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2K on NBA 2K18 Switch sales: "Very pleased with the performance so far"

ASleepingMonkey

ASleepingMonkey

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
4,496
Iowa
SinCItyAssassin said:
How the hell.
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FIFA had an insane life span on PS2 for years. FIFA 14 was the last entry on PS2, I think the reason was because children in underdeveloped/less fortunate countries had to make the most of their consoles and PS2 was the best option up until 2013. Of course, probably an incredibly simplified version of the PS3 version but I guess it sold well enough for them to want to dedicate a team, time, and resources even it ended up just being a slightly updated version of the game prior unless it was in a contract from Sony or something. I've never played any on PS2 since the move to 360 in 2005 but I'd be interested to go back and look at 14.
 
K Samedi

K Samedi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,989
I think FIFA did not fail. EA did not say it failed and the sales did not show it failed. Relatively speaking, there were only 300K Switches sold in the UK versus a combined install base of 7 million PS4/XboxOne? There were also legacy versionf ro PS3 and Xbox 360 which were also big in the UK. Percentage wise, it sold 1 percent on first week en 2 and 3% the following weeks. People assumed it bombed because of the low percentage but there is already a huge install base out there for FIFA. The real thing to look at is how FIFA 18 sold compared to other FIFA entries on Nintendo consoles. I think it did very well on that front. But we will have to wait for numbers to confirm that.
 
PetrCobra

PetrCobra

Member
Oct 27, 2017
954
FrostyLemon said:
Aren't EA contractually obligated to put a FIFA on every console? I wouldn't be surpirsed if this was just them fulfilling their end of the deal and that's the end of it.
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From what I've seen of the Switch Fifa it seems like too much work was put into that version to just write it off as an obligatory port. It performs well, has most of the important modes. I'm still not interested in buying it, but that's my general stance towards this kind of sports games. They lose value dramatically over time and shops are driving the price of older versions as low as they can to sell at least a portion of their remaining stock. Best time to buy a FIFA game IMO.
 
Zedark

Zedark

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,719
The Netherlands
Savitar said:
Wasn't Fifa not out in a lot of places? Fairly sure there were reports people couldn't even find copies since so few were shipped.
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That's true. For the first week and a bit it was hard to get in several countries. Still, the resolution of those stock issues didn't impact the sales all that much later on. The legs on the game seem to be quite good, though.
 
FrostyLemon

FrostyLemon

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,635
PetrCobra said:
From what I've seen of the Switch Fifa it seems like too much work was put into that version to just write it off as an obligatory port. It performs well, has most of the important modes. I'm still not interested in buying it, but that's my general stance towards this kind of sports games. They lose value dramatically over time and shops are driving the price of older versions as low as they can to sell at least a portion of their remaining stock. Best time to buy a FIFA game IMO.
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I bought it, It's actually a good game and I had fun playing it. However I played the career mode and that's it. My mate who bought it on Switch returned it later that week for the PS4 version because you couldn't play online with friends, The Journey was missing, and some other pro clubs thing he likes to play.

So I think mechanically the game was sound, but it was missing all the bells and whistles. We have to decide whether that was a hardware limitation causing that, or EA being lazy.
 

Deleted member 62

Guest
Savitar said:
Wasn't Fifa not out in a lot of places? Fairly sure there were reports people couldn't even find copies since so few were shipped.
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It was sold out on Amazon.co.uk, while still available at other shops in the country. In Germany, the Switch retail version released a week later as it was held back by a customs check.
 
FrostyLemon

FrostyLemon

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,635
Sovan Jedi said:
Well for one I actually fucking saw copies of NBA 2K18 in shops, which is surprising for the UK for ANY kind of football game to take a promotional backseat to a basketball game. I think that would have something to do with it.
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Conspiracy Theory:

EA didn't want it to succeed, so they can point to low sales and abandon the platform.
 
Putosaure

Putosaure

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,954
France
If the console still sell like hot cakes and no one buy EA games, maybe it's because of the games ?
The user base is there, just make a good game for the hardware.

I bought FIFA Switch and I love it, it's a great fit for the console.
 

Deleted member 62

Guest
Putosaure said:
If the console still sell like hot cakes and no one buy EA games, maybe it's because of the games ?
The user base is there, just make a good game for the hardware.

I bought FIFA Switch and I love it, it's a great fit for the console.
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They are bringing over Fe. Sea of Solitude as well as Unravel also look like great fits for the platform.
 
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PetrCobra

PetrCobra

Member
Oct 27, 2017
954
FrostyLemon said:
I bought it, It's actually a good game and I had fun playing it. However I played the career mode and that's it. My mate who bought it on Switch returned it later that week for the PS4 version because you couldn't play online with friends, The Journey was missing, and some other pro clubs thing he likes to play.

So I think mechanically the game was sound, but it was missing all the bells and whistles. We have to decide whether that was a hardware limitation causing that, or EA being lazy.
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Instead of saying "lazy" I prefer to guess that EA maybe underfunded the port (which is kind of understandable for the first appearance of the franchise on a platform), my point was that the investment was used well for optimization efforts. I also thought that only the story mode was missing, heard something about not being able to play with friends but I thought that was it. And of course those modes (and whichever other modes might be missing) were cut because of limited funding. However, they still clearly spent more than the bare minimum required for a quick "obligatory" port.
 
FrostyLemon

FrostyLemon

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,635
PetrCobra said:
Instead of saying "lazy" I prefer to guess that EA maybe underfunded the port (which is kind of understandable for the first appearance of the franchise on a platform), my point was that the investment was used well for optimization efforts. I also thought that only the story mode was missing, heard something about not being able to play with friends but I thought that was it. And of course those modes (and whichever other modes might be missing) were cut because of limited funding. However, they still clearly spent more than the bare minimum required for a quick "obligatory" port.
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Agreed. It would be nonsensical to not just update the kits and squads and use the same engine. In fact FIFA is a prime candidate for a Gaas approach, but obviously because it's so successful it'll be the one game that doesn't ever need to made that way.
 
UltraMagnus

UltraMagnus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
15,670
Could it be that the Switch is simply a hotter item in North America (where the NBA tends to be more popular versus FIFA and Europe?).

Also noticed that NBA Playgrounds seemed to do really well on the Switch as well (at least by eShop rankings).
 
K Samedi

K Samedi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,989
UltraMagnus said:
Could it be that the Switch is simply a hotter item in North America (where the NBA tends to be more popular versus FIFA and Europe?).

Also noticed that NBA Playgrounds seemed to do really well on the Switch as well (at least by eShop rankings).
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Yeah it sold really well. The owner made a Facebook post saying it did comparable numbers to PS4/Xbox and on a much smaller installbase. NBA Jam would probably be a good fit.
 
Zedark

Zedark

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,719
The Netherlands
UltraMagnus said:
Could it be that the Switch is simply a hotter item in North America (where the NBA tends to be more popular versus FIFA and Europe?).

Also noticed that NBA Playgrounds seemed to do really well on the Switch as well (at least by eShop rankings).
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Switch is doing decently in Europe, but it's definitely true that PS4 has a larger share of its hardware sales in that region. Could indeed be a reason.
 
Lwill

Lwill

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,627
ScreenSplitter said:
So what happened with FIFA 18 then?
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I don't think that EA officially commented on the sales, but FIFA 18 got a lot of press questioning the parity of the version the Switch was going to have. On the other hand, NBA 2K was praised for how good it look and how it was great to play despite it being 30FPS compared to the other systems. EA's vague answers probably turned off people.
 
KingSnake

KingSnake

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,984
We don't have actually reliable info about FIFA's sales on Switch worldwide or about EA's opinion about the said sales, so we don't know if it underperformed or not.
 
Metal Gear Miyamoto

Metal Gear Miyamoto

Member
Oct 28, 2017
833
Netherlands
Considering that the Switch version requires a pretty hefty download to access all the content, i'd say it bodes pretty well for LA Noire finding an audience on the Switch as well. If the game doesn't do as well this Christmas, then perhaps it has more to do with the content of the game rather then the restrictions placed on it.
 
FrakEarth

FrakEarth

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,274
Liverpool, UK
FrostyLemon said:
I bought it, It's actually a good game and I had fun playing it. However I played the career mode and that's it. My mate who bought it on Switch returned it later that week for the PS4 version because you couldn't play online with friends, The Journey was missing, and some other pro clubs thing he likes to play.

So I think mechanically the game was sound, but it was missing all the bells and whistles. We have to decide whether that was a hardware limitation causing that, or EA being lazy.
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I've got the game, and I like it, I understand why it's missing the Journey - as it's a story mode built in Frostbite, which EA don't have a Switch build for. Could they work Switch optimisation in to Frostbite in future? Possibly, but you have to imagine there would be a lot of work needed or a lot of sacrifice. They did a game from the ground up and made it play well, but I think they need to face up to the realities of the FIFA audience. If it's releasing at the same time and you want people to double dip I think future versions should better aim for feature parity or offer differentiation. Because people *expect* it. They expect parity at least as far as playing with friends and playing FUT goes. They have come up a little short in this version (can't select friends from friends list - possibly not their fault, not all FUT features present), but it's a good version. If it were 10/15 (£/$) cheaper to account for those things I think it would be an easier sell.

I played it in local multi with work colleagues and when my nephew visited, and it was a really good time. It's a good experience to build on.
 
Gotdatmoney

Gotdatmoney

Member
Oct 28, 2017
14,487
ScreenSplitter said:
So what happened with FIFA 18 then?
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Take Two cared about their product on Switch and EA didn't.

That's about all there is to it. NBA is fully featured and got specifc Switch advertising. Only thing its missing is play with friends which will probably be integrated in future versions. Fifa is missing features and missing friend play and missing advertising. So it's missing sales.
 
Raijinto

Raijinto

self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
10,091
Mory Dunz said:
NBA 2k18 has had Switch specific advertising during every primetime NBA game for like a month.
Someone's put a lot of money into this.

I don't remember seeing anything for Switch FIFA.
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It got featured in the montage(s) at the Nintendo Spotlight at E3, and I think maybe 1 general overview of Switch games trailer and in both it was only glimpses amongst other more enticing games. Nowhere near enough. EA would be silly to expect anything major as a result.
 
Lelouch0612

Lelouch0612

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,200
Mory Dunz said:
NBA 2k18 has had Switch specific advertising during every primetime NBA game for like a month.
Someone's put a lot of money into this.

I don't remember seeing anything for Switch FIFA.
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Nintendo did the heavy lifting. But EA did NOTHING to promote the game.

-The game was not visible along the XB1/PS4 versions in stores.
- No demo ! You want to attract newcommers but you don't release a demo on Switch alongside the other versions. So you expect a leap of faith ..
- ... without any reviews cause EA didn't bother to send reviews codes before launch.
- Missing features. No online play with friends. The FUT app is still not compatible with the Switch version of the game. With the game coming, there was more and more bad news about absent features.

I am angry at EA because I had a lot of fun with the game. FUT in the go is a wonderful thing. But yeah they didn't bother at all. 2K's effort was far more consistent. They deserve every bit of success.
 
swimming

swimming

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,472
Couldn't find a 2K OT so.. posting about online. Why the fuck am I always playing against someone who picks the same exact team as me? This method is so fucking stupid. You used to be able to live pick, now you go into a game w someone as the same team. So frustrating
 
foxuzamaki

foxuzamaki

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,550
saltyramen said:
Couldn't find a 2K OT so.. posting about online. Why the fuck am I always playing against someone who picks the same exact team as me? This method is so fucking stupid. You used to be able to live pick, now you go into a game w someone as the same team. So frustrating
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Is there really no OT?
 
erlim

erlim

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,502
London
I'm disappointed I bought this on PS4. From here on I am gonna only buy it on switch. It should have a better online scene and community on switch once their plans get underway. Also I would end up playing 2k. way more 2k games has been doing an awesome job supporting Switch.
 
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