South Park needs to sell 2 Mil. copies to break even? What?

[C2B]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/172036/THQ_sold_UFC_license_after_failing_to_break_even_on_it.php

 

South Park requires a relatively smaller investment than other titles due to its simple animation. That project's break-even point is also 2 million units, though the publisher believes it can sell well above that, THQ told Pachter.

 

 

This.... This can't be right. I mean WHAT?

[ShadowScythe]

Uh oh.

[Tigranes]

They better have a gigantic marketing budget for that to make sense.

[Flouride]

They better have a gigantic marketing budget for that to make sense.

 

Either that or Obsidian and/or Matt&Trey are getting a huge payday off the top. But to be honest, unless it gets totally murdered in reviews it will sell those 2 million units, just because it's South Park if properly marketed.

The team itself at Obsidian is around 50 people.

[Labadal]

I personally doubt it'll sell 2 million copies. I'm expecting Dungeon Siege III numbers.

[Wombat]

Not sure of exact numbers but the game seems to be basically for South Park fans and the presentation appears to be quite faithful to the series.

 

Probably, the question for Obsidian fans is how Obsidian game it would be - the system of RPG seems to be solid, which is one thing (It was not just nice words when I wrote there must be tasks which require RPG veterans, criticizing Alpha Protocol). However, how much of the writing and dialogues (and thus C&C) are Obsidian? I cannot get rid of an impression that SP staff might have gone to Bioware to find their hands were full and/or have found they didn't have enough budget while Obsidian being just their second choice. Watching TV show dialogues written by Parker and Stone with solid RPG combat/loot mechanisms will sell enough to SP fans and it may be enough fun even to Obsidian fans, though.

 

In any case, since, from a financial point of view, obviously, it would be good when the money eared is much more than invested, considering the situation surrounding THQ, they probably needed to put an emphasis on that. We can only hope that the situation won't get so hard to Obsidian. In any case, even before the subprime-loan-triggered recession, I was quite skeptical of the financial systems.

 

At the moment, I'm hoping for at least one successful example of Kickstarter and the possibility of involvement of some Obsidian members to a project, either as a company or individuals. I may preorder Dishonored to show my support but, basically, any major title shouldn't need any "support vote" if they are to be successful at all and thus can wait till digital sales.

[GhostofAnakin]

Has any Obsidian title sold 2 million units?

[WorstUsernameEver]

Has any Obsidian title sold 2 million units?

 

F:NV. And, uhm, I think Neverwinter Nights 2 might have sold that much? I don't remember how much KotOR 2 sold, but I don't think they reached numbers in that ballpark (market wasn't as big at the time though). That said, I'm pretty sure Neverwinter Nights 2 (assuming I'm remembering that number correctly) sold that kind of numbers during its lifetime, while I'm pretty sure that THQ wants 2 mil copies *fast* to recoup the development expenses. I'm not really sure why the game would need that kind of sales: Trey and Matt cost a lot of money? They're pouring a lot of effort into marketing?

 

Good luck Obsid and THQ. Well, mostly Obsidian, since THQ recent classy moves such as trying to hide the closure of their UFC studio during E3, so I'm not sure I really care that much for them. Then again, Darksiders

Edited June 8, 2012 by WorstUsernameEver

[Flouride]

 

I'm not really sure why the game would need that kind of sales: Trey and Matt cost a lot of money? They're pouring a lot of effort into marketing?

 

 

Or maybe THQ is just flat out bsing. They are bleeding for money after all, getting a fat income from South Park would surely benefit the company at this stage. But I guess the more reasonable/probable answer is a big marketing budget.

[Wombat]

Well, I'd just say the statements sound quite "political."

[BobSmith101]

Has any Obsidian title sold 2 million units?

 

FNV probably did at least that. As long as the advertise in South Park the show I don't think they will have problems reaching those numbers. They could even write a show around it since everyone involved is on the same page and wants to make money from it.

[Hassat Hunter]

It does seem like unrealistic high numbers... Like a certain SEGA on a certain Alpha Protocol.

 

[C2B]

It does seem like unrealistic high numbers... Like a certain SEGA on a certain Alpha Protocol.

 

 

Yeah, but there are reasons WHY AP needed to sell high (high development costs). Here?

[Baeus]

Maybe the South Park license was stupidly expensive? That is why licensed games have a rep for turning out as, ahem, less than awesome. So much of the budget gets blown on the name, leaving little for development.

 

Does seem like a lot to break even though. The previews seem to be quite positive though.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Baeus

[C2B]

Maybe the South Park license was stupidly expensive? That is why licensed games have a rep for turning out as, ahem, less than awesome. So much of the budget gets blown on the name, leaving little for development.

 

Does seem like a lot to break even though. The previews seem to be quite positive though.

 

Matt and Trey started this whole thing in the first place before THQ was even in the picture.

[ShadowScythe]

Also aren't Viacom the ones publishing while THQ are just distributing? At least that's what I thought.

[Bos_hybrid]

Given most AAA games struggle to hit 2M....... I don't think any of THQ's games have sold that, besides Saints Row.

 

Not exactly what you would want to hear.

[C2B]

Given most AAA games struggle to hit 2M....... I don't think any of THQ's games have sold that, besides Saints Row.

 

Not exactly what you would want to hear.

Given most AAA games struggle to hit 2M....... I don't think any of THQ's games have sold that, besides Saints Row.

 

Not exactly what you would want to hear.

 

After a bit of researching 2 M seems to be the break even point for every of their games.

 

I still think that number can't be real.

[Tale]

I've heard that few games make a profit. But I've never been quite clear on whether that was the game industry equivalent of hollywood accounting or not.

[C2B]

Also aren't Viacom the ones publishing while THQ are just distributing? At least that's what I thought.

 

Well THQ is the publisher. Who finances what is unclear though. And then licenses costs.

 

But even then, their costs shouldn't need this number of sales. There are numerous things we heard about Viacom/South Park provided and they at least payed till THQ came into the picture. So does THQ just throw everything into Marketing?

[Lexx]

Maybe that's a long time goal? Like, South Park should get 2 million sales in the first or second year or something? Because - like most around here - I find the value to be quite strange otherwise.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Lexx

[Gorth]

Maybe they just have a rubberstamp with 2 million on it which they use on their budgets for new games?

 

I somehow suspect a typo or a paragraph ended up in the wrong place. THQ isn't even the publisher, so why the heck would *they* need to shift 2 million units? Isn't advertising and PR the responsibility of the publisher? Maybe they get a performance bonus if they can get that many copies into peoples hands through their distribution channels?

[C2B]

Maybe they just have a rubberstamp with 2 million on it which they use on their budgets for new games?

 

I somehow suspect a typo or a paragraph ended up in the wrong place. THQ isn't even the publisher, so why the heck would *they* need to shift 2 million units? Isn't advertising and PR the responsibility of the publisher? Maybe they get a performance bonus if they can get that many copies into peoples hands through their distribution channels?

 

THQ is at responsible for the PR how it looks.

[J.E. Sawyer]

FNV probably did at least that.

F:NV sold-in 5 million units during its first three weeks.

[BobSmith101]

FNV probably did at least that.

F:NV sold-in 5 million units during its first three weeks.

 

Well deserved. I thought it surpased the original in most respects.