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[Freeman76]

Its one of the best games ive played in years and to me it was worth every penny, but £70 is a lot for a game and I would expect that to show in sales. For us in the UK coronavirus is a thing of the past but its still very real elsewhere in the world and ppl are careful with their money atm.

 

[Poppyseed]

Thats how I feel. I wanted to buy it because I have a ps5 and nothing to play. I know though it is a title I will play for a hour or two and drop. It's niche and not my niche.

Thats a shame. I’m over 10 hours into it and can’t wait to go back for more. I’m just loving the gameplay loop. It’s…balletic.

 

[K' Dash]

maybe if you have the nerve to overcharge for a game, the least you can do is not erase the save files from the customers who were dumb enough to give you their money.

I'm hoping this sends a clear cut message about the stupid pricing strategy Sony is trying to implement.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

maybe if you have the nerve to overcharge for a game, the least you can do is not erase the save files from the customers who were dumb enough to give you their money.

I'm hoping this sends a clear cut message about the stupid pricing strategy Sony is trying to implement.

No doubt it'll be $40 soon.

 

[DJTaurus]

Buy buy Sony overpriced exclusives.

 

[wOs]

I think $40 was as high as they could have reasonably gone with it based on their previous titles.

I'm not the only person I know who wants to play it but is waiting for a sale.

I can't blame anyone for that. I got it because I was bored and just wanted something to play. I don't regret it as the gameplay loop is fun and the way they weave in the story has been surprising cool. That said I would have been happier to pay 40 which seems more accurate overal.

 

[apotema]

The real story of the UK Charts is 80% of RE8's sales were on Playstation. 50% on PS5, 30% on PS4, 20% on Xbox.

That's impressive

IIRC RE7 was 74% on PS4, 24% on Xbox One and 2% on PC, dropping from 1/4 to 1/5 is huge, I think Xbox users have stopped buying games (except maybe Call of Duty and FIFA)

 

[supernova8]

I guess that instead of being eternal.. sales were....

returnal

 

[drotahorror]

There's people that have 30-40 hours into this game. There's a lot of content to keep playing after the first time you see credits. The story doesn't stop there. Has a ton of replayability.

There really is not a lot of content after completing the story. The rest of the content is mainly trophies. I spent 50 hours getting the rest of the trophies. Some of it was fun but a lot of them like the collectible trophies were very tedious and not fun.

The gameplay is great but as a roguelike/lite it does not have any of the typical traits that those games typically have.

There are no modifiers to make the game harder. You can't take your leveled up traits and weapons into a new game and fight stronger enemies that scale with your weapons. There is no infinite looping and keeping your gear. There was only one daily challenge mode that can only be completed once per 24 hours.

The game right now is incredibly bare bones unless you are a trophy hunter. A lot of people will beat the game and be done with it.

If I didn't love the game so much I would have been done with the game in 25 hours, which is still pretty lengthy. But now I can blast through all content in three or four hours.

I really hope they put out some DLC that's free or something really soon.

 

[comshoplesce]

Its one of the best games ive played in years and to me it was worth every penny, but £70 is a lot for a game and I would expect that to show in sales. For us in the UK coronavirus is a thing of the past but its still very real elsewhere in the world and ppl are careful with their money atm.

it was less then 60 everywhere.

 

[Jaysen]

Holy shit, it sold less than 10k in Japan in its launch week. An absolute disaster. The game deserves better.

 

[NEbeast]

A niche genre with an angry middle aged lesbian Karen on the cover. Too bad for them that people don't get paid with pats on the back from blue haired twitter grifters.

Wow.

 

[comshoplesce]

Yeah RETURNAL deserves much better...GREAT GAME.

 

[Jaysen]

A niche genre with an angry middle aged lesbian Karen on the cover. Too bad for them that people don't get paid with pats on the back from blue haired twitter grifters.

You could have just been less wordy and typed, "I'm a fucking idiot."

 

[skit_data]

Well, number 3 and 4 Top sellers on the PSN store in US and Europe respectively in April. The game released April 30th.

You may lay down your concern for this time. See you guys in next thread.

PlayStation Store: April 2021 top downloads

MLB The Show 21 and Returnal debut, with GTA V and FIFA 21 still going strong.

blog.playstation.com

 

[Danjin44]

but this is what we want from sony right? More out of the box experimental games with big budgets?

What I want is to Sony give me some first party Japanese games.

OT: My take is just because a game doesn’t do big numbers doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist. If all we get is were high budget AAA games that guarantees high sells then we would have very dull game selections.

 

[Azurro]

You could have just been less wordy and typed, "I'm a fucking idiot."

I think that label would better be applied to the marketing people at Sony and character designers at Housemarque that thought that THAT cover and that character design would sell copies. It's a niche genre already, don't make it even harder to love.

 

[Danjin44]

I think that label would better be applied to the marketing people at Sony and character designers at Housemarque that thought that THAT cover and that character design would sell copies. It's a niche genre already, don't make it even harder to love.

It’s developer’s choice to design the characters however they want, same way Japanese devs are free to design sexy characters if they want.

 

[Azurro]

It’s developer’s choice to design the characters however they want, same way Japanese devs are free to design sexy characters if they want.

Sony: "Budgets on new titles are continuously rising and it's challenging to find ways to make them economically viable."

Also Sony: "Let's put an ugly, angry lesbian Karen on the cover, that should sell".

 

[Krizalidx11]

Broken hard game is not selling in it's 2nd week? how?!

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Returnal is killing it on the digital store at #3: https://blog.playstation.com/2021/05/10/playstation-store-april-2021-top-downloads/

That makes much more sense, worldwide numbers in the most versions sold, digital sales are more than 70% in general.

 

[Heisenberg007]

That makes much more sense, worldwide numbers in the most versions sold, digital sales are more than 70% in general.

+ it is literally just day one downloads vs. the entire month worth of downloads for other games. This makes it even more impressive!

You know that I couldn't even download the game until like May 4th, so my download isn't even in there

 

[Eanox]

Control Was Developed With A Modest $30 Million Budget

Remedy's sci-fi shooter was developed over the course of three years.

www.google.com

Anyone who thinks Returnal’s budget is significantly more than Control’s budget are fooling themselves.

Remedy = 200 plus employees
HM = 80 employees
and both are Finnish devs.

Also, returnal’s digital sales will be higher. Covid and PS5DE. People seems to forget that PS5DE exist. That’s a 100% digital console.

 

[Danjin44]

Sony: "Budgets on new titles are continuously rising and it's challenging to find ways to make them economically viable."

Also Sony: "Let's put an ugly, angry lesbian Karen on the cover, that should sell".

If people enjoy the actual gameplay I don’t think it matters if she is “lesbian” or not. Also there are games that just niche, it wouldn’t do big numbers no matter how the main character looks.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Control Was Developed With A Modest $30 Million Budget

Remedy's sci-fi shooter was developed over the course of three years.

www.google.com

Anyone who thinks Returnal’s budget is significantly more than Control’s budget are fooling themselves.

Remedy = 200 plus employees
HM = 80 employees
and both are Finnish devs.

Also, returnal’s digital sales will be higher. Covid and PS5DE. People seems to forget that PS5DE exist. That’s a 100% digital console.

Yeah, that's a good comparison and reference point.

However, Returnal's credits just rolled for me today, and there was hundreds of people though -- because of all the external help. I'd also compare total credits with Control, and if there isn't any big difference, we can assume a $30 - $40 million cost (inflation, dev period, etc.) -- which would be fantastic. Just 2 million copies would make it profitable for Sony and HM.

 

[Jaysen]

That makes much more sense, worldwide numbers in the most versions sold, digital sales are more than 70% in general.

And digital sales drop off at greater rates than physical sales due to the price generally remaining static. And if that’s the case here, it’ll drop around 85 percent in week 2 like in the UK. That’s terrible. I love the game and want it to do great, but it’s clearly not happening.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

And digital sales drop off at greater rates than physical sales due to the price generally remaining static. And if that’s the case here, it’ll drop around 85 percent in week 2 like in the UK. That’s terrible. I love the game and want it to do great, but it’s clearly not happening.

We can't know yet until we know how much it sold. If it sold around 1M then that's VERY successful. Can't see it's budget exceeding $50M, if not much less, so 1M of an average of $60 that means around $60M or more.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

even at 60 I don't think it would have changed much. I am enjoying it, but this is totally a niche title at best.

I don’t have a PS5 but if I did I was definitely interested in giving this game a whirl. Housemarque games are always incredible, mechanically speaking.

But having seen some gameplay I’m now not so sure, shit looks hard as nails! I wouldn’t want to dump full price on a game that might simply be beyond my skill level.

Luckily I’ll be more likely giving it a go in a year or so’s time when it’s either already been on plus (I have a friend that can grab an PS5-gated games for me) or will be cheap enough to be an impulse buy.

Having said all that, I hope it’s been financially viable for Sony as they need to feel safe greenlighting more experimental games.

 

[Papacheeks]

There really is not a lot of content after completing the story. The rest of the content is mainly trophies. I spent 50 hours getting the rest of the trophies. Some of it was fun but a lot of them like the collectible trophies were very tedious and not fun.

The gameplay is great but as a roguelike/lite it does not have any of the typical traits that those games typically have.

There are no modifiers to make the game harder. You can't take your leveled up traits and weapons into a new game and fight stronger enemies that scale with your weapons. There is no infinite looping and keeping your gear. There was only one daily challenge mode that can only be completed once per 24 hours.

The game right now is incredibly bare bones unless you are a trophy hunter. A lot of people will beat the game and be done with it.

If I didn't love the game so much I would have been done with the game in 25 hours, which is still pretty lengthy. But now I can blast through all content in three or four hours.

I really hope they put out some DLC that's free or something really soon.

Maybe it's what I've unlocked then? There are still a ton of extra story elements to get the full story with collecting audio logs and all the glyphs. I still have not fully explored the house which I hear adds more context to selen's backstory.

I guess it all depends on how you played. I was focused on exploration in the later part of the game, but now that im not trying to be OP to kill a boss thats hard as fuck. I can take my time with my next couple runs. I love it. I have not even tried using all the different weapons fully. Only used scattergun, carbine most of my playthrough.

I totally get thats $70 is a lot to ask for, especially for a rogue like title. I dont see this game though lower than $60-50 in terms of asking price. It's high quality.

And to me I would rather pay for high quality than to pay $40-60 for mediocre.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

The real story of the UK Charts is 80% of RE8's sales were on Playstation. 50% on PS5, 30% on PS4, 20% on Xbox.

That’s not even remotely surprising to me for the obvious reasons. Then people wonder how Sony bags these exclusives and timed exclusives left and right. If a huge, mainstream game like Resident Evil can’t sell at a higher percentage, then I don’t know what to say.

 

[drotahorror]

Maybe it's what I've unlocked then? There are still a ton of extra story elements to get the full story with collecting audio logs and all the glyphs. I still have not fully explored the house which I hear adds more context to selen's backstory.

I guess it all depends on how you played. I was focused on exploration in the later part of the game, but now that im not trying to be OP to kill a boss thats hard as fuck. I can take my time with my next couple runs. I love it. I have not even tried using all the different weapons fully. Only used scattergun, carbine most of my playthrough.

I totally get thats $70 is a lot to ask for, especially for a rogue like title. I dont see this game though lower than $60-50 in terms of asking price. It's high quality.

And to me I would rather pay for high quality than to pay $40-60 for mediocre.

Don't get me wrong, I love the game, it's the best game I've played on PS5. It's worth the money too. I just expected more content than trophy hunting. Due to the nature of the genre, I expected more.

I'm completely done with the game but I did just fire up my PS5 because I want to play through biome 4-5-6 with crazy weapons. I really wish we could atleast go to Biome 1 with our newly leveled up 4 trait weapons.

 

[nbkicker]

If people enjoy the actual gameplay I don’t think it matters if she is “lesbian” or not. Also there are games that just niche, it wouldn’t do big numbers no matter how the main character looks.

I disagree id prob enjoy this game, but not buying due to the fact i dont like the main charachter design, the fact is the movie studios have been pushing agendas in movies last few yrs, and now gaming is starting todo the same, i feel companys wont bring attractive leads to games cause of the sjw outcrys etc and the cancel culture, there was the leak from capcom with things from the company saying they should be covering females up more in games in the future and also following the lead of last of us 2 with there representation of females in games

 

[Azurro]

If people enjoy the actual gameplay I don’t think it matters if she is “lesbian” or not. Also there are games that just niche, it wouldn’t do big numbers no matter how the main character looks.

The character is ugly, that's my point. And please, that point about gameplay does not fit with reality. Fortnite has bright and fun characters, Minecraft has a cool retro look to their characters. Returnal just has an ugly lady grimacing at you whenever you open its store page.

You know that phrase: "Get *censored*, go broke" exists for a good reason.

 

[jm89]

Expensive roguelike game from a somewhat unknown developer with not much marketing, shit was sent to die. And how the fuck do you release trailers and do a state of play for ratchet the week returnal launches? You have an entire freaking month to do that shit...

 

[SLB1904]

People seems to forget that PS5DE exist. That’s a 100% digital console.

i did lol

 

[Cherry Sonoshee]

This is a console war bait thread, but no surprise.

The game is fantastic. The tps gameplay is some of the best I’ve ever placed. Feels great and is just so tense. It just feels like a marvel to play.

The rogue like elements are engaging and really encourage learning and decision making. This is a real gamers game. It’s hard and unforgiving.

But it’s not for everyone. It’s hard and not really casual friendly. Sometimes it feels like it’s holding my PS5 hostage since you can’t save. Also yeah honestly $70 is a lot for this game.

That said even if it’s AAA I doubt it cost that much. Hopefully it’s done well enough. It’s a great game.

 

[kungfuian]

The real story of the UK Charts is 80% of RE8's sales were on Playstation. 50% on PS5, 30% on PS4, 20% on Xbox.

I know Pachter acts as an easy punching bag on these forums but in this video he shares some insight into X-box physical sales numbers which are interesting. Regardless whether you agree with his take he is in a unique position to have access to real numbers, and if what he is saying true, it's not good!

Gamepass is clearly having a significant negative effect on physical sales based on this info. Will be interesting to see how these numbers play out on the X-box platform over the next few years and how publishers/devs respond.

 

[RobRSG]

Another best exclusive of all times of the last week.

 

[wolywood]

Looks like Returnal got....

*puts on sunglasses*

...All returned.

*YEAHHHHHH*

 

[LMJ]

Looks like Returnal got....

*puts on sunglasses*

...All returned.

*YEAHHHHHH*

no sunglasses or fade in for you good sir...try again

 

[JaksGhost]

I disagree id prob enjoy this game, but not buying due to the fact i dont like the main charachter design, the fact is the movie studios have been pushing agendas in movies last few yrs, and now gaming is starting todo the same, i feel companys wont bring attractive leads to games cause of the sjw outcrys etc and the cancel culture, there was the leak from capcom with things from the company saying they should be covering females up more in games in the future and also following the lead of last of us 2 with there representation of females in games

Just say Sony didn't cater to your specific video game character fetish and move on. Not everything needs to be in your spank bank buddy.

 

[nbkicker]

Just say Sony didn't cater to your specific video game character fetish and move on. Not everything needs to be in your spank bank buddy.

dont think i need a spank bank, ive been happily married for last 20yrs, and if i did im sure theres plenty of sites online id go if i ever did, not a game charachter, its just annoying how companys are tonning down a female sexuality to make them more gender neutral

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Who thought releasing Returnal so close to RE8 was a good idea? $70 probably isn’t really helping either.

 

[The Hamburglar]

I disagree id prob enjoy this game, but not buying due to the fact i dont like the main charachter design, the fact is the movie studios have been pushing agendas in movies last few yrs, and now gaming is starting todo the same, i feel companys wont bring attractive leads to games cause of the sjw outcrys etc and the cancel culture, there was the leak from capcom with things from the company saying they should be covering females up more in games in the future and also following the lead of last of us 2 with there representation of females in games

You sound like a clown. Play a game because it’s fun.
Stop pretending you’re taking a stand against the agendas when it’s really down to you think the character is ugly.
An attractive character doesn’t increase any fun factor in a game unless you pause to jerk off.

 

[Kamina]

Its an overpriced niche title, so its not surprising. 80€ is just ridiculous.
The sooner it gets cheaper the sooner i will buy.

 

[saintjules]

Expected drop with that price. If it were 60 it would be probably fare better - maybe would be still in top 10 at least.

A $10 difference? No.

 

[Cherry Sonoshee]

The tone of the game is pretty serious with an art direction that looks like it takes ques from hard sci-fi and sci-fi horror fiction. It clearly has a more realistic looking depiction of sci-fi. Selene looks like an astronaut. I’m sorry she’s not eye candy for you gamers that I guess need that and when you aren’t catered too it’s a attack on you. Yeah it’s to please the sjws and has an agenda. Or yknow just a game with a diffrent vision. I guess Selene needed to pretty herself up before going to space.

Honestly before reading this version of GAF I had no idea eye candy females were such an important part for some gamers. Oh well there loss. Of course I won’t understand how they think things were better before with the shit modeled women of western 3D games.

 

[sandbood]

Ouch. -84% drops is really big for Returnal.

 

[Termite]

I was extremely hyped for this game, but the price and the post-launch conversation surrounding save / update issues would have totally put me off. I say "would have" as I still haven't managed to get a PS5.

I think all the concern around this game is because people really don't want games like this to sell for 70 quid, and if it fails that means less games are likely to come out at that pricepoint.

However it's impossible to say how it's doing due to physical trackers being borderline irrelevant these days. But it feels like it's flopping. Who knows what the internal expectations were, too. Housemarque have never really had a sales hit (iirc), unless you count Resogun being popular on PS+ at Ps4's launch.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Against my every instinct, I paid Sony's ridiculous marked up price for Returnal. There's a lot that I really like about it - the weapon design, the enemy encounters, and the sound design are all first class. But, this is not a game worth $125AUD/$70USD. Sony was out of their fucking minds slapping that sticker price on it, and frankly, it's turned me right off trusting them again.

The game is well designed, but too difficult. I know, I know. 'Git gud'. I don't want to, I want to enjoy the games that I'm playing, and even for a roguelike, Returnal is too punishing. Hades was also a difficult roguelike, but even when I was dying over and over again, I don't feel bogged down and trapped in it the way I do in Returnal - I always felt like my deaths were a fault of my own actions, rather than the game just throwing wave after wave of enemies at me.

Which would all be fine - if Returnal was a reasonably priced indie exclusive, none of this would concern me. But, when I'm paying a really silly amount of money for a game, I want to be able to enjoy it. So, while I admire Returnal, I can't say that I find it 'enjoyable'. I imagine that word of mouth doesn't help, on top of the price, the bugs, the exclusivity, the kind of unlikeable protagonist, and the fact that it's a new IP. But, who knows, maybe it's a hugely successful phenomenon on digital, but I can't see it.