Take a game like Demon's Souls for example. That game was actually pretty big and I like to think that some portion of its success is due to how much the Bombsquad talked about it. What do you think?
I think Demon's Souls probably benefitted more from Gamespot giving it their Game of the Year 2009 than it did from Giant Bomb calling it a broken game for crazy people.
GB only has a bit over 100 K users. Let's say about 10 % of them got hooked on Demon's Souls because of the site. Those aren't exactly staggering numbers.
" I think Demon's Souls probably benefitted more from Gamespot giving it their Game of the Year 2009 than it did from Giant Bomb calling it a broken game for crazy people. "
I'm pretty sure I found out about Demon's Souls on Destructiod first, but I've bought a bunch of games (and likewise haven't bought a bunch of games) cause I liked (or didn't) what I saw in quick looks. And it wasn't always something the team liked. I bought Hard Corp: Uprising cause of the quick look. It looked like my kind of thing, and I had the feeling that they kinda weren't playing it right.
But to answer your question directly, I think GB only influences sales in relation to the GB users who are willing to be influenced. Which to most companies probably doesn't mean much.
" Take a game like Demon's Souls for example. That game was actually pretty big and I like to think that some portion of its success is due to how much the Bombsquad talked about it. What do you think? "
Umm, the GB crew didn't exactly have good things to say about it.
I end up playing (and enjoying) way more games than the staff does, but I can say that I was done with racing games until I watched the Split/Second TNT. I had no interest in racing until I saw the action in that, and after that I ended up playing Split/Second, Blur and Hot Pursuit after not playing a racer since Underground on the PS2.
i think they help the sales of the games they get all over, like Persona 4 and Deadly Premonition and Super Meat Boy (because most of the members on this site simply adore the staff like a bunch of schoolgirls and buy anything the staff focus on)
otherwise, they dont really boost any game's sales.
" I think Demon's Souls probably benefitted more from Gamespot giving it their Game of the Year 2009 than it did from Giant Bomb calling it a broken game for crazy people. "
The Persona games are probably the only ones that benefited notably. Other than that, the site has the same impact that any game review site does proportional to its size and popularity.
" Take a game like Demon's Souls for example. That game was actually pretty big and I like to think that some portion of its success is due to how much the Bombsquad talked about it. What do you think? "
Somehow I highly doubt that. Don't you agree with me, Zach?
It has very little impact. Giant bomb has brought games to my attention before and even convinced me to pick up a few but in the grand scheme it isn't going to have huge influence. Even the obscure games covered on GB are covered on other websites as well.
I think for the Endurance Run games, Persona 4 specifically. But I would be surprised if sales bumped up by more than a couple of thousand even then, 10 000 at most.
Hopefully it has a little. I'm very excited about Bastion. It looks like a great title and my only worry is that people will know about it. Thanks to GB, a lot of people here do.
" Take a game like Demon's Souls for example. That game was actually pretty big and I like to think that some portion of its success is due to how much the Bombsquad talked about it. What do you think? "
Demon's Souls was getting attention even well before the game had been confirmed for North America.
Also I really doubt Persona 4 was significantly influenced by GB either, even before the ER, Persona 4 had a significant following, being an Atlus game and all.
" GB only has a bit over 100 K users. Let's say about 10 % of them got hooked on Demon's Souls because of the site. Those aren't exactly staggering numbers. "
The only game I could think of them having any kind of noticable influence would be Deadly Premonition. Then again, that may be just because I bought DP cause of them.
On another note though, I have bought quite a few games solely because of Giant Bomb. Fucking Zenonia.
" Take a game like Demon's Souls for example. That game was actually pretty big and I like to think that some portion of its success is due to how much the Bombsquad talked about it. What do you think? "
Demon's Souls was getting attention even well before the game had been confirmed for North America. Also I really doubt Persona 4 was significantly influenced by GB either, even before the ER, Persona 4 had a significant following, being an Atlus game and all. "
This.
It's not like Persona 4 was all that obscure or anything.
Like some others have already said, they got me to buy Deadly Premonition. While I was about ready to place my order, I discovered that the same website had Alan Wake for pretty cheap (I guess most sites/shops do now), so I bough that too. So, in an indirect way, they got me to buy Alan Wake as well.
The first Endurance Run probably made for a couple of hundred more copies of Persona 4 sold or so, but other than that, they probably have the same influence, or less so, than any other notable review site.
" I think Demon's Souls probably benefitted more from Gamespot giving it their Game of the Year 2009 than it did from Giant Bomb calling it a broken game for crazy people. "
Not much at all. It might influence some people, yet not enough to make a dent. I think the reason why it is selling well is the price. $35 isn't that large of an investment.
As much as I love Giant Bomb, most people who aren't hardcore into games really don't know who they are. In fact, I would say they aren't even as popular as IGN, Gamespot, or 1UP and those communities are rather small when we start talking about influencing game sales.
I think they probably have more of an impact on the sales of downloadable games, which will have relatively smaller sales anyway - perfect examples: Super Meat Boy, or Shadow Complex. I'm guessing a lot of people never would have actually seen these games in action,or even given them a thought, were it not for the quick-looks and other coverage on GB,and people are a lot more likely to gamble with downloadable game-prices than with regular game ones.
Oh, and Bastion's sales are probably already guaranteed to be significantly more than what they would have been had it not been on GB at all, regardless of whether it actually ends up being good.
Potentially in the tens of thousands of copies range I guess, which is unlikely to make or break a game but it ain't nothin'. They also have indirect influence, both among the rest of the press crowd and as a score on metacritic. I'm sure they've dragged down a metacritic score or two in their time and made a few babies go hungry.
I don't know about buying games, but the QuickLooks have helped me pass on games I might have otherwise purchased out of curiosity. I don't always agree with GiantBomb's feelings towards certain games, but seeing a level or two of a game played is a great way to help me pass final buying judgment on a game.
I think DP benefited most from Giantbomb, because in the west at least it was the one most vulnerable to bad sales. So 10,000 extra sales for example could mean something. And remember, Neither Brad or Vinny really seemed to particularily enjoy playing the game. I think it is Ryan who got the most out of it, overall. But at any rate, Deadly premonition did decently sell and I suspect did so even without the GB endurance run. An unwrapped copy sits on my shelf. Why..well I may torture myself for a damned good story someday, but I have already experienced it twice with Brad and Vinny. There is more to do in the game I know, but hey, I have still basically seen the game, just like I played it through myself. I do intend to play it and I got it cheap from an amazon sale..it 's going to happen, the Endurance run ironically saw to that. though that did not carry to Personnae 4, good all around game that was. Genre Preferences still count, and playing japanese high school students caught in the throes of puberty, well, that would be voyeristic. Now Galgun fills that sad and tormented void in my life..personnae 4 had a damned good story though too.
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