D&D Video Gaming News - Hasbro sues for breach of contact by Atari

[dontmazemebro]

The less than stellar reviews and sales of some D&D games (TOEE, D&D Tactics, Dragonshard, DDO), showing that D&D is not a "must buy" brand

Those games sold poorly because they were bad.

I'll agree that turn-based rpgs aren't big sellers, but that's because there hasn't been a decent turn-based game in years. Final Fantasy Tactics is still, to this very day, playable and enjoyable. Furthermore, the game mechanic in FFT is LAUGHABLE compared to the elegance and nuance of 4E. If done right (that's a big "if" admittedly), a game developer could make an AMAZING turn-based 4E game.

 

[AllisterH]

re: Dragonshard

I would like to make a simple comment about Dragonshard

Dragonshard was a real time strategy game. Um, RTS are nowhere as popular as RPGs and I personally think that's WHY it did somewhat badly. People associate D&D with RPGs and NOT RTS.

It's kind of the same reason why HALO Wars didn't even move as half as many units as HALO:ODST. HALO is associated with FPS and changing the formula to a RTS game? Yeah, bold move but I suspect that the creatores of Wars weren't surprised by not moving as many units.

(And this is Halo - arguably the most profitable IP in the industry)

As for Dragonshard the game, it's got a decent rating of 80% based on aggregate reviews.

Similarly, DDO seems to be doing well. PErsonally, I wouldn't try to compare anything over to WoW. Neither Warhammer, Lord of the Rings online or Conan have come close to dethroning WoW and all of those have as strong a presence in terms of IP appeal as D&D IMO.

I seriously doubt Sony's DConline will come close either as another poster mentioned, WoW was a perfect storm.

That said, I'm slightly on Derren's side on the appeal of turn-based/grid based games. I think only the japanese really dig this and while it does have an audience in the states, it's definitely not to the extent that the japanese are fans of it.

re: Fluff in 4e.

Actually, there's a lot of fluff in the books. In a lot of ways, how it is being presented is similar to how it was done with Greyhawk. A lot of fluff is being released NOT just in the main book but also in the supplements like Primal Power so it's kind of fun I find....You get to look around and construct the fluff over he entire 4e library.

There's actually a 4e fan that has a wiki/webpage that is about collating all the fluff that has been released. It's a lot more than you think Derren.

 

[Alzrius]

(And this is Halo - arguably the most profitable IP in the industry)

There's nothing arguable about Halo being the most profitable IP in the video game industry - it's not.

The most profitable video game IP is Mario. 'nuff said.

 

[AllisterH]

There's nothing arguable about Halo being the most profitable IP in the video game industry - it's not.

The most profitable video game IP is Mario. 'nuff said.

Good point.

How about "most profitable IP for X-box exclusive games".

(It's interesting that Mario seems to be the one IP that CAN undergo vastly different types of games and still be well loved. From RPGs, to fighting games, to platforms to cart racing to sports, Mario has done it all and more importantly, done it WELL).

 

[ProfessorCirno]

There's nothing arguable about Halo being the most profitable IP in the video game industry - it's not.

The most profitable video game IP is Mario. 'nuff said.

It's not the most profitable, but it's a huge juggernaut.

Also, Halo Wars did fantastic in sales. I'm not sure where you're coming from there.

 

[Alzrius]

It's not the most profitable

It is. If you look up the List of best-selling video game franchises, Mario is at the top.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

It is. If you look up the List of best-selling video game franchises, Mario is at the top.

Er, sorry, I quoted the wrong person. I meant Halo wasn't the most profitable.

Still a huge juggernaut, through ;p

 

[Shemeska]

You haven't played Disgaea, have you? And if you tell me that series doesn't sell I may have to throw something.

Disgaea is awesome, Disgaea sells like crazy, but I'm not sure that it's turn-based system has anything approaching the level of complexity as 4e's rules. But at the same time, I'm not sure that any turn-based CRPG approaches the level of complexity as any table top game, be it 4e, 3e, 2e, etc. And even when they might use a particular D&D ruleset, it's often quite opaque to players that it's even using said tactical ruleset.

The mechanics of edition probably matter little for a turn-based CRPG that would use D&D rules.

 

[AllisterH]

It's not the most profitable, but it's a huge juggernaut.

Also, Halo Wars did fantastic in sales. I'm not sure where you're coming from there.

That was me Cirno.

Halo Wars did not move even half ODST numbers.

Halo 3 ODST was released in September of 2009 and currently has sales of slightly more than 3 million.

Halo Wars was released in February and currently has sales of slightly over 1 million.

Sure, that's fantastic (1 million sales is GREAT) but compared to ODST? Not even half

 

[ProfessorCirno]

That was me Cirno.

Halo Wars did not move even half ODST numbers.

Halo 3 ODST was released in September of 2009 and currently has sales of slightly more than 3 million.

Halo Wars was released in February and currently has sales of slightly over 1 million.

Sure, that's fantastic (1 million sales is GREAT) but compared to ODST? Not even half

Sure it didn't do ODST numbers, but it wasn't expected to. You can't compare it to ODST, you need to compare it to other games of it's genre, and it was, bar none, the fastest selling console RTS that's been made. And even past that, it was a huge financial success compared to other games, like Killzone 2.

Halo Wars was an incredible success, and I have no doubt that it was in no small part due to it's license.