SEGA: Alpha Protocol sales were "slow"

By Robert Purchese Published 30 July, 2010

Unspectacular RPG targeted in financials.

SEGA's blamed "slow" sales of Alpha Protocol and Iron Man 2 for weak videogame income in the three months ending 30 June 2010.

The company's consumer business lost $7.4 million during April to June. Bad, but a dramatic improvement on last year's Q1 result of minus $52 million.

SEGA openly told the world earlier this month that Alpha Protocol - an espionage RPG made by Obsidian and released in May - "hasn't sold what we've expected". The upshot: no sequel. Eurogamer gave Alpha Protocol a solid and not-to-be-sniffed-at 6/10.

Not that any of this seems to be preventing Obsidian finding work; the studio is currently making Fallout: New Vegas for Bethesda and Dungeon Siege III for Square Enix.

SEGA had this to say: "In the home videogame software industry, the demand was generally weak in the US and European markets due to the headwind-like sluggish personal consumption.

"The Group needs to adapt to changing business environment in which the market demand for new content geared to social networking service (SNS) and smartphone is expanding."

For SEGA, the US was the strongest territory, where 1.68 million units were sold. Europe shifted 1.33 million units and the rest of the world (including Japan) managed only 270,000 units.

SEGA's best earner was arcades and amusements, which transformed a $12.5 million loss in Q1 2009 to a $16.2 million profit this year.

In light of the lower-than-expected consumer sales, yearly forecasts for videogame sales have been dialled down to 5 million from 6.3 million.

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 (56) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • jaxon58 #1 2 years ago

    AP might be a slow burner via word of mouth. I ordered a copy yesterday after reading people's comments on here.

  • HistoryTeller #2 2 years ago

    Well I found AP very decent. Not Mass Effect 2 epic but endeed playble and worth my gaming time - havent finished it yet, though.

  • midnight_walker #3 2 years ago

    Have they patched the fucking atrocious targetting out of AP yet? I rented it and sent it back after a couple of hours of tearing my hair out thanks to that little mechanic. However, I would go and buy it right now if they took it out, because the rest of the game was solid.

  • sonicyoda #4 2 years ago

    SEGA, what you need to focus on is being SEGA. The only decent new IPs that have come out of your publishing house have been down to Platinum Games and that's because they understand you better than you do.

    When people buy a SEGA game they wan't hardcore gaming in bright and colourful scenarios. For example; Virtua Fighter, 2D Sonic the Hedgehog, Outrun, After Burner, Daytona USA, Streets of Rage. All of these feature hardcore gameplay that was made specifically to get the best out of its' genre (whether it's driving, platforming or fighting) but they appeal to all gamers because they're so damn pretty. This was the ethic that made me such a big fan of yours.

    Games like Alpha Protocol, The Conduit and Tournament of Legends are pale imitations of games by other developers and they should not be getting your financial backing.

    Seriously SEGA, look to the past and improve on it. I know you can do it because you've already done it successfully a few times. Outrun 2, After Burner Climax, Bayonetta and Bleach: Dark Souls (seriously, this is an awesome 2D fighter) ring any bells? Stop funding rubbish movie games (Iron Man, Planet 51, Hulk) and remember who you are. Your fans will love you for it.

    You can do it SEGA. I know you can.
    Edited by 1 at 30/07/10 @ 13:54

  • Paperghost #5 2 years ago

    poor old AP. did a lot of things better than some of the features AAA titles are applauded for, but it won't get a chance to fix the problems. the game is crying out for a polished sequel.

  • steve1979 #6 2 years ago

    AP was a bloody great game. How it got the 6's and lower it did i don't know. It's one of my favourite games this year by a long way.

  • Raiftel #7 2 years ago

    the 'fucking atrocious targeting' was part of the RPG aspect of the game. You have to put points into the guns you want to use, and take your time with your shots, to be able to use them properly. Once you've half leveled up pistols you've got comparable accuracy to a first person shooter, which you don't really need seen as Alpha Protocol only rarely throws you into run and gun situations.

  • retr0gamer #8 2 years ago

    It's Sega's own fault. Alpha Protocal was brougt out during a time when much stronger titles were released. It would have found a better audience if it was released now with nothing interesting out. Also Yakuza 3 and Resonance of Fate were pretty much put out there to die by being released when FFXIII, God of War 3 was released and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey was in the US to take away further from the hardcore niche audience.
    Edited by 1 at 30/07/10 @ 13:58

  • Xboxfanuk #9 2 years ago

    Alpha Protocol had a stealth launch with little advertising and basically no one even knew what the game as about. I think Sega should stick with making XBLA games since they work better for them.

  • midnight_walker #10 2 years ago

    the 'fucking atrocious targeting' was part of the RPG aspect of the game. You have to put points into the guns you want to use, and take your time with your shots, to be able to use them properly. Once you've half leveled up pistols you've got comparable accuracy to a first person shooter, which you don't really need seen as Alpha Protocol only rarely throws you into run and gun situations.

    Mechanics like that work great in stuff like Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, where it's all close combat, you're not directly involved in the fighting, it's all based on chance, and perhaps most importantly of all, the game isn't meant to be based on stealth - so missing shots matters A LOT! But when it's kind of an FPS, and you NEED your shots to count (such as silently sniping a far-off enemy), it becomes absolutely ridiculous. Like I said, I loved the rest of the game. Just not that mechanic.

  • bad09 #11 2 years ago

    It will probably do better over time with word of mouth as reviews were pretty harsh.

    Still not really played much of it myself as Borderlands has jumped the queue and is eating my time but from what I have played it is a decent game worth checking out.

  • Zero Beat #12 2 years ago

    Bought Yakuza 3 at launch, and that's it. I like SEGAry-SEGA games. NEW ones.

  • glaeken #13 2 years ago

    I have found AP to a be a great game. I think its biggest problem was reviewers just don't seem to have got how much of an RPG it is. Now I have played it I realise that many of the criticism seem to be just misunderstanding the nature of the game. Shooting crap? Then you need to put points into shooting skills. Stealth inconsistent? Nope you are just not taking into account the many area's that effect how well stealth works.

    Still it not selling well meant I got it nice and cheap just a shame the lack of sales has also killed any chance of a sequel.

  • Melchett #14 2 years ago

    But it got 7/10 didn't it? Or are my eyes deceiving me?

  • chibber23 #15 2 years ago

    I still don't get why Sony or Microsoft arn't looking at buying Sega and plundering there back catalog. With sales of retro games on the up and online game services bringing in more and more money surely releasing a retro store, like Nintendo offers, and plundering Sega's rich history of great games is a no brainer.

    Imagine if, for example, Sony brought them, released upscaled games on a retro store categorized by each era, covering the Master System, Mega Drive, Saturn/PS1, Dreamcast/PS2 with Game Gear games offered on the PSP exclusively. They included trophy support divided by era and all the other bumf available on PS3. It would give you a whole history of games and achievements going back to the 1980s. Not only would it be cool to have all that in one place but it would pretty much tie those who brought into this idea to the Playstation brand forever and at the same time bolster the history of the brand - not to mention the IPs and studios you would get your hands on (which is surely attractive to Microsoft).

  • jambii267 #16 2 years ago

    I think if anyone should buy Sega it should be Nintendo, i think Nintendo fans would be more open to Sega games. It may be just me though.

  • Velvetmeds #17 2 years ago

    AP was terrible, good riddance

  • Dylbot #18 2 years ago

    All of you that enjoyed Alpha Protocol, are you playing the console or the PC version? Because on the PC, it's an absolute fucking nightmare. The camera is stuttery and sluggish, the AI is massively polarised (half the time they won't spot you when you're practically treading on their shoes, the other half they'll peg you from behind a building halfway across the map), the hacking minigames are absolutely impossible due to badly transcribed controls, the graphics bug out a hell of a lot... the list goes on. The only thing that keeps me masochistically coming back is just to see how much of a fucking psychopath I can make Thorton be.

    All in all, a game with a huge amount of potential, massively hamstrung by pretty much every other aspect.

  • MetalDooley #19 2 years ago

    "For SEGA, the US was the strongest territory, where 1.68 million units were sold. Europe shifted 1.33 million units and the rest of the world (including Japan) managed only 270,000 units."

    Are those figures for all Sega games or just for AP?Because 3 million sales for a brand new IP could hardly be considered bad.Especially one made by a dev that doesn't have a stellar track record and that reviewed poorly enough

    EDIT:after reading the article again it appears to be for all games not just AP

    Edited by 2 at 30/07/10 @ 14:32

  • HermitArcader #20 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • bodypopper #21 2 years ago

    @Argentlupine

    On the contrary, it will encourage publishers to stick to making sequels and spin offs for previously successful franchises.

  • thedaveeyres #22 2 years ago

    Funnily enough, I've just bought AP... for £14.99

  • Ryze #23 2 years ago

    Until they announce and deliver decent updates of Daytona, Shenmue and Streets of Rage - FUCK SEGA and their second rate product.

    They're no longer in the same league they once were.

  • Dylbot #24 2 years ago

    "Its sounding like AP's main mistake was thinking that the general public can distingish between game types :/"

    Well aren't you superior. Despite the fact that the action and adventure occurs from a third person perspective, and all the combat occurs in real time, relying mostly on skill rather than statistics. You know, if it looks like a duck, etc.

  • midnight_walker #25 2 years ago

    .Except that its NOT an FPS, or even a 3rd person shooter, that is your mistake here. Its an RPG like mass effect was

    Please don't insult me, I'm not some Modern Warfare playing numpty. I know what kind of game it is, I was just trying to think of a way to seperate it from RPGs like Dragon Age and Neverwinter Nights, and I don't think the attacking system that works so well for that style of RPG works for AP.

  • MetalDooley #26 2 years ago

    @Jambii267

    If Nintendo fans are more open to Sega games then how come games like Madworld,HotD:overkill and The Conduit,which were all published by Sega have sold poorly

    The only Sega games people seem to be interested in these days are the ones featuring a certain hedgehog

  • glaeken #27 2 years ago

    @Dylbot It's not really that skill based. For instance you can have a perfect headshot lined up from the perspective of your controlling it but the actual shot hitting or not is stat based.

    I think the problem is it's not obvious how stat based it is. For instance no "missed" captions or anything like that which may have helped people understand that the shooting mechanics are not broken they just don't work how it would appear that they work. It actually might have worked better if they did have damage captions like other RPG's. If you see the damage value or a miss caption on each shot I think it would have made the RPG nature of the combat more obvious.

  • Whizzo #28 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed AP on the PC, it's a good game with a few strange design choices and the Saudi starting section isn't much cop.

    I'm sure it'll place in my top ten of the year.
    Edited by 1 at 30/07/10 @ 15:09

  • Dylbot #29 2 years ago

    My point is to defend it based on the fact that "we're playing it wrong" is a fallacy. It's Obsidian that designed it wrong. If they wanted it to be an RPG, it should've bloody well been more like an RPG. Mass Effect got away with it because it was such a good game regardless, and the gameplay wasn't so heavily stealth-focused.

  • miiiguel #30 2 years ago

    Sega is embracing the Social Networking Services (SNS!). More fan sites closing I guess.

  • glaeken #31 2 years ago

    @Dylbot I was not defending it based on "you are playing it wrong". I was explaining that your impression that the game depends mostly on skill was wrong. It's mostly based on stats so if you don't understand that I can see how the game mechanics would look broken.

  • TheTingler #32 2 years ago

    While sad about the fate of Alpha Protocol, I am very very happy to see that Iron Man 2 sold poorly. I'm happy to see that sometimes people aren't complete morons when it comes to game buying. Maybe Sega will actually put some effort into making Thor and their other licensed games now...

  • andywilkie35 #33 2 years ago

    See, Sega strip down a game (Yakuza 3) and get criticized for it, then they release a fuck off amazing game in Alpha Protocol and the great unwashed ignore it.

    Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

  • Dylbot #34 2 years ago

    Well, whatever. If you liked it, good for you. I thought it was a poorly developed, buggy piece of shit that should've been so much more and deserved to bomb. Opinions are fun.

  • Ryze #35 2 years ago

    Sumo Digital are the only element of Sega that I have any interest in these days, and they're not even part of the company.

    Fuck Sammy, fuck Sega, and until they buck up their ideas and remember who they're supposed to be, they deserve to fail.

    Hopefully they'll split from Sammy and be picked up by a decent company who understand VIDEO GAMES, which is completely different to GAMBLING and FUCKING FRUIT MACHINES.

  • Demiath #36 2 years ago

    AP might not have been brilliant, but considering this is Sega we are talking about perhaps blaming Obsidian isn't such a classy way to deal with the fact that the publisher kinda sucks these days. Sure, Valkyria Chronicles was sublime, Bayonetta struck a chord with the Ninja Gaiden crowd and Yakuza 3 being released at all in the West is fan service with or without hostess clubs. But as for the rest of Sega's currentgen line up at any given time...not too hot, really.

  • Nephirion #37 2 years ago

    Maybe sega should go back to making consoles?

  • Dylbot #38 2 years ago

    @Von_Adder

    Haha, I'm pretty sure it's not my machine, I fix the damn things for a living. And I'm certainly not of the COD generation. It's just that games 10-12 years older than this had the stealth/action/RPG genre down (hello, Thief and Deus Ex), so it's massively disappointing to see it messed up so badly when it could've been so good. Never mind, here's hoping they do a better job with New Vegas.

  • Murton #39 2 years ago

    I quite enjoyed AP, the combat is frustrating at first and the dialogue system terrible, but you get past that if you give it a chance.

    There are also a few things in AP that are quite inspired. XP is awarded not only for defeating enemies but avoiding/evading them as well and the ability to "purchase" bonus objectives for future missions were great changes from the typical approach to risk vs reward in the genre. Unfortunately all AP proved was that many modern gamers aren't interested in interesting games and just want more of the same.

  • dacicus #40 2 years ago

    Okay, technically speaking, AP is a mess. But if you are willing to spend some time on the Obsidian's technical support forums for AP, you can find a few tweaks that will make your life better. There are lots of things that affect stealth. Some are found in Technical Aptitude skilltree, some in Sabotage. My ideal character was maxed on Stealth, Sabotage and Technical Aptitude. Secondary skills were: Martial Arts, Toughness and Pistols. How you approach the hubs makes a hole difference. Example: Brayko boss fight in Moscow. That fight could be a lot easier if you contact Steven Heck in Taipei, before that fight. Heck will poison Brayko's coke, making the bastard weak like a kitten. Generally is a good idea to set up the informational network before starting anything ( the NSA/CIA listening posts in Rome, Gregory in Moscow, Heck/ Albatross's Warehouse servers/ The Triads in Taipei). Setting those up before main story missions will make your life easy.
    If you are a Rambo type, poor points on your favorite weapon, add to Toughness and get Technical Aptitude for improved healing. And as for minigames, hoard EMP grenades and there is a small skill in the tech aptitude that will disable anything, bypassing the minigames and having the exact same results if you are doing the minigames). I never found a use for anything else than the assault rifle and the pistols (tranq darts as ammo). The assault rifle i've used it succesfully in boss fights, while the pistols were used with tranq darts on more common enemies. But i usually went for stealth approach. So really, it's just a matter of understanding how the skill tree works. It's not a shooter. It's as much of a shooter, as Hellgate London was. But I don't see anyone complainig that their weapon it's not accurate in that game. And should I remind you how accurate you are in the original ME???! Just after you start pouring skillpoints in the weapon and adding some mods you get the weapon of your dreams. So, yes, it's how you play it. It's how you understand that this is firstly an RPG with RPG mechanics, and just after that, it's a TPS. Speaking of Borderlands: that game is a shooter first, but even there you have to put skillpoints to improve your accuracy/aim/etc.
    Personally, i can only hope that Obsidian will be able to make a sequel. One that will address many of the technical problems, one that will offer even a bigger variety in missions.

  • Dexter2015 #41 2 years ago

    Really its not like they was no demand for the title its the developer that make a shitty game! Shitty game is crappy sales its so simple like that!

  • xenoss #42 2 years ago

    SEGA is a horrible publisher.

  • Kerome #43 2 years ago

    The problem is, creating quality is always a double-edged sword. It's hard to convince execs of the value of polish, they tend to ask "what's new", while the answer is "everything is just a tiny bit better". So I wouldn't hold my breath if you're expecting lackluster financials to drive quality.

    It's more likely there will just be a rush towards titles with low dev costs and potentially high returns, and the tendency towards cramming in as many features as possible for as little money... hmm, what does that remind me of...

  • Dave #44 2 years ago

    I agree with Dylbot, AP has huge potential and I finished it 3 times with different builds. But the PC version is a masochistic nightmare.... Short freezes when NPCs are loaded at which point your camera goes haywire, long loading times when you want to buy stuff and the mini games are frustrating as hell when the controls aren't precise enough. Funnily enough, these problems seem to disappear when you use a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard (haven't tried this though).

    And if someone says, it's probably your computer, go check the Obsidian or Sega forums, there are many many post regarding these issues. So when Sega says AP didn't sell as expected, it's because of poor marketing and even poorer support. Their own fault.

  • JahB #45 2 years ago

    just reading through the comments, it sounds like AP is this year's dead space.

    /off to check bargain bin

  • Ravenger #46 2 years ago

    I passed on the game due to the limited activation DRM, but judging by the reviews and user feedback it turned out to be a good thing anyway as the game was a relatively poor console port on the PC with major control and technical issues.

    I will not buy any game with limited activations, no matter how friendly the system. In this case even the Steam version had the same DRM, so even when it dropped in price during the recent Steam sale I avoided it.
    Edited by 1 at 31/07/10 @ 15:34

  • VVasp #47 2 years ago

    I think the people who made the game are "slow".

  • albinac #48 2 years ago

    a 2.3 million sales is a flop. oh kiss my arse sega and the rest. 2.3 * 60€ =138 million euro. so they didnt make a profit eh. im tired of all the bullshit that the games companies are spewing nowadays. tired im tellen ya tired.that is just a rough estimate. im sure there is discrepencies but we wont argue ok.

  • bad09 #49 2 years ago

    @ Ravenger

    Er...there are no activation limits on Uniloc. You do have a 5 machine limit at any one time which can be revoked from any computer on the net and SEGA have even promised to patch it out after 12-18 months. You really need it on more than 5 machines at once?

    Personally outside of Steamworks (which is the way to go IMO why leave it SEGA?), Uniloc is actually one of the more consumer friendly sales killing piracy encouraging DRMs and does not really restrict you unlike another certain arse of a publisher.

    / spits on Ubiscum (and EA for trying it once with C&C4)

  • WJF #50 2 years ago

    Dylbot and Dave are right - the PC version of AP is utterly, utterly horrible.

    It feels like one of those PS2 ports companies used to spew out onto the PC with zero marketing or effort just to make a quick buck. Clunky camera, frustrating controls, horrid graphics (even with everything on max), weird bugs, shite AI...etc. etc.

    EDIT: I've toned the comment down a little - I only bought AP yesterday so my disappointment was still strong.
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/10 @ 11:58

  • Ezzekhiel #51 2 years ago

    Actually EG gave that game 7/10, not 6. Robert, check your links when posting :)
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/10 @ 09:55

  • Retroid #52 2 years ago

    I'm still waiting for it to drop to less than a tenner. I've really enjoyed games which got similar scores / dodgy retail performance!

    /Strokes Mercenaries 2, Flatout UC

  • Freek #53 2 years ago

    "the demand was generally weak"
    No, you putt out a bunch of crap games nobody wanted. You know this but you can't say that publicly.

  • coomber #54 2 years ago

    Mercenaries 2 was hugely under-rated, Retroid. Not least by this site!

  • gnrlstuart #55 2 years ago

    i've recently decided to stop buying games based on hype. the has to persuade me to go to the game shop and fork over my hard earned cash. neither title makes me bat an eyelid.

  • slippysloppy #56 2 years ago

    6/10 from Eurogamer? The review I read gave it 7/10, or was that before it was adjusted?