Mad Jack

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About Mad Jack

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  1. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    LONGEST JOURNEY FUNCOM Nov-00 WIN 152,955 $4,557,667 $29.80 It sold half as much as Escape from Monkey Island which lost to TLJ that year as best adventure game of the year. ESCAPE FROM MONKEY ISLAND ASPYR MEDIA Mar-01 MAC 2,554 79,171 $31.00 LUCASARTS Nov-00 WIN 94,305 3,316,036 $35.16 ESCAPE FROM MONKEY ISLAND JC LUCASARTS Feb-02 WIN 36,482 330,156 $9.05 ESCAPE FROM MONKEY ISLAND ARCHIVE SERIES JC LUCASARTS Oct-01 WIN 15,577 216,590 $13.90 LONGEST JOURNEY JC FUNCOM Apr-05 WIN 8 83 $10.38 Grand Total 301,881 $8,499,703 $129.29 Peace Out My Peeps
  2. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    XBX PSYCHONAUTS MAJESCO 4/1/2005 8,923 $435,579 $48.82 PS2 PSYCHONAUTS MAJESCO 6/1/2005 6,375 $318,041 $49.89 Grand Total 15,298 $753,620 $98.70 Again these are American numbers only. And again I say if a great game gets great reviews and doesn't sell well, it may be due to the fact it isn't culturally relevent- meaning the mainstream don't get it and don't identify with it. But I do think publishers should once a year or once every two years put out a great orginal game to help with the compnay's reputation and to broaden the portfolio of game genres and IPs in the indusrty as a whole. Thsi is why I think Lucas should have put out Sam and Max 2 even if they knew they would lose money. Peace out.
  3. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    Psychonauts PC SKU has sold 3,862 copies since April, making 114,443 dollars in the US alone. Not sure the European numbers. I have seen Psychonauts on tv and I have heard from marketing people that if you do a TV add campign you have to spend at least $6million to be slightly effective, and $10million to really make the game's presence well known. Lets us assume then that Majeco spent 6 million, the minimum, on TV and 1 million to finish the game, they need around 7 million to break even. So they need to sell bewtween 250,000 to 300,000 to break even. It may do it. I am hoping it is a steady evergreen product.
  4. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    ALso someone mentioned TV. TV is great place for new ideas and odd ideas because it doesn't cost the viewer any money to watch it. So they are more open to new ideas, as long as they are good. All you have to do is watch a show for 10 to 15 mintes to realize whether it is good or not, regardless of the premise. But as soon as you make them pay money, look out! It better be a movie or game about something they like or forget it. Odd premises can be overcome with good word of mouth, but very rarely.
  5. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    EXACTLY! If Majeco was going to buy it an dfinish it with Tim they needed to figure out a way to market it so mainstreamers could get over the concept hump.
  6. Studies about violence on TV, movies and video games have pointed out that they do make you more violent....for thirsty minutes AFTER you have just watched it. Yep it is true VIDEO GAMES DO MAKE YOU MORE VIOLENT!!!! For twenty to thirty minutes. They get you all pumped up on adrenaline, and then you calm down and you are exactly as you were, no more or no less violent than you were before viewing the violent media. So guess what? I am not worried about violence in video games or TV. And I do think M rated games can disturb young kids. And another study came out and said THE PARENTS were at fault for young kids seeing violence, not the movies, TV nor video games. Apparently parents ignore the rating system and assume their kids can handle it when they can't. I don’t think it makes kids more violent, it just bothers them and gives them nightmares. Another study came out that said 90% of all inmates on death row were physically abused to point where they were knocked unconscious or were in coma. The damage was done to the frontal lobe of the brain where the brian is able to determine long term affects of actions. The damage was so bad in all those cases that scar tissue could be seen with a simple x-ray. So if you want to make a killer, just beat a kid hard enough on the frontal lobe of his brain. So my point is we should worry less about violent media and more about physical abuse of children. Also crime rates dropped because abortion became legal in the US, so there were less unwanted kids being abused. So if you are worried about violence in America; 1.) Outlaw physical abuse of children and make laws tougher 2.) Keep affordable and easily accessible family planning legal. A US Army study showed that today’s game playing soldier was a far more accurate shot than his non game playing predecessors. And today’s game playing soldiers were more likely to shoot back at an attacker, than to panic and run for cover like his non game playing predecessors did. So video game violence helps people not panic under pressure and duirng violent situations- it helps you stay level headed and not panic. NASA knows this because they have a panic room where they make the astronauts do complicated tasks while they are bombarded with violent shakes, lights, noises, steam etc. They don’t want them to panic under pressure. So video game violence good. Hitting kids bad. ‘Nuff said.
  7. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    But what I hear from most of you is the reason main stream game buying public that Majesco was hoping would buy this game, is: 1. They are just a large group of unimaginative, low brow boors who only want to satisfy their base instincts and not have their brain challenged by anything too intellectually stimulating, and they just want to ‘blow sh!t up real good.’ 2. Or Majesco marketed the game wrong 3. Or Majesco had troubles with distribution. So, no one here thinks the unusual concept of a boy with psychic powers joining a summer camp that trains psychic secret agents is the problem with the games' low sales? No one? Ok. I just wanted to check.
  8. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    I didn't read the book nor did I see the movei. Sorry. I'd love to know what this means.
  9. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    You are right and wrong. Peole do want to blow sh!t up. It is a popular wish that needs fullfilling. But on the other hand Sims and Roller Coaster Tycoon were mega hits and they don't blow anything up (Though I think you can crash and kill peopel riding on the coatser if you designed it badly, but that isn't the reason people buy that game). Same with all those Pokemon games and Tony Hawk. All mega hits where one doesn't blow sh!t up.
  10. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    It doesn't matter if it was bundled or not. The first game made 38 million dollars in the US. But the second one only did 18 million in the US. 38 million, budled or not is a succesful game- UNLESS they spent 38 million dollars on it, of course. But it isn't a wildy succesful like they thought is was going to be. So that is why they tried to make the second one more appealing to the main stream game consumer, and it failed. Also the change in rating hurt them, clearly. Bad move all around. Lets just point out the obviuos, middle eastern heroes aren't going to sell all that well anyway in the current political atmopshere. Games are wish fullfillmnet. My guess is more peopel WISH to be Private Ryan or Rambo right now , than they wish to be middle eastern prince. So my point is the basic concpet hurt this game, even though it is great game, got good reviews AND good marketign and PR. None of that can overcome a concpet that isn't popular. Thsi is the same problem Psychonauts has I belive.
  11. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    What does that mean? It sounds like you dislike that method. I agree, it doesn't always work or ALL movies coming out of Hollywood would be hits. There are a lot of factors that go into the succes of movies and games. You get any number of those factors wrong, even though got all the others right, you may still have a flop. I just argue that Pyschonauts got everyhting right, except for basing the game on a concept that will be popular among the mainstream. My theory is that is why it isn't selling as well as we think it should.
  12. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    I have seen PC copies of Psychonauts in the US on the shelves at Best Buy. So the PC version is here in the USA. Also those Prince of Persia numbers were USA only, so I think you could consider Prince of Persia: Sand of Time a successful game. If it weren't I don't think there would have been a sequel. But did you notice how they tried to make PoP; Warrior Within more serious, dark and more Goth? I think that was in response to a survey they must have taken that said most people thought it looked too much like a kids game. So they wanted to hit the main stream more and darkened it up and it went from a T rating to an M rating too. I don't think it helped. It sold only 587,000 units on Xbox and PS2 in the US versus 1,047,562 on both platforms for Sands of Time- the more ‘kiddie’ version. So they tried to go more main stream, and it sold twice as less! Actually, this proves my point. A game about a middle eastern hero is going to sell 1 million units, period, and no matter how you try and dress it up, the basic idea with new dark Batmanesque styling its is still the same basic concept- nothing has really changed- except now you can’t sell the game to 17 years old and under (dumb move). And in this case it backfired. I really think you basic concept limits the success of your game. If it is popular concept and you make a great game based on it, it will be a mega hit. If it is not a popular concept and it is a great game it will not be a hit.
  13. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    PRINCE PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME: 647,562 units sold on PS2, making about $23,660,140. The Xbox versions sold 400,980 units and made $15,042,320 dollars. Making a grand total of about 38 million dollars across both SKUs, and selling through 1,048,52 units.
  14. Why isn't Psychonauts selling well?

    Good theories, but I have one that I haven’t heard yet and I am going to throw it at you all. But first I want dissuade you all from think Psychonauts wasn’t marketed well. In order for TV advertising to work at least 6 million dollars has to be spent or it is wasted, usually ten is about average. So Majesco thought by spending at least 6 million (I have no idea what they spent, but I assume it is at least the minimum) they thought they were going to earn their money back. So they did give it a fair shot of getting to the main stream. I think the games failure to sell well isn’t Majesco’s problem. I think it is with the basic game concept itself. Now before anyone misinterprets me and say I am bashing the idea for the game, let me just tell you I am not. I like the idea a lot. It is fresh, innovative and stands out from the crowd of tough guy killer games, and I am very glad it was made. I want to see more games like this. So that is why I am concerned it isn’t selling well. So I think the problem that plagues this game, and to certain degree Grim Fandango, is that the basic idea behind it is too odd for the main stream game buying public. The majority of the game buying public doesn’t get it, and because they don’t easily understand the basic premise, they don’t buy it, no matter how many commercials they see or adds they see in magazines or articles giving the game awards. Publishers, and movie companies, have filter they use to determine in a simplistic way, wheterher or not they think a game or movie will be easily understandable to the majority of the consumers they are trying to reach, it’s called the one line pitch. Lets try it for Tims’ games. Farcical Pirates of the Caribbean. Monkey Island. Easy- Everyone knows pirates and a lot of people have ridden that ride, so it is easy to get. Pirates are fun and exciting and are set in the beautiful Caribbean. Back to the Future meets Revenge of the Nerds. Day of the Tentacle. It is about three geeky teenagers in a time travel comedy adventure. Again pretty easy idea to consume. Mad Max meets Easy Rider. Full Throttle. Biker gang mayhem set in the American south west thirty some odd years in the future. Again very easy for the main stream game buyer to get. So here is where we run into some trouble. Film Noir meets Dias De Los Muertos. Grim Fandango. Film Noir is cool and so is Day of the Dead, but film noir is not popular right now and most gamers I am sure have never even heard of Day of the Dead (well they have heard of the movie but not the Mexican holiday), it is too obscure. This was hard for most people to easily consume. And now, this is really why I think Psychonauts isn’t selling- How do you describe Psychonauts in a simplistic sentence? I’ll try. Scanners meets Meatballs. Or Psychic powered kids go to government sponsored summer camp to become psychic spies. I don’t think the required 700,000 gamer buyers that need to buy this game to make it profitable, are going to get that premise. And they don’t seem to be buying the game, if these numbers hold out. It is too original for those people- too hard to consume I think. So I think the lesson here is if you plan to make a game about a subject matter that is kind of on the fringe or somewhat obscure, adjust your budget accordingly. Or if you want to make game that sells 700,000 units or across all SKUs, adjust your idea accordingly to match the number of games buyers you need. In other word if you want to spend 10 million on a game, have an idea that 700,000 people will want to buy. With Monkey Island, Full Throttle and Day of the Tentacle he did. I think with his last two games he didn’t. Tim can clearly make a great game and have it sell well. I just simply think the last two games were based on subject matters that a lot of people liked, but not enough people liked the idea to justify the budget. Anyway, that is my theory. What do you think?