Finally, a voice of reason has spoken in the clusterfrak that is the video game release schedule, which places the majority of all games for an entire year in the holiday months. And who is this voice of reason, you ask? Well, it’s none other than Microsoft. I know, I was surprised, too.
Basically, after last year’s release hell that saw over 200 games release in a 3-4 week time span, Microsoft is wondering if this is a model that video game companies should continue to follow. Specifically, the questions are about whether new IPs can survive when all of the heavy hitters are released at the same time. As the main point of contention, they site Resident Evil 5 and GTA IV, both released in the first quarter of the year and seeing great sales numbers.
So what do you guys think? Good news? I for one would love to see gaming releases spread out through the year. I still haven’t caught up on my Christmas gaming, and I’m starting to lose interest.
Source- MCVUK
A voice of reason! I would love to see this kind of attitude adopted by publishers, and I’m sure it would be in their best interest. With the avalanche-style release calendar, so many titles can’t be maximizing their potential sales, and that just doesn’t make sense for anyone.
Great news! I would love to see some games come out in the summer, and Capcom is a developer that always releases in the spring/summer, and look how much they sell! But to do this, they have to move E3 and other conventions back.
This is something that we here at GamerSushi have been clamoring for and I am glad to see our influence is having an impact on the industry.
Yes! Thank god. First EA made a little hubbub about this, and now Microsoft.
There’s nothing wrong with releasing games through-out the year. I mean, Batman is coming out in June, and I’m sure that’s going to sell like crazy. (Not a new IP, but it doesn’t have the console moving brand-power of Halo or Metal Gear)
We’ll see how quick the industry is to embrace a different model, but I’ll bet that Holiday ’09 will be almost as packed as ’08.
Spread it out! But not this year. I’ve still got to properly finish LBP, Resistance 2 AND Killzone 2. Online is Very distracting. I’m glad companies are beginning to tweak onto the whole idea. Well done. It took them long enough.
‘Bout damn time. I like that the Microsofts are leading the way in terms of having a new release schedule. It’ll benefit everyone if releases are spread out as opposed to smudged uncomfortably close to each other during the holidays.
I might actually be able to buy more than one good game this year.
“Spread them games out”
There’s something about that that sounds…very perverse D:
[quote comment=”6301″]”Spread them games out”
There’s something about that that sounds…very perverse D:[/quote]
Lol. Indeed.
Hmm. I hope Microsoft’s voice does have an effect on game companies. It’s strange for a company to actually want their cash flow to slow down, but I guess Microsoft is actually thinking of the customer, in a way.