity buy on platform that treated them poorly does little favors.
It's not a system-seller and people looking for indie-experimental games probably didn't spring for that console, if they bought one at all. I'll probably pick it up at some point but it's not really a match made in heaven.
Also: Is it really so unreasonable for me to say I have mixed feelings about buying a game that'll probably never be finished?
How many xbones are out there? ~5 mil or something? With some proper right advertising it might've gotten more sales. Especially since the playerbase should be thirsty for some games.
The total sales of ~10K seems to be solely SWERY fans.
The trouble with exclusives - you either become an AAA system seller, or you sort of fall into oblivion.
While I do really enjoy the game - heck even the kinect stuff is fun to use - D4 would probably do better on PC.
The true irony is that by all accounts, compared to the other Kinect games released on the Xbox One so far, D4 made much better use than most if not all of them. The game would have made an excellent showcase for the hardware had Microsoft not tossed it aside.
Very true. I think developers need to push for more assurances regarding marketing agreements when signing exclusive or timed exclusive deals with console makers. A lot of japanese devs have been badly burned by western publishers and/or Microsoft as minds change during the development cycle. Shadows of the Damned - a Shinji Mikami and Suda 51 game for 360 and PS3, was largely consigned to the bargain bin when EA pulled out of their partners program in all but name, offering it little to no exposure in western regions.
Deadly Premonition, Swery's last game - did ok on 360, because it had retail presence. Microsoft's platform is probably the most intrusive in gaming when it comes to advertising, yet they continue to fumble the ball when it comes to trying to sell things available on their own digital store.
shame no fuck given by Microsoft, One of my favorite games of the year and a game that is truly "better w/ kinect". The should make the prologue free
leaderboards cap out at 10,000 so we don't have any idea if it's sold lots more than it was initially at. But Deadly Premonition did 30,000 in the first 3 months and that was full retail game and that did just fine even before coming to PC and PS3 so this will probably be fine in the long run.
I mean they should give a shit, they even went as far as to make tie in DLC for their franchises
@corvak: I like how you referenced Shadows of the Damned which was a really fantastic experience yet sold poorly because the publisher didn't advertise it properly. I think Microsoft and Swery need to see the huge desire for a PC release and make it happen. I mean, they will make lots of money from it. Why not do it?
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