Analyst now expects Bully 2

By Robert Purchese Published 15 January, 2007

Apologises to Take-Two.

Having previously suggested a Bully sequel was highly unlikely due to poor sales, analyst Michael Pachter is now saying that a second game is a distinct possibility.

"I have been consistently wrong about this title," Pachter, who represents Wedbush Morgan Securities, told GamePolitics, "I thought it would be stupid, and it was fun; I thought it would get poor reviews, and it got solid 90s; and I thought it would bomb, while it now appears to be a million unit seller."

Going under the name Canis Canem Edit, Rockstar's latest has enjoyed strong sales in the UK - although mostly thanks to heavy discounting, which has seen it take up residence in the All Formats/All Prices Top 40.

"I did not expect a sequel, while now I have to acknowledge that a sequel is a possibility. I never hesitate to take credit when I'm right, and I never hide from my mistakes," Pachter explained.

We think it's a nice show of humility, really - something we're not used to seeing around here, where we're all ace and everyone else is rubbish all the time ever.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • bushwod #1 5 years ago

    play Riddick, best prision break game ever!

  • dsmx #2 5 years ago

    shock of he century an analyst was wrong!!!
    analyst the only job in the world where you can be wrong all the time and keep your job.

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #3 5 years ago

    Anal-yst. /giggle

  • Totoriko #4 5 years ago

    "Wedbush Morgan Securities"

    WTF does he know about games?

  • Steroyd #5 5 years ago

    Wow Patcher is on fire this holiday, predicting the Xbox 360 would sell 1 million in November and 2 million in Devember, the Wii selling 1.2 million in December also predicting Bully would bomb, he sure works hard for that paycheck every week.

    Give credit where credit is due he did get the PS3 numbers right although it's a no brainer it would have been supply costraint.
    Edited by 1 at 15/01/07 @ 17:21

  • Dr.Mott #6 5 years ago

    What the hell is Devember?

  • Steroyd #7 5 years ago

    Gaddamn i did it again.

    From now on i'm checking every post before i hit submit, my English teacher would be crying her eyes out if she saw this....

  • bauhaus #8 5 years ago

    analysts = fuckwits

  • asphaltcowboy #9 5 years ago

    Not a very good analyst is he?!

  • el_pollo_diablo #10 5 years ago

    Dr.Mott: "What the hell is Devember?"

    What a....wait for it..... bully.

  • dudefella #11 5 years ago

    Video game industry analysts - LOL.

  • Tweakmonkey #12 5 years ago

    Sell sell sell!

    No wait - buy buy buy!

  • samk #13 5 years ago

    "As I've stated before I'd like to see a Prison Break style GTA, of course the game would end when you escape."

    Speaking of Prison Break, season 2 starts TONIGHT on channel 5. :)))))))

  • Triggerhappytel #14 5 years ago

    Couldn't he have checked the game's sales figures before he made these comments in the first place, rather than shout his mouth off then humbly apoligise a week or so later?!

  • urban #15 5 years ago

    i did say this guy was a wanker when he originally stated that...analysts shouldn't jobs.

  • Steroyd #16 5 years ago

    No it's his job to accurately predict what is going to happen in the market so the shareholders can either brace for impact or pop the champaign.

  • Cappy #17 5 years ago

    Good news if there is a sequel. I was pleasantly surprised to find Bully was an extremely enjoyable game.

    I would love to see a sequel set in a British school, and some sort of deal so they could use the classic Grange Hill theme music.

  • kentmonkey #18 5 years ago

    "I never hesitate to take credit when I'm right"....is that because it hardly ever happens I wonder?

  • brooza #19 5 years ago

    "Wedbush Morgan Securities"

    WTF does he know about games?

    Read the article and you shall see :)

  • SomaticSense #20 5 years ago

    Proof if ever there was any to never listen to these fucking analysts.

    Get paid stupid amounts of money to spout a bullshit (personal) opinion about a subject I know practically fuck all about, all under the illusion of 'Expert Analysis'? Count me in!!!

    Also proof that these 'expert' analysts know fuck all about their topics, is that this bloke thought this game would sell poorly despite ALL the evidence suggesting otherwise.
    Yeah, it was always going to sell poorly, what with it being made by Rockstar - makers of GTA, it being on by far the biggest selling console, and has had levels of publicity (good or bad, doesn't matter as we should all know by now) unlike anything I can remember previously in the videogame industry. Of course, it was destined to be a crap seller......

  • haowan #21 5 years ago

    wouldn't be the first time take 2 have put the leeches on someone for besmirching them, from what I've heard.

  • Veldaban #22 5 years ago

    Why do you say they know nothing about games, do you know this? And considering they have access to and study a lot of data and sales statistics, a lot more than anyone here (including the EG staff, I'm sure), I would say they know a LOT about this.
    Right, so an analyst got something wrong, let's condemn all analysts now because we don't really know what their job is and we don't really want to understand either.
    Edited by 1 at 15/01/07 @ 20:31

  • Freek #23 5 years ago

    Analyst admits he's full of nonsense (to put it politely) **shocker!**.

  • YourMessageHere #24 5 years ago

    "Man whose sole purpose is to make ill-informed guesses and be paid huge amounts for it admits he's wrong, is praised for it".

    This story plus my sociology revision are driving me to the brink of despair.

  • ekko #25 5 years ago

    How do you become an analyst then? I think I'd be great at that.

  • Tango #26 5 years ago

    [link url=http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/docume nts/FirmbyFirm2006.htm
    ]http://on line.wsj.com/public/resources/d...[/link]

    Wedbush Morgan Securities are near the bottom at the 2006 research league according to Wall street journal...

    Some analysts do talk down on products/companies to depress the shares so they can buy low or go short. But I think in this case, this dude is probably just a bit rubbish.

  • Alexoflondon #27 5 years ago

    Having worked in the video games industry for 8 years, and having a degree in Finance under my belt I'd like to raise some points:

    1) Anlaysts are rarely game players, and therefore lack the ability to judge games from experience - I doubt this guy spent more than a few minutes at best actually playing the game. This, incidently is true of many industries that deal with us at the heart - especially the 'oh-so creative' ad agencies that are given the task of advertising the games. The acid test is whether these people really understand the game itself from a gamers' point of view in order to get a 'feel' for it in addition to following market trends, power of brand, local tastes etc.

    2) Saying one thing, receiving a large paycheck, then apologizing for being completely wrong and receiving another paycheck is pretty shoddy. God forbid if we were to be so kind to engineers (death, destruction - 'I was wrong'); doctors ('Oh, yes, it should have been the left leg marked for amputation - sorry) etc, etc...

    3) Statistics show time and time again that analysts, fund managers, economists, palm readers and astrologists, taken as a group over the medium/long term, are only as successful as monkeys with dartboards.

    If there are people in the city who can see the future, you can bet they're not writing crummy newsletters for the weak-minded - they're sipping champaign in the jacuzzi with Cindy, Mindy and Lucious Lucy while their pet monkeys take care of the business of bullshit for the masses.

    Alex.
    Edited by 2 at 15/01/07 @ 23:16

  • penhalion #28 5 years ago

    Well that's a suprise, given that this didn't sell well at all. Most shops have it discounted so maybe that boosted sales a bit over the holidays. Given the amount of parents who opted to get PS2 instead of 360 or PS3 and couldn't find a Wii. I think this probably also drove sales.

    God I hope they don't do a bully 2. Heck maybe they should do a columbine game or something and really get themselves in some trouble.

  • Roamer #29 5 years ago

    For anyone who's seen the Bonus Round show at Gametrailers.com, you'd see that he's actually quite the sensible man with a lot of interesting things to say.

  • Bennicus #30 5 years ago

    analysts shouldn't jobs

    ANALYSTS SHOULDN'T JOBS

  • TwistidChimp #31 5 years ago

    What a moron, anyone with an iota of knowledge about the industry, R* and the game itself would never have predicted such a load of toss. Why is it these analysts almost always seem to have no clue whatsoever.

  • in5ane #32 5 years ago

    People only bought bully cos it was cheap, and with that logic, doesn't deserve a sequel.

    R* expected a hit, Take 2 ordered a billion copies, and had to heavily discount when they only sold 37. Sure, they got the sales in the end, but the income was effectively halved. That's not what share holders and accountants want to hear.

  • haowan #33 5 years ago

    It's pretty obvious they paid him off, yeah. Why it counts as news I'll never know, unless there are cheques flying around there too.

  • kangarootoo #34 5 years ago

    "analysts = fuckwits"

    I disagree. If he didn't get paid you would be right, but anyone who can get paid for supposing what might happen is a brainbox who should be questioned on the origins of their technique.

    I mean, neither this guy's career nor his bank balance will likely suffer one bit from the fact that he was totally wrong about this. That is pure bloody magic beans right there, and I wish I had some.

  • YourMessageHere #35 5 years ago

    All the money this parasitic fool makes could instead be used to make better games. I very much doubt he's a brainbox, he probably just went to the right schools and the right university and had the right family and friends. If he isn't a fuckwit, why is he making statements that he directly contradicts a short time later? How can this benefit him in any way?

  • BlackZam #36 5 years ago

    Can they make up their minds?