News Crysis, UT3 sales disappoint developers

[CardJoe]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/12...t_developers/1

Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 were two of the biggest and most anticipated games this year - so why aren't they selling very well?

[Fod]

crysis: what do you expect with a game that kicks your system in the teeth, punches you in the face and runs away with your wallet?

ut3: i assume this is because it's merely been overlooked in the flood of awesome games released in the past few weeks. come on, it's really nothing new.

[steveo_mcg]

I've not bought any games since i got TF2, when ever i have an hour spare to game i just fire it up. I've still not finished ep2, I can't seem to be bothered with story driven games at the mo (didn't bother with bioshock for example) and I was never very good as UT, so thats why i've not bought either. Besides that i'm sick of buying buggy EA games so i'm not sure if i'll every get round to crysis.

[Krikkit]

I think it's a case of too many awesome games too fast - a lot of people will have spent as much as they can budget for before xmas on games getting the Orange box and CoD4 imho.

These games will be long-term sellers. As people update their systems more and more, people will start picking up copies later on. Why play a game at measly settings rather than waiting a couple of months and playing it up on the higher ones?

[Delphium]

Crysis is hog that demands you sell a limb to be able to play it.

UT3, reason for me not buying this game, is the lack of game control in the menu, give me UT2004 menu with UT3 gfx!

[[USRF]Obiwan]

Most 'consumers' think:

They can not run Crysis on their system
That UT3 is a online multieplayer shooter
They need Vista to play them
Or a new computer

But maybe i am wrong and consumers buy both upcomming weeks.

[valium]

I just don't see the reason to upgrade to DX10, upgrading cards to play these new games would mean I would also have to upgrade my computer as well for something graphic-wise that is very unnoticable between DX9 and DX10, meanwhile games like TF2 and CoD4 are running on DX9 hardware and are still managing to look mighty good while still having awesome gameplay. Lets not forget that to upgrade to DX10 I also have to buy Windows Vista and effectively downgrade my OS experience/performance.

The failure of Vista which in turn leads to the failure of DX10 leads to low hardware sales which in turn leads to bad game sales for games designed with new hardware in mind. Not everyone can afford a new computer whenever their is a software/hardware upgrade.... personally I'm still kind of sorry I sold my left kidney for my last upgrade.

[Bauul]

The vast majority of PC players have no better idea what graphics card they have as what the brand of their monitor is. And thus, the vast, vast, bast majority of people can't play Crysis. I'm actually amazed it sold that well. The number of returns would be an interesting thing to look at as so many people take it back because they can't play it. In my humble opinion, when a game won't run properly in full detail at max resolution with THREE of the world's fastest GPUs running in tandem, how can anyone expect anyone to be able to run it? Crysis is little more than a curiosity and for that reason, 80 thousand sales is extremely good going for it!

UT3, on the other hand, is probably struggling simply due to overwhelming competition from all over the place, 2007 has been a brilliant year for games, and with so many quality titles it's only expected sales per title will be squeezed.

Any idea how well games like Bioshock, COD4 and The Orange Box did?

[Blademrk]

UT3 is proberbly the only I've bought for the PC all year (and I did need Vista to play it (wouldn't run on my XP install despite being on the same hardware). and due to looking almost as blocky as Doom 2 on my 6600 I've put it to one side until I upgrade my GC to something better.

[Bionic-Blob]

Originally Posted by valium

I just don't see the reason to upgrade to DX10, upgrading cards to play these new games would mean I would also have to upgrade my computer as well for something graphic-wise that is very unnoticable between DX9 and DX10, meanwhile games like TF2 and CoD4 are running on DX9 hardware and are still managing to look mighty good while still having awesome gameplay. Lets not forget that to upgrade to DX10 I also have to buy Windows Vista and effectively downgrade my OS experience/performance.

The failure of Vista which in turn leads to the failure of DX10 leads to low hardware sales which in turn leads to bad game sales for games designed with new hardware in mind. Not everyone can afford a new computer whenever their is a software/hardware upgrade.... personally I'm still kind of sorry I sold my left kidney for my last upgrade.

? you don't need to buy dx10

[Paradigm Shifter]

I picked up both Crysis and UT3... Crysis was great fun - open, free and inventive - until the alien ship, at which point I lost interest. UT3... well, so far all its served to do is teach me I still suck at online FPS games, and that while the graphics are nice, I can spend too much time looking at the scenery and not enough time paying attention to the people who are shooting me.

[oasked]

Crysis, the Orange Box and Arma: Armed Assault, are the only PC games that I've bought this year. I've just had a lack of time to play games.

Crysis was a remarkably expensive game though, seeing as I bought a new graphics card and Vista to play it. Very worth it though, I loved the game and I needed to upgrade anyway.

[liratheal]

In all honesty, I'm not sure what the hell people are going on about with Crysis. I grabbed a copy the other day, and I'm sorry, but I honestly cannot believe that people are getting the pathetic performance reported. My rig is hardly great in comparison to a lot of Bit Tech readers, and of course, the Bit Tech test rig. I get playable FPS, 30+ unless I start throwing a lot of grenades, on medium settings with high textures, AA x6 (On Catalyst, not ingame settings) and shadows on low. Considering I'm using X-fired 256 X1950Pros, with native reslution (1680x1050)?

As for UT3, I honestly don't know. I've been playing it since release, a lot on LANs rather than t'internet, but all my locals are capable of playing with mostly high settings, and none of us have newer than either 1950pros or 7900 GTS series cards.

I can't say the lack of sales surprises me, though. Crysis is widely known as the hardest kick in the teeth for your rig (Or so it's claimed) and UT3 is hardly.. Fresh, hell, most gamers I know still play UT, and prefer it to the newer iterations of the game.

[Tim S]

I've not bought either yet, but then I still haven't completed Ep2/Portal/COD4

[AcidJiles]

never liked ut3 so didnt buy that

will buy crysis after i upgrade my pc after christmas

[-EVRE-]

What are the sales figures on Mass Effect and The Orange Box? I bought that game, Crysis and the Orange Box.... and an 8800gt to run them :b Got mine for $259 woot!!

Just a side thought. I played part of the Bioshock Demo, if it wasnt for the Demo I think I would have bought the game. I dont know about the rest of you but Bioshock bored me after about 20 min of game play.

[cjoyce1980]

i'm just waiting for the 360 version, even though i have a pc and could run both games at med with a good frame rate

[lewchenko]

Are these world sales.. am presuming so.

It would be interesting to see how well COD4 sold on the PC. I know that in the US for November it sold 1.57M on the 360, and 440K on the PS3. The PC version was less than 350K otherwise it would have been in the top 10.

So numbers like 88K for Crysis and 33K for UT3 on the PC are dire. Really Really dire. After all the investment I would be amazed if we saw such future development on the PC when you can sell >2M on consoles (for more money per copy as well).

Personally I have UT3 and Crysis on the PC.. but Im not playing them at the moment. Nope.. Im playing COD4 and Supreme Commander Forged Alliance instead. More fun. My PC copes with all of them fine, but Im not sure everyone's does, which probably counts for something.

I know a few people who have bought Orange Box/COD4 over Crysis and UT3. Simple as that .. thats where all the sales are going.

[DriftCarl]

I love UT3, I think its fantastic, the only problem is low sales = less people to play against. I already see loads of servers completly empty most of the time, and the servers that do have people in are often the same people I played with the day before. It is a real shame when games designed for multiplayer use isnt capable of supporting itself in the online world.
I can just see the players dwindling away and a few months from now there will only be a few servers left which woudlnt provide much entertainment for someone like me.

I played a bit of crysis but obviously thats a single player game and I will go back to it eventually.
I would love to play UT3 against xbox360 and PS3 players though. I dont know if that will be a feature or if it can only be done apart.

[liratheal]

Originally Posted by -EVRE-

Just a side thought. I played part of the Bioshock Demo, if it wasnt for the Demo I think I would have bought the game. I dont know about the rest of you but Bioshock bored me after about 20 min of game play.

You're not alone, I played the 360 version, returned it within the same day I bought it, after about two hours of gameplay (Just to give it a chance, I didn't know if it was going to explode with interesting features instantly, but it never did )