Acti laments poor Blur, Singularity sales

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 6 August, 2010

Insists it marketed both appropriately.

Poor sales of Bizarre's racer Blur and Raven Software's shooter Singularity between April and June were offset by the continued gargantuan success of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, publisher Activision Blizzard has said.

"Singularity fell short of meeting what is an exceptionally high bar within the shooter genre," said chief financial officer Thomas Tippl during an investor call last night.

"Fortunately, Call of Duty was the title that raised that bar and shortfall of Singularity was offset by Call of Duty's catalogue and DLC performance.

"Additionally, Blur was not able to break out in what turned out to be a relatively soft racing genre despite the number of high-quality releases."

Blur sold a paltry 31,000 copies in the US in May, although it had only been on sale for five days at the end of the month.

Despite failing at the till, Blur wasn't without worth, Activision insisted.

"Importantly, the game broke new ground in creating innovative, social and multiplayer features - including functionality - enables our unique online and back-end platforms that will play an increasing role in driving value in the future," Tippl said.

It's a shame: both Blur and Singularity are very good indeed.

During a question and answer session with analysts, Tippl went a little deeper on Blur and Singularity's performance and insisted Activision marketed both games appropriately.

"We have made a very significant investment behind the establishment of Blur as a new IP," he said. "So I think the marketing plan was very strong, probably stronger than for most of our franchises.

"Unfortunately, the racing genre was not particularly responsive, at least so far this year, despite the number of good releases.

"On Singularity, the bar in the shooter genre these days is very high. I think we made the right size investment against this opportunity, and that's how we expect to continue to look at the amount of marketing support we put behind all of our launches."

Activision said licensed titles Shrek and Transformers did well, and outlined plans to drive sales of its June quarter games throughout the remainder of the year, so all is not lost.

All four games, plus World of Warcraft and COD Map Packs, contributed to revenues of $967 million for the quarter.

Interestingly, sales from online channels grew 120 per cent year-over-year to reach an all-time high and, for the first time, accounted for the majority of sales.

Activision said Call of Duty was the number three franchise overall in the U.S. and Europe for the quarter. Combined sales of the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Pack and the Resurgence Pack were more than five million.

For the first half of 2010, Call of Duty Map Packs generated enough revenue to rank among the top five retail releases in the U.S. and Europe.

"These products not only drive meaningful levels of high-margin revenue, they also help generate a deeper loyalty among the fan base, drive increased stickiness to the physical product, which encourages gamers to keep their copies rather then reselling them, and opens up new opportunities for the future as more and more players evolve their engagement with the brands," said Tippl.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (96) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Zomoniac #1 2 years ago

    So, somewhat predictably, in a year's time Activision's entire output will be Warcraft/Starcraft, and 15 CoD and 20 GH games a year. All with subscription models.

    Who didn't see that one coming?

  • X #2 2 years ago

    Well if they bothered advertising Singularity more people might have bought it huh Activision!

    I'll be getting it when it's about £20 though as it seems many others will be.

  • UncleLou #3 2 years ago

    Had a slim interest in Singularity, but there's not even a demo.
    /shrug

  • altitude2k #4 2 years ago

    So they marketed to death the tripe that was MW2, but when they actually have decent games on their hands they just don't put the effort in?

    Daft, really.

  • Darren #5 2 years ago

    Singularity wasn't that great though; it was an admittedly competent but somewhat unexciting (for me) FPS with some occasionally clever puzzles but little else of note. The TMD and time travel theme were criminally underused. The game lacked subtitles so I heard very little of the dialogue or plot. That it gets compared to the magnificent BioShock quite frankly astounds me because in terms of quality the two games could not be further apart IMO.

    As for Blur, I made the fatal mistake of buying it for the PC where virtually no-one plays it online and with a single player that gets dull alarmingly quickly plus can be completed in next to no time with little else to do thanks to a lack of game modes the whole package felt extremely shallow. IMHO, it's Bizarre Creations weakest game yet. Kept wishing Blur had been PGR 5 really.

  • Makikou #6 2 years ago

    They didnt even advertise Singularity.. sigh.

  • Coughthulu #7 2 years ago

    Singularity was really good. Although the plot was nowhere as deep as Bioshock, it had a very similar disturbing, dystopian feel to it. Raven really still can make great shooters.

    Well worth picking up.

  • matrim83 #8 2 years ago

    Of course Singularity sold poorly. You sent it out to die you cunts. You spent more money advertising the map pack than you did for an entire game.

    I had no idea the game was even released until I saw the reviews.

  • erp #9 2 years ago

    Wow these investor calls are a glimpse into a depressing world indeed...

    I'll really have to refrain from reading them from now on, as they just make me way too sad.

  • Sir_TimAlot #10 2 years ago

    Shame, i thoroughly enjoyed both. I think Blur suffered as it was delayed then released just after Split second and Modnation and well as everyone else is saying was Singularity even publicised? i first heard of it was the day i saw it on the shelves in Tesco, being an FPS whore i had to have it.

  • mfnick #11 2 years ago

    Singularity is great, I recommend it to any FPS fan. Especialy if you liike Bioshock (atmosphere) & Half Life 2 (the gravity gun) - & lets face it, who doesnt? Shame those pricks at Activision just didnt market it at all.

    Blur - meh. Tried it & didnt like it at all. Much prefer Split/Second.

  • Syrette #12 2 years ago

    They did absolutely nothing to aid Singularity once it was released.

    They just plain ignored it. I'm sure their overall marketing budget is big enough to have helped advertise Singularity, but they just didn't bother.

  • superdelphinus #13 2 years ago

    why does everyone keep making these hollywood car games if noone buys them?

  • Der_tolle_Emil #14 2 years ago

    Well, I certainly wouldn't call Blur generic (haven't played Singularity and cannot comment on that). Of course you could say that once you take away the colors and weapons you get a average racer but that's not really the point. Take away the colors and the weapons of any RPG and you get a generic story book.

    Both games could have been pushed and advertised a lot more. Blur isn't my thing but it's not a bad game at all - it's just not good enough to sell without any ads at all. And let's be honest: What game (except sequels) can claim that?

  • Whizzo #15 2 years ago

    No demo = unlikely to buy, especially on release.

    Sorry Singularity you maybe a good game but I'm not stumping up the cash sight unseen.

  • CaptainQuint #16 2 years ago

    Hard-faced bastards. Maybe Singularity would have had half a chance if they hadn't sent it out to die. Activision are scum.

  • evilrobot #17 2 years ago

    They really believe that anything with COD on it will sell, sell, sell but reading many forum opinions it seems people have got a different idea. Yes it will sell but the downfall is coming.

  • spiritsnake #18 2 years ago

    i never even heard of singularity till i visited the european playstation site where they were having a competition to give away a copy of the game.thats when i went hunting for more info and it actually looks better than modern warfare 2!

  • 00.00.01 #19 2 years ago

    Must be hard for the Singularity dev-team to observe underperformance, only because your publisher spends money on TV-ads for f%$&!ng map-packs. The game deserves better.
    Even more now that Avti has decided to allow access to a Demo for MW2.....but not for Singularity.
    Such a slap in the face.

  • LazyDan #20 2 years ago

    I don't know about anyone else, but the "LOL MARIO KART IS FOR FAGS" marketing campaign for Blur totally put me off even attempting it.

    "OK so it's a Mario Kart clone with MOAR GRAPHICS!!!! that takes itself too seriously, cynically targeted at 15-30 year old men" is the probably unfair judgement of the game I gleaned from those adverts.

  • metalangel #21 2 years ago

    Did you fuck, Activision.

    There was NO advertising for Singularity.

    And Blur was barely advertised. Split/Second, meanwhile, was in every commercial break during the NHL and NBA playoffs.

  • edhe #22 2 years ago

    ADVERTISE you schmucks!

    Also.. RDR. /case.

  • shamblemonkee #23 2 years ago

    The fact that GAME didn't stock Blur can't have helped.

  • RobTheBuilder #24 2 years ago

    Blur had a very American ad, which (while funny) probably didn't appeal to most people.
    It was also felt like quite a retro game, and didn't have the kind of buzz that sort of game needs to get off the ground substantially.I bet though, that there are a LOT of people who will pick it up when the price drops (me included).

    I don't recall seeing any promotion for Singularity whatsoever.

  • TheTingler #25 2 years ago

    AAAAAARRGHHH. I KNEW at some point some Activision c*** would come along and say "we marketed Singularity well, honest". No demo, no publicity, no review copies, no advertising, not on Steam on PC, they didn't give a f***.

    I really loved the game. It's only generic if you've forgotten that all we've been getting recently are sequels and "realistic" shooters. I love a good bonkers FPS from time to time. With the bumping of Crysis 2 to 2011 it might just be the FPS of the year for me.

    And it's got giant komodo dragons that shoot rockets out of their eyes. WIN.

  • geeza2020 #26 2 years ago

    nearly 1 billion dollars in revenue from one fucking quarter. And they still want more?

    Jesus titty fucking christ.

    The industry has no soul left, its all been traded for map packs :( :( :(

  • NorUraeus #27 2 years ago

    Blur do deserve better it is a great racing game, hopefully the Sony PS3 competition allowing you to win a BMW by playing the demo will get more people to try it and buy it

  • Haloboy #28 2 years ago

    Not only did many local game shops where I live not stock up on copies of Singularity, most had no idea it was even planned for the PC platform I wanted to buy it for. Getting hold of a copy of a game that was painfully and underwhelmingly advertised AND understocked both online and off sure is a very smart move Actiknobends.

    I would have been playing it myself by now but just gave up on it in the end for a title I picked up without any fuss.

    Raven obviously deserve better treatment as every person I know who has played the game loved it to bits.

  • lucky_jim #29 2 years ago

    Blur suffered because of inflexible pricing (I only need one arcade racer, if I see Blur for £45 and Split/Second for £20, which am I gonna get? Especially as I know they reviewed similarly). Unfortunately for publishers, rapid price drops are the norm nowadays, if you're gonna try and buck that trend then a game which has direct competition launched a week earlier probably isn't the title to pick for it.

    As for Singularity, well words (almost) fail me. Again the pricing is a problem: I was in GAME yesterday and saw a single copy on the shelf for £45 (360). But the total lack of any sort of publicity for what appears to be a pretty strong title is amazing. I can only wonder whether they've got as much money as they say they have, so low was their marketing spend.

    Once all Activision's brands have become as pointless as Tony Hawk's, they'll wonder why they didn't do more to nurture new IP like this.

  • bodypopper #30 2 years ago

    Come on, admit it. How many people read about Singularity, thought "it's not a big franchise game so it'll be a third of the price in three months" and decided to hold on to their cash til then.
    I know I did. And I like Raven games in general.

  • Haloboy #31 2 years ago

    I admit I did at first, but then word of mouth grew ever stronger and my interest soon sky rocketed. Then however I just hit a complete fucking brick wall and couldn't get hold of a copy for the life of me.

    That interest has now sadly all but dissipated as there's much stronger games on the horizon that require my money.

  • StooMonster #32 2 years ago

    So, marketing people in corporate headquarters point finger of blame at developers for their product, rather than consider that their campaign might've been flawed?

    It's like a games industry version of Dilbert.

  • Douche #33 2 years ago

    Some good comments on Singularity and some decentish reviews tae. Will defo pick up when i've cleared out some of my catalogue.

  • ignatiusjreilly #34 2 years ago

    Meanwhile all comments point fingers of blame at the marketers, rather than consider that people just didn't want to buy the game...

  • sneetch #35 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly
    Meanwhile all comments point fingers of blame at the marketers, rather than consider that people just didn't want to buy the game...

    People "in the know" may or may not have decided they didn't want to buy the game and that's fair enough but games that are well marketed sell better that games that aren't because not every gamer trawls sites like this one. Don't underestimate the power of suggestion (drinkCocaCola ;)).

  • gmjapan #36 2 years ago

    "increased stickiness to the physical product"
    Really that phrase shouldnt be used, even if you're selling superglue.

  • Haloboy #37 2 years ago

    @ ignatiusjreilly

    So those who did want to buy it and found themselves clambering over each other for the few copies that were doing the rounds were all deluded I take it? It's only now that some online sites have the game actually in stock.

    People did want to buy the game. It simply was not anywhere near as widely available as it should have been for them to do so.

  • ignatiusjreilly #38 2 years ago

    games that are well marketed sell better that games that aren't because not every gamer trawls sites like this one.

    Of course, but that doesn't mean you should throw millions in marketing at every game. Blaming marketing is an easy way to absolve the developers of blame for poor sales. Would it have sold more if it had a better marketing campaign? Yes. Does that mean more money spent on marketing would have been a good idea? Not necessarily.

  • McBradders #39 2 years ago

    In what kind of a world was Singularity marketed appropriately? A great game, not top tier, but it deserved better marketing.

  • ignatiusjreilly #40 2 years ago

    It simply was not anywhere near as widely available as it should have been for them to do so.

    That means that retailers didn't want to order many copies either. Activision didn't want to market it, retailers didn't want to sell it, people didn't want to buy it.

    It's clearly more complicated than just saying if it was marketed better it would have been a success.

    edit: just to be clear, I do think that a bit more hype would not have gone amiss for this game, and I feel for the developers who made a great game but did not get much support. But if you are being published by someone like Activision, you have to be aware that they will make business decisions like this that might doom your game. Next time try a different publisher, or make a more obvious game that appeals to wider audience.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 10:33

  • Freek #41 2 years ago

    If it was a poor game, then not spending extra on marketing makes sense. But the critical response was positive to Singularity, hence the question came about: why did they send this out to die?

  • Haloboy #42 2 years ago

    But Raven have quite obviously been published through Activision for longer than I can remember. Good or bad I can't see them jumping ship anytime soon sadly.

  • StooMonster #43 2 years ago

    Marketing 1.0.1: needs versus wants. No one "needs" video-games, so it's up to the marketing people to create "wants"; or is the "want" created by the developer, but if no-one knows about it or wants are not correctly managed then marketing will fail.

    ignatiusjreilly: Would it have sold more if it had a better marketing campaign? Yes. Does that mean more money spent on marketing would have been a good idea? Not necessarily.

    Better marketing does not necessary mean more expensive marketing; perhaps the marketeers made a mistake and approached the wrong audience in the wrong way? e.g. the Blur advert making fun of Mario Kart, was that really the way to sell the game? "Blur: race like a big boy" ... hrm.

  • 5h1nj1 #44 2 years ago

    I really feel sorry for Singularity, which is a great game. Muuch more fun than COD.

  • sneetch #45 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly
    Of course, but that doesn't mean you should throw millions in marketing at every game. Blaming marketing is an easy way to absolve the developers of blame for poor sales. Would it have sold more if it had a better marketing campaign? Yes. Does that mean more money spent on marketing would have been a good idea? Not necessarily.

    Yes, I agree with that. However the game was well reviewed and (depending on who you're talking to) well received, without marketing a lot of people weren't even aware that it had come out that week. I'm not talking about millions here, but if they had enough faith in it to bring it all the way to market then they should have enough faith to advertise it a bit better.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 10:43

  • ignatiusjreilly #46 2 years ago

    But Raven have quite obviously been published through Activision for longer than I can remember.

    And every single game they made in the last ten years has been based on an huge IP that everyone has heard of.

    # Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force (2000)
    # Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force: Virtual Voyager (2001)
    # Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002)
    # Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002)
    # Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003)
    # X-Men Legends (2004)
    # X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2005)
    # Quake 4 (2005)
    # Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006)
    # X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
    # Wolfenstein (2009)
    # Singularity (2010)

    I'm not saying they are bad developers or make bad games, just that everyone should wise up to what the modern games industry is like. Unless your new IP is something amazing (and a metacritic score of 76 doesn't count anymore unfortunately), expect it to be ignored for something safer and more predictable.

    @StooMonster Agreed there, they could have put abit more thought into the marketing rather than just more money. Although thought costs money too ;) Maybe Raven should have done a bit of their own marketing (if Acti would let them). A Twitter account and youtube videos are not expensive, and can be very powerful if your product is compelling enough.
    Edited by 3 at 06/08/10 @ 10:50

  • sneetch #47 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly

    Are you enjoying that refreshing Coca-Cola? ;)

  • tachometer #48 2 years ago

    That's my Halo:Reach pre-order cancelled then!

  • ignatiusjreilly #49 2 years ago

    No word of a lie, I am drinking a Coca Cola, as we speak ;)

  • Haloboy #50 2 years ago

    I think what needs to be taken into account here primarily is that Raven simply don't carry the industry weight they used to have as a developer. So I can understand the publisher not going all out in that sense. But the game was well received by both gamers and most critics and it's a damn shame they didn't step up the ad campaign when it was most needed.

    Nobody was aware of its release still believing it was in development limbo and as it suddenly appeared out of nowhere along with this notion I can also understand some apprehension surrounding that same shadowy release.

  • chub #51 2 years ago

    "drive increased stickiness to the physical product"

    My physical product is sticky.

  • uiruki #52 2 years ago

    Perhaps if either title had been available on Steam in the UK I would have bought them.

  • dingo75 #53 2 years ago

    I'll be getting it when it's about £20 though as it seems many others will be.

    Me, too but it's the only PC game right now that refuses to drop in price.
    Either the stocks are nearly empty or the retailers like zavvi.com don't want to slash the price for whatever reason.
    Ah well I might pick it up cheap in the US in October when I'm there if it hasn't dropped before.

  • MrMagica #54 2 years ago

    Blur is a shame, it's a mixed bag of game, fortunatly that bag is either all good or all bad and it all depends on your view, meaning your in game view makes or breaks the game, if you play from behind the car the game feels terrible, if you play from the bumper view the game is great. I can usually handle both equally but in Blur your view makes or breaks the game.

  • Haloboy #55 2 years ago

    @ uiruki

    Who would want to pay £29.99 for it via Steam even if they had? Not I. I'm not that desperate for it.

  • beastmaster #56 2 years ago

    ".. enables our unique online and back-end platforms that will play an increasing role in driving value in the future".

    Why don't you just say they've made a good engine which will serve us well on other developments?

    I think some of the Activision folks should become the first gaming Human Centipede. They've got their head up their own arses, they may as well stick 'em up each others.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 11:31

  • tomjoadsghost #57 2 years ago

    Singularity is kind of unique for me in that it is, i think, the only game i have ever first become aware of through hotukdeals - not even in a preorder offer but postbomb.

  • uknortherner2000 #58 2 years ago

    I wonder how many of us saw Activision's name on the box and simply walked away? I did. Singularity might be a good game, but it'll be a cold day in hell before Kotick sees a penny of my cash.

  • sickpuppysoftware #59 2 years ago

    If you are going to release a racing game specialising in online multiplayer it might be worth checking it works online on PS3.

    Does it work reliably yet? I haven't bothered to find out in the past week.

  • sneetch #60 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly
    No word of a lie, I am drinking a Coca Cola, as we speak ;)

    Haha! :D I told you it worked! (giveyourmoneytosneetch)

    I'll pm you my bank details. ;)

  • Machetazo #61 2 years ago

    Those twats sent Singularity out to die, then rue its retail failure! :( The price point was inappropriate, and to suggest it was advertised "appropriately" is nothing more than fabrication.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 12:14

  • Haloboy #62 2 years ago

    That bag of shite Sniper seemed to generate more public awareness than Singularity did. And when that happens my friends, something is seriously fucking wrong with the industry we all care for so much.

  • Moz #63 2 years ago

    Sadly Split/Second and Blur came out to close together, went for Blur myself as didn't get on with the S/S demo.

    And must say Blur is awesome for multiplayer both online and split screen strongly recommend it to everyone.

  • UncleLou #64 2 years ago

    Just for kicks, while shopping a DVD in my lunch break, I looked for Singularity. Boxed copy is €55.00, a good 10-15€ more than any other PC game on the shelf.

    Lol.

  • makeamazing #65 2 years ago

    Lets be honest here, we had Blur, Split second and Modnation racers all at the same time, who didnt think poor sales were going to affect at least one title. There is only so much of one genre the market can take, and not all in the same one or two weeks. Add that to the fact that RDR, Alan Wake and other games were released around the same time.

    As for Blur, played it on rent and it was quite good, if alittle repetative in places. Will definately pick it and Singularity up when they go cheaper (and probably split second and modnation racers). But there are just too many games still on my shelf to play (or to finish). I just cant justify endless spending on games that are not at the top of my list (and that list is pretty big).

  • FortysixterUK #66 2 years ago

    Singularity is very good, a sci-fi/military shooter with some spooky events, great fun. Like most releaes these days, it would be worth waiting for it to drop in price a tad. Recently only 2 games have justfied a retail launch price ( Starcraft 2 and Red Dead ) in my opinion.

    Blur was also a very good game , I found it a little better than Split/Second, ( but like that too ).

    Both Blur and Singularity were worth the £24.99 I paid for each title..

    Of course, many , many games would do far better at retail launch if they were sold at a decent price instead of the stupid £39.99-£49.99 price everyone seems to bend over and take ( myself included ). All new titles, vanilla format, £24.99.
    Placing them JUST at the far edge of impluse buy territory.

  • LR100 #67 2 years ago

    I enjoyed Blur, but releasing it just after Split/Second was a bad move and I saw NO advertisements for Singularity at all.

  • androidave #68 2 years ago

    This article makes me sad, games should be judged on creativeity, gameplay, fun?.. not how many bloody units they sell :( Just beacuse a game sells millions of copies to the same people who bought millions of copies of pretty much the same game last yr and the yr before does not make that game better than a game that happened to sell less..

  • AgentBalti #69 2 years ago

    It came as absolutely no surprise that earlier this week I got an email for a survey on Blur. They may as well have named it "So...where did we fuck up?" as if Activision had no clue as to why it bombed badly, or even worse as they had suggested.

    The timing was bad. The box cover was bad (black is not a good eye catcher) The advert tag line "Race Like A Big Boy" was ill advised. But, as I've said before, the name itself "Blur" just doesn't resonate with anyone or any thing.

    Then when you got into the same itself...Single player was just monumentally tedious. Online was the place to be, but results were sketchy. I've not ventured online in while now and I can't imagine there would be more than a few hundred on the server right now. Shame really, but it's one of the few times ever that I can think of that the name of the game, marketing, timing have really hurt a title (that I was interested in.)

  • enjoy76 #70 2 years ago

    I want Singularity for my PC but no way am I paying £35 for it, £20-£25 maximum so I'm happy to wait for the inevitable price cuts due to poor sales. Activision may get away with those prices on COD games and Starcraft 2 (I only paid £27 lol) but not on titles like this.

  • TangoKomando #71 2 years ago

    It didn't help that Game and Activision are having a little feud at the minute about their prices.
    Game are angry with Activision because they allow Supermarkets like Tesco to sell their games for cheaper, but not places like Game/Gamestation, which must sell at the RRP, as a result Game/Gamestation refused to stock as many copies of Activision games such as Singularity and Transformers.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 13:57

  • RobTheBuilder #72 2 years ago

    I had the Activision Blur survey too.
    Market your games properly, stop doing things that cause your PR team nightmares, and maybe you'll find sales picking up.

    I do think Blur will be a very long tail game though.

  • Redeye #73 2 years ago

    Pretty much conclusive proof that you dance with the Devil at your peril.

    Bet the dev teams were really happy to read this little slice of pan-fried bullshit...

  • 32768Colours #74 2 years ago

    "On Singularity... I think we made the right size investment against this opportunity, and that's how we expect to continue to look at the amount of marketing support we put behind all of our launches."

    Don't judge the poor sales of Singularity against the standard of the FPS genre. If you "expect to continue to look at" games as exploitable investments rather than sitting down and judging each game on its own merits, expect to miss sales opportunities for genunely good games.

    EDIT: Typo
    Edited by 2 at 06/08/10 @ 14:12

  • sjmlondon #75 2 years ago

    I'm enjoying Singularity at the moment. I heard about it from world of mouth and like many others saw no real advertising for i.

    The single player has good graphics and story. Admittedly it has taken ideas from Timeshift, Wolfestein, Dark Sector and The Darkess but then so many games these days pinch ideas from others but I would still recommend it.The forums are moaning about the online achievements taking a while to get but no real complaints.

    Amazon have also got the 360 version on offer already if anyone is interested.

  • dave-on #76 2 years ago

    I was gonna buy Blur, thought it looked quite fun. But when I looked on Steam I found it is unavailable in the UK.

  • uiruki #77 2 years ago

    @haloboy: I like Bizarre's previous racers and I much prefer to pay 30 quid on Steam on day one than 40 quid on Direct2Drive with its zero added value. Singularity looked interesting and reviewed well, too, in spite of what I gather is a pretty awful PC port.

    What was most galling, of course, was getting the Steam "new release" window popup which led to the option to watch a trailer and nothing else.

  • Retroid #78 2 years ago

    Blur was advertised as if it was a 'grown-up' racer being released on the Wii, FFS. It was a terrible TV advert.

    As for Singularity.... I only know of it because of EG and other gaming sites.

    WELL DONE, MARKETING DEPARTMENT

  • Retroid #79 2 years ago

    Oh, and as others have already said: setting your 'big hope' racing game against not only a very (superficially) similar arcade racer *AND* the latest Rockstar open-world purchase & time-sucking behemoth, all within a few short weeks, is beyond stupidity.

  • 8bitMofo #80 2 years ago

    Quick question: Does Blur have a mode where you can race without weapons/powerups?
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 15:49

  • AgentBalti #81 2 years ago

    @8bitMofo: yes, it does.

  • Pinky_Floyd #82 2 years ago

    I'd just like to say that I have been looking out for a physical copy of singularity for the pc. I am in town most days and have never seen a copy in either Game or HMV.

    Game told me they have never received any copies.

    Many online retainers are out of stock, I doubt it's due to high sales.

    It's not available on Steam.

    Who's to blame for this if Activision claim they did their job properly?

  • dirtysteve #83 2 years ago

    Ah the marketing departments, they who shall not be blamed.

  • Nephirion #84 2 years ago

    Blur was mediocre and Singularity never heard of it untill release, uncompetitive pricing means that unsuprisingly niether title sold well.

  • KDR_11k #85 2 years ago

    They sold Singularity at 60€ on the PC, that price may have worked for a highly anticipated game like MW2 but Singularity was barely even known to the gaming press, nobody would drop 60€ on that!

  • Bremenacht #86 2 years ago

    EG didn't report an important bit of info from that call, that sums up Activisions 'laments' nicely:

    Activision CEO Bobby Kotick also said on the call the publisher is backing Black Ops' launch with its biggest financial investment in the company's 31 year history, adding this year's title isn't just for hardcore gamers.

    "This is, across the board, the biggest investment that we've ever made in the launch of a title," Kotick said. "The market opportunity is bigger than it's ever been, the install base of hardware is bigger than it's ever been, and the product has incredibly broad appeal, but it also has a whole host of functions that will be unique to the core consumer."

    So. New IPs that could with quite a bit of marketing get bugger all. Old IPs that need almost no marketing get the entire cake-shop thrown at them. Guess the cash for the CoD budget has got to come from somewhere! Hey Bobby - I've got a great tip for increasing the marketing budget: don't pay your employees the bonuses you owe them! Tee-hee.

    http://pc .ign.com/articles/111/1110725p1...

  • makeamazing #87 2 years ago

    Thats part of the problem, i agree. They spend way more than they should on something like Black Ops, where they could reduce it a little and give a little more love to these other games. The only way for an IP to continue and grow is if they at least make an effort.

    This is why i am glad about Dead Space, its a good concept and over time people have purchased the game cheaper, and have loved it, and will now be on board for the sequel, thus making 2 more chance of a successl. You cant just release a game and just drop it (which is what i suspect will happen to both Blur and Singularity IPs).

  • Vyggo #88 2 years ago

    "meaningful levels of high-margin revenue"

    No kidding, 5 maps for $15. I really wonder how much it costs to make those....

  • Turbotim3 #89 2 years ago

    Why do people still play Modern paintball 2 I mean Modern warfare 2? It's crazy, but I will say that the economy is the reason for slow sales for some of these games and not the "everyone is playing mw2" arguement. Games cost alot of money. And also game rentals like gamefly are at an all time high

  • PodlingJuice #90 2 years ago

    Blur demo was broken on the PS3 for me. Could never connect to the online servers so I deleted it. Great advert for the game that was....

    Also, Singularity? Never heard of it.

  • Bremenacht #91 2 years ago

    makeamazing - absolutely. What if RockStar regarded Red Dead Revolver sales as inadequate, and didn't bother with Red Dead Redemption?

  • EthanWoods #92 2 years ago

    I've only ever seen one Singularity trailer, and no adverts. Anywhere.

  • Madder-Max #93 2 years ago

    Not seen anything on Singularity and who gives a fuck about facebook in a game apart fromthe 'sheople'?

  • BritishBlue1 #94 2 years ago

    I can see why they didn't have good sales, I thought they were mediocre titles, in my opinion.
    Edited by 1 at 09/08/10 @ 08:17

  • SomaticSense #95 2 years ago

    "Singularity fell short of meeting what is an exceptionally high bar within the shooter genre," said chief financial officer Thomas Tippl

    I wonder why that is? Could it possibly be because YOUR company pretty much consigned it to be a flop and spent zero money on marketing it? Could it be because the gaming press heard virtually nothing about it since it's announcement, until the review copy arrived on their desks, thus being unable to print new info or offer any previews? Could it be because there was no demo for a game that people knew very little about, and so were extremely reluctant to throw down the best part of £40 IN AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN for a game that appeared out of thin air (we all know how they usually turn out quality-wise), and with no idea of how good it is?

    It's your company's fault the thing flopped, so don't fucking moan when it struggles at retail when your company seemed to do everything in it's power to avoid spending precious CoD budget on an externally developed game which you don't care as much about, and seemingly couldn't give a shit whether it was a success or not. But then, why should your company care after all, as long as 20 gazillion people buy the next CoD.

    God I'm looking forward to the time when the CoD and Guitar Hero franchises die from over-saturation, and Activison don't then know what fuck to do anymore and go bust. Gamers are fickle creatures after all, and won't stay brand loyal for long when something better pops it's head up, which will happen eventually.
    Edited by 2 at 09/08/10 @ 13:21

  • teh_MBK #96 2 years ago

    androidave: "...games should be judged on creativeity, gameplay, fun?.. not how many bloody units they sell :(..."

    HAHAHAHA! You do realise the western world is capitalist right? The only way a game will be judged on creativity etc is if consumers buy games that are creative etc. Otherwise publishers will churn out the same old sh...song time and time again.

    To some extent it's fine because consumers are apparently buying what they like, which isn't the case because we buy what we know about and like as publishers like Acti keep neglecting the non-established IPs like they did with Singularity.

    Like many others I only every saw two trailers for this game (one cinematic, one game play) and no advertisements. Kinda dwarfed by Starcraft II's advertising campaign, wouldn't you agree Eurogamer? ;o). Though I didn't expect it to receive that kind of treatment, a little more wouldn't have hurt.