In the movie industry, studios plan the releases of their big titles carefully. The Harry Potters of the world are never released on the same, or even the adjoining, weekend as the Transformers, the Batmans, the other tentpole hits. Studios want their movies to have exclusivity to a weekend, to generate the buzz, to pull in the big opening weekend numbers.
One would expect similar behavior in the release dates of video games, that having an exclusive window around your AAA release would guarantee greater buzz, better initial weekend sales, and higher sustained sales as people buy the game, love it, and tell their friends.
Looking back over the last six (eight? ten?) months of video game releases, it’s been slim pickings for “games I want to buy” – and granted that’s a very subjective list. There was Portal 2, which I bought and loved. I considered LA Noire, but after hearing a poor review from a colleague, I passed on for now. Not a lot else. Sure, there were lots of “version 2.5s” – sequels which appear to be slightly enhanced versions of the original game rushed to market to make money (Left for Dead 2 is an excellent example of what I mean) – but no games which left me tracking their release date or going to GameStop to preorder.
So the Gentlemen have been playing Battlefield 2 over the summer of 2011. Great game, we enjoyed the multiplayer with its rewards for team play, different soldier classes and vehicles. This game was released in 2009, and yet almost two years later it’s the best one we could agree on for our online entertainment.
This brings us to the fall of 2011. Between early September and the end of the year, we have Dead Island, Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3, Dead Rising 2, Batman Arkham City, Halo Combat Evolved. Modern Warfare 3, and of course Minute to Win It. Lots of great games that I’d definitely consider dropping $60 on (I do realize they’re almost all sequels and one is a release), but I’m simply not going to buy them all. There’s not enough time. So, GoW3, and BF3, you get my preorder money. Dead Island got my $60, but that’s likely going on the shelf Tuesday (GoW3 day). Looking at the number of bugs in Dead Island, Deep Silver was trying to beat the other titles into the market – judging by their sales, a smart move.
I realize there are a lot of factors that go into a release date. I work in the software industry (albeit on the B2B side), so I understand the amount of work - design, development and testing - that goes into a software release. Holiday shopping is starting soon (if not already). Perhaps I’m being naïve, it just seems to me that if the studios planned their releases a bit better, they could get some more exclusivity, and therefore higher sales.