Topic: Winter release logjam has GOT to stop...

[Smash_Brother]

Here's a hot topic for ya...

How about the fact that being a gamer from Jan-Oct is like crawling through a desert with a few rare oases here and there and then Nov-Dec is a flood where we struggle to keep our heads above water?

I'm glad a few companies are starting to savvy up to this, but here's the thing: why the hell do publishers insist upon piling on the game releases in one brief period?

Yes, I'm well aware that Xmas is a feeding frenzy of capitalism, but let's be honest here. When a well-known developer drops a massive game into the market, I don't care how much of a frenzy is going on, any game not of the same caliber is going to lose out on potential sales because it will be overshadowed and often completely overlooked.

Take Mario and Sonic Olympics, for example: I've played it and it's a great little game, one worthy of purchase, and had it released sometime during September after we had all finished MP3, I'm certain many Wii owners would have rushed right out to buy it because there was nothing else available at the time. Gamers are like furnaces: they need fuel to function, but you can douse a flame with enough oil instead of keeping it burning and I know that I can't even hope to play through all of the games I want to this Xmas and I consider myself a picky gamer. I can't even imagine what people who are the "give everything a try" types would be feeling right now.

What does everyone else think about this? I can't be the only one frustrated with this situation. Would you buy MORE games overall if they were spaced out throughout the year?

[IceCold]

Seriously. I don't know why the stupid third parties launched so many games within a week of the biggest Wii game of the year. I would have actually bought them too!

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: IceCold
Seriously. I don't know why the stupid third parties launched so many games within a week of the biggest Wii game of the year. I would have actually bought them too!

This is EXACTLY what I mean.

There are so many games which fall under the "I'm bored as hell, sure where there was a game out to try" category. A lot of them are pleasant surprises, but if no one plays them because they all buy Mario Galaxy instead, it doesn't exactly matter, does it?

[PaLaDiN]

Look at this:

Fire Emblem, Zack & Wiki, Orange Box (!), Sam & Max season 1, Super Mario Galaxy... all bought in the past week. Even if I could comfortably afford them all... when am I going to find time to play them all? To say nothing of the oppressive VC channels that greet me everytime I turn on my Wii...

I'll be visiting my cousin with a ps3 soon though. Thank God. Only Heavenly Sword to really choose from at his place.

So yes, I would very much like it if publishers stopped blowing their wad at the end of the year.  

[Plugabugz]

To be fair, 2007 is the year of push-backs. Everything from films to music and games has seen some sort of delays. It makes this november look more crowded than usual.

[vudu]

While this is certainly a bad practice for the industry it's not necessarily bad for consumers.  Keep in mind games aren't perishable.  Just because a game came out this week doesn't mean you have to buy it and play it now in order to extract any enjoyment out of it.  It's more than likely you're perfectly capable of storing the memory of the game in the back of your mind (or in a list on a sheet of notebook paper) and purchasing it six months from now.  If you're lucky, you might even be able to get it for a reduced price.

[NWR_pap64]

This is something I've seen saying for AGES now. Companies need to stop releasing so many games on the Holiday season and release something during the spring and summer. I'm guessing the reason they are so reluctant on releasing something during those seasons is because the number of people buying stuff is small when compared to the holiday season. But if I am not mistaken Starfox 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Yoshi's story, Final Fantasy VII and Goldeneye 007 were all off season releases and they became massive hits. Hell, if you want a more recent example Halo 3 came out in September and the world literally stopped for it! Metroid Prime 3 was one of the last releases of the summer time and that did well so there really isn't any excuse as to why companies dread the off season so much.

[Bill Aurion]

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Originally posted by: PaLaDiN
Fire Emblem, Zack & Wiki, Orange Box (!), Sam & Max season 1, Super Mario Galaxy...

You bought a game that has online play in it?  For shame...

[Luigi Dude]

This is why it was a good thing Nintendo delayed Smash Bros for Febuary.  With all the games that are coming out in November releasing Smash Bros in early December would have just been way too much.

At least now we'll all have plenty of time to finish all the other games we're playing before starting that beast up.

[Ian Sane]

"Seriously. I don't know why the stupid third parties launched so many games within a week of the biggest Wii game of the year. I would have actually bought them too!"

It's especially annoying after we've been all "where are the third party games" forever.  Well here they are!  Right in time for us to not need them!

I really wonder why summer isn't big for releases.  ALL THE KIDS ARE HOME FROM SCHOOL!!!  Seems like a goldmine to me!  Instead they release all the games during exams.

I don't know how we can ever convince companies to abandon this idea.  If we bought all the games they would assume that it's okay the way it is and anytime we don't buy a game they NEVER seem to think about if anything of their own control (ie: poor marketing, bad timing, high price, crappy game) has anything to do with it.

I think the problem is that for those that do sell well in the Christmas season they make some big dough and everyone wants to be that company.  Yeah there's like five games that will break out but how do you convince a company to not try for their game to be one of those five.  They're not thinking "boy our games get ignored every Christmas" but rather "we need a game in that top five".

[Mashiro]

Didn't Nintendo already address this? Something like "we realize games good games will sell any time of year" or something to that affect?

[Infernal Monkey]

They stopped it in PAL regions. =')

Zack and Wiki, Medal of Honor, Geometry Wars and countless others were pushed back into 2008 at the last second. I envy America's freedom of choice when it comes to holiday gaming. It's not like they're going to magically vanish from store shelves next year.  

[IceCold]

You never know, Zack and Wiki might..

[Ian Sane]

"Didn't Nintendo already address this? Something like 'we realize games good games will sell any time of year' or something to that affect?"

Yeah but they released Fire Emblem and Super Mario Galaxy mere weeks apart so maybe they haven't quite figured it out.  I'll cut them slack on Mario & Sonic at the Olympics since it's probably Sega being Sega.

[Luigi Dude]

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Originally posted by: Ian SaneI'll cut them slack on Mario & Sonic at the Olympics since it's probably Sega being Sega.

It is.  Sega is the ones publishing the title in America and Europe while Nintendo is publishing it in Japan.  So what does Sega do, they release it here in America a week BEFORE Super Mario Galaxy.  While in Japan, Nintendo is releasing the game on November 22nd, exactly 3 weeks AFTER Mario Galaxy was released over there.

This pretty much shows the IQ difference between Sega and Nintendo.

[NWR_insanolord]

Nintendo does seem to realize that it's possible to release big games outside the holiday rush (Super Paper Mario and Pokemon Diamond/Pearl in April, Metroid Prime 3 in August, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on September 1st) but then they release BWii, Fire Emblem, and Galaxy in the span of 15 days. Galaxy would have sold well no matter when it was released, but the other two could have really benefited from a release at a time where there wasn't as much competition and spreading them out more would have allowed Nintendo to give them more of an advertising push.

[Kairon]

I think that the hardcore market has become far more knowledgeable of the fact that games worth purchasing come out in Q4 as well, which can be seen from this year success stories like Lost Planet or Crackdown. Nintendo has also made sure to have a presence in this time slot, as the Wii got Warioware and Wii Play in January and February respectively.

However, I DO think that it makes sense that Q4 sees a slowdown amongst less extreme purchasers, because even though the Wii was still selling out this year, the charts showed a lot of consumer fatigue in general. Summer though... yeah, I don't get why that isn't a busier time for sales. Sure, you'll never have a Holiday season during the summer, but games like Overlord and Resident Evil 4 Wii benefitted hugely from coming out during the summer and trickling into the Holiday season.

[Maverick]

I always hated how I finally got out of school for three months and then there was nothing to play.  THAT is the true reason I dropped out of college.

[Kairon]

Go to college 12 months a year and your problems will go away, I can assure you.

[Maverick]

Haha... So I can expect that 35,000 dollars in my paypal account any day now, right?

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: Infernal Monkey I envy America's freedom of choice when it comes to holiday gaming. It's not like they're going to magically vanish from store shelves next year.

While I agree with the sentiment, the key issue is that, personally, games slip by and I wind up never playing/buying them, especially when another game appears on the horizon and I forget about certain games.