As we’ve all gathered by now, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West didn’t sell as well as hoped in spite of hype and marketing. Namco Bandai has placed the blame on a busy holiday period.
“To be perfectly frank, I think as a company prior to us reforming this organization, going to market, I think the game went to market at a very busy season,” claimed Marketing VP Carlson Choi. “It launched in the midst of a busy holiday season. Last year, there were like 4000+ games for consoles. We didn’t do a good job finding the right time for it because when you look at the quality of the game it speaks for itself. An 80+ rated game is guaranteed a hit.
“We got DLC that came out that got 10 out of 10. Ultimately, I think that game had the quality needed to address the gamers. I think it’s a matter of getting into the market at the right time, which is something you will see us do much better. Even this morning with some of the announcements, we’re getting ourselves ahead of schedule letting you know when its coming and incorporating community communication.”
While I still think gamer ignorance was a big issue, Namco Bandai helped nobody by releasing Enslaved, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, and Splatterhouse all during the fourth quarter. Those three games were perfect Summer titles, but Namco waited until the back-end of the year, a period that even titles like BioShock 2 have famously avoided.
Still, there’s no excuse for gamers buying twice as many copies of Kane & Lynch 2. No excuse.
Namco Bandai’s Iwai On Western Development And The Future Of Enslaved [Siliconera]
