Topic: Red Steel 2 Sells 50,000 According to NPD

[NWR_Neal]

Ubisoft's MotionPlus-powered title is slow out of the gate after 12 days of sales.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=22924

 Kotaku reports that Red Steel 2 sold about 50,000 units in the March NPDs according to financial analyst Michael Pachter.    

However, those numbers are only from 12 days of sales, as Red Steel 2 came out on March 23 and the March NPDs only covered up until April 3.    

"Considering that the NPD sales only accounted for 12 days on the store shelves and that NPD doesn't include all retailers we are looking forward to a complete month of sales data to see where we stand," a Ubisoft representative told Kotaku.    

In January, Ubisoft cut sales expectations for the game in half from 1 million to 500,000.    

We'll most likely have to wait until the April NPDs are released next month for the full story on Red Steel 2's early sales, but this early peek at the sales isn't too promising.

[King of Twitch]

Not bad, their projections were only off by one zero

[Toruresu]

Were all of those packed in with WM+?

[TJ Spyke]

Were all of those packed in with WM+?

Yes, due to the fact that Wii MotionPlus is required to play the game. That means another 50,000 or so Wii MotionPlus's were sold.

Not a terrible number consider how late in the month in came out, I wish it was a little higher considering that the game has been getting good reviews (I haven't played it yet).

[ThePerm]

im sorry Ubisoft i have no money

[BlackNMild2k1]

Were all of those packed in with WM+?

Yes, due to the fact that Wii MotionPlus is required to play the game. That means another 50,000 or so Wii MotionPlus's were sold.

Wrong. Very very Wrong. There was a Non M+ version that was $10 cheaper in most stores. That's the version that I bought.

[NWR_insanolord]

I also bought the no-MP version, seeing as I already own 3 MotionPluses and there's no good reason to own more than two at the moment.

[TJ Spyke]

This is the first mention i've seen of it, every PR and news release I saw said that it would only be bundled with the Wii MotionPlus.

[Mop it up]

I'm fine with these numbers, I actually expected it to be a bit lower. And I think over time, it might reach that second projection of 500,000 at some point. It seems like the type of game which could catch sales through word of mouth and such, if it is as good as reviews say.

[KDR_11k]

Don't blame me, I bought it (with M+ because the store sold that version cheaper than the regular...) but NPD doesn't care about me.

[GK]

Ditto on the M+ less version.

[ShyGuy]

I too bought the non-M+ version. I wonder how the profit margins were on M+ for Ubi?

Let's hope this game hits 500k worldwide by the end of the year.

[Stratos]

I pre-ordered and recieved the non-M+ version too. I have two white M+ and a black one to go with my black 'Mote. I'll get another black one when I get a second black 'Mote. Then I'll mix and match so the black ones have white M+ and vise versa. I think that would look pretty cool.

[NeoStar9X]

You get the results that reflect how you push the game. Midnight advertising (and midnight commercials that significantly shows more live actors then the game itself) is almost the same as no advertising. I don't ever recall PS3 or Xbox 360 games ever having their commercials limited to midnight time slots and no network TV presence.

I don't really care anymore at this point in time. The game was enjoyable for me. I'd recommend it to others without any problem. However if Ubisoft loses money on this because of their lack of action and effort then too bad for them. I hope no one that developed this game is hurt. They did their job well. It's the marketing department that needs to have some changes yet that won't happen because Ubisoft upper levels will continue not to care in the end.

[Peachylala]

It's a Wii game, from a third party. The only way for this game to get the attention it deserves is through word of mouth alone.

It will be just like the rest that get sent out to die.

[KDR_11k]

I don't think cel shading does well in the market.

[BlackNMild2k1]

You get the results that reflect how you push the game. Midnight advertising (and midnight commercials that significantly shows more live actors then the game itself) is almost the same as no advertising. I don't ever recall PS3 or Xbox 360 games ever having their commercials limited to midnight time slots and no network TV presence.

I don't really care anymore at this point in time. The game was enjoyable for me. I'd recommend it to others without any problem. However if Ubisoft loses money on this because of their lack of action and effort then too bad for them. I hope no one that developed this game is hurt. They did their job well. It's the marketing department that needs to have some changes yet that won't happen because Ubisoft upper levels will continue not to care in the end.

Wut?
I saw plenty of commercials at all times of the day. I can't recall on which channels, but i saw the commercials all the time.
I think the main flaw to one commercial was when they claimed "Most accurate sword fighting game today" or something like that, and then the guy is swinging his wiimote and the sword on screen wasn't matching up to what he was doing. If I didn't already know that I wanted the game, that might have turned me off.

[D_Average]

The game just needs more dancing, just add it Ubisoft!

[Jonnyboy117]

I wonder if Jeff Gerstmann will reconsider his answer to my question at PAX East about the wisdom of keeping the Red Steel name. I think a lot of people got burned by the first one and don't read reviews or anything else that would inform them of the sequel's quality.

[broodwars]

I wonder if Jeff Gerstmann will reconsider his answer to my question at PAX East about the wisdom of keeping the Red Steel name. I think a lot of people got burned by the first one and don't read reviews or anything else that would inform them of the sequel's quality.

I don't think all the reviews pointing out that the controls and the graphical style are all this game has going for it helped any, either.  That's pretty much why I didn't buy the game.  I suppose the stigma of the name and Ubisoft on Wii in general had something to do with it as well, though I never did play the original Red Steel.

[BeautifulShy]

I haven't bought this yet and it does not have to do with Ubisoft's reputation on the Wii platform. It has to do with having to many games in my backlog and to many games that I want that are upcoming or recently released and not having enough money for them all.

[NWR_Neal]

This news doesn't surprise me at all, but whatever, I freaking love this game. Hopefully it'll inch its way to Ubisoft's 500,000 hope and get enough ground to get a sequel.

[D_Average]

This game doesn't look bad, but it doesn't do anything to stand out for me that I must play it. 

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I predicted 20K.  2 is like a 5, but flipped.  So I win.

Red Steak 2 only has the most involving, intense combat in a first-person game to date.  It's not exactly something you can communicate to the millions of lazy gamers out there.

[ShyGuy]

Remember when Jeff Gerstmann demoed Wii Tennis sitting on the couch? Good times.