Our review was pretty glowing – Shadows of the Damned is a great game but it looks like it failed to make much impact on UK game buyers, missing out on the top twenty charts completely. In fact, it landed at position 31, hardly an impressive achievement given the fact that publisher behemoth EA was behind the game.
So what happened?
Well, it’s not the reviews – the game’s currently sitting between 77% and 79% on Metacritic (depending on format) and most of the comments from critics are hugely positive. “Don’t miss out on this trip,” say Gamer Limit. And, look, we even said the game provides “eight hours or so of some of the best third person shooting we’ve seen for ages.”
[videoyoutube]GamesTM said it’s “original, amusing and brilliantly playable” and Strategy Informer said that “its freshness shows just how stale a lot of the industry is and it’s what’s needed in an era of grey, modern shooters.”Is this the problem, though? Do people want ‘freshness’ when they’re so clearly happy with just buying the same old titles week in, week out. Take Zumba Fitness, for example – still riding high at the top of the charts but the games bubbling just below the flab-busting workout title are obvious sequels and respected genre staples. L.A. Noire, FEAR 3, DiRT 3, another LEGO game.
Ocarina of Time, down in sixth already after charting at two last week, shows that this is an industry that’s incredibly hard to predict. Zelda’s been one of the most advertised games for the last couple of weeks, at least from personal experience, and it’s certainly up there in the best games ever made – and yet the numbers simply don’t add up. I’d like to think Nintendo are shifting 3DS units off the back of Ocarina, but I’m sceptical. Is a remake of a game that’s at least 2 generations behind something that people really want?
But back to Shadows. Is this the final wake-up call to the industry that reviews simply don’t matter outside of our own sheltered, isolated world – or at least as much as we think they do? Does Joe Public just wander into GAME of a Saturday and turn over a few cases, making his choice based on the back of the box or the in-store merchandising when it’s not a game he’s particularly familiar with?
And was EA’s specialist press marketing too thinly spread? We saw a few site takeovers dotted around the internet, but they weren’t consistent or particularly appealing, and didn’t really get across what the game was all about. Was the game, with its inherit Japanese leanings and rather esoteric mechanics just too hard a sell for a publisher used to dealing with annual sports titles – we seem to remember Mirrors Edge ending up the same way when it failed to ignite too.
We applaud EA for working with Grasshopper on this one, but maybe gamers just want things simple – they want their Call of Duty, their FIFA, their sandbox GTA-a-likes and their Mario, and everything else is a case of waiting until the game hits rock bottom? We’ve heard that some outlets weren’t even selling the game – including some branches of big name supermarkets – were initial shipments low based on a lack of confidence?
I’m guessing that, ultimately, in the world of new IPs and tried-and-tested franchises, people just aren’t willing to splash the cash on something they’re not familiar with unless those scores are 90+ and the game’s been shoved in your face for months prior. Shadows’ poor sales showing might not be representative of the game, but it is representative of the industry.
Origami Killer
The reasons behind this are: that this has come out following huge titles such as LA Noire, DNF, Dirt 3 so everybody is out of pocket. Also this game hasnt had any advertising at all, i seriously have seen it nowhere on the web! Also its a new IP and not everyone is completely sure what the game is, even after watching videos its still unclear what it is really like. I just checked amazon and they have 1 left in stock selling at £46!
mugsybalone
Given that a spare £40 for another release isn’t easy to come by at the best of times, when it’s to be spent on a new IP with not a great deal of coverage behind it and no demo for it (that I can recall), it’s not going to get a look-in. It’s nice to read reviews to get a general idea for the game, but I’d much rather have hands-on experience with it before I commit to buying it as it’s not unheard of to be severely unimpressed with a high-scoring title (for me, anyway).
Off topic, is anyone else having issues with the Battlefield 3 ad on this page? it’s bumped my upcoming meets/latest comments/most comments bar to the bottom left of the page. Doesn’t seem to be affecting other pages though.
Tuffcub
There are too many games being released, simples. Ive still got a huge backlog to clear, as far as I havent yet finished DMC4.
GTRsannin
Like everybody else has said the huge amount of other games that have come out and are coming out could be one of the reasons and since there is no demo people can’t test if it’s good or not
R1MJAW
I was quite interested in it until I saw gameplay footage and saw that it used the same viewpoint as RE4 & 5, which I absolutely hated (I gave up on RE4 after 2 hours and didn’t bother at all with 5 after trying the demo). The character is much too close, especially when you zoom in whilst aiming, it makes it practically impossible to see enemies on the left hand side of the screen.
@ mugsy – It’s not just that ad, I get that quite frequently (on the ps3 browser).
aerobes
I prefer new IP rather than sequels and same old stuff and I’d have bought this too, the simple reason I didn’t and won’t is a severe lack of interest in the game.
KeRaSh
I don’t know. This game doesn’t appeal to me at all. The graphics look mediocre at best, the voice acting is on par with Just Cause 2 (which is not a good thing, although I’m still not sure if Just Cause 2 has bad voice actors on purpose…) and the gameplay looks too dull to compensate the lack of a gripping story.
I can’t back those things up, because I haven’t played the game but I will gladly pass up on a game that gives me exactly that feeling about it just by watching a trailer. :/
KeRaSh
Oh and as for the 3DS version of Zelda not holding the top spot of any sales chart for multiple weeks:
What do you expect? It’s been out for ages. Most people already played it multiple times and you even got it free with Wind Waker for the Game Cube. It’s also available as a Wii Download.
rht992
thats terrible news. loved the look of this game. i guess a lot of people are like me. waiting for the price to drop since there isn’t much replay value in the game
Foxhound
Page is a mess, video ad taking up one entire side….
DrNate86
As with others here, I’d never heard of this before the TSA review. The simple fact I visit a gaming site shows I like to follow gaming news, so if this had slipped past me (and others on the site), then what chance did it stand with your more standard gamers?