Why was GoW:A sales lower than LM: DM

So recently I saw that God of War: Ascension's sales were much lower than expected, along with Gears of War: Judgement's too. Then I saw that Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon sold more than GoW:A (although slightly less than GoW:J. I'll list the sales so you don't have to click through the links:

• Gears of War: Judgement = 425,000
• Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon = 415,000
• God of War: Ascension = 360,000

Why was GoW:A so much less than even LM:DM. I know that console sales are much less than they were a couple years ago (so none of the sales are that impressive for the US market). But why was God of War's so much lower than the other two big releases last month - even compared to a handheld title (that as far as I saw, got much less fanfare/advertising before its release and is on a system with a much lower userbase).

I don't really know much about any of the games other than the snippets I have gathered from being mentioned on things like the Bombcast - so did anything specific happen which caused this to occur (like a big controversy over a demo or something)? What do you guys think caused this? Is it just that God of War has weaker IP-relevance? Was this game just worse and people noticed? Or are these sales still fairly average and the difference that looks fairly large to me is relatively small difference?

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a sequel to a fairly fondly remembered game that was released 12 years ago.

God of War: Ascension is just the next game in the already pretty packed God of War franchise.

I'd say Luigi and Nintendo can also reach a larger target audience. Name recognition and more kids and parents will be able/willing to buy it.

There was a bit of controversy over a trophy in GoW:A but other than that I'm willing to be it sold relatively lower numbers because it was just another God of War game and we really didn't need one.

Luigi's Mansion is baller as shit, that's why.

Yeah, I dunno, it could be that the public is as bored of the God of War franchise as reviewers are, for once? Especially since it doesn't have the same sort of story hook as GoW 3, which was "This time he's killing all of the gods FOR REAL". "This time, he's killing the Furies or something" isn't quite as good of a 5-second pitch for GameStop and Best Buy employees to make to random uninformed gamers.

Gears of War sold poorly because it doesn't have a number on it, for the same reason that Halo 4 sold better than ODST and Reach. But it did better because people will buy it for a newer version of the multiplayer (even if some people like Gears of War 3's multiplayer more).

Is this surprising? People love Gears of War, and the first Luigi's Mansion was pretty niche. I mean, I loved it, but a lot of people didn't, if I remember right.

There are more people with 3Ds's? that want to play nintendo games?? also Lugi is the shit. GOW A i mean who wants to play more of that???. I bought Gears Judgment its okay but i did not really see any marketing for this game the same goes for GodofwarA. Theoretically 425,000 Times 60 is 25 million. that much money for reused assets is probably a win.

Its more that when I saw the God of War sales next to the Gears of War sales I just assumed, "Year Gears of War a pre-built online community, of course it would sell more". But I thought it was odd that God of War was still much lower than Luigi. The sales for Luigi are modest but compared to God of War (and knowing that it was on a handheld compared to a console release - it makes God of War look really bad). I know that current console sales are declining (and 3DS sales are fairly steady due to still being in the hands of people who like primarily Nintendo games), but I didn't think the jump from GoW:3 to GoW:A would change from over a million first month sales to just 360,000.

Cause people are sick of God of War?

Gears isn't exactly killing it either. Gears 3 sold 2 million units in the same amount of time.

There are four Gears of War games and they've been spread out pretty evenly across the generation, and each iteration's multiplayer has gotten quite a bit of playtime.

I feel like this generation has been absolutely saturated in God of War games despite only six of them existing (seven if you count the phone game), and with the exception of Ascension all of them are single-player affairs. Single player simply does not have the staying power of a wildly successful multiplayer. Also none of those six games have changed from the original in pretty much any manner except graphics.

As for the success of Luigi's Mansion, I don't have any sort of explanation, but the fact that something like that has had good sales figures makes me glad. Maybe kids were just looking for something good to play on their 3DS's and Fire Emblem Awakening/Atlus games weren't appealing to them.

I'm guessing because the marketing didn't spend much time on the crazier moments. At least they didn't ruin surprises, but the initial multiplayer reveal may have left a bad taste in some people's mouths. God of War is a game built on crazy technical prowess, and showing the Titans and the Poseidon fight blew people's minds. All I saw prerelease for this one was the hint of giant set pieces. And the meh reviews didn't help.

@dixavd: Because nobody really wanted them.....

YearofLuigi

That's good news in my book, even though it's a sequel Luigi's Mansion is a pretty unique game.

The other two are side-story sequels to tired franchises that definitely need a break, hopefully permanent for God of War.

Let's face it, Luigi of War: Ascension would be an amazing game...

As other's have said, we have had enough god of war. I loved God of War 3. It was a beautiful game and was incredibly fun to play, but they went the worst direction with Ascension by making it another prequel. Either flip the formula/story or just don't bother.

I haven't seen any Gear's spots. I have seen some GoW and Luigi TV spots. But, yeah the only one who is likely happy with those numbers is Nintendo.

First off where did you get those numbers? It seems a little soon for that kind of information to be coming out. Secondly I would suppose it would be because Nintendo put a lot more effort into marketing Luigi's Mansion, which is after all a game in the Mario franchise and on a fairly common hand held platform now. I didn't see much marketing for GoW other then a couple TV spots which I may be confusing with some ads I saw on a twitch stream. Sony kinda dumped GoW out, while Nintendo actually kinda made a point to sell Luigi. Also none of these sales numbers are exactly stellar.

Because we are saturated in great games and not every game is going to sell millions in a month.

Year Of Luigi Online

yolo

#420

It seems about right, the PS3 is most popular in other parts of the world, I'm sure internationally God of War is about on par with Gears of War. That said internationally the new Luigi game also probably out sold both these titles.

Is it? There have been two games per system (GoW and GoW2 on PS2, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta on PSP, and Gow3 and Ascension on PS3). Gears of War has had four games in one generation. I think the problem was (is?) that people don't want prequels, they want sequels.

It could just simply be that people are tired of those games. There have been a lot of Gears and God of War games where I don't recall many who were going "Man, I really have this urge to play more GoW!"

This situation is a case where I feel the $60 price tag shows how broken the system is. I am not going to run out to the store to get either game at $60 but for $20 or $30 you definitely have my attention.

It's quite possible that people are just getting tired of Kratos at this point.

I don't think it helped that it is (or was, rather) tax season, which makes people a little antsy about spending $60 bucks for any game. Given that there's been so many prequels and PSP games of God of War, I'd be willing to assume that people just thought it was another acceptable but forgettable GoW title.

As for Gears, I think the same thing applies. Gears fans are very used to numbered entries, so Judgment comes off as either a cash-in or "prequel-ish" type of game (probably both). The games seem polished enough, but these franchises now seem a bit used-up (especially GoW). I enjoy both franchises, but I wouldn't pay full price for half-baked entries in either series.

Man, some of you guys sound like God of War sold five copies.I think that number is completely fine considering it's a side story and games have been selling less lately. This might not be the thread to discuss this but does anyone else think game sales could be down because of people like me who wait awhile to buy games on sale? The last game I bought on release day was Fire Emblem Awakening cause it's Fire Emblem so I obviously have to get it sooner than later but I think the last game I bought for full price before that was Borderlands 2.

I think one reason Luigi's Mansion sold so well is that it is the first big release for the 3DS in a long time.

They were unnecessary cash grabs and I think people could tell. If Microsoft and Sony had been smart they would have saved them for the end of the year and released them on the new stuff, because even an unnecessary half assed prequel is exciting on new hardware.

Wasn't the 3DS supposed to have been killed by Apple by now?

Because the average consumer isn't given enough credit, sometimes. There was no real appetite for a new God or War or Gears of War game, and they're from franchises that have either overstayed their welcome (in God of War's case) or reached a conclusion that everyone feels perfectly satisfied with. Developers/publishers often feel like they can fall back on old hits over and over again to make a cheap buck.

Luigi's Mansion is, like others have said a fondly remembered game that people haven't experienced in a long time, and it was also 20 dollars cheaper than those other two games. It's not really that surprising that consumers occasionally get tired with sequels, prequels, and sidestories. It's not really evidence of anything other than "people want new/more interesting things."

First off, those numbers for Gears and GOW were estimates by an analyst. They could be way off for all we know. If they aren't, I think the main reason is that there are very few games vying for attention on the 3DS compared to the dozens of games that come out for consoles each month. For 3DS gamers I don't really think there was any other option last month other than the Monster Hunter port.

Does it matter? I assume Luigi's mansion will still be selling quite well long after both Gears Judgment and God of War are long forgotten.

Two words: Bioshock Infinite.

The long version: Bioshock Infinite was a hotly anticipated title coming out on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. My hunch is that sales of Bioshock Infinite ate into the sales of Gears of War: Judgement and God of War: Ascension. Just a hunch (not much backing it up besides the assumption that gamers on a limited budget can't justify spending their money on two games in one week).

Also, the raw sales numbers is one thing, but considering the install base of those three platforms (25M 360, 16M PS3 as of 2010, 3DS, both normal and XL versions, about 6M as of 2012), Luigi's Mansion did extremely well compared to the rest. Of course, it helps if there aren't any big titles coming out for the platform.

A lot of competition on the big consoles, 3DS being starved of titles (oh, and Nintendo's usual dedicated fanbase). That could explain the numbers.

They were always aiming for current-gen hardware specifically because they're cash grabs. There's an awful lot of 360 and PS3s out there after all, and Judgment in particular has been one big business venture more than anything. An experiment to see how much additional cash it can wrangle outta the user-base with its overpriced armour/weapon skins setup, while also delivering a game that has, like, half the content of what was found in Gears 3.

Unfortunately, judging by my time in the multiplayer, there is a disturbing amount of players that are more than willing to shell out some extra cash for the season pass or any number of these bloody skins =/

It's not even close to being a "win".

Look guys we could sit here all night arguing what is or isn't a win, but at the end of the dayyyy...

Considering dev time of > 1 year, team sizes, salaries, the fact that only a portion of that 60 goes to the sponsor and the way console game sales tend to drop off after a month I'd say there is no argument.

@yummylee said:

Yes, but according to the sales this didn't work. I wouldn't say these games were failures, but Judgment only sold about 25% of what Gears 3 did in its first month, and Ascension only sold 33% compared to its previous entry's debut. There was a lack of interest in the games due to their transparent cash grab, so they performed poorly. If they had been on new consoles that would have generated interest in the hardware, and in the games. So in the end, I think consumers ended up coming across a little smarter than the publishers thought they would this time around. While both of the publishers came across short sighted, because they both missed the opportunity to launch with an exclusive entry in one of their biggest franchises.

I just read the article and it seems like these analysts are predicting NPD numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if digital sales weren't factored in. I know God of War was available on day one for download, as was Luigi's Mansion but I don't know if Gears was or not. I wouldn't expect Nintendo consumers to purchase products digitally to the same degree that Playstation or Microsoft customers do, resulting in the better retail sales of Luigi.

Saturation over multiple sequels. How many Assassin's Creed, God of War, Gears of War games can one consumer be interested about? Almost all famous franchises have too many games to them.

About Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon compared to previous sales numbers in other consoles and games it doesn't impress. I think they are directly connected to the small 3DS install base and to the franchise not being very popular, as well as maybe still a shortage of games on the platform. Not saying the game isn't good or there aren't people who genuinely like it.

I guess people were tired of iterative sequels (or prequels in this case). Surprised to see Luigi's Mansion 2 sold more than Ascension though, people must be craving for new 3DS stuff. Do we know how well Bioshock Infinite has done yet? Now that I am very curious about.

Its like 10th God of War game that didn't change the formula even one bit (maybe the MP part but who really cares about multiplayer in a game like that?). To me Luigi game looks way more appealing.

I'd say marketing has a factor, I couldn't believe they were both released when they were. The first thing I said was wait are they not due at the end of the year? I couldn't believe both games had completely gone past without me realizing they were about to be released. I hadn't heard much media about either title until they had actually been released.

XBox actually e-mailed me telling me to buy Gears the other day. For that reason alone I assumed it did poorly. They have never come so close to begging me before haha

I loved the first 3 God of War games but the new one just seemed like more of the same. Same for the new Gears of War. Whenever someone says "prequel" now I think-"out of ideas". I have a feeling the next Batman game will perform the same way.

It's very difficult to maintain interest beyond three outings in any franchise built on single-serving "event" products. Movie studios are hyper-focused on trilogies because experience has shown them that you can't sell the same people on the same product indefinitely, and the cost of both replicating your previous success and trying to attract a new audience is grotesque to the point of destroying any potential return on investment. Warner Bros. pre-Nolan Batman outings are pretty much the text-book example of how costs escalate while interest in the product declines.

Videogame publishers have kind of cornered themselves by creating a sequel-driven market during a boom period. The audience expects high-quality, recognizable products but people are tired of the same old games coming out every two years. The publisher wants to "play it safe" by returning to past successes while churning out profitable retreads on a smaller budget or on a shorter cycle (or both.) Neither side gets what they want, which creates dissatisfaction which clings to the products and spreads in the same way that enthusiasm (or hype) does.

The soon to be replaced consoles probably have a lot of impact; Nintendo is probably a couple years out until they replace the 3DS (my current guess is late 2015 WiiUDS that can handle the full Wii U library....).

@zekhariah: Try more 2017-18. We're still early in the 3DS cycle.

Judgment wasn't 'more of the same' actually. It changed up the control scheme, its campaign was designed differently than the norm, and the multiplayer went through a cavalcade of changes -- some good, some less so. The main problem with Judgment was that there simply wasn't more of it in general.

I bet many are feeling like gowA and gowJ are stop gaps that hangs on the side of filler. Both those games had 3rd games that competed in a meaningful way. While there have been a slow build up of people wanting a new Luigi's mansion. You can also add that its a new Mario game that is different from the tired new Super Mario Bro series.

Side Note - You also have to consider God of war has had a few psp games and collections on all of those games, so god of war itself has tapped that well quite a few times.

I'm a fairly big God of War fan, and after platinum'ing it the most positive mood I could muster for GoW:A was indifference.

It was just an inconsequential, badly made, poorly paced game that didn't give me any enjoyment. And certainly doesn't compel me to replay it , unlike the previous GoW's.

I was never interested in God of War in the first place. Even if I were to get into the series, I don't think I would play ascension. It just kind of looks... bland compared to its other predecessors.

I can't comment on Gears to much... I did play 2 and 3 online for a bit. They were decent fun and I'm always up for a good TPS.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of the Mario/Luigi type of games, (Don't get me wrong, I loved them to death in my child hood.) I found LM:DM to pretty damn unique after playing it for an hour or two. It deserved the sales it received and I hope Nintendo keeps making righteous stuff like it in the future.

Because Sony's marketing team.

Seriously though, like @raven10 mentioned those aren't official sales numbers for Gears and God of War. Now I do think the numbers are about right but still, we can't be too sure.

If I might speak personally I skipped God of War because I think Kratos is a shitty protagonist and the only game I really enjoyed with the hacky slashy gameplay was Darksiders. I rented Gears because I'm a huge fan and Baird is my favorite COG so of course I had to play the campaign somehow. I'm buying Luigi's Mansion because I was a huge fan of the original and I haven't gotten a 3DS game in well over a year.