Blame Christmas for the 2010 Heavy Rain release
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Heavy Rain for a long time was scheduled as one of the big hitters for Sony’s home console this year. However, it was pushed back to next year and Guillaume de Fondaumiere from Quantic Dreams has been explaining the decision in a recent interview.
He touts the main reason for the shift in release due to Christmas. As we all know, that time of year is a very busy place and competition is fierce. He explains that this can be a disadvantage for their game, especially because it’s a new franchise…
Most publishers today realise that it’s not ideal to release a new IP or a new genre just before Christmas. It’s a very crowded place to be, and certain games need more space to live their life.
A recent example has to be LittleBigPlanet which as we know is also a brand new franchise and when it released less than a couple of months before Christmas, sales were less than expected. This can be put down to consumers choosing well established branded games like Call of Duty: World at War and FIFA 09 with their hard-earned cash instead of taking the risk of buying into something new and unfamiliar.
By placing new IPs into a time of year free of strong competition, these games can be heard loud and clear, thus grabbing gamers’ attention who may be looking to buy something new when they get bored of their Christmas gifts.
Guillaume de Fondaumiere also underlines the importance that the game is polished to the max and ready before hitting the shelves, another important factor for fresh franchises as simply the name of the games won’t help sales.
Good call as far as I am concerned. Last Christmas was a virtual bloodbath with games plummeting in price just a week after they landed on the shelves.
I expect if this is half decent I will get it. I do like a bit of story with a game. The more cinematic the better, although it clearly needs to still be a game you can play rather than just watch.
Last Christmas was a virtual bloodbath. I think it’s a smart move to space out new IPs from major AAA titles during the holiday season. However, Q1 2010 is starting look pretty stacked with new releases.
With that delay comes the much increased expectations that those “undelayers” shall provide for my Christmas. After two years and 1 month my ps3 RIP. Just thought i would add in that somber little fact. Havent replaced it yet, life has much stress not being relieved right now.
Blame CHristmas?
never!