Edit: People asked about why I was using UK numbers, so I added a bit about NPD in here, but numbers from there generally aren't public, which is why I'm being way less specific there. Mind, we haven't had NPD numbers for the last two games yet.
Now that Wolfenstein has come out, I thought it was worth bringing this thread back dex3108's thread.
First up, let's look at the games and their struggles.
Dishonored 2: This game started off down 38% in the UK, had kind of a mediocre, but not astonishing Steam debut, and then went on huge prices cuts very quickly. Arkane Lyon's Harvey Smith originally implied that there would be a Dishonored 3, but it would likely look at new characters and try to be a notable evolution of the series, which would be a pretty normal response to a slowdown in sales. More recently, Harvey Smith was asked again if there would be a Dishonored 3, and stated "I don't know yet. I kind of hope there are more Dishonored games, but I honestly don't know.", implying plans may have changed. It was down 40% in NPD as well, which covers the US.
Prey: Prey opened with very modest 20-25K in the UK, which puts it at about half of Dishonored 2's debut (Wolfenstein 2 debuted similarly), 1/3rd of Doom's debut, and 1/4th of Wolfenstein 1's debut. It also had notably slow sales on Steam, and seemingly quite modest NPD sales as well. The game's lifetime sales are sitting a bit under half of Dishonored 2's lifetime sales. Mind, it's been out a bit less time, but it has had aggressive price cuts. Arkane Austin followed up by posting a job for an Online Game Engineer, so it's unclear if they're making more Prey, but at minimum, it sounds like their next game has an online component. It was down a fair amount from Dishonored 2 in NPD, which covers the US.
Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider: From a lifetime unit sales perspective, Dishonored 2 managed to recover on Steam through very aggressive price cuts to 940K. While though obviously eat a whole lot into profits, it's still a respectable number. Death of the Outsider is currently at 90K sold. It didn't really seem to move much anywhere else we could see either. I'm not sure what Bethesda was hoping for as far as attach rate goes, but in the last thread, no one really objected to saying this most likely underperformed. You may feel free to do so however. It did not make it into the top 20 in NPD, which covers the US.
The Evil Within 2: This was down 75% from the first The Evil Within game in the UK (with sales below Prey by a fair margin), and it's still only at about 100K on Steam.
Wolfenstein 2: Bringing us to today, Wolfenstein 2 debuted at less than half what Wolfenstein 1 did in the UK, which would put it about on par with Dishonored 2's debut, and about a third down from Doom. On Steam, I'm doing this from memory, but it seems to be going at about the same rate as Prey did. Keep in mind, Prey did seem to do a fair bit better on PC than consoles, which probably isn't too surprising for a System Shock spiritual successor. We'll have more solid data as time goes on, so while it might recover, the initial signs are not encouraging, and it's definitely trending to be down a fair bit from the previous game, even with digital. MachineGames said shortly before launch that they have plans for a Wolfenstein 3 if the second game sells well enough. Of course, that game is staring down PlayStation 5 development costs in all likelihood, so I wouldn't hold my breath.
Just to provide some potential started questions:
1.) Where do you see Bethesda heading next?
2.) Where would you take Bethesda next?
3.) Feel free to take any other approach to talking about this. These are just example questions.
Now that Wolfenstein has come out, I thought it was worth bringing this thread back dex3108's thread.
First up, let's look at the games and their struggles.
Dishonored 2: This game started off down 38% in the UK, had kind of a mediocre, but not astonishing Steam debut, and then went on huge prices cuts very quickly. Arkane Lyon's Harvey Smith originally implied that there would be a Dishonored 3, but it would likely look at new characters and try to be a notable evolution of the series, which would be a pretty normal response to a slowdown in sales. More recently, Harvey Smith was asked again if there would be a Dishonored 3, and stated "I don't know yet. I kind of hope there are more Dishonored games, but I honestly don't know.", implying plans may have changed. It was down 40% in NPD as well, which covers the US.
Prey: Prey opened with very modest 20-25K in the UK, which puts it at about half of Dishonored 2's debut (Wolfenstein 2 debuted similarly), 1/3rd of Doom's debut, and 1/4th of Wolfenstein 1's debut. It also had notably slow sales on Steam, and seemingly quite modest NPD sales as well. The game's lifetime sales are sitting a bit under half of Dishonored 2's lifetime sales. Mind, it's been out a bit less time, but it has had aggressive price cuts. Arkane Austin followed up by posting a job for an Online Game Engineer, so it's unclear if they're making more Prey, but at minimum, it sounds like their next game has an online component. It was down a fair amount from Dishonored 2 in NPD, which covers the US.
Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider: From a lifetime unit sales perspective, Dishonored 2 managed to recover on Steam through very aggressive price cuts to 940K. While though obviously eat a whole lot into profits, it's still a respectable number. Death of the Outsider is currently at 90K sold. It didn't really seem to move much anywhere else we could see either. I'm not sure what Bethesda was hoping for as far as attach rate goes, but in the last thread, no one really objected to saying this most likely underperformed. You may feel free to do so however. It did not make it into the top 20 in NPD, which covers the US.
The Evil Within 2: This was down 75% from the first The Evil Within game in the UK (with sales below Prey by a fair margin), and it's still only at about 100K on Steam.
Wolfenstein 2: Bringing us to today, Wolfenstein 2 debuted at less than half what Wolfenstein 1 did in the UK, which would put it about on par with Dishonored 2's debut, and about a third down from Doom. On Steam, I'm doing this from memory, but it seems to be going at about the same rate as Prey did. Keep in mind, Prey did seem to do a fair bit better on PC than consoles, which probably isn't too surprising for a System Shock spiritual successor. We'll have more solid data as time goes on, so while it might recover, the initial signs are not encouraging, and it's definitely trending to be down a fair bit from the previous game, even with digital. MachineGames said shortly before launch that they have plans for a Wolfenstein 3 if the second game sells well enough. Of course, that game is staring down PlayStation 5 development costs in all likelihood, so I wouldn't hold my breath.
Just to provide some potential started questions:
1.) Where do you see Bethesda heading next?
2.) Where would you take Bethesda next?
3.) Feel free to take any other approach to talking about this. These are just example questions.
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