Super Slow January - Why Does The Industry Waste this Month?

It's cold out. Gaming weather to be sure. Yet January is pretty much dry. I still remember picking up Bayonetta and Darksiders in January 2010 which was great. The last two years though? Nothing. A publishing void.

But look at what happens February to May. High profile releases are almost as dense and crowded as during the September to November holiday retail season. I don't quite get it. Don't people usually go out on a shopping binge on January sales? Might just as well pick-up that hot new game too.

Anybody got a clue why January is being shunned by publishers? Like EA's gonna publish SSX and ME3 within a week? Why not place one of these games mid-January with literally no competition what-so-ever?

FINALLY a time to catch up on all the games that came out last year.

I feel there is NOT ENOUGH (!) down time.

Because business charts.

@DeF said:

FINALLY a time to catch up on all the games that came out last year.

I feel there is NOT ENOUGH (!) down time.

How's bunching up everything better than speading it out more? I don't quite get it. I'm in the market for a new game experience right now and there's nothing new. If a great game came out right now, it would be the only thing happening this January. From February to March - there's gonna be lots of competition.

@DeF said:

FINALLY a time to catch up on all the games that came out last year.

I feel there is NOT ENOUGH (!) down time.

this, some of us don't have dozens and dozens of hours to sink into games and its nice to have a month to catch up and play all of the games i missed last year.

@Seppli said:

@DeF said:

FINALLY a time to catch up on all the games that came out last year.

I feel there is NOT ENOUGH (!) down time.

How's bunching up everything better than speading it out more? I don't quite get it. I'm in the market for a new game experience right now and there's nothing new. If a great game came out right now, it would be the only thing happening this January. From February to March - there's gonna be lots of competition.

so you managed to play EVERYTHING you wanted to play and finish last year. lucky you

I agree, I hate the pauses in releases so much.
Also because it downright silly to suddenly spend hundreds to get all the cool game's you've been waiting on, only to go mental trying to find enough hours to do each game justice!
 
I still need to play more Skyrim, and some games I barely even touched, I feel spoiled.

No one has any money to spend. They've just spent a fortune over the Christmas period and now they've got to cut back. What is the first thing people cut back on? Luxuries like video games.

Yeah, picking up Darksiders in January was an real treat. Quickly became one of my favourites from this generation. I bought Bayonetta the same day and have yet to put in more than a couple of hours.

Though, it is generally shunned (as it is in the movie industry) because people are gearing-down from Christmas and New Year. Wallets are lighter and people are less keen to blow out on the luxuries that they do towards the end of the year.

I honestly don't believe all you guys who have "nothing new to play" right now have played all the great games that came out last year. there must be one or two titles you missed out on or thought were not worth full price that are now dirt cheap.

@DeF said:

I honestly don't believe all you guys who have "nothing new to play" right now have played all the great games that came out last year. there must be one or two titles you missed out on or thought were not worth full price that are now dirt cheap.

lol, I know right. I still have the majority of 2011 in my backlog.

Because games released in that time slow don't sell - just look at Dead Space 2. Sick game but nobody bought it. 2 million copies is OK but it really deserved more.

Mass Effect 2 came out in January a couple years ago and it's a shame ME3 didn't. Doing so would potentially have hurt TOR quite a bit though I would think.

To be fair it's not entirely devoid of games. Soul Calibur 5 and Final Fantasy XIII-2 are coming out this month. If they are not your thing than your SOL, but there are some decent releases this month.

Because most kids are spending their christmas money on old games they missed.

I am actually happy that they are giving January a break so I can play all of last years great games without rushing them and not getting a full, fun experience.

Last year LittleBigPlanet 2 and Dead Space 2 came out in January. It's nothing inherent to January, it's just that this particular January is a slow one.

You must be a machine...so many good games came out last year, there must be one you havent played yet!

People who have disposable time, but not much money probably can't afford to buy games due to Christmas.

People who have disposable money probably don't have the time to play everything they want, and this is a great catch up period.

People who have both disposable time and money are assholes.

I honestly don't believe all you guys who have "nothing new to play" right now have played all the great games that came out last year. there must be one or two titles you missed out on or thought were not worth full price that are now dirt cheap.

@Grissefar said:

Because games released in that time slow don't sell - just look at Dead Space 2. Sick game but nobody bought it. 2 million copies is OK but it really deserved more.

2 million copies is better than ok. Considering Dead Space: Extraction only sold 6000 copies when it came out, that two million is a huge blockbuster.

January releases are great, and 2010 and 2011 were nice for some great games. I do have a backlog, so its not like I don't have lots to play. Having something a little more inspiring than FF XIII-2 would be appreciated though

Thx for all the comments. Reflected on 2011 and the only games which came to mind are Warhammer 40k Space Marine and Deus Ex. Still waiting on Deus Ex to drop a bit in price, but Space Marine is already as cheap as it'll get for a while - so I pulled the trigger on that. Should tide me over 'til February. Starting to get back into Battlefield 3 again. That game might be the most aggrivating BF game to date, but equally over-the-top awesome. What's going down on the B2K 64 player Conquest maps is pure insanity.

I have like 60 days of SW:TOR bought and paid for, but I'm so out of enthusiasm for that game. Shame I had to put down 40$ for a 60 days game time card to get access to the 30 free trial days coming with the retail box - totally wasted money. I got what I wanted out the experience in 30 days. Now all that's left is redundancy (and I don't feel like playing another class storyline for a good long while). Shame they don't have a 'Pause Playtime' button on account management, so I can save up my 50 odd days I got left over for a rainy day. That'd be a nice touch.

People are too busy trying and failing to play all the games they bought in the Steam sales, this is the only possible answer.

Thinking about getting Civ 5. Been contemplating that for years now. Maybe between Space Marine and Kingdom's of Amalur.

Surely, there's still lots of games of yesteryear I didn't play yet. The question remains though, what's the point of bunching everything into a couple of months, whilst others are pretty much devoid of any releases. At this rate, I might even look at FF 13-2, even though I've given up on the franchise a while ago - simply because it stands pretty much alone in January.

Cause not end of the fiscal quarter.

It's because the new consoles are going to be announced at E3 and the developers are working on those games :o

Because no body buys things in January.  Forget video games, any general retailer will tell you January is probably their slowest month in terms of sales.  The needs of a minority that somehow managed to play everything they wanted last year is not going to make publishers risk squandering potential sales from the mass market that releasing games in a more sane time period might bring.

If you're really desperate, look up a top X list and check out the games you haven't played yet, especially from previous generations. I usually try to play around 1 retro game I missed for every two new games I play, except around November when too many games.

It's because a lot of families are recovering from Christmas and New Year's still and its financial suicide to release a game right now and expect big numbers. If MW3 were to release now instead of when it did, it would show a little bit of lower numbers just because not everyone would be able to run out and get it.

Certainly Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Soul Calibur V are big games.

Most of it has to do with companies earnings being divided up into quarters, or three month periods. There's only a certain amount of big name games that come out every year, and publishers will save them for later in the year. Expect lots of games to come out at the end of March though. Even the film industry has down periods in January and February, its just a down period for commerce in general.

@N7 said:

@OtakuGamer: Hey guys remember Killzone 3? No one else does. (Rightfully so, at least)

Or Little Big Planet 2? Dead Space 2? I loved both games, but I honestly forgot that LBP2 came out in 2011 when thinking of the best games of 2011.

Cause then I can catch up on the 20+ games I bought in the last 6 months. Maybe even beat one!

@OtakuGamer said:

1. It's the month after the festive season which probably raped most of our wallets.
2. Games that usually come out around this time are generally forgotten by the end of the year. Meaning no fancy awards or nominations.

Take Warhammer 40k : Space Marine... I just placed an order for it at my regular retailer. Wouldn't January make much more sense for a game like that? Rather than place it right around the release of Gears of War 3 and a tonne of other big hitters in the Holiday season?

This January, it would be the only shooter. Ad space is likely way cheaper too. So have a nice marketing push and be without competition - they'd likely have done way better than what they did and they could have launched with co-op out of the box, instead of patching it in post-launch.

Because everyone pushed their games out right before Christmas for the holiday rush.

don't start the show with the showstopper

It's a good thing.

January is the worst month of the year sales-wise. I heard tell of stores asking their sales people to stay at home due to there being so little to do.

@N7 said:

@OtakuGamer: Hey guys remember Killzone 3? No one else does. (Rightfully so, at least)

Killzone 3 was released on February 14, was not a January game.

@OtakuGamer said:

1. It's the month after the festive season which probably raped most of our wallets.
2. Games that usually come out around this time are generally forgotten by the end of the year. Meaning no fancy awards or nominations.

1. Your wallet or video games does not have genitals for this to occur.

2 Mass Effect 2 was a January game (2010) that won quite a few awards, including Giantbombs game of the year. Dead Space 2 was also a January game that was recognized in their top 10 for last year.

@Seppli: I believe your theory has been proved incorrect, while not as heavy a schedule as previous months the industry does not waste this month. The following notable games have been released in January:

2012 - Soul Calibur 5, Final Fantasy XIII-2

2011 - Dead Space 2, LittleBigPlanet 2

2010 - Mass Effect 2, Darksiders, Bayonetta

To give consumers a chance to pay off their holiday credit card balances. By and large, many people are not in the mood to buy more stuff a month after buying a whole lot of other stuff. People need a cooling off period before their ready to buy again.

@MooseyMcMan said:

Last year LittleBigPlanet 2 and Dead Space 2 came out in January. It's nothing inherent to January, it's just that this particular January is a slow one.

What he said.

@FTomato said:

People who have disposable time, but not much money probably can't afford to buy games due to Christmas.

People who have disposable money probably don't have the time to play everything they want, and this is a great catch up period.

People who have both disposable time and money are assholes.

Quite possibly the most truthful comment I've read on Giantbomb. Or anywhere, for that matter.

OP: January is a dry month because business charts say so, and business charts say so because when stuff does come out in January, it doesn't sell as well if it had come out in, say, February during Valentine's Day or near Easter; times when money spending is more likely.

Plus, y'know, there's the whole bit about recovering from Christmas.

Besides, I have things to catch up on. This is a quiet period. And if you're really starved for something new to play, there are plenty of games from last year or the year before, or even the year before that, that you haven't beaten yet. I know this because unless you literally game 24/7, you couldn't have possibly enjoyed every last thing you wanted to over the past few years.

@Seppli: What do you mean waiting for Deus Ex to drop in price? It was reduced on more than one occasion, hell, GMG had it for $15 or so nearly this whole month. It was also a daily deal during the last big Steam sale.

January's slow because publishers like to shove everything out the door in time for Christmas (sales reasons obviously)/end of the year (accounting reasons).

@SlasherMan said:

@Seppli: What do you mean waiting for Deus Ex to drop in price? It was reduced on more than one occasion, hell, GMG had it for $15 or so nearly this whole month. It was also a daily deal during the last big Steam sale.

I'm buying at my local retailer and not digitally, lacking a credit or debit card and all. Cash business. And I'm not stockpiling games. I buy, I play, I usually finish up and move on...

I think the answer is, to some degree, production.

A company has to work pretty hard in that last "Crunch time" stretch of candidacy to certification to gold master to distribution to shelves. I think losing that holliday time in december means it's difficult to turn around and have a game on the shelf in January unless it was already done way before that and just sitting around.