Current Events > B-b-but single player, narrative-driven experiences don't make much money.

(+) Yeah! (+)

The Witcher 3 made more money on Steam this year than Assassin's Creed Origins, Call of Duty: WWII, and Middle-earth: Shadow of War. It also made more money than some of the biggest games released in 2016, including Dark Souls III and Fallout 4. The only other true single-player-focused RPG game keeping The Witcher 3 company in the Platinum bracket is the excellent Divinity: Original Sin II, which bodes very well for Larian's future RPG projects. That's icing on the cake.

https://www.rpgsite.net/news/6544-the-witcher-3-earned-more-money-on-steam-last-year-than-some-of-2017-s-biggest-games

A 2 year old game makes as much money on PC as this year's AAA bankable assets.
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Alucard188 posted...

including Dark Souls III

Witcher 3 confirmed to be a safe haven for casuals
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It couldn't have happened to a better game.
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MacadamianNut3 posted...

Alucard188 posted...

including Dark Souls III

Witcher 3 confirmed to be a safe haven for casuals

/topic
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pc gamers dont play assassin's creed or call of duty
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Also, Hellblade sold way above expectations.

But EA be like "muh market trends!"
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Alucard188 posted...

on Steam

There's your problem.

Now tell me what the console sales are like?
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Are there a lot of people on CE who suggest that the Single Player narrative driven games don't make much money? I am just trying to understand the topic title .
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Alucard188 posted...

The only other true single-player-focused RPG game keeping The Witcher 3 company in the Platinum bracket is the excellent Divinity: Original Sin II, which bodes very well for Larian's future RPG projects.

Both great games, i'm not surprised.
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hockeybub89 posted...

But EA be like "muh market trends!"

https://78.media.tumblr.com/aec344547d80de8bc05b17af6e97729b/tumblr_mlgzuvRnTL1s46koto5_500.gif
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cjsdowg posted...

Are there a lot of people on CE who suggest that the Single Player narrative driven games don't make much money? I am just trying to understand the topic title .

No but a lot of game publishers make this claim, citing multiplayer and micro-transactions.

and they are right, GTA 5 online was so successful there is no reason to make more GTA games.
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cjsdowg posted...

Are there a lot of people on CE who suggest that the Single Player narrative driven games don't make much money? I am just trying to understand the topic title .

It's a widely held belief of shills for microtransactions. It's not founded in any sort of reality, but it gets repeated ad nauseam.
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Tons of people finally waiting for that 2 year discount before buying I guess
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Or, 10 of the top 12 are multiplayer loot box games. And only 2 of those 10 aren't shooters. So if you're a publisher looking to make money, what are you going to do? Hope you make a single player game that people consider a top 10 game of all time or make a shooter, slap a lootbox system and know a decent marketing campaign will guarantee profit, and if the game becomes the next shooter of the month, rack in billions
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Witcher 3 was a standout game, one of the best of this generation. Still, I'm surprised it outsold Fallout 4. Fallout 4 seemed to have waaaay more promotion, reach, and fans of the series as a whole.
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TBF a lot of single player only studios have went under or refocused their efforts on multiplayer recently
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I've never got why such a thing was said. The likes of Skyrim and Witcher have been immensely popular. Heck, skyrim has been good enough to release how many times now? It's just completely false to say no one wants that style of game.

Sure, many don't reach the same level of success, but it clearly is something people do like still.
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B-b-but PC gamers are pirates!
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eston posted...

Witcher 3 was a standout game, one of the best of this generation. Still, I'm surprised it outsold Fallout 4. Fallout 4 seemed to have waaaay more promotion, reach, and fans of the series as a whole.

witcher 3 is cheaper
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UnfairRepresent posted...

cjsdowg posted...

Are there a lot of people on CE who suggest that the Single Player narrative driven games don't make much money? I am just trying to understand the topic title .

No but a lot of game publishers make this claim, citing multiplayer and micro-transactions.

and they are right, GTA 5 online was so successful there is no reason to make more GTA games.

Witcher 4 Online, confirmed.
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Glad to see this, I much prefer strong single player titles.
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Open world games have always been pretty successful. Especially if they're critically acclaimed.

Single player games that are $60 and not open world though? Good luck.

Also Witcher 3 isn't a multiplayer game. It doesn't need to worry about sustaining an active userbase. Microtransactions are more of a concern for multiplayer titles that get post launch support.
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Romulox28 posted...

eston posted...

Witcher 3 was a standout game, one of the best of this generation. Still, I'm surprised it outsold Fallout 4. Fallout 4 seemed to have waaaay more promotion, reach, and fans of the series as a whole.

witcher 3 is cheaper

In what way?
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It's open world though. Devs will still make soulless open world games like Bethesda Fallout.
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DarthAragorn posted...

It's open world though. Devs will still make soulless open world games like Bethesda Fallout.

Man there's a lot of truth to that. Fallout 3 was terrible in that regard, Fallout 4 was great, but then they released the Far Harbor expansion that was just another big map with very little to actually do.
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There's no guarantee a single player open world game will sell great either. Agents of Mayhem flopped terribly and that was from the developers of Saints Row. Watch Dogs 2 was a high budget open world game from Ubisoft and that flopped.

These games didn't seem bad at all. But they weren't fantastic. And they suffered significantly as a result. Meanwhile Ghost Recon Wildlands had 4 player coop and didn't seem fantastic and sold gangbusters.

Then again Mafia 3 seemed to sell well so I have no idea.
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eston posted...

Romulox28 posted...

eston posted...

Witcher 3 was a standout game, one of the best of this generation. Still, I'm surprised it outsold Fallout 4. Fallout 4 seemed to have waaaay more promotion, reach, and fans of the series as a whole.

witcher 3 is cheaper

In what way?

You can get it and all the DLC for like $20
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Alucard188 posted...

The only other true single-player-focused RPG game keeping The Witcher 3 company in the Platinum bracket

Seems the article is suggesting them games are anomalies?

Stuff like this is good to hear.

Also Path of Exile has given me so much hope for the future of gaming. It's solid proof that you can make a free game without compromising its game mechanics or cheapening the experience or monetizing things in a p2w scenario.
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I only play Single-player games but Witcher 3 was not that great of a game. I found it to be overrated.

Kasperia posted...

I only play Single-player games but Witcher 3 was not that great of a game. I found it to be overrated.

Let me explain, in great detail, how incorrect you are. First of all...nah, I didn't ever get around to playing it. Who has 300 hours to devote to a single game these days?
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CensorErik posted...

Kasperia posted...

I only play Single-player games but Witcher 3 was not that great of a game. I found it to be overrated.

Let me explain, in great detail, how incorrect you are. First of all...nah, I didn't ever get around to playing it. Who has 300 hours to devote to a single game these days?

Lots of people.
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Darmik posted...

There's no guarantee a single player open world game will sell great either. Agents of Mayhem flopped terribly and that was from the developers of Saints Row.

Probably because we wanted another Saints Row since them now having a time machine is beyond ripe for sequels.
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dave_is_slick posted...

CensorErik posted...

Kasperia posted...

I only play Single-player games but Witcher 3 was not that great of a game. I found it to be overrated.

Let me explain, in great detail, how incorrect you are. First of all...nah, I didn't ever get around to playing it. Who has 300 hours to devote to a single game these days?

Lots of people.

Clearly, but I'm not one of them. I still haven't beaten FO4 yet. So many games, so few free hours.
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dave_is_slick posted...

Darmik posted...

There's no guarantee a single player open world game will sell great either. Agents of Mayhem flopped terribly and that was from the developers of Saints Row.

Probably because we wanted another Saints Row since them now having a time machine is beyond ripe for sequels.

Sure. Volition tried to do a weird middle thing of trying to do a spin-off that was also a new IP and it didn't work. But it's an example of how easy a game can be completely buried.
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dave_is_slick posted...

Darmik posted...

There's no guarantee a single player open world game will sell great either. Agents of Mayhem flopped terribly and that was from the developers of Saints Row.

Probably because we wanted another Saints Row since them now having a time machine is beyond ripe for sequels.

Yeah, I was all amped up for AoM and then I found out no co-op or mp of any kind. I still got it (on sale later) but it just wasn't enough like a Saints game. I'm aching for a new Saints game so much I'd buy remakes or re-releases of the old games just to help fund it.
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CensorErik posted...

Who has 300 hours to devote to a single game these days?

Anyone who plays games with any regularity at all. Less than an hour a day means you would put in 300 hours over the course of a year. Most gamers play more than that.
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eston posted...

CensorErik posted...

Who has 300 hours to devote to a single game these days?

Anyone who plays games with any regularity at all. Less than an hour a day means you would put in 300 hours over the course of a year. Most gamers play more than that.

Reminds me of that Ross Scott joke with the review from the guy who played The Secret World for 2,870+ hours with over 78 in the past 2 weeks and then said "I can't decide if I love this game or hate it."



"He doesn't know whether he loves it or hates it, and apparently he has to be really damn sure!"
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I'm just going to note that no developer has ever made this claim, because they know it's not true. It's a purely fan-driven narrative.
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I mean, we're talking about the 3rd installment of a series vs. two series (CoD / AC) that have been going on forever and people are arguably sick of (I don't know enough about the Middle Earth series).

Combine that with the fact that said Witcher game is known for being, uh, a good game, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that this is the case.
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The issue is that these companies stating this can't make good single player games.
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It's too bad this game is a single player game.
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Smashingpmkns posted...

The issue is that these companies stating this can't make good single player games.

Not just that, it's that the single player market is a risk.

If it flops, you lose all the money

A multiplayer game that has disappointing sales can make up for it with micro-transactions, DLC, subscription etc

Sleeping Dogs is beloved as a great game but it underperformed.

Team Fortress 2 is STILL making money today.
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who tf says story driven games dont sell lmao

i've never seen this

did these people live under a rock when the last of us dropped

smh mods baitin :V
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I mean it makes sense.

Online multiplayer has so many different avenues to pull money out of players with. Not all of them are always used, fortunately, but...
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Can't sell loot boxes in single player games.
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Kasperia posted...

I only play Single-player games but Witcher 3 was not that great of a game. I found it to be overrated.

Couldn't agree more W3 combat was such hot steamy garbage I ejected the disc and sold it on eBay the day after I got it.
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Alucard188 posted...

The Witcher 3 made more money on Steam this year than Assassin's Creed Origins, Call of Duty: WWII, and Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

Seems unfair to compare a game that was available the entire year to games released in October and November. Additionally, AssCreed is every bit as single-player as Witcher 3
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