>The bottom line for EA is that they’ve lost $3 billion in stock value since the crisis started, even as rival publishers Activision and Take-Two Interactive (owners of Rockstar) have seen their share price rise. That means EA execs have a lot of explaining to do to their investors, not least because they’re still mired in controversy over why they shut down Visceral Games and cancelled their Star Wars game.
>According to EA the main reason for this was that linear single-player games are no longer as popular as they once were. The Star Wars game, codenamed Ragtag, was believed to be similar to the Uncharted series, which has had two very successful games in just the last few years. Speaking to investors, as reported by DualShockers, EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen described the canned Star Wars title as a ‘much more linear game, that people don’t like as much today as they did five years ago or 10 years ago.’
>Linear single-player games have never really been EA’s thing, so you’d think they’d realise the potential problems early on, but Jorgensen did admit they’d been wrong to let development go on for as long as it did. But he insisted that you have to ‘cut the bridge when you realise can’t really make a lot of money on something’. Although the game’s linearity may well have been a concern to EA reports suggest that the specific problem execs had was that there was no obvious way to add loot boxes to the games.
>the main reason for this was that linear single-player games are no longer as popular as they once were. Explain Sonic Mania, then.
Elijah Jones
This is a bigger BS excuse than “MUH CANON”.
Adam Scott
Mediocre rehashes are the future. EA will be playing catch up.
Jordan Ward
You can't just point at a nostalgia-bait game and say that these games are as popular as ever
Chase Evans
Its just damage control. People would have still bought and played battlefield:starwars edition if they weren't being Jewish. Would they have loved a good single player? Hell Yeah but a soild multi-player without any jew tactics would have sold just fine.
Aaron Jenkins
Unfortunately EA kicker Tia quickly becoming the industry standard. Rockstar, Blizzard, even fucking Bethesda is trying to shoehorn microtransactions into their progressively shittier SINGLE PLAYER games.
Jackson Hernandez
Explains Prey. Explains Wolfenstein: The New Order. Explains the Dishonored games. Explains The Evil Within and its sequel. All recent linear games have been commercial failures. Meanwhile GTA5 is still charting, Ghost Recon Wildlands is one of this year most commercially successful game despite being mediocre, Mario & Zelda got rave reviews for being less linear, open-world Shadow of Mordor was the best selling game last month, etc. EA is right.
Nathan Watson
That's true though. DOOM, Wolfenstien, and The Evil Within 2 all sold like shit despite being good games with no microtransactions.
Liam James
>DOOM sold like shit what? I thought it was a pretty damn big success?
Isaiah Smith
Was thinking of Dishonored, another Zenimax game starting with the letter D.
Nicholas Reyes
So this is a good time to buy EA shares right?
Jackson White
First wolfenstien sold pretty well. Dno about evil within 2.
Lucas Ward
They didn't sell like shit. A game doesn't have to hit MW2 and GTAV levels of popularity to break even.
Nathaniel Jackson
SpongeBob poster, I'm not fuckin writing my congressman. I don't give a shit. Stop.
Dishonored sold well. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dishonored#Sales >In North America, Dishonored was the fourth best-selling game of October 2012, selling 460,200 physical units, exceeded only by Pokémon Black Version 2, Resident Evil 6 and NBA 2K13
Lucas Cox
I think he might be talking about the more recent Dishonored and Wolfenstein
Mason Reed
Well that's because Dishonored 2 featured a woman and Wolfenstein 2 is a SJW fest.
Brandon Stewart
So what you're saying is that butthurt Anti-SJWs are responsible for the game industry being shunted towards microtransaction-fuelled multiplayer-only whorefests. Good to know.
Andrew Cruz
>linear single-player games have never really been EA's thing
Bull fucking shit. It was back during the PS2 era when they actually made good games. So saying it has never really been there thing is just poor reporting. Saying it hasn't EA's thing in recent years is a better sentence.
>single player games aren't as popular
LOL okay sure it isn't.
Isaiah Edwards
You sound mad.
Benjamin Garcia
it says "LINEAR single-player games"
Lincoln Campbell
no, that's just your feelings talking, because you're one of these dipshits that watch the sargon all day and giggle at extremist sjw shit. You're a faggot.
Anyway, the latest wolfenstein didn't sell as well nearly, but it wasn't like a complete bombshell or anything. there's currently over 300k owners and around 3k daily players.
It seems that the physical sales dropped 36% compared to the original, but it still sold very well on steam. >That same week, the game had sold the most pre-orders on Steam and was ranked sixth in overall sales.
Charles Williams
Resident evil 7 Nier automata Evil within 2 Breath of the wild Super Mario Oddysey Sonic Mania Cuphead Prey Uncharted Horizon
Fuck off retard.
Anthony Cooper
>because Dishonored 2 featured a woman Are you delusional or something? Games featuring women are successful.
Daniel Johnson
Why do devs keep selling themselves out to EA? At this point, there's no excuse.
Leo Gomez
Single player games sell, they just don't sell well enough for EA to give a shit.
Eli Green
It's fucking Star Wars, it would have sold regardless. The normal rules don't apply.
Eli Rivera
Nioh South park N sane trilogy Hellblade Yooka laylee Rime Hollow knight Metroid samus returns Wolf 2 Doom
Landon Young
>Nier automata >Breath of the wild >Horizon all non-linear >Sonic Mania >Mario All nostalgia bait >Evil Within 2 >Prey All not very successful
Please fuck off, retard
Logan Wood
this is a good point too.
Plus the starwars unleashed games sold well. With any kind of decent marketing, it would of sold just fine simply cause it was a star wars game.
>The Force Unleashed was both the fastest-selling Star Wars game and LucasArts' fastest-selling game.
EA just has no clue what they're doing.
Brayden Cruz
Why do you even care to reply? He's just going to tee you that those games haven't sold enought for his corporate's cock master standard.
Cooper Perry
A large corporation - and not just any corporation, but EA - wants to make money at any cost. WHAT A SHOCKER, OP.
Jordan Sullivan
That only shows that the majority of the audience is made of anti-SJWs. So devs just need to ignore SJWs and make games for anti-SJWs like they used to do before 2014.
Charles Young
>when you have this level of brain cancer and your worldview is literally shaped by three letters.
Ethan Rivera
...
Jack Sanders
>rival publishers Activision call me when that's dying OP
Julian Jones
>LINEAR MEANS LONG CORRIDORS
shut up retard.
Levi Hill
>In the OP it says Linear Singleplayer titles aren't as succesful anymore >I say nostalgia bait doesn't count >retard lists games that aren't linear as well as nostalgia bait AS WELL AS linear single player games that weren't succesful >I am somehow moving goalposts Don't you have special ED to attend?
Noah Wright
What are you trying to say? >non SJW-bait game sells well >SJW-bait game flops What does this show if not that SJWs are a minority as an audience for games?
Sebastian Howard
And we're supposed to care about that why? This is a video games board, not an EA stockholder's meeting.
Josiah Young
Linear means not an open world, retard
Lucas Wilson
What the two games that were specifically pointed out and did sell well?
I'm suggesting to you personally to go outside, because your brain can't handle anything out of this "IS SJW OR NOT?" mentality which a form of brain cancer.
Stay out of your (((echo))) chambers, kiddo.
Tyler Thompson
I don't see what the controversy is. They had to come up with a bullshit way to say "the game was gonna be shit" without making themselves look bad for sinking money into a product they had to scrap. If there was any way the game would make back a fraction of what they dumped into it without a publicity shitshow, they would have put it out there to cut their losses. The only reason they would possibly scrap it is because it was so bad and incomplete that they didn't want to risk more negative PR and they thought the amount of time left to make the game workable wouldn't make up the cost of man hours. This is textbook "We fucked up and made a shit product but we can't admit that so bluntly" so theres no reason to assume this game would have been good.
Brody Green
I'm not sure why you replied to me with that, but we should care, at least to a degree, because what goes on in those stockholder's meetings directly impacts the "games" we "discuss" here.
I was only commenting on the fact that OP made it sound like it was some big surprise.
Jackson Howard
right so long corridors specifically, which is autistically hyper specific just so you can try to prove your point.
it's actually embarassing.
Lincoln Diaz
>name a successful linear single player game Sonic mania >haha sorry nope..you have to abide by my made up conditions looks like you lose again Yeah, nah. Fuck off retard. Theres still games like Nioh, RE7, Hellblade, Cuphead. Keep sucking that corporate cock
Wyatt Johnson
W2 and D2 sold well?
Samuel Wilson
Is uncharted considered open world?
Cause this would of been uncharted with starwars. That would of sold well.
Luis Morris
Is there a reason you're completely ignoring my post with the stats on it? Here I'll link you a third time:
Noah Lopez
>would of would have
Mason Evans
>here's currently over 300k owners AHAHAHAH >that link >literally zero sales figures ok user you sure convinced me!
Michael Reed
so, i guess this game would have (there you go kiddo) sold very well then, since you don't seem to have an argument.
Cameron Taylor
300k is nothing for a game like wolf2. It flopped.
Adrian Hall
I can't find sales figures, so that's why I could go by.
You wanna find me those sales figures, kidd-e? And how is 300k owners something to scoff at, wouldn't that indicate over 300k on steam? How is that bad?
Can you show me any stats or anything to prove your point or?
And i guess we're just gonna ignore the obvious success of Dishonored 2? We're just gonna ignore that completely?
Aiden Rodriguez
The Last of Us sold like hotcakes and that is as linear as it comes
Jacob Rivera
no need to be upset SJW-kun
Levi Ross
Well that's specifically steam, digital sales. I can't actually find physical sales.
If you do compare it to the first one, it is only a fifth. It didnt' do nearly as well to be sure, but I don't know if it would be considered a 'flop' or not cause I can't find the other sales figures.
Brody Thomas
>would of
Levi Anderson
Stop buying Western AAA games.
Camden Moore
So, you don't actually have any data, you're just "hurr sjw shit, boo durr". Then why bother posting lol?
Go watch your sargon so you can laugh at sjws screaming while the adults talk about this okay, kiddo.
Josiah Sanchez
What if I mostly play Western indie games?
Juan Rivera
you admitted you don't have any data either so why are you even arguing?
Landon Hill
It definitely is a flop if it sold less than the first one. Even if it made money, it flopped if it didn’t meet expectations. There’s a thing called opportunity cost and a game barely scraping by is a huge waste.
Aaron Jackson
>being this buttblasted that you're wrong
Xavier Torres
>linear single player games aren't popular They aren't wrong. Linear games need to be very well designed to be any good. Something EA isn't capable of.
Could have made it open world where mediocrity thrives though.
Julian Bennett
>cherry picking
Brayden Hughes
>gets absolutely btfo’d while writing stupid shit like “kiddo” >leaves thread
Jaxon Butler
Well, no. Sequels are pretty much never expected to as well as the first. I don't know how you're making that assumption. I mean it may well be considered a flop, but it also got panned critically for just being shit compared to the first.
Even totalbiscuit, who shilled the fuck out of the first game as "best game of the year", said this game wasn't nearly as good as the first.
It definitely didn't meet expectations I'm sure, just by going by the number of owners, at least on steam.
Justin Roberts
>Linear single player games just are not popular anymore >Just look at Uncharted. An incredibly popular linear single player game
EA is so fucking out of touch
Grayson Cruz
Because these guys are retarded, they don't understand that having your $300mil mass market game doesn't mean you can't have your $20mil niche market games too.
Not that I think that other game wasn't going to be mass market trash too, but the point stills stands. You can make modest budget games to target different audiences and build good will for your brand.
Daniel Ramirez
Nigga you can't even use words the right way. You're both wrong, but you're wrong on a core level.
Nicholas Lewis
Man kiddy, you really want attention.
Adrian Bennett
Good. EA shouldn't capitulate to retards who can't control themselves or their spending habits.
Gabriel Lewis
>nigga >on a core level
Thanks for the criticism, retard.
Nolan Anderson
What the fuck are you even saying? The game sold poorly (to be best of our knowledge) and you seem to be agreeing with that point. My next point is even if it did mediocre it still wouldn’t really be worth the budget because of the opportunity cost. Literally what are you trying to say? It sounds like you’re agreeing with me, but you start with “well no”
Carson Phillips
BUT MONEY
Caleb Price
>Sequels are pretty much never expected to as well as the first. I don't know how you're making that assumption. Why would any fucking publisher/company try to make a franchise out of fucking anything and attempt annual sequels out the ass
Noah Miller
>tfw you realize you've been schooled by someone you consider a retard
Perfect reaction pic, I'm going to save it in case I ever find myself in your predicament.
Aaron Wood
>Sequels are pretty much never expected to as well as the first. what the fuck is this bullshit, it's always been the opposite. The only medium this doesn't apply to is anime, and even there it's because anime is glorified advertising for the manga it's based off
Joseph Russell
Because you're hardline defining 'flop' as 'it didn't do as well as the first' which is fucking retard, because practically no games do as well as the first. Look at dishonored, south park, evil within, even dark souls 1 vs 2 where casuals were actually into dark souls by the second one, it still sold less even though it had a much wider marketing scheme and several different iterations.
By your definition of 'flop', pretty much every fucking sequel would be considered a flop, which is again retarded to be absolutely clear.
So, what I'm saying in regards to Wolf 2, is that we don't really know yet if it's considered a flop, because don't know the hard numbers yet and that your 'feelings' about how well it did, do not matter.
Bentley Perez
>the only medium that this happens is anime
please end yourself or just leave, you're a fucking retard.
Ian Bennett
is the bf2 campaign not linear single player?
Jaxon Gray
>we're making a star wars adventure >make it like uncharted >well we can tailor it to be kind of li- >no, make uncharted with star wars thingies >i suppose we can cut out th- >you're taking too long. goodbye
Carter Reed
I never gave that definition of flop. Here I’ll give a real one, how about... I don’t know... maybe... “the game doesn’t meet expectations” Like you said >It definitely didn't meet expectations I'm sure, just by going by the number of owners, at least on steam.
Thomas Scott
see: >It definitely is a flop if it sold less than the first one.
And now, you're saying the opposite. I'm done here, retard, you can't even stick to your own argument. I won.
Brody Jones
>Even if it made money, it flopped if it didn’t meet expectations Expectations will be based on the first games success. It’s why games can sell like a million copies and still flop. See dead space 3
Ethan Peterson
>Blizzard >SINGLE PLAYER What?
Samuel Long
You can’t even interpret my argument. You lose. Do you even know what opportunity cost is? That’s what this was all about. It’s a waste of money to publish a game that makes only a little money when you could publish a game that makes a lot. The game flopped if it didn’t make a lot of money and didn’t meet expectations that’s all I’ve ever said. You’re retarded.
Carter Miller
>single player games aren't popular
i fucking LOVE this meme
yeah i'm sure TESVI will be an absolute fucking failure
Aiden Garcia
That was more shitty marketing than anything else, desu
Luke Long
>one example >an example where a lot of people prefer the original >an example where the original has been cheaper than $5 on sale and the sequel hasn't >an example that's considered the spiritual sequel to a ps3 exclusive
Tyler Sullivan
>break even Every businessman's dream. I bet they all wake up in the morning, and pray in their hearts years of effort and investment will break even.
Michael Lopez
>act like pedantic grammar nazi >use a comma splice You're definitely retarded.
Daniel Perry
Still bullshit
Jackson Phillips
That's not how linear progression works. You can have an 'open world' game that puts you on rails to follow a set story path like inFamous and Assassin's Creed.
William Green
>people aren't buying our single player games anymore >it must be because they don't like them not that we make shitty single player games
