The actual sales figures for Ninja Theory’s third person action game ‘Enslaved: Odyssey to the West’ are in, and they make for disappointing reading. Worldwide, just 460,000 copies have been sold, and we wonder if that might put talks of a sequel to rest.
As most of you know, I loved Enslaved despite marking it down due to certain issues. I’m not the only one, and many TSA readers have found themselves just as enthralled with the tale of Monkey and Trip. If you see the game lying about at a good price I urge you to give it a go – it’ll be money well spent.
Source: Eurogamer
colmshan1990
I quite like this game, but this generation is far too crowded for many games unless a BIG name is launching it, with a massive marketing drive.
A pity, especially as this is not the first excellent game to be virtually ignored, the best of them being Mirror’s Edge. Actually that even had the big name (EA and Dice) as well, so it really should have done better…
Meanwhile games like COD go faster than water in the desert…
tonycawley
This is indeed sad news. Yes the game had its issues, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s sad when such a unique and enjoyable game such ad this struggles to sell, but broken games that aren’t even finished such as black ops sell millions purely because of its name
Ryan1991
And then Kane and Lynch 2 sells over a million. Fucking joke.
asparagushunter
That is the worst crime I’ve heard this year.
Forrest_01
Down to pricing mainly – I think it was seen as though it might be ‘bombing’, so the price got dropped heavily just a couple of weeks after release.
It was so cheap, i even bought it (which is saying something!)!
Charmed_Fanatic
….. *dies*
retro_
I thought K&L2 was great, loved every second. Enslaved was also great and certainly deserved better sales than that. COD can fuck off and die, it’s damaging the industry.
cc_star
I take your point, but I wonder what the gaming industry would be like without CoD and by association FIFA/Madden or any other mega-franchise.
The popularity & profits from these projects create wealth for the publishers and shift consoles for the manufacturers, which gives them the money to invest elsewhere, some of whch filters down to original IP.
Without mega-franchises would the money even exist for HD consoles and their big budget titles, or would gaming still be a geeky bedroom hobby on cheaper less advanced machines & less spectacular games.
I love character driven movies like Taxi Driver, Lost In Translation, Crazy Heart etc but I also love a summer blockbuster whose popularity & revenues spill over into creating less popular movies.
It’s worthy of further debate.
craiga123
Really enjoyed this game and I picked it up brand new after xmas for £17.
BG123
Without me this article would read ‘Worldwide, just 459,999 copies have been sold’ :P
It dosen’t need a sequel though, just make something different.
morbo1993
Sad indeed, I wonder what they could have done better… maybe if they had stuck with the platform exclusivity they could have gained a bit more helpt on the PR side from either Sony or Microsoft? I loved the game to bits at least
cc_star
Good point, if it received timed exclusivity it may have drummed up a bit more hype and interest & could have sold this amount on one system & either saved on cross platform development costs or launched later on the other platform for more sales.
Kovacs
Namco pushed the hell out of this. There wasn’t a lack of PR for Enslaved, in my opinion.
bunimomike
Didn’t see any promotion for it at all but I don’t consume media like you guys do. However, played and finished the game last week and it was great fun. Got the DLC to hammer this weekend.
Kovacs
I even saw TV spots. And I rarely see TV spots for games.
morbo1993
Still, console exclusivity tends to add another layer of “me want this game” for better or for worse. I don’t really care whether they release exclusively or multiplatform, I just hope that they keep making awesome games
double-o-dave
Likewise with most of the other comments. Its a shame when a great game gets passed by quite unnoticed and then you get crap hyped games selling millions. Saying that, I got stuck right near the end chasing something on that surfyboardythingy, gave up and sold it to my mate. Apart from that, Great game and characters
cc_star
Sad news indeed.
The game received a long build up through developer diaries, extensive online advertising, and it also got a demo, and post-launch support in the form of fantastic DLC, but obviously hasn’t ‘connected’ with the market. Odd
It does have a couple of issues obviously but not enough to make it bomb. Comparatively Kayne & Lynch sold double that.
Perhaps it’s just the crowded time of year it was released in but seeing as people buy more games at that time of year it could have sold even less.
Is it the tolling bell for single player only action/adventure games?
Dan Lee
Christ, I hope not. I love me some adventure games!
smokeybeef
If Uncharted 3 was single-player only I would still buy it.
elpablo79
I prefer Uncharted as a single player experience. I enjoyed the demo of Enslaved but I’ll only be buying once I work through my backlog of games that I own but not played much.
ARUMIR Sympozium
I think that if many action/adventure games were to be influnced from the likes of Demons Souls, the action/adventure genre would benefit from groundbreaking RPG features. Maybe it could attract more gamers but its more important that the date is at the right time.
What really worries me about the beloved genre is the lack of “gunless” games that to me can go beyond or equal the brillance of the Legacy of Kain franchise and the epic Prince Of Persia.
iamtdogg
For me i hope not, i’m really not a fan or RPG’s at all i’ve tried the current crop of biggies (Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls, Fallout) and just cannot deal with them, something about an RPG just drives me insane.
However i LOVE my action/adventure games :)
ARUMIR Sympozium
Hmph!!!1! darn wesrterners!!
R4U Eldave0
Certainly gutting to know that such a good game sold so poorly. Then again, Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space suffered the same fate and Dead Space 2 has sold much better than the original (from what I can gather). Perhaps there is hope yet
Kovacs
It’s important to remember when Dead Space was released (heading into a crowded holiday period) compared to Dead Space 2 (end of Jan, traditionally a lull in the release calendar).
Also, people who may have not played the first one have its metacritic score to go on as an indicated of whether or not the sequel is quality. New IP invariably has that “risk” element.
Mirror’s Edge also sold about a million units (and was also dropped in a very competitive period). It, too, will get a sequel.
elpablo79
Ah, Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space. Two risks I was glad I made, although they were about £12 each when I bought them ages ago
double-o-dave
£12 each… Hardly risk! :)
ARUMIR Sympozium
I got Mirror’s Edge for a fiver last year… (but that was with a game)
elpablo79
Yeah, I should’ve put “risk”. I’d got a good recommendation on Dead Space off a friend, even though I didn’t enjoy the demo. Mirror’s Edge just seemed like a different experience to have, bolstered by good reviews. With that one especially, I did feel it was important to try new IP as EA appeared to be found for a different tact with the games they were putting out