October Is Just Outrageously Filled With Games
We didn’t think that October’s line-up could get any more ridiculous, but it just did. With Microsoft’s ‘Project Spark’ and Bandai Namco’s ‘Lords of the Fallen’ both adding to their names to the host of games being released this October, several games risk getting buried amongst in the fray. With two dozen games being released, and ten of them high profile, gamers might have themselves heavily out of pocket in order to keep up to date, and even then, something might get left behind.
Fantasy RPGs are a popular choice this year, and with good reason, but with three big titles being released in the same month it’s hard to guess which might come on top. Dragon Age: Inquisition has the advantage of its lineage, people already know the series, but that could also be its undoing. Dragon Age II wasn’t received well by critics or fans, and may well put off some coming back around to try again; while Lords of the Fallen offers a fresh new IP with similar mechanics and Dark Souls inspired combat.
If these games were released apart from each other, they might have enough breathing room to enjoy decent sales as people yearn for another fantastic adventure. But with a mere 19 days between them they may well over saturate the market. Especially when you also throw Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor into the mix, which has interesting mechanics and is set in the Lord of the Rings universe. Given that Mordor and Inquisition are currently set to release on the same day, there’s no way the base sales won’t be affected. Even if a customer does have enough money to buy two games on the same day, they’ll probably buy two from different genres.
And these are three big games, with copious media attention and fans that will already be interested in buying them; those unlucky enough to have fallen off the radar already are unlikely to be able keep up with the competition, like Raven’s Cry, an action RPG that promises a true depiction of pirate life.
Even the winner of Best in Show of this year’s E3 Game Critics Awards, Evolve, might struggle to position itself among all these other titles competing for space. Although Turtle Rock studios has a good heritage with Left 4 Dead under its belt, a brand new multiplayer focused IP might struggle against Battlefield: Hardline on their shared release date, with its previous open beta and long standing history of multiplayer action, even though our Amanda reportedly loved playing Evolve at PAX East.
The real tragedy could be missing out on a truly great experience that has been a long time coming. The Alien brand was deeply scarred last year by Colonial Marines, which utterly failed to capture the true atmosphere of the film series, nor the thrill of an action game. Alien: Isolation could save all that, with a seemingly terrifying Xenomorph and hauntingly realised locations it could finally be the game to bring Alien back to the limelight, as our Francesco seems to think after playing the game at EGX Rezzed. Unfortunately, Alien Isolation is releasing in October, and although there’s nothing quite like in on the launch schedule, it’s a game that might be forgotten against the explosive action of some of the noisier releases.
The onslaught doesn’t end there either, with exclusives like Sunset Overdrive, Bayonetta 2 and Driveclub all pinned for October. These should be able to fare better due to the platform owner’s push, especially Bayonetta 2 which doesn’t really have competition on WiiU, while Sunset Overdrive and Driveclub have plenty of shooter and racing game competitors releasing either just before or shortly after them. Civilization: Beyond Earth is what we could call a PC exclusive, but it’s a new entry in a major franchise of a very specific genre (turn based, 4X), and it shouldn’t have a lot of problems thanks to its loyal fans.
Much more problematic is the situation of The Evil Within and, potentially, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The Evil Within got mixed previews so far, and while some are eagerly waiting for Shinji Mikami’s return, it remains to be seen how well the game will compare with Alien: Isolation; survival horror fans are known to be ruthless in their judgement. Borderlands, on the other hand, won’t appear on next gen hardware and it also looks way too similar to the previous games. People will be looking for a leap towards next generation gameplay and graphics this Fall, and it remains to be seen how well this new game by Gearbox can do in this regard.
The reason for this huge build up of releases is fear of being left behind, ironically. With Destiny coming out in September and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare making its appearance in November, everyone was worried no one would be playing anything else, so cramped onto the only life raft they saw, October.
It’s a dangerous gamble with such heavy hitters competing with each other as well as the lesser known titles, and it won’t pay off for everyone. Assassin’s Creed Unity, Battlefield Hardline and Dragon Age will all probably hold their heads above the water, but true gems thaburied under their weight, like Lords of the Fallen, Middle earth: Shadow of Mordor and Alien. Experimentation should never be ignored, and these games offer something new, but that might not sell well against the safe and familiar when the time comes.
Publishers, hear a gamer’s plea before it is too late: please spread your releases even a bit further in November or December!