[feisar]

The question that I thought would be the first thing to be all over the place here :/ Ive been thinking about it while playing the game and am suprised no-ones mentioned it.. or at least ive not noticed anyone mention it :O

Would the game have sold more if it was 2D?

The Myst 3: Exile as an example stuck to its roots and was the 2nd biggest seller on the PC on its year of release. Worms 3D sank without a trace.. along with many other 3D incarnations over the years.. but BS3 in 3D actually works :/

Charles Cecil has been saying in interviews for a long time now how he tried to update the genre, to appeal to new gamers while keeping the old fans onboard. But in trying to apeal to the mass market he's actually lowered sales?

On the general message boards (my geekiness showing through here), there has been quite a bit of negative reaction and extremes of reviews.. like 9/10 from Edge.. 6/10 from Eurogamer? A lot have commented on how the experience has been diluted and cheapened by the extra dimension?? Cecil might have spent a lot of time convincing the fans.. but has he forgotten to convice the general public who have been buying into BS1&2 over the years? The silent majority?

Or is the 23, 32 performance down to other issues?? The game is in no way a flop, but three years work on a million selling franchise that doesnt even go top 20?

Is it THQ's fault? There might not be a lack of advertising in the UK, but there is a lack of mainstream press coverage and their distribution left a lot to be desired.. but then BS did so well with even less publisher attention..

Could it be just a victim of the christmas rush? But then again BS2 on PSX was released around this time back in '97 and that never got lost?

Has the adventure really had its day?? Is this just the mindless twaddle of someone with too much time on their hands?? Will sales improve??

Do you think its done well enough?.. it might not manage outsell the three year old Crash Bandecoot sequel for one week or chart lower than Viewtiful Joe on the Gamecube (niche market 2D game).. but who cares if the game is good?

[nordic_guy]

I haven't played the game for myself, and cannot comment on it's quality, but
hopefully, adventure games haven't had it's day. But I guess we got to realize that the general public just aren't too interesting in a game like Broken Sword anymore. If anything, I think it would have sold less if it was in 2D. C. Cecil and his team has done what looks like a great job on a game in a dying genre, and I'm speaking sales numbers here. And considering it hasn't gotten a lot of attention outside it's fan-base, a chart-topper would be wishful thinking.
It's a cruel world.
A question; How much has it sold in comparison to the previous games. That would be interesting.

[Wajus]

The initial sales aren't overwhelming. But the reviews are generally positive with some exceptions (as always) which is a promise for long life for BS3. I think it will be a sleeper hit that will sell moderatly but over longer period of time. It doesn't have to be a classic, instant bestseller. I don't think that any of BS games have ever been such hit, yet both first games sold over million units each.

[Skinny Minnie]

TLJ did that very same thing, Wajus, only I don't think it hit nearly a million sales. If it didn't, it's probably because it was never ported to console, to help reach those extra players. (I just hope Ragnar and Funcom realize now that you *can* port a pure adventure to console and really pull it off well overall, instead of swaying to the whole action game thing besides.) It is a major bummer that Sony turned BS3 down in the US, though; it's especially purplexing after the previous two games' success on the PSX. Revolution's site claims that half of all BS1 & 2's sales were on the PSX. Much of this leap to 3D and the new game pad-friendly interface had to do with being able to port to consolers, and the PS2 outsells the 'Cube and the Hexbox put together. I give this to Sony, and hope that they change their minds soon!

I wonder how successful Syberia has been in selling on the Xbox (although it's a port of a point and clicker and not a fully 3D game)?

[Marek]

I haven't played BS3 just yet (I've been a bit busy working on a feature for the site), so I won't comment on the 2D/3D or the quality of the game.

However, I don't think you have any basis for your assumption that BS3 sold badly. Feisar: you are not a sales analyst. You keep using your weekly sales charts but you neglect to put it in its proper context. Your sales charts are UK-only. Have you calculated in the fact that the UK has traditionally been the worst European market for adventure games? Have you looked at the sales numbers in France, Benelux, and most importantly Germany, which is possibly the world's strongest market for these games? You caný tell anything by looking at just one sales chart for one territory.

I don't know jack about sales numbers, but I can easily tell that you're forming your conclusions way too hastily. There's probably a range of other factors that I didn't know about and that you didn't consider. I mean, most publishers themselves don't even know entirely for sure how succesful a title has been until after a few months.

If there's some actual indications that BS3 is selling badly, we should definitely discuss it. But in this case I think you've gone way too far ahead of yourself.

[Jake]

Yeah it seems a little hasty, and maybe dumb, to be posing "would it have sold better if..." questions when the game's hardly been out in stores for a week.

[Tanukitsune]

Nah... Most new generation gamers won't touch a 2D game with a 2 feet long stick!
I'm not sure sure if adventure games will die or not... but 2D is dying too....

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Yet another case of feisar's mouth entering the room, followed by his brain two days later.

feisar, I completely agree with what Marek stated. In fact, I think your premature, generalized posturing may do more harm than good, leading some people here to question the efficacy of BS3 based on your severely limited data.

At least leave the game alone for a month or so, then look at all the reviews, post mortem articles, sales figures, non-gaming publications that wrote about it (i.e., mainstream media), and investigate the popularity charts not only in the U.K. but all around the world!! feisar, please do your homework.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by Marek

I haven't played BS3 just yet (I've been a bit busy working on a feature for the site), so I won't comment on the 2D/3D or the quality of the game.

However, I don't think you have any basis for your assumption that BS3 sold badly. Feisar: you are not a sales analyst. You keep using your weekly sales charts but you neglect to put it in its proper context. Your sales charts are UK-only. Have you calculated in the fact that the UK has traditionally been the worst European market for adventure games? Have you looked at the sales numbers in France, Benelux, and most importantly Germany, which is possibly the world's strongest market for these games? Besides, I don't think you can tell anything by looking at just one sales chart for any territory.

Yeah, especially since it was very professionally translated in German, French and Italian, with the lip-synch. and everything.

[Henke]

I have no idea what goes on in the buyers minds (not even my own ). But I can safely say that the game would not have been better (or more beutiful) if it was made in 2D. But I believe that it would have been better if it had skipped (or toned down) the influences of other genres. This is deffinately not the revolution or future for adventure games.

[Marek]

Interesting. Can you explain which influences you're talking about?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Yeah, Henke, if yer gonna talk smart, talk smart! But please, no spoilers - I haven't played the game yet.

[Skinny Minnie]

Tiny mechanics spoiler:

Spoiler:

Crate dragging? Having to shimmy or jump across ledges? Although the latter was so easy and accident-proof on most occasions that it doesn't even remotely resemble a 3D action game...

[Henke]

See my reply in the "Broken Sword 3: what do you think so far?"-thread if you want a slightly better explanation of what I mean.

[jannar85]

I must agree.. I would rather play BS3 in 2D than in 3D.
2D will rule forever!11

[remixor]

Originally Posted by jannar85

I must agree.. I would rather play BS3 in 2D than in 3D.
2D will rule forever!11

Agree with who? I can't find anyone else in this thread who you could be agreeing with. Feisar just posed the question, and everybody else seems to think it wouldn't have done as well in 3D.

Personally, I think sales would have been a disaster in 2D. This game wasn't innovative enough in its actual storytelling and character development (this isn't a slight on Revolution, it's just that their innovations came elsewhere), so by removing the 3d mechanics which allowed them to do the new and interesting things they did, we'd be left with a game which would be a fairly standard 2d point-and-click (with a lot of crate puzzles). It's not that that would make it a bad game by any means but it DEFINITELY would not have sold well, and it wouldn't have given Revolution the freedom they had.

[Jake]

Debate is good and everything, but I think it's funny that "it would have sold better as a 2D adventure" is even coming up as a statement.

[remixor]

I think it's more absurd than funny

[feisar]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Yet another case of feisar's mouth entering the room, followed by his brain two days later.

feisar, I completely agree with what Marek stated. In fact, I think your premature, generalized posturing may do more harm than good, leading some people here to question the efficacy of BS3 based on your severely limited data.

At least leave the game alone for a month or so, then look at all the reviews, post mortem articles, sales figures, non-gaming publications that wrote about it (i.e., mainstream media), and investigate the popularity charts not only in the U.K. but all around the world!! feisar, please do your homework.

Severely limited data? I was just pointing out the BS1&2 sold over a million according to the same limited data and In Cold Blood was a top 10 hit with that data. Yet BS3 isnt. Almost all of that million PSX sales for BS1&2 were in Europe and most of them were the UK. The series has a big following here but its not selling in the units of the last games.

I deal with the UK charts because thats where Im from and the data is easier for me to get. BS has a big following and sold very well in the UK, unlike most other adventure series, yet the new version hasnt done quite so well. Thats not to say its not done the business elsewhere, the charts I post every week have "UK" written at the top, im sorry if people found that misleading.

I was just trying to raise a discussion on the game, yet its turned into a flame war *sigh*

Also *petty* its two weeks not one

[Igor]

I really love BS3 so far. I'm now a bit further in game and i can safely say it would gain *nothing* (only opposite) with sticking to 2d or classic point&click. As corny as it may sound, i believe this interface IS the "future" of adventure games. I can only wish that it will be used more often (games like Silent Hill, for example, would gain a lot with it).