Klade
10-21-2004, 11:11 PM
Everyone here knows that there have been a number of indications that Tribes: Vengeance hasn't been a big seller. Every time theres a thread pointing out one of these indications people talk about how there hasn't been enough time etc etc. Well I think people need to face facts. Tribes is a niche game and it will never be a big seller. Given enough time it might sell as much as Tribes 2. But it won't even be doing that any time soon.
Don't get me wrong I like Tribes: Vengeance a lot. I play every day for at least a few hours. But most people are not going to see anything in it that will make them want to pay 50$. And for once advertising has nothing to do with it. There are adds everywhere both in print and on the internet, and pretty much every site worth its salt has done a review, or preview.
Theres a combination of factors that have lead to this but I think one of the most telling is that no one is saying the game is perfect. You talk to your typical Tribes Fanboi and they will tell you something like "Oh its good but once the community makes some maps or mods it will be fantastic!". This believe it or not discourages people from buying it. Why buy a game that from the fan's own mouth isn't as good as it could be? This is Irrationals fault completely. They tried to make tribes a simpler game but in so doing also tried to appeal to the hardest of hardcore tribes fans. The result is a game that is niether simple nor as complex as most people want.
Another reason Tribes isn't selling well is the timing. Sims 2 just launched. Next month games like Half-life 2, World of Warcraft, Vampire M, Halo 2 and Prince of Persia 2 will all be coming out. People are not looking for good games like Tribes when incredible games like those are just around the corner.
Top all of this off with the technical problems that tribes suffers from. Problems like the securom not installing right on peoples comps, and incredibly poor network code that basically means only a few servers with people on them available at any one time (if that). And you get a situation where Tribes will remain a "sleeper" game. Maybe once it hits the 30$ bin it might have a resurgance. But I doubt we will see decent numbers till then.
Don't get me wrong I like Tribes: Vengeance a lot. I play every day for at least a few hours. But most people are not going to see anything in it that will make them want to pay 50$. And for once advertising has nothing to do with it. There are adds everywhere both in print and on the internet, and pretty much every site worth its salt has done a review, or preview.
Theres a combination of factors that have lead to this but I think one of the most telling is that no one is saying the game is perfect. You talk to your typical Tribes Fanboi and they will tell you something like "Oh its good but once the community makes some maps or mods it will be fantastic!". This believe it or not discourages people from buying it. Why buy a game that from the fan's own mouth isn't as good as it could be? This is Irrationals fault completely. They tried to make tribes a simpler game but in so doing also tried to appeal to the hardest of hardcore tribes fans. The result is a game that is niether simple nor as complex as most people want.
Another reason Tribes isn't selling well is the timing. Sims 2 just launched. Next month games like Half-life 2, World of Warcraft, Vampire M, Halo 2 and Prince of Persia 2 will all be coming out. People are not looking for good games like Tribes when incredible games like those are just around the corner.
Top all of this off with the technical problems that tribes suffers from. Problems like the securom not installing right on peoples comps, and incredibly poor network code that basically means only a few servers with people on them available at any one time (if that). And you get a situation where Tribes will remain a "sleeper" game. Maybe once it hits the 30$ bin it might have a resurgance. But I doubt we will see decent numbers till then.