Red Steel 2's Amazon.com Sales Ranks
Red Steel 2 was released on March 23, 2010.
The chart above tracks Red Steel 2's Amazon.com sales ranks, for both bundles of the game:
The sales ranks were gathered at random times each day, from March 23 through April 30.
The highest sales ranks for both versions were recorded on March 23, the day Red Steel 2 released.
The highest rank I recorded for Red Steel 2(game only) was #83, on March 23, 2010 around 11:55PM.
The highest rank I recorded for the Red Steel 2 w/ WM+ bundle was #85, around 9:20PM, on March 23, 2010.
Thoughts:
Back in January, Ubisoft said it was cutting Red Steel 2's sales projections from around one million units, to about 500,000 units.
You can read Ubisoft's full statement, here: http://www.totalvideogames.com/Red-Steel-2/news/Ubisoft-Cuts-Sales-Projections-In-Half-For-Red-Steel-2-14904.html
From the sales data on Amazon.com, and the first month's NPD data, if Red Steel 2 reaches 500,000 units, it will be very slowly.
Why do I think think it will be very slowly?
According to NPD data, The Conduit sold around 71,000 units its first month of release.
Red Steel 2 sold about 30% fewer units, in about the same number of days as The Conduit, in terms of NPD first month sales numbers.
While I do not know if Ubisoft mentioned a time-frame of how long they expect it will take Red Steel 2 to reach 500,000 units, if The Conduit's numbers are any indication, Red Steel 2 will be lucky to reach 500,000 units within one year of its release.
Questions:
Do you think Red Steel 2 will reach Ubisoft's adjusted goal of 500,000 unit sales? If so, when do you think it will reach the goal?
At this point as stated above, I do not think Red Steel 2 will reach 500,000 unit sales, within a year of its release.
Do you think Red Steel 2 needs more advertisements, or a price-cut to help spur sales? Or, do you think Ubisoft should just hope it turns into a nice slow burn title?
I think Red Steel 2 needs a nice price-cut, very soon, if it is going to reach 500,000 unit sales any time soon.
The Conduit
was out only about 4.5 months, before its MSRP of $49.99, dropped down to a MSRP of $29.99.(source: http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=102898)
was out only about 4.5 months, before its MSRP of $49.99, dropped down to a MSRP of $29.99.(source: http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=102898)If you are interested in either Red Steel 2 or The Conduit, you can see new and used prices for the games on Amazon.com below:
These are such good articles - they are insightful, well-thought out, and they show the thought process each step of the way. It's really interesting to see how information is pieced together like this.
ReplyDeleteI really hope Red Steel 2 starts doing better. :( I'm guessing the first game being not so good might hurt this one's chances...
@Benjammin:
ReplyDeleteDid you play the original Red Steel, as well as Red Steel 2?
I've only played the original, and had several video features back in February about what I hoped Red Steel 2 would keep from the original.
Again, I haven't played Red Steel 2, so I don't know how it compares or what I'll think about it when I do.
Thanks for the comment!
I loved Red Steel 2, but I think it's dead in the metaphoric water. I think advertisements on places like Nick at Nite, TV Land, and ESPN would help instead of the tried and true Adult Swim and Spike TV.
ReplyDeleteOh, btw, when will you have your affiliates up? I'd love some new readers and commenters on SPC. :)
@SuperPhillip:
ReplyDeleteI agree, if a Monster Hunter 3 advertisement was spotted on Oprah, I think that shows Capcom was trying to reach the other Wii owners, that don't visit gaming sites often(if ever).
I would like to see what goes on in the marketing rooms at these publishers and developers, to see how decisions are made.
As for the affiliates section, it should be up this week. I'm just waiting to make sure Ben receives the Wii Speak unit that I mailed, for the contest.
@SuperPhillip:
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you for the comment!
What hurt the Conduit is that it boasted a lot and basically really didn't deliver. It is also a genre that while popluar is dominated by the PS360 consoles, and even Nintendo fans who like to play an FPS will do so on a more powerful console. For Red Steel 2, it really does deliver and is getting really good reviews. So I think the tail will be longer and won't plummet quite so bad as Conduit did. At least I hope so, it was really good and would be a shame for it to die.
ReplyDeleteI think it was named wrong, I played one level of the first Red Steel (got it free with 2) and it was TERRIBLE. Also, it really is nothing like the first game in any way.
I don't think Oprah would be a good fit in all honesty. The channels I listed are more neutral in demographic and not heavy like Adult Swim or the other extreme, Oprah.
ReplyDeleteUma. Oprah. Uma. Oprah.
@delawaregamer:
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest reasons I traded off The Conduit was because of the spawn bug in the multi-player.
"I think it was named wrong, I played one level of the first Red Steel (got it free with 2) and it was TERRIBLE."
If you can stick with it, you may adjust to it, though the controls are ancient compared to the FPS games on the Wii within the last two years or so.
Was it just the controls you didn't like?
@SuperPhillip:
Yea, I just think it's interesting that Monster Hunter 3 was spotted during Oprah. Perhaps Capcom was hoping the get the moms to see it?
Thank you both for the comments!