When good games go bad - Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3

Tech.co.uk - James Morris, 20 Dec 2007:

For over a year, virtually any mention of Crysis would get a website attention. If you happened to have exclusive game footage previews, you could expect your servers to be hammered to high heaven. But now the game has been out for a month, it's not proving to be the smash hit that was expected. After all the hype, why has Crysis sold so badly?

Which brings us to the other surprising loser at the retail outlet - Unreal Tournament 3 - although its lack of success can be put down to rather different factors than Crysis.

[aiphanes]

I think even crysis would sell good on the Xbox 360 and PS3...I think they will probably make a version for the consoles...

[JsonHenry]

The problem with Crysis sounds more like a CPU/RAM bottleneck more than a video card bottleneck.

And UT3 is just another rehash that PC gamers have been playing for YEARS. The reason that console owners are eating it up (aside from looking good) is that they have not already been worn out by the Unreal Tournament Series.

As always, Console owners get PC gamers seconds. Which is not a bad thing - if you haven't played these games before you SHOULD play them. Even if it is on a console.

[Statix]

JsonHenry: Never mind the fact that, in addition to UT3 for PS3, Unreal Tournament 2 was on the PS2 and the Xbox 1 last generation. And Unreal Tourney 1 was for the Dreamcast.

I guess that's why we're snapping these games up, after all, we've never experienced something like Unreal Tournament on consoles before. *Rolls eyes*.

[icechai]

Statix: Let's see, how many people owned Dreamcasts? exactly. Also how many people really played PS2 online compared to the total userbase of PS2? right.... now lets see, the majority of PS3 and Xbox360 users are online... which makes these games many wouldn't have picked up before seem like a brand new toy to a brand new console franchise.

[mbmonk]

@Henry

From what I have heard the GPU is the bottleneck. It takes 3 8800 cards in SLI to run Crysis at max settings. On the other hand if you have a quad core CPU then the 3rd and 4th core are used for 'framerate stabalization'. So from my limited knowledge it would seem the GPU is the bottleneck.

UT3 is boring. Downloaded the demo played it.. uninstalled it. I played this game X years ago it was Quake 3/ UT 2004. The demo did nothing to sell me on it. You can dress a turd up in a pretty dress... it's still a turd.

PS: Getting Crysis for Christmas.

[go0se]

Wait wait.....what do you mean no one played ps2 online??? Have you ever heard of a game called Socom? As a long time ps gamer I know for a fact tons of people were on playing ps2 online with Socom in its prime. At the height of Socom 2 I remember seeing 60k plus on (and thats just one game). Please know your facts before posting garbage like this.

[skynidas]

I'll have UT3 in my ps3 on January 7th, cant wait to kill some mothafu*kas, add me if you want
PSN ID: skynidas

[Drekken]

"But a console has never been the best thing to play deathmatch FPS games on - there just isn't the control or responsiveness. I can't see it competing with more story-led titles like Assassin's Creed."

Seriously? I play UT3 with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard and responsivness is a nonissue. This game is loads of intense fun and the guy who wrote this is a tool.

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

When good games are not published by M$ they go bad - Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3

UT3 is great, UT always was above Halo.

Crysis is pure class even though I cannot run it full.

[theox2g7]

Console gamers think they know so much about pcs and sales that they compare the sales to their console sales and measure success or failure by that, but pc games don't sell like console games that's a fact, console games use mostly hype to sell to their peek and then sales die with the hype, why do u think EA was expecting a measly 40,000 for first 2 weeks crysis sales and this was in NA alone and yet they got double that figure so they are touting crysis to be a success? because crysis isn't supposed to sell good now that most rigs can't play it well yet alone max it out just yet,
pc games sell with hardware not hype, even half life 2 on pc that sold 4 million copies to date sold like 100,000 in its first month which is only 20, 000 more than crysis, hl2 sold like hell when the average joe rig could max it out, games like crysis, hl2, doom3, oblivion couldn't be maxed out when they came out, so initial sales being weak didnt mean they would fail, expect crysis sales to accelerate dramatically later along the line, that can't happen with console games,

oh and they didn't even include EU sales in the 86,000 from the NPD data, cos it has been proven over time that pc games generally sell a whole lot in EU, check c&c 3 sales for pc, it bombed in US and sold about 6 times better in EU, and they didn't even friggin include online sales when that's the biggest thing now, with steam being a multi-billion dollar company, online sales can't be ignored either, online sales figures are getting too huge for pc to be ignored in these sales charts, considering the advantages it offers, so most pc gamers are migrating from shelves quicker than ever,

To measure the success of a pc game's sales, u have to measure from the time the average rig can max it out, so I can confidently say that cod4 is more of failure in sales because it could run on most average rigs pretty good even though it sold more than crysis, cos the capable rigs determines majority of the game's install base at any given time,

also about ut3, it wasn't good enough for pc gamers, just look at the low scores it's getting for pc, it wasn't innovative enough, pc gamers are spoiled with so many high profile addictive shooters especially multiplayer so i saw ut3 as mediocre game which would still be highly addictive and fun anyways, for a very solid mediocre pc game, 30k sales isn't too bad for the first month considering most pc gamers are waiting to upgrade before buying it,

who disagreed? give ur reasons,
on a side note, lots of ppl on this site who like to disagree with ppl who speak the truth, i mean go to the NPD sales chart topic and ppl got disagrees just for copying and pasting the information, jeez this site is infested with fanboys/tools

[led1090]

ok dude i've been reading this post of urs bout crysis selling 400000 on ea download store in many articles and as much as i want it to be true can u just give some sorta proof

[Statix]

That actually would be an absolutely terrible marketing on the part of EA, if true; wait for Crysis sales to pick up when everyone can eventually upgrade their PC parts to handle this game... when all the hype generated by its marketing and release has completely died down. Sounds like a really sound strategy (not).

I love how you contradict yourself in one sentence also: UT3 sold poorly because it is mediocre compared to all the "high profile addictive shooters" that are supposedly being showered onto the PC platform (yeah, right)-- but then you also go on to say that PC gamers are waiting to upgrade their rigs before sales for THAT game will pick up. So which one is it?

[led1090]

statix wat u dont realise i that pc games have never sold as fast as console games battlefield 2 sold 1 million copies in 2 months whereas 5-6 days is the do or die situation for most of the console games also look at cnc3 just 128000 copies in the us and more than a million worldwide even witcher just 40k in the us and more than a million worldwide that proves that us pc sales are far from an accurate representation of world sales for a game

[theox2g7]

@statix,
u r so wrong, do i have to repeat myself a million times? pc games don't need hype to sell, first there's piracy which is huge and then also most pc gamers are very picky about games so they aren't blinded by hype as much especially when their rigs are not up to task, releasing games that can't be maxed on current hardware isn't a marketing strategy on ea/crytek's part, it's a pc gaming standard that's been set for years, it is called scaling your game engine forward and pushing the envelope, pc games rely on hardware to sell that's why u have programs such as Nvidia's "The way it's meant to be played" which is an agreement between hardware manufacturers and developers to work together on games and split hardware/software profits together,
Consoles games however feed on hype machines and sometimes hype overshadows quality when it comes to sales, i mean there are so many excellent console games that sold terrible or not as good because they lacked hype and sales slow down after the hype shift focuses on the newer games, i mean look at halo 3 sales within the first few weeks and look at its weekly sales now, the hottest games at any given moment always sell the fastest on consoles, that's a fact

Then look at past pc games like oblivion, battlefield, c&c3, half life series, quake series that sold slowly years along the line and picked up the pace when newer hardware came out, sales are alot less and are at a much slower pace than consoles and it all depends on how quickly new hardware is released and price cuts occur cos hardware affordability is key to pc game sales

And i didn't contradict myself with ut3 and ur post doesn't make sense, my post about ut3 sales being poor was in regard to comparing it to crysis sales - 80k vs 30k, cos the fact is more ppl have rigs out there capable of running ut3 than crysis so ut3 should sell better, but because it wasn't anything special, it was the other way around, overall most pc games sell even better as more gamers upgrade their rigs,
and believe it or not, pc has always had way better shooters of higher quality than consoles except for games like goldeneye, perfect dark and halo, it wasn't till recently that that this trend is changing and consoles are now getting pc exclusive franchises like half life, unreal tournament and battlefield, do some research buddy, pc is the home of fps and rts and it has tons of quality AAA titles in that field, it just sucks that there are now so many recycled shooters that are multiplatform on pc and consoles, even then pc-exclusive shooters like stalker are still awesome, pc gaming also has variety of genres with rpgs and miscellaneous genres just that those games aren't as high profile or hyped, like i said they don't need hype to sell so most of them are under the radar

[led1090]

dude u still havent given me any links...i asked some ppl on incrysis...they said u were lying....

[theox2g7]

dude, even if it's a lie, it doesn't change the fact that online sales is growing too big to be ignored in sales data charts, but even then that's why i took it out of my post minutes after ur reply cos it was false and irrelevant like one of those rumors on the forums and even then it included total ea store with all other games so i clearly added "crysis and other games" if u recall correctly from all my other posts,

most of u didnt read thru my whole post properly and mistook the 400,000 for crysis alone and not all other ea games including ea sports, maybe i should have made that a little clearer, link is dead, statistic is debunked but most statistic numbers lie anyway to start with,
it's debunked, fine, but it doesn't change the whole point i'm making,
i checked the link but it said invalid topic, but it was on gamespot forums i recall,

if u were the one who disagreed with my second post, read through it a second time, there's nothing there about online sales or any of that garbage, everything in there can be easily substantiated with links but there is no need, wikipedia is ur friend, read about the pc games sales patterns over time, i've had enough of trying to explain this stuff

everybody makes mistakes sometimes, i guess that's all i can say, but i least i admit it, maybe my posts are too long and hard to read that most ppl misunderstand sometimes, things like this happen all the time

[Rooted_Dust]

The only reason I haven't bought UT3 on the PC yet is that I am waiting to get a 8800gt video card.

[HypedGaming]

Sad to see, but kinda true if you think about it. Although I loved Crysis single player even without being able to play on high graphics, it was still a one time, unreal experience compared to other games I have played. Call of Duty 4 won my heart with its multi-player play, while Crysis won for its single player play.

Crysis might have aimed to high for some.. But it still came about as an awesome game to have.. Even if you have to play it on lower settings.

[theox2g7]

and no one even talks about the sandbox editor and all the other good things the game has to offer, there are also tons of ppl who don't even give the game a chance because of all the negative media vibe it has been getting lately, some ppl who haven't even played the game look at trailers and screenshots and just bash game pretending like they've actually played, i also noticed for some ppl who complain about crysis, they're not too specific on why so that just shows it's more of a personal preference thing than the game itself not being good,
the demo is out there, free of charge, it doesn't hurt to give it a try, maybe u'll like it, maybe u won't? I can't guarantee either but i personally loved it.
Also, most pc gamers don't reply to negative stuff about crysis or talk about it's good sides maybe because they are too busy actually enjoying the game and having the time of their lives,
I also thought the singleplayer took the cake in crysis whiles cod4 totally pwned in multiplayer, speaking of which the new cod4 patch just came out, can't wait to try it out

[unitedchaos]

I have always enjoyed the UT series. Facing Worlds is still a memorable LAN favorite! I picked this up for my PS3 and came to the conclusion that UT is, and always will be Keyboard and Mouse game for me.

[Drekken]

So you are using a mouse and keyboard on your PS3 right?

I think ANY FPS is better with KB/M, more options with keys and better reaction and aim with mouse.

[scotthea311]

a keyboard and mouse are more responsive? I've been playing UT3 on my ps3 and the controller seems to be pretty responsive and quick to me. I had to dial the responsiveness down a bit cause it was too fast. I also seem to get plenty of kills in the game. Maybe there needs to be a test or showdown of Kb/M vs. Console Controller. Best out of 5 or something and see which is better.

Either way though, UT3 is an awesome fast paced shooter and you just can't beat the voice saying "multi-kill", "rampage", or "killing spree". I want that as a ringtone.

[unitedchaos]

Some games are better with dual analog, some with kb/m. I would not play COD4 any other way then my sixaxis. Call me a noob at UT3, buy due to it's fast pace I just find it easier / more enjoyable with kb/m. Looks great plays great regardless of you control medium.

[VirusE]

United i am with you on some games being better with the controller. I played bioshock on pc and i liked using my 360 pad better than a keyboard and mouse. I tried halo 2 on pc with they keyboard and mouse and it just felt wrong. I am playing crysis with keyboard and mouse and it feels like it was meant to be. Same thing with UT3. I think it really depends on the game.

[Cynical-Gamerzus]

Obviously after playing COD4 to death; people tend to get sick of the same FPS games!over and over and over and over,
How many Darn FPS games can you buy and over and over? ??How different can the get??not very different!
I would rather play God of War 2 at 480p. Or Wii games that are varied or even Lair!
At 50-60 dollars whats the purpose of buying so many FPS??
people are sick of this crap ..
PC developers need to find a new angle on games..PC's gaming sucks!

[Statix]

You're probably going to get flamed for your opinion, but you do seem bring up a valid point. It seems like almost every "major" game release on the PC is an FPS. At some point, you have to consider market saturation and fatigue caused by such a glut of the genre. It can't be all that fun to have to play nothing but FPS (and RTS) games all day long. Variety is an important factor to consider.

[theox2g7]

even then most of the garbage/recycled fps are multiplatform as well so consoles also suffer from this plague,
most pc games especially average rated fps and rts are also way cheaper so it doesn't really hurt to pick those games up at $19.99 plus pc games have a wider variety of genres than u think, it's just that the fps and rts get all the spotlight and hype, there are tons of underrated quality games on pc such as rpgs and action/adventure games like the witcher that don't have enough hype to reach the radars of console gamers or general gaming news, just visit gamestop one day and go to their ever shrinking pc section, even then u would find that fps and rts aren't as many when u look at the bigger picture of the game's scope, also because all consoles are mostly considered as one unified platform when comparing to pcs which is kinda unfair cos u have like 4-5 consoles going up against pc, the number of console titles that flood the market completely overshadow the pc titles in the same genre so unless the pc game is multiplatform or has a substantial amount of hype, nobody hears or cares about the game despite it being a potentially excellent game

pc gaming doesn't suck, it all balls down to personal preference, every platform has its good games and there are lots of underrated awesome games on each platform, you just have to open eyes wide if u want to find them, maybe u may not find pc games in the calibre of god of war 2 exactly but u can find others that are just as fun and engaging

[Dpa]

I got Crysis, but i just cant motivate myself to play it. To be blunt, its boring and feels uninspired.

[cavvac]

same here

[theox2g7]

Everbody feels inspired to play games for different reasons, it's all about preference, if u are more into console style shooters or console games in general, you might not like crysis as much, even far cry on consoles was completely reworked and changed to suit console gamer's needs, plus when u own other gaming consoles like ps3 and xbox360 with so many awesome games on your hand, it's harder to get motivated by a pc game no matter how good it might be especially when u game on a small monitor for ur pc as opposed to hdtv for ur consoles,
For me, i loved the far cry pc game and how they improved the sandbox gameplay in crysis and that's where the inspiration comes from, the variety of styles u can use to play as opposed to limitations in other games, also the game engine gives u a sense of immersion where u actually feel it's you in the game because things work realistically so u know if u shoot this tree, it'll fall, or if u punch that wall, it'll break, this makes it a lot more immersive and fun when u get to do stuff u can't do in real life, even if the game was completely sh1t on its own, the included sandbox editor would make the purchase worth it, i mean freedom to practically do anything, remodel levels in the game to suit ur preferences, change the environment/terrain, i can go on and on!!
so it's a wonderful game for me and I'm having a blast with it, it's good to have variety of opinions of games and styles of gameplay so all gamers can be satisfied overall, u see most ppl were more wow'ed by cod4 than i was because of my preference, i mean i loved cod4 but that thing like where maybe there is a level in the game where for instance a chopper crashes into a building or something awesome happens and it's locked to that level so u have to play that level just to see that awesome thing in the level and u don't have any control over it, for me, this took away the replay value of the cod4 single player campaign as opposed to crysis where u can actually make things like that happen anywhere and control most of the battles the way u like it except for the somewhat linear final levels, i'm already on my 6th time playing through on delta difficulty and i'm not using any guns at all,

All in all, games are improving and gamers should be happy, so enjoy ur games no matter the platform,

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

UT3 is just bad, I expected much more from Epic.

[AIZEN SOZUKE]

well ps3 wasnt part of the article so no hard feelings, but pcs abilities ARE above CONSOLES, and so are ps3s

[HarryEtTubMan]

Yea UT3 is gonna do WAYYYY better on the PS3. As for Crysis.... MAJOR FLOP OF ALL FLOPS. Ive heard Crysis is horrible. And it flopped. Ouch man!

I'm picking up UT3 on PS3 in a couple days...may have already gotten it actually

[stennexxx]

BOTH XBOX AND THE PS3 ARE TECHNICALLY COMPUTER BOXES MINUS WORD. WHEN UT3 COMES OUT ON THE XOBX360 YOU XBOTS WILL UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU GET TO PLAY THIS AWESOME GAME. PC GAMING IS IN TROUBLE.

[JokerSGS]

PC games that require such technical power usually don't sell well. I'm buying UT3 soon but Crysis requires too much. I have the technical power to play it, but without DX10 which is only on Vista, I hardly see a point.

[led1090]

dude thr is a tweak available which enables all the very high features in xp and it gives a huge performance boost over vista......also compared to other games 30 fps in crysis is butter smooth ask any one...its cause of the excellent motion blur which makes the game look smooth

[TwissT]

UT3 will be in my ps3 on Christmas day.

[mersenne]

farcry actually reinvented the gameplay of fps crysis fails in that point its looks like the same old farcry with a new suit and improved graphics