Game Covers and its Effect on Sales

With game sales depicting whether a game gets a sequel, developers need to start marketing their games the right way. This couldn't be more evident than with the lacklustre sales of Okami and Beyond Good and Evil, two great games that brought us an amazing story and solid gameplay but failed to transpire into the upper echelon of must-have games. Its a crying shame when many good games don't get the recognition they deserve and even more sad when a studio closes down.

 

Argh My Eyes!

 

The purpose of this blog is to determine the factors that contribute to poor sales of many great games; poor marketing decisions, bad title names (yes it does affect sales) and bad cover designs. When was the last time you picked out a game from a store just by looking at its cover, thought it looked great, and bought the game, only to regret the decision after a couple of minutes.

 

 

With the Internet, I am pretty sure many of you do a little bit of research before picking up a game, one that will entertain and delight you for hours. However most gamers don't research at all and pick titles based on its name and cover alone, and that's why so much shovelware is being released on all consoles. Not to mention when a game gets a lot of coverage in the form of advertising, its sales gets a boost and sequels get made regardless whether its a good game. To the eyes of many, sequels mean a game is worth getting and therefore worth purchasing (Army of Men I am looking at you, enough with the shovelling!)

 

Bury 'em Up!

 

One look at the Wii's library and its pretty obvious that there are more shovelware than quality games, the reason being, casual gamers buy games that entertain them with gimmicky controls and for that few minutes they tell their mates about the game, the cycle continues. This is by no means taking a dig at the Wii, as it offers many great games for all walks of life and the fact that it brought more people to embrace games, it has to be commended. Sheep's you can start gloating, as this year and the next looks bright for the Wii.

 

 

As to how bad titles affect game sales, take a look at these titles and you will see:

 

WARNING: Bad names might induce uncontrollable laughter.

 

Tongue of the Fatman

 

 

As if the title wasn't bad enough, look at its box art!

 

Premise: Choose an alien to play in the game, fight a number of bad guys before facing the ultimate boss in videogame history, Fatman! (okay not so ultimate)

 

Thank god a sequel did not follow up to this game, just imagining Inside the Fatman makes me shudder.

 

Conclusion: With such a bad name, its no wonder that this game did not sell well.

 

Touch Dic (yes you read that right!)

 

 

They couldn't have named a more offensive title, could they?

 

Premise:

 

Short for touch dictionary, this app is both a translator and dictionary rolled into one.

 

Conclusion:

 

Note, that its name was changed to a more family friendly title, Touch Dictionary before its release.

 

Beyond Good and Evil

 

 

Why didn't this game sell well is beyond me, it might have been that the title failed to excite gamers and its cover didn't help as well. Not to mention, this was one game where I thought would never get a sequel and I can now rest easy at night knowing that its getting just that.

 

Premise:

 

The game takes place on the Hillys, a peaceful planet where miners thrive on its rich minerals, however when DomZ forces start to abduct its inhabitants, Jade seeks to uncover the truth.

 

Conclusion:

 

It didn't sell simply because games like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Splinter Cell, were both released at the same time. Its ironic that Ubisoft, affected its own game sales and almost killed the franchise off.

 

With that, when a developer makes a great game, it by no means guarantees success.

 

"Success cannot be bought, it has to be earned"

 

Peace and see you at the forums. :)