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Why didnt Rise of the Tomb Raider sell well


Sambob
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It should have sold way better even just being on one console, it had a great first outing, it was anticipated, reviewed well, must have been at least quietly mentioned as a potential for game of the year.....

What more could it have done to at the very least have sold better?

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What did it actually sell and what's the install base of the Xbox One in the area where the sales are coming from?

I'm asking because I really haven't seen anything on it.

I would say that I'm sure this was anticipated and the money Microsoft threw Sqaure's way was probably enough to cover what they would lose.

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Fallout 4 ~ 482,000

Rise of the Tomb Raider < 63,000 (Tomb Raider debuted selling around 183,000 units)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1140911

For me the reasons it didn't sell are MANY FOLD. Firstly, it was up against Fallout, it wouldn't matter what console it was on, Fallout would steal some sales from it. Add to that, while this isn't the busiest Q4 ever, it was still Tomb Raider up against, Fallout, Halo, COD, a star wars game that is either coming out or out etc etc, there's a lot of games taking people's money at the minute.

From there it gets a bit more granular, in my opinion at least. Only selling on one console obviously cuts down the potential audience, it being a console exclusive helps it find traction, but the Xbox just had a bigger exclusive in Halo, ironically Tomb Raider would have faired better on PS4 in that regard because it only had a knocked out best of Uncharted.

This is where it gets a bit more, not confrontational, but I think people might think I'm saying more than I am. The Xbox is a 2nd choice console at this point. That's not to say no one has it as their primary console, that's not to say it has no games, but a large amount of people will either skip it or own it while having another platform to play games on. This means a couple of things, if the Xbox is your 2nd choice console, like the WiiU, or the Vita, or the 3DS, then you're less inclined to buy games for it. It's what the exclusives are for, but it means you'll have to skip some stuff to play the likes of Fallout on your platform of choice.

This gets worse for the xbox because we know that there's at least 2 other ports of the game coming, both will likely have improvements, with the PS4 version, the primary console for most people, likely having extra content. The PC version is only a few months away and will almost certainly look and run better, and be cheaper, ad the PS4 version will also likely run better. Basically, if you've got more than one platform, assuming that other platform is PC/PS4, you're trying to sell the xbox version of Tomb Raider to people with other stuff to play, and while they know they'll be able to get a fuller, 'better', cheaper game later on when there's less out.

As soon as the game was announced and no one believed it was a permanent exclusive to the xbox, it was never going to sell what it should do

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OK, serious answer time. It's a multitude of things. It came out on a system that supposedly nobody owns, it came out after a glut of releases and it had the unfortunate mess up to release on the same day as one of the most anticipated games of the year. Plus it's already announced that it's coming to the system that people bought into when everyone was (rightly so) on the fuck MS bandwagon for being shitheads to the consumer.

I bet Just Cause 3 has dire sales as well even though it's out on all 3 platforms simple because everyone is spent up from buying games earlier in the season. Rainbow 6 will also suffer. There's too many big hitters coming out at the same time and it's going to be the big bastards that get the sales. The CoDs, The Assassins Creeds, the Fallouts and the Star Wars. All them will be flying off the shelves at Bills Independant Games shop.

I'm almost certain Fireman Sam: To The Rescue is going to bomb as well. Kids don't want Fireman Sam, they want Blops III. Fireman Sam is shit, just like everything else from Wales.

EDIT: Ben beat me to it, but he didn't diss Wales so therefore my post is better.

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Well, that's that figured out. When are setting up a consultant firm?

EDIT: Actually, I have another theory to add to it. It has holes and I could be wrong but I'm just throwing the cards out to see where they land.

The game should have been multiformat, I'll say that first. I'm not saying Tomb Raider shouldn't be on the Xbox at all but it's not a place for it to bloom. Generally speaking as an observer it doesn't seem like Tomb Raider holds much interest to an Xbox owner. I'm looking at this and reminded of Alan Wake on the 360, another that tanked quite hard. Neither of these games are what Xbox owners appear to want that much.

I mean I think this was Microsoft also trying to broaden their appeal as I also think they are trying to do that with the XO what with things like Sunset Overdrive as well but it just isn't paying off at the moment. Maybe if the continue to do things like that they'll shake the Halo/Gears schtick but it might be too late and Xbox will only really be home to the online shooter.

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When the release date for Rise of the Tomb Raider was announced, Fallout 4 wasn't even a known thing. The release couldn't really have been pushed a week either way due to other big releases.

Also, Fallout 4 came out three days before Rise of the Tomb Raider here.

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As said above, It's competing for attention from BLOPSIII, and arguably FIFA. Working in a school, I end up talking to kids a lot about games. The console of choice amongst the kids I teach is certainly the XO, however they might as well only release COD and FIFA as that's the only thing they will ever play on it.

That combined with Fallout 4 and the run up to Christmas I think resulted in the disappointing sales. It's a shame as it looks ace and certainly more interesting that any of the other titles that have come out around it.

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Fallout 4 ~ 482,000

Rise of the Tomb Raider < 63,000 (Tomb Raider debuted selling around 183,000 units)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1140911
Reading that thread, it's actually worse than that.

04 (NE) RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER (SQUARE ENIX EUROPE) < 56,700

Xbox One (85%) < 48,200

Xbox 360 (15%) < 8,500

I would guess those numbers don't count download figures but I can't see many people paying the ridiculous prices for new game downloads.

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I'd say it's a mixture of the following factors:

1. Mixed messaging on its announcement - Is it an XB1 exclusive? Is it a timed exclusive? - If so, how long is it going to be exclusive to Xbox? Just incredibly confusing, and distracting from being able to just enjoy the announcement and anticipate the games release.

2. Coming out the same day as (arguably) the biggest and most-hyped game of the year in North America, and three days later in Europe - Incredibly silly move, I know they're both different games with their own distinct fan bases, but Microsoft and Crystal should've realised that with so many games coming out at this time of the year that people just can't afford to buy two games in one day.

3. People know the PS4 version is coming next year - I've always been an impatient gamer myself, and I hate to wait any-more than I need to to play a game, which is why I buy 99% of games on the release day, but a lot of people will be happy to wait for the PS4 version, with all the DLC included next year. They know it's coming, they've got a lot to play already so they'll wait and get the 'definitive edition' in Christmas 2016. Square should've never released the PS4 release date until after the game had launched, hell, maybe they shouldn't of even acknowledged a PS4 version was in the works before the game was released.

4. Tomb Raider has traditionally been a Playstation stalwart - Now, I personally would've say this is such a big deal, and wouldn't make too big a dent in sales, but you never know. All I know is traditionally the TR franchise has been closely associated with the PS brand ever since its inception.

5. The Xbox One install base is not very big - Sure, it's bigger than the 360's install base at the same time in its life-cycle, but it's still 10-15 million units behind the PS4, and with that smaller install base, you get a lower amount of sales.

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As is evident from the impressions thread, I totally forgot that this was even an Xbone exclusive. I can only assume that Microsoft paid a fuck ton of money to get that because the very idea that you would in any way limit your potential customer base in this day and age is stupid as fuck. In a years time this game will be out on PS4 but it wouldnt surprise me in the slightest if it also faced the exact same situation as it does now.

This is tough tough period to launch games, why on earth youd devise a strategy that sees you doing it twice, once per console year on year I dont know, again, youd have to assume the financial incentive was huge.

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3. People know the PS4 version is coming next year - I've always been an impatient gamer myself, and I hate to wait any-more than I need to to play a game, which is why I buy 99% of games on the release day, but a lot of people will be happy to wait for the PS4 version, with all the DLC included next year. They know it's coming, they've got a lot to play already so they'll wait and get the 'definitive edition' in Christmas 2016. Square should've never released the PS4 release date until after the game had launched, hell, maybe they shouldn't of even acknowledged a PS4 version was in the works before the game was released.

I think this would have been a really bad idea. Not telling anyone about the release of other version would have destroyed a lot of good will in the Tomb Raider fanbase since some would feel more pushed to by a console they didn't need, and then tell them they didn't need it after all. I think the only option that would have maybe been less frustrating to the fanbase is if it was a straight up exclusive, as much as Halo is.

Timed exclusives are just so stupid the more I think of it. They don't benefit the customer base and by the looks of it in this case they don't benefit the platform holders.

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