Tomb Raider: Underworld sales hit 1.5m Comments by Ellie Gibson
Eidos disappointed, blames economy.
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muscleblade
09/01/09 @ 12:11
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The problems for me is the huge amount of new games coming almost every month. I want to play all the above average games but on the 360 alone there is at least 3-5 new game relases almost every month not counting the xbla releases every week. No way i have the time to play half of the games and i play a lot more than the average gamer.
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most recently on 09/01/09 @ 12:11
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Having played the demo, I blame the fact that the game just wasn't very good.
Although IMO Tomb Raider has never been anything special in terms of gameplay, except perhaps when the first game came out way back when. Let's be honest, the only reason it gets anything like the attention it does is because of Lara's norks. |
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farticusmaximus
09/01/09 @ 12:29
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"reason it gets anything like the attention it does is because of Lara's norks"
No, the reason it's popular is becasue it does something quite unique. There are precious few story-based environmental puzzle solving games around, and no others that give the 'Indiana Jones' feeling that Tomb Raider does.
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most recently on 09/01/09 @ 13:50
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Thunderbolt!
09/01/09 @ 12:38
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Uncharted is a PS3 exclusive which is a shame as it sounds rather good. Everyone else will just have to play with Lara instead
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michaelius
09/01/09 @ 12:49
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Sorry, dude, but if anything...
Tomb Raider = Saturn. Sorry dude but Tomb Raider = pc :) |
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sickpuppysoftware
09/01/09 @ 12:51
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My reasons for not purchasing: Too many other games around, too similar to previous installments to pay full whack for, still haven't finished anniversary, a demo showing any new features would be nice (PS3).
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muscleblade
09/01/09 @ 13:04
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"I blame the price, I'd buy it for £20-£25 but just cant justify £35+ for it.
Games are way to cheap imo. Nes games did cost more back in the day you know. Fewer games with higher prices is the way to go. One new high quality game each month for each of the current gen consoles that costs twice as much should do the trick. |
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I'm sorry, but if you can get a decent return on 1.5 million sales, then the problem is not with the sales figures but with the bloated infrastructure & poor budgeting.
Yes, a significant portion of the revenue will be absorbed by platform holders etc, but Eidos are the publisher and the developer for this so they should still be getting a pretty hefty chunk of the returns. Frankly, they should be delighted with 1.5 million given the state of the economy and the ridiculous over-saturation of games being released in the last few months of the year (note to publishers: STOP FUCKING DOING THAT!).
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most recently on 09/01/09 @ 13:59
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farticusmaximus
09/01/09 @ 13:49
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"farticus: Have you played Uncharted ? The Indiana Jones feeling is there. In spades."
I have, but the puzzle solving element was far too superficial and those sections just felt tacked on to the combat. Of course the reverse is true with Tomb Raider: The combat is pretty unnnecessary and feels tacked on to the exploration and puzzle solving, but at least in TR the combat sections are short and not too frequent. |
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i just hope this doesn't signal the beginning of the end of TR...
I really loved Underworld. Paid full whack for it day of release, and even the drop in price a week later didn't spoil it for me. Awesome game and awesome to replay (i'm going through for a third time to find the last few secrets and get the last few achievements) |
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@farticusmaximus
The reason *you* like it might be because it "does something quite unique", but its main marketing drive is always based on Lara's looks and not on the gameplay at all. From a gameplay PoV it's a niche title at best. Also, it may be unique, but that doesn't mean it's any good - best in a category of one is not such a great accolade when you think about it... ;) |
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actionfitz
09/01/09 @ 14:35
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I thoroughly enjoyed Tomb Raider: Underworld.
nice opening scenes. bit of a shaky end to the act though - bad tombraider combat is bad. the following levels where a sheer delight to play though (except when, again, combat reared its ugly bonce). On the whole well worth the £25 i shelled out for it hehe. |
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actionfitz
09/01/09 @ 14:40
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@nickthegun
09-Jan-09 10:19:58 "Release DLC costume of a playboy bunny outfit " --- im rather embarrassed by how likely it is I would buy that... > |
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Sean.Aaron
09/01/09 @ 15:10
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"What has Eidos been doing outside of Tomb Raider recently? "
They published Backbone's PS2/Wii game Monster Lab -- of course you probably wouldn't know that because Eidos doesn't appear to spend any marketing money on anything other than Tomb Raider... |
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farticusmaximus
09/01/09 @ 16:25
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@Schiraman
"The reason *you* like it might be because it "does something quite unique"," It's not just me, it's the millions of people who like it, and millions have liked it since it's debut. "its main marketing drive is always based on Lara's looks and not on the gameplay at all." And marketing has anything to do with what? "From a gameplay PoV it's a niche title at best. Also, it may be unique, but that doesn't mean it's any good - best in a category of one is not such a great accolade when you think about it..." See the comment above about millions and millions of fans of the series. It may be in a gameplay niche, the lifetime sales of the Tombraider franchise laugh in your face at the condescending description you use. |
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HyperShadow
09/01/09 @ 17:29
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Again, I would've brought it, but the price I have put on it is £20-£25, if I see it at that price and have cleared some of my backlog, I would've brought it.
Also, Eidos, if you release a game during the Christmas deluge in the hope that the brand name will help it stick out, sorry to disappoint you. There are plenty of opportunities from Januray to October to release games in aswell, and you would probably sell more. |
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dr_lovejoy
10/01/09 @ 03:34
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Sorry, dude, but if anything...
Tomb Raider = Saturn. Sorry dude but Tomb Raider = pc :) Nope I'm affraid Tomb Raider was released on the Saturn first then on MS-DOS a few months later. So what he said was right and you wrong. |
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teddybearzero
10/01/09 @ 14:42
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"In a difficult North American economy we have seen retailers restricting inventory levels and triple-A products being price discounted above our expectation"
Funniest Eidos quote ever :) |
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Well that's what you get when you turn what was just about the world's biggest ever AAA franchise into an A-and-a-half franchise by turning out mediocre releases in the middle of its lifetime.
It's also what you get when you don't realise that your 'AAA' franchise is kinda old-hat now and the competition before Xmas is uber these days and you just don't make it anymore purely cos you used to be 'AAA' ... This is a 'problem' that's going to become more prevalent I reckon, expect the same next Xmas too as there's a lorra, lorra money going into games dev at the mo ... I'm starting to get the sniff of another 1983/84 gaming crash ... |
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I blame the following facts
1 The game is bug ridden. 2 It was rushed out unfinished for Christmas. 3 They treated a chunk of their potential user base like dirt, not even giving PS3 owners a demo was the ultimate insult! 4 The game seems artificially shortened to sell their customers "DLC" that should have been included in the main game. Crystal Dynamics must have been told to finish the game as it stands and get it out for Xmas and get working on the DLC! 5 Its just so inferior to a product like Uncharted that its a joke. It pains me to say it but Crystal Dynamics have gone right down the toilet...Must be the Eidos Effect. |
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1.5 Million sales is around €80-100 Million. Out of that, I think they can easily pay the large development costs (although not too large because it's old IP, with the same gameplay), marketing, distribution.
It made plenty of profit after expenses, but the problem is that it doesn't make *enough* profit, perhaps a few million for the CEO and idos managment for bonuses. How much did the original cost? In reality, the extra costs are due to pointless marketing on the side of buses, as if it was a movie, and putting it on every platform, where only a small few will probably me the leaders.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/01/09 @ 22:58
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