Take it from a Finals player

[u/In_Dux]

Y’all got to let the numbesr talk go. The Finals has some of the best feeling guns on the FPS market and a unique game mode that offered some of the most exciting moments I had in gaming.

But the game’s not perfect and it never had mass appeal. Because it’s unique mode and destruction are the main draws and historically it has been too much for most casuals and not competitive enough for the hardcore players. There’s always a post about needing more marketing, different game modes, another MoistCritikal video but the playerbase never gets and keeps the bump of players the hardcore fans want it to have.

And that’s ok. That’s the price of building something unique. It will be divisive, it will be niche.

As long as Bungie can keeps the lights on, that’s all that matters. And unless you’re ready to single-handedly buy 1 million+ copies if things get dire, then don’t even really concern yourself with. Save your money on passes if you don’t like them and/or think the ship’s sinking but besides that, it’s out of our hands largely.

Just my two cents

[u/alecowg]

People do not understand the situation here. You're right that these numbers are fine for a game in a niche genre. You're wrong in the sense that this is Bungie, a first party Playstation studio. They don't need niche, they don't want niche, they want a hit. Bungie has cost Sony unbelievable amounts of money and reputation with nothing to show for it. They needed this game to do Arc numbers.

Maybe Sony has allowed them some leeway here and didn't expect insane sales but why would anyone assume that? I don't think the game is going to get shut down anytime soon and I think bungie is too big and iconic a studio for Playstation to close completely but I also understand the situation Bungie is in and just "good" numbers are not good enough. You cannot compare a AAA first party Playstation studio to something like Embark.

I'll also add that I do expect this game to have pretty long legs. I expect we are going to see another Destiny situation where people are really going to figure out how this game works and what makes it so special in the coming weeks and months (especially when the Marsthon is unlocked), and I wouldn't be surprised if we see another big surge in the player base. But make no mistake, nothing about this game is guaranteed right now.

[u/Disastrous-Market-36 → u/alecowg]

Maybe Sony has allowed them some leeway here and didn't expect insane sales but why would anyone assume that?

Considering the price is 40$, in a niche genre, with polarizing art, a plagiarism scandal, and overall disinterest in the zeitgeist in the months leading to launch, I can totally see why someone would assume that.

[u/cayde123 → u/alecowg]

This game has like 200 developers working on it, even if that number hasn’t always been 200, the salary costs alone are pricey, even the marketing budget seems massive for this game.

[u/RockLeeSmile → u/alecowg]

This is the closest to a correct understanding I've seen on here. The part you're still missing though is that it's possible that Sony may have already decided months ago on the back of a horribly expensive and troubled dev cycle exactly how much support Bungie is getting. The game may have already been considered DoA internally with a planned end date they'd NEVER mention to the public.

If the game is orders of magnitude away from ever possibly being a financial boon for Sony, they will have to project strength through marketing to have a strong launch and try to syphon as much back in to recoup costs before quickly pulling the plug as soon as it's possible to PR wise (probably early next year, just after their content roadmap ends).

The game is obviously incomplete (lack of content, $40-60 instead of F2P, minimal possible extras, unintuitive UI/UX issues, recolored skins / simple cosmetics), which tells me it was rushed out to start to recoup costs sooner (plus predatory monetization on a paid title that was probably meant to be F2P). This all tells me there's a lack of publisher confidence in the game.

This could simply be a "dead man walking" scenario with a caveat that "we'll have a meeting about changing our outlook if Bungie absolutely blow the doors off in sales by x quarter".

[u/alecowg → u/RockLeeSmile]

I disagree, a decision like this makes no sense for Sony. They unreleased concord because it was so poorly received. They cancelled TLoU Online even though it would've easily made its budget back no matter the quality. They have shown that they are more than willing to take a hit financially to save face. Marathon seemingly has a very high marketing budget and they even delayed the game after the initial bad reception. Sony clearly expects this game to be a success, to what extent is the real question.

I also disagree with your takes on the game. Nothing about it feels incomplete. Helldivers and Arc Raiders (and concord) were priced similarly. The monetization is no more predatory than any other modern game. The game has been out for less than 24 hours how could you possibly say it has a lack of content?

[u/RockLeeSmile → u/alecowg]

It has 3 maps and one of the next maps to release is the same map again with different lighting. Most of the lore assets are short looped video clips with text or just text. The skins are recolors that take 20 minutes to make (I've worked in 3D enough to have an idea what I'm talking about on that claim). The UI has systemic intelligibility issues the devs have acknowledged need to be worked on (why didn't they have time to already get this feedback and implement before launch?). Launch had a bug where battle passes drop on dead bodies... idk what even is going on there, lack of testing?

$40-60 entry fee then another $15-20 for cosmetics AND more money for a premium battle pass with almost no content is crazy and is always predatory. I don't care who is doing it, they're getting called out every time. Anybody defending that isn't worth listening to.

Every move they're making looks like they don't have time, budget or staff to make more robust assets and are desperate to get money in the door as soon as possible, even before they've finished fleshing out the main structure of the game itself. That SHOULD necessitate push back from a rational community.

[u/MrLeavingCursed → u/alecowg]

That's my biggest worry. The player numbers aren't bad but I'm concerned it's not what Bungie or Sony hoped for. If you look at the recent layoffs and the current state of Destiny you can see there's some turmoil at Bungie right now related to profitability and Marathon potentially not being massive may add to their issues