PREY hunted down Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in the latest UK sales charts, but it couldn’t topple the Nintendo Switch exclusive. Word is that Bethesda’s reboot fell just 600 units short of the kart racer, though the Blue Shell flingin’ favourite was itself 71 per cent down week-over-week. While we’re not privy to the figures, estimates suggest that there aren’t too many touring Talos I in Britain right now.
All told, it was another slow week really, with the top ten padded out by familiar favourites like Grand Theft Auto V and the recently bargain binned Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Persona 5 did re-enter the best-sellers list on the back of a belated re-stock, emerging in 35th position following its complete disappearance from the charts.
UK Sales Charts: Week Ending 6th May, 2017
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
- PREY
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- LEGO Worlds
- Rocket League
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- FIFA 17
- Horizon: Zero Dawn
- Forza Horizon 3
[source chart-track.co.uk]
Comments 29
Bethesda's weird review policy claims another casualty.
I'm guessing it sold pretty poorly given that there are so few Switch's in the UK at the moment plus the 70% drop. This review policy is doing huge damage to their games. The likes of Doom, Skyrim, Fallout are largely immune to this type of thing as hugely established franchises but this and Dishonoured aren't, they and by extension Arkane are the ones who ultimately suffer. Years ago this would have been fine, today however we live and increasingly immediate world where films/games/music etc make the bulk of their money very early on before everyone moves onto the next big thing.
@carlos82 Estimates put PREY at around 20k, which sucks, yes.
Reviews for MK8D were out a good two weeks before launch or so.
Benefitted it.
PREY was at or post launch day
Hindered it.
Coincidence?
Nope. The games are good Bethesda (Usually) so don't worry your asses about it.
@get2sammyb Yup, it only work for big games, like doom and fallout.
They think the late review can protect them if most early review is bad, but if the game is good it's a waste of free promotion.
@wiiware Spot on.
@get2sammyb Thing is they put out a demo which is arguably more useful than a review (in theory at least). I keep hearing people say they wish more demos would be released. But to me it's pretty clear that demos generally cause more harm than good. Part of the driving force to pick up a release on launch is to experience the initial wow factor - that's gone once you've played a demo and it's much easier to decide to put off getting it until it's cheaper or not bother all together.
So yeah, I'd say it feels like the demo has been more damaging than the review embargo. Same thing happened with the Doom multiplayer test.
I don't actually have a problem with the review embargos myself, that's up to them and they've proven it doesn't exactly reflect against the quality of the games.
Few people I've spoken to say the game really takes off after the demo portion. Also any ps4 pro features in yet, demo was missing them.
@kyleforrester87 another gamer mentality to baffle me, then. Is the initial wow factor more important than the rest of 60+ hours spent in a big game? And is "going in blind" really a tangible factor now when gamers can just google up a gameplay video? Meanwhile, demos have made me interested in titles I wouldn't even flick an ear at otherwise, like Ghost Recon Wildlands.
Perhaps lack of demos can benefit early sales like you suggest, but I think demos can be part of where the sales' "legs" grow. And sleeper hits are still nothing to sneeze at in the industry.
Good. Sick of getting burned by Bethesda. No review before launch=no Day 1 buy.
Just got to Dishonored 2 which I picked up for £13. Should Prey continue to review well I'll get it at a similar price tag.
@nhSnork Well, it's called hype. That's why many games (especially these days) try to have exciting intro sequences to pull you in. Then once you're hooked you play the rest of the game.
Demos interrupt that, you play the intro, but if you aren't hooked it's easy to justify saving £40 by not buying the full game even though it might be awesome. If you just go out and buy the game you'll likely carry on playing beyond the intro because you've made that investment and want to get the most out of it.
Off the top of my head, the only two demos that really ever sold me on a game were the MGS2 and Nier Automata ones. I can think of so many games that I've been put off all together by the demo. On occasion I've played a bad demo (Dead Space) that ended up being one of my favourite games.
@kyleforrester87 Fair, I'd forgotten about the demo.
@Fight_Teza_Fight
Yeah, good for those of us who will get it for cheap, bad for the future of the franchises, which sucks.
After Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Dishonored 2 and now Prey sold poorly it looks even worse for this genre.
The other issue is that Bethesda games tend to drop price very very quickly, a la Dishonoured 2 and Fallout 4. If you have played the demo, aren't hyped for the game (because no new reviews), you are going to do what I'm doing and waiting three months.
@Rudy_Manchego Yeah that's pretty much where I'm at. I'm also not an absolutely massive fan of this type of game, but the setting has me intrigued.
@Lurker Yeah it's a double edged sword. It's up to Bethesda to make me want to buy Prey. Withholding reviews is not the way to do it. Neither is releasing a demo that's a cross section of the best parts of the game.
I wasn't interested in Prey, but normally having a demo deters me from getting a game. Bethesda's games have buggy reputation, which goes back to PS3 days and yes, long review embargoes don't help.
And let's address the elephant in the room: MK8D is still a new game and a very safe and solid one review wise so even if it dropped from last week, it deserves its sales.
@kyleforrester87 That's depend on quality of the demo. Nier automata demo absolutely sold me on the games while tales of berseria doesn't (too action heavy with many character).
In the end I think it's cheaper to give early review rather than make demo.
I mean, Mario Kart is one of the bigger Nintendo franchises. I would expect it to outsell something like Prey, even on a newly launched console.
Numbers would be very different if this were RDR2, TLOU Part II, etc.
Quiet weeks. The new releases now are more niche stuff like Dragon Quest Heroes II and Fire Emblem Echoes, which won't claim top spots in the charts outside Japan.
There wasn't but hype for Prey and Bethesda review embargo didn't help, guess it won't be long till it'll be heavily discounted.
@kyleforrester87 I'm a big fan of this kind of game though I can't shake the feeling that I've seen it all before. Come August/Sept, this will be £25 and I will feel like taking a punt.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi I think demos on games like this can hurt sales personally. If you play a demo and think, hmm not bothered that is a sale lost whereas if you are just going by hype or reviews, you might try it and then decide you don't like it but you have still bought the game.
@Rudy_Manchego Regarding your last comment, that's my point really. So I wonder if it's the demo has been more damaging for sales, or the review embargo. I'd wager the demo, myself. Ubisoft did it right (did I just say that?) with the Watch Dogs 2 demo coming a few months after release.
@kyleforrester87 Yeah, with regards to a game like WD2, a title that is already on shelves that you are looking to squeeze more cash from, demos can only help because you might entice players. WD2 actually got pretty good reviews and player feedback so, with the reduced price and being able to try, people could have a go.
With a brand new (or 'revamped') IP like Prey, why would I want to play a spoilerific demo to tell me if I should buy a game when I can normally read reviews and assess community feedback.
@get2sammyb Totally Prey and Dishonored need the hardcore and enthusiast gamers, the very same people reading this site. If there's no review you guys don't get excited, meaning limited articles to whet the appetite. So yes it's a stupid Bethesda policy, which only works for main stream games.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi The Dragon Quest Builders Demo made me buy the game instantly.
@Flaming_Kaiser It put me off buying it :')
600 units is getting eaten alive ?
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