GamesIndustry.biz has an intriguing piece out this week on the industry’s obsession with “day one” and “week one” — that period AAA game studios traditionally bank on for bragging rights and forecasting of just how well their titles are going to do. Author Christopher Dring argues that while games like Fallout 4 do exceptionally on day one (and almost immediately trail off), other games — Rainbow Six Siege among them — have generated weak initial sales and ramped up overtime. The lesson? Games that are properly supported with DLC and positive word-of-mouth can survive and even thrive beyond week one, and therefore those early numbers might not matter so much after all.
In MMORPG land, we already know that post-launch support for a title matters; the biggest games in our genre all push out relatively consistent content (or are criticized harshly when they drop the ball). Yet there are other games with big launches and follow-up that have never recovered — WildStar is coming to mind — and AAA MMORPG studios are happy to brag about their launch-day totals. Read the piece and then tell us: Do “day one” sales numbers and launch performance matter to MMORPGs?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
