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T2T CEO: Marvel's Midnight Suns was a critical success but a commercial flop

Spyxos

Gold Member
I just picked the game up on the 2k publisher sale, which gave me 40% off. I'll play it tonight.

Also, apparently there's now a 3-hour console demo available as of this morning.

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Hmm thx interesting, i will try it.

edit: Nah it is not for me. I thought Marvel Avengers characters looked terrible but this is like 1-2 levels below that. Some of them look like unlicensed figures. Maybe it's the German version, but the voice actors don't sound very good. I don't think fighting itself is bad, but the rest put me off.
 
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Kacho

Member
A turn based strategy game with a card system and relationship nonsense is a tough sell for me.
 

Yamisan

Member
Never heard of it until I saw the demo on ps5 last night, demo size was insane for a demo so skipped.
 

kunonabi

Member
I love the midnight suns and card games but the lack of the former and the shitty OC, character designs, and social crap turned me off.
 

AmuroChan

Member
It’s a full game with tons of content and lots to do. What exactly makes it a discount game?

Production value. Content alone is not enough. Your average customer is going to look at this game and see that this is not anywhere close to a AAA-budget game. $70 is an extremely tough sell for this game.
 

Reizo Ryuu

Gold Member
Production value.
Question Mark What GIF by MOODMAN


So even if a game has a 1000 hours of handcrafted unique content that took hundreds of people years to build, the price is only decided by "graphics"?
That's an insane take.
The game runs great, has great attack animations and effects, great gameplay loop, great audio, great voice acting, a great amount of content and post game challenges and you can spend a nearly endless amount of time playing it, I've gotten 90 hours out of it so far; there's nothing budget or discount about this game, it's excellent and worth every cent.
 

FBeeEye

Banned
The game flopped because it was a niche genre that thought it could be saved by Marvel licensing. So, someone greenlit paying Disney a grip instead of going the D&D route or using original characters which would have made the game less of a financial risk.
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
Production value. Content alone is not enough. Your average customer is going to look at this game and see that this is not anywhere close to a AAA-budget game. $70 is an extremely tough sell for this game.
It has a huge cast of characters, good voice acting, lots of things to do and explore, wide variety of missions, wide variety of skills and abilities, etc. This game is in no way bereft of content or production values compared to something like XCOM 2 at release, which was also a full priced game. Actually it goes well beyond that game in a lot of ways. It’s also polished and even has RT/DLSS on PC.

I mean, I know what you are saying. Like I said I thought this game was stupid before release, and I took a flyer because I have bought and loved every Firaxis game (actually I think I pirated SimGolf, sorry Sid). And at some level, the game’s market is what it is. But I do think Take Two did a poor job of putting it out there and selling it. It is not some cheap $15 indieshit card game and I think that people did associate it with those titles.
 
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Gambit2483

Member
They pushed back the Switch release where a large number of its sales would/could have theoretically come from...but Switch is too butt ass weak to run the game that they had to eliminate it from the launch window.

My $0.02
 
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Punished Miku

Gold Member
They pushed back the Switch release where a large number of its sales would/could have theoretically come from...but Switch is too butt ass weak to run the game that they had to eliminate it from the launch window.

My $0.02
Meanwhile Switch has a gorgeous SRPG for $60 on sale. Fire Emblem Engage.
 

Kacho

Member
You are the rare one.
Nah Marvel fatigue isn't rare. It's clear the brand isn't as strong as it once was for a number of reasons.

Look at the recent AAA Marvel games. GotG, Marvel's Avengers and Midnight Suns all flopped. Spider-Man is the only one doing insane numbers.
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
That's too bad. I had an absolute blast with the game and I wound up voting for it as my goty. I sincerely hope it becomes successful enough for a sequel because they leave it off at a point where I want to know where it goes next and I grew to be quite fond of my Hunter.

But yea, releasing it at the beginning of December may not have been the best idea. It feels more like a Spring or Summer game to me if that makes sense.
 
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Stuart360

Member
I always find it a bit weird how Marvel is huge in the movie business, probably the biggest franchise in movie terms, but the games never seem to do that well, outside of Spiderman but thats thought of more as Sony.
 

TheSHEEEP

Gold Member
You are the rare one.
Weirdly enough, that post got the most positive reactions in this thread... Surprised me, too.

Obviously, it's not the primary factor - that's undoubtedly the price point.

But to rule Marvel fatigue out when every single Marvel product as of late falls quite short of expectations, in both games and other media? Seems a bit short-sighted to me.
I think superheroes in general (and Marvel possibly moreso as it is the "big name") are what zombies used to be - an extremely crowded genre and people showing fatigue.
 

AmuroChan

Member
Question Mark What GIF by MOODMAN


So even if a game has a 1000 hours of handcrafted unique content that took hundreds of people years to build, the price is only decided by "graphics"?
That's an insane take.
The game runs great, has great attack animations and effects, great gameplay loop, great audio, great voice acting, a great amount of content and post game challenges and you can spend a nearly endless amount of time playing it, I've gotten 90 hours out of it so far; there's nothing budget or discount about this game, it's excellent and worth every cent.

To me, absolutely not. To the generic public who just looks at marketing and doesn't do any research themselves, yes. Two things can be true at once. This game is great, which I agree. And also, this game is a tough sell to the general market with a $70 price point. Hence here we are, where the game is critically well-received, but underperformed commercially.
 

Sleepwalker

Member
I always find it a bit weird how Marvel is huge in the movie business, probably the biggest franchise in movie terms, but the games never seem to do that well, outside of Spiderman but thats thought of more as Sony.

Well, usually they try to make them GaaS or weird shit like this srpg game, Sony just went the way of a straight up action adventure single player game focused on story. No need to overcomplicate shit.


There's also the problem of developers not getting likeness to the actors that portray the characters in the MCU, which I understand why it happens, but so many times I've seen casual people ask why does X and so dont have the face of x and so actor/actress. Comic fans and gamers don't care but general casual audiences that would check it out just because they like their cape movies will complain or be turned off by it.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Nah Marvel fatigue isn't rare. It's clear the brand isn't as strong as it once was for a number of reasons.

Look at the recent AAA Marvel games. GotG, Marvel's Avengers and Midnight Suns all flopped. Spider-Man is the only one doing insane numbers.

Because those games were great. GotG was good, but wasn't marketed well. Do you honestly believe that Spider-Man 2 won't sell well? Heck, even Spider-man: MM sold great!
 

Corian33

Member
I’m waiting for the GOTY version with all the DLC. I can’t sink time into playing something like this multiple times, so I’ll wait until I can do all the content in one go.

I fully intend to buy the game eventually, it looks like my jam.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Weirdly enough, that post got the most positive reactions in this thread... Surprised me, too.

Obviously, it's not the primary factor - that's undoubtedly the price point.

But to rule Marvel fatigue out when every single Marvel product as of late falls quite short of expectations, in both games and other media? Seems a bit short-sighted to me.
I think superheroes in general (and Marvel possibly moreso as it is the "big name") are what zombies used to be - an extremely crowded genre and people showing fatigue.

What are you talking about here? Does anybody in their right mind think that Ant-Man 3 won't do over $500 Million (if it's not released in China)? Or that Spider-man 2 on the PS5 won't sell like crazy? Like what are we talking about?
 

TheSHEEEP

Gold Member
Does anybody in their right mind think that Ant-Man 3 won't do over $500 Million (if it's not released in China)? Or that Spider-man 2 on the PS5 won't sell like crazy? Like what are we talking about?
You do know the meaning of "fall short of expectations", right?
Something can be successful in absolute terms but still fail to reach expected goals.

I honestly doubt Ant-Man 3 will be as successful as Disney wants it to be - everything else Marvel-themed Disney did recently wasn't, why should this be an exception?
You have to step out of the "biggest headlines only" box a little. Marvel isn't just one or two products released per year.
 
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I didn’t get to play it, but isn’t it in a niche genre for $70? I guess they were hoping the Marvel license would carry it. Maybe Marvel fatigue is finally setting in as well?
 

The Cockatrice

Gold Member
It should've not been a critical success either. Its the most baited game ever. You think, wow cool card battle system made by xcom devs, with a cool deep system. Awesome! And you'd be right but then you realize you can spend like 20 minutes in combat and an hour walking and talking the most cringe ass dialogues ever made and collecting skin colors for 70% of the fucking game lmao. What a piece of turd and the only reason I managed to finish it was because the combat was super fun but everything else was dogshit.
 

01011001

Banned
I legit don't even know what kind of game this is, and I'm pretty sure I saw at least 2 trailers during some streams.

so awful marketing strikes again IMO.
if you make a game and I can watch 2 full trailers without knowing what the gameplay looks like, you failed.
 

Sentenza

Member
I'm not particularly surprised.
I bought the game, played it, loved it (in parts), but I have to say a lot surrounding it was a streak of spectacularly bad decisions.

I had my reservations about the card thing, but turned out to be one of the easiest things to overlook, because the combat was incredibly fun and engaging at its core.

But then you had:
- a particularly flavor of Marvel narrative which is a niche inside a niche and never had too many fans to begin with. If this was a "standard X-Men" thing I could have seen it appealing to a lot more fans.
- a very high entry price with a hefty 50 bucks "Season pass" too, which in itself is enough to put off a lot of potential buyers.
- an "inconclusive dating sim" (since "no fucking with licensed characters") that no one really asked for.
- the attempt to monetize every little extra that compared unfavorably to XCOM 2 and its popular mod support.
- fairly terrible writing across the board.

I liked Midnight Suns just fine, but I don't think it comes even remotely close to match the quality of XCOM2- War of the Chosen.
And a lot of people must have had the same impression, because to put things in context XCOM 2 peaked at 133K concurrent users on Steam, while this one barely reached 15K.

The game flopped because it was a niche genre that thought it could be saved by Marvel licensing. So, someone greenlit paying Disney a grip instead of going the D&D route or using original characters which would have made the game less of a financial risk.
Being a "niche genre" is not an excuse in itself.
It doesn't explain why their previous, non-based-on-a-licensed-IP title sold 10 times as much, for a start.
 
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Mephisto40

Member
Developers honestly need to stop slapping £70 price tags on games just because everybody else is doing it

It honestly wouldnt surprise me if Dead Space remake ends up in the same boat, great game, but pretty much everybody I know has said they will get it when it's on sale
 
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Dazraell

Member
I was initially really hyped about this game, but card thing and all of the videos showcasing the story and interactions with characters didn't hooked me and made me completely disinterested in playing. I will probably buy it one day, but not really feel any pressure to playing it anytime soon
 
It should've not been a critical success either. Its the most baited game ever. You think, wow cool card battle system made by xcom devs, with a cool deep system. Awesome! And you'd be right but then you realize you can spend like 20 minutes in combat and an hour walking and talking the most cringe ass dialogues ever made and collecting skin colors for 70% of the fucking game lmao. What a piece of turd and the only reason I managed to finish it was because the combat was super fun but everything else was dogshit.

People are hyperbolic about the dialogue and relationship stuff. I was at first too, but once you realize it’s just games busywork to progress things and unlock stuff, it’s fine. The only weird thing was the book club. It’s actually pretty cool to try and find activities and gifts each character likes.

But once you get the hang of the game loop, you can easily bounce from mission to mission with little to none of the other stuff in between. And most importantly, everything is skippable. All the dialogue and shit can be skipped by holding a button and you really don’t miss anything.

Also, does anyone else have glitched Deadpool achievements? 😐
 

The Cockatrice

Gold Member
People are hyperbolic about the dialogue and relationship stuff. I was at first too, but once you realize it’s just games busywork to progress things and unlock stuff, it’s fine. The only weird thing was the book club. It’s actually pretty cool to try and find activities and gifts each character likes.

But once you get the hang of the game loop, you can easily bounce from mission to mission with little to none of the other stuff in between. And most importantly, everything is skippable. All the dialogue and shit can be skipped by holding a button and you really don’t miss anything.

Also, does anyone else have glitched Deadpool achievements? 😐

The world is in danger but I gotta play video games with my favorite superhero for like a million times! Dialogue being cringe is not the only issue. Female Hunter sounds horrible. The story was dogshit, that ending was horrible. Tech wise is crap. They released Deadpool but it didnt work for like a few days or a week. So many jarring issues they havent bothered fixing but they had other priorities like charging a ton of money for a new hero that doesnt do much. Fucking lol.
 

Reizo Ryuu

Gold Member
People are hyperbolic about the dialogue and relationship stuff. I was at first too, but once you realize it’s just games busywork to progress things and unlock stuff, it’s fine.
It's really fucking weird how people latch on to this aspect, you can literally ignore all the side activities and friendship system and just hop from mission to mission if you want....
 

Edmund

Member
I love turn based strategy games but why did they decide on a card game? I just can't jive with card games no matter how good they are.
 

The Cockatrice

Gold Member
It's really fucking weird how people latch on to this aspect, you can literally ignore all the side activities and friendship system and just hop from mission to mission if you want....

Thats not correct. You are forced in many of the activities and if you plan on having an actual chance in combat you need to increase the heroes friendship levels assuming ofc you dont just play on normal/easy which removes the whole point of playing a strategic game because you can just faceroll anything.
 

OuterLimits

Member
I love tactics games, some card games, and even some Firaxis games. However, I can't stand Marvel stuff, so I haven't played it.

Perhaps many Marvel fans were turned off by the genre, while some tactics junkies like myself avoided it because of Marvel. Not a recipe for big success. Especially at $70 with many pricey DLC planned.

Plus many strategy fans were playing Tactics Ogre that released not long before that also.
 
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A lot of the people in this thread shitting on Midnight Suns haven't actually you know.... played it. Give it a shot, you may find it a lot of fun.

For my part I think the game is great. More than any other Marvel game I can think of it actually feels like you form real friendships with the many included heroes. Impressive given the size of the roster and more impressive still considering its the comic book versions rather than the lame MCU iterations - Yes! Captain Marvel is actually likeable in this. The story was very good, everyone had their moment, faced some kind of internal struggle, adversity or setback and was able to overcome or face their demons with the help of their friends. The main character 'Hunter' was exactly what was required to push the story forward. To have something unique without overly messing with the lore of the other characters. I liked that I was able to put my own spin on the main character by steering conversations and influencing key decisions. The character creator is good and there are lots of collectables, costumes and customisations possible. Way more than you would think. You can decorate your room at the Abbey, go fishing with Captain America or spend time in Limbo helping Majik come to terms with her horrible past.

There are a few things I would like to see improved/changed in a potential sequel..
  • Once completed let me wrap up things with everyone - I dislike the whole... go back to a point before the final mission thing. Give me a proper endgame.
  • Let me give gifts at my discretion
  • You constantly run out of certain essences and have an overabundance of others. There is a transmute system but it requires too many mats to be useful.
  • Give me more than a single other character capable of being a healer (vital in the harder difficulties). Currently only Hunter and Nico can actively heal other players. Some characters can self-heal i.e. Blade with lifesteal etc.
  • Some characters do pathetically low damage, even with maxed out character level, abilities and mods. This makes them useless in the later stages of the game on the higher difficulty settings.
There are probably a few systems that could be further refined but overall the game was a lot of fun. Considering my playtime I think the game definitely justifies its AAA price (if we consider £$70 in any way acceptable for new releases). If you are interested give it a try once the price drops a little. There is a lot here to enjoy.
 

Sensates

Member
I love tactics games, some card games, and even some Firaxis games. However, I can't stand Marvel stuff, so I haven't played it.

Perhaps many Marvel fans were turned off by the genre, while some tactics junkies like myself avoided it because of Marvel. Not a recipe for big success. Especially at $70 with many pricey DLC planned.

Plus many strategy fans were playing Tactics Ogre that released not long before that also.
Same here. Even liked the old Marvel stuff (animated X-men is my favorite) but I found the modern Disney Marvel stuff boring and cringey.
 

chixdiggit

Member
It's a good game but like a lot of Firaxis games it's too much filler. I play strategy games for the strategy part. I don't need a ton of story, cutscenes, and busy work to go with it.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
You do know the meaning of "fall short of expectations", right?
Something can be successful in absolute terms but still fail to reach expected goals.

I honestly doubt Ant-Man 3 will be as successful as Disney wants it to be - everything else Marvel-themed Disney did recently wasn't, why should this be an exception?
You have to step out of the "biggest headlines only" box a little. Marvel isn't just one or two products released per year.

If you are looking at it that way, then I could care less about what those stupid "goals" are. That's just greedy\money-hungry execs anyway. If they are expecting Ant-Man 3 to make $1 Billion and it "ONLY" makes $700M, that's great to me. And it's great in reality.

I can't allow myself to live in greedy man land type of thinking.
 

Gabbelgak

Member
The genre of that game doesn't work with marvel very well.
This is simply not true. The battles in this are fantastic and felt varied in options due to the way each of the different hero's plays.

Story was.. passable. But I don't really feel it was due to it being Marvel. The portions with Marvel were fine, the main protagonist was pretty run of the mill.
 

Mossybrew

Member
I would have been interested in the game until I saw how much of it was this lame talky make-friends-with-characters stuff and said no thanks to that.
 
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