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Bad Day EA - Why Mirror's Edge and Dead Space bombed

December 17, 2008 in Blog comments 17

It appears that a likely reason as to why Mirror's Edge and Dead Space did not sell that well is because of the worldwide recession. Read on for more information.

Despite the holiday season traditionally being a good time to release and establish new intellectual properties, both Mirror's Edge and Dead Space performed poorly. Marketing certainly wasn't an issue, nor were the reviews, as they both received good to decent remarks. Instead, the failure of both games is likely due to the current recession.
Azentium via azentium.com »
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  • 0
    Sayyed Dec 18, 08
    i have disagree with the dead space, its solld fairly good that a sequel is planned. sorry cant provide links cause im on my ps3. mirrors edge didn't do aswell as dead space, but these games didn't sell aswell as other game such as COD & GOW2 but they neither flopped
  • 1
    Seeker X Dec 18, 08
    Is it because of the recession or is it because there's a ridiculous amount of games coming out? I think David Jaffe touched on this subject himself and he put forth some good points.
  • 0
    chautemoc* Dec 18, 08
    Hm VGChartz says Dead Space sold 1m on consoles alone and about half that for Mirror's Edge. But Im told they're not entirely reliable..?
  • 0
    Miss Razz Dec 18, 08
    They bombed? Could have fooled me :/
  • 0
    Azentium Dec 18, 08
    @LPF and Chautemoc: Dead Space has only sold 400,000 LTD and Mirror's Edge has sold 200,000 LTD.

    @Gothic Girl: Considering the fact that EA expected Mirror's Edge to sell three million units, and it didn't even make the top twenty last month, Mirror's Edge bombed hard.
    • 0
      Final Blade Dec 18, 08
      Well you can't expect games to relase with many other top notch games like Resistance 2, Gears 2, LBP, Left 4 Dead and the like to magically end up selling 3 million units now? Honestly this is just incorrect. Gothic Girl and Seeker is right, it has nothing to do with the recession but more likely the amount of games out now which is ridiculous. And FYI despite my personal quirks with ME and haven't got a chance to play the full Dead Space version, neither of those games bombed.
    • 1
      Miss Razz Dec 18, 08
      Still ... 300,000 sales isn't a figure to sneeze at. ME might not have reached the amount of sales that EA wanted, but it didn't flop either.
    • 0
      chautemoc* Dec 18, 08
      Yes, I read the article, I'm just saying perhaps your sources are inaccurate.
  • 0
    Azentium Dec 18, 08
    @Final Blade: Also, releasing new IPs during the holiday season doesn't necessarily lead to failure. Despite there being a considerable sum of triple-A games last year, games like BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Rock Band, and Portal (PC) were able to sell extremely well. Every single one of those games listed aside from Portal, as we don't know the exact retail figures, went on to sell at least one million units within the first three months of release. They succeeded despite the fact that games like Call of Duty 4, Super Mario Galaxy, and Halo 3 were released within the same time frame. The reason why those new IPs were able to succeed was because consumers had enough cash to buy the games they wanted as well as invest in "risky" games like the ones listed above.

    Also, Jeff Green, an associate producer at Electronic Arts, has discussed in a recent Gamers With Jobs podcast that Mirror's Edge has been labeled as "disaster" internally at EA.

    @Gothic Girl: 300,000 isn't that great at all. Considering the fact the game itself costs in the upwards of tens of millions of dollars, and that the game shows no signs of long term success, this game will not be profitable at all.

    Also, it appears that I made a slight mistake. It appears that Mirror's Edge actually only sold 145,000 copies LTD.
    • 0
      Storm Dec 18, 08
      Meh, I say give it time. It's only been about a month since the games releases, right? You're right though, Azentium, the sequels do get more attention than franchises just starting out, and of course there's the audience. The target audience for Mirror's Edge is what? Action-lovers, perhaps Sonic fans? I can understand Mirror's Edge, it's rather short, and Dead Space's genre isn't as huge as general shooters. Risky indeed.

      EA went with a more unique approach with both games, which is good, something fresh. The year's not over yet, and some games are only now getting more attention in terms of sales. Heck, X-Mas is coming up, I'm sure to pick up Dead Space with my holiday cash.

      Don't count the chickens before they hatch.
      • 0
        Azentium Dec 19, 08
        As I said previously, neither have shown to have a long tail in terms of sales. Meaning, unlike Gears 2 or Fallout 3, neither game will pick up in sales significantly within the coming months.

        -------
        Looks like I can only post in a single news thread twice a day, so I'll have to put my response in here.

        Here's my reasoning as to why sales wont pick up:

        - Dead Space has fallen significantly in the charts. Its drop off rate is considerably higher than that of more successful new IPs (i.e. Assassin's Creed).

        - Console games are notorious for being extremely front loaded in terms of sales.

        And to say the games failed because there are too many heavy hitters is a bit silly. Like I said earlier:

        Despite there being a considerable sum of triple-A games last year, games like BioShock, Assassin's Creed, Rock Band, and Portal (PC) were able to sell extremely well. Every single one of those games listed aside from Portal, as we don't know the exact retail figures, went on to sell at least one million units within the first three months of release. They succeeded despite the fact that games like Call of Duty 4, Super Mario Galaxy, and Halo 3 were released within the same time frame. The reason why those new IPs were able to succeed was because consumers had enough cash to buy the games they wanted as well as invest in "risky" games like the ones listed above.
        • 1
          Storm Dec 19, 08
          What makes you think that? They were shunned out by the more hyped titles, but it's not like a movie theatre where you have a limited time to watch the film. It will always be available. Besides, they are going to be working on a sequel to Dead Space, right? :S

          I mean, sure the sales don't look spectacular now, but it's to be expected. Too many heavy-hitters this Fall as it is.

          *Edit*
          Hm yeah, last year did have more luck...guess it has to do with this recession. The economy blows right now. Really was bad timing for these games.
        • 2
          Final Blade Dec 19, 08
          Basically my point Storm. Like Motorstorm 2, ME and Dead Space released at difficult times with other hyped up awesome games. Hell even LBP in November caught the issues like them. The point I made was, none of them bombed and it's far to early.
  • 2
    kspiess Dec 19, 08
    I'm sad to hear that Mirror's Edge sold so poorly. I thought that game was inventive, and had a lot going for it. 3 million seems like a pie-in-the-sky goal to me, but 1 million seems reasonable.

    Dead Space also looked really good, and received some solid reviews.

    Oh well. It's a doggy-dog-dog-dog world out there. Only the strongest games will survive.
  • 1
    Azentium Dec 19, 08
    @Final Blade

    Dead Space and Mirror's Edge were definitely bombs. EA expected both games to carry them through the holiday season and they weren't able to. Because of this, their stock has taken a nose dive. Once at ~$21 dollars a share, they're now at ~$15 (a record low for the company). If a game that brings a company's stock price down 29% isn't a bomb, then I don't know what is.

    Also, Motorstorm 2 performed well. In fact, it has gone on to sell over one million within the first two months.

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