Gearbox better not be in trouble, or YOU'RE in trouble

It would probably do more harm then good, but do you ever wish everyone had the same taste as you?

I certainly do, because then I wouldn't still be wanting an unwarranted amount of time for Beyond Good and Evil 2.

But as it stands, not everyone likes what I like, and that's why we have 31 flavours at Baskin Robbins. But if all future releases of chocolate themed ice creams went away because fools didn't buy enough plain chocolate ice cream, then I'd likely have a fit.

Which I may have right about now.

Something's afoot over at Gearbox Software, and I don't like it.

Supposedly (and then "unsupposedlied" by company president Randy Pitchford himself), due to poor sales of Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, future Gearbox games were on life support. In particular, their Aliens title for Sega.

Damn it.

Even though this whole scenerio has now become something of a ruse (the originator of this rumour likely never imagined the Pitch man would get involved so quickly himself), the whole thing just stinks.

Why do I have to worry about a company's entire future because a few hundred thousand people didn't think of buying two copies of Developer A's previous game. Do I really have to make up for that slack?

I mean, back in the days, I don't remember this happening. Beyond Good and Evil didn't sell all that hot, but look at that, Michel Ancel is still around, putting out hit after hit. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time performed poorly as well, but why would anyone tell Ubisoft Montreal what to do, they've obviously got the right stuff.

But now a developer's entire crop is layed to waste if one game doesn't sell. Does the success of a World War 2 shooter really affect that of a licenced game such as Aliens? The name alone will net you enough to get started on whatever you've got coming.

I think this rumour made so much ground so quickly is because we love to talk about sales as if we actually understand them. On the Shacknews link to this story, they make mention of NPD numbers, and how BiA:HH never quite "charted" as high as expected. For all we know, it's been at number eleven for a couple months now. As well, it could have been selling really well over Steam, Valve's digital distribution service.

But with the game's price drop in the US (not many retailers in Canada have lowered their price), it's only natural to assume in tanked....I guess.

Anyways, I'm glad to hear from Gearbox that this is all a sham, and I hope something like this never happens again. As it stands, I'm very excited for both Borderlands and Aliens: Colonial Marines, so here's further hoping this is all conjecture. Or else I'm rushing out to force a few million fools into buying Brothers in Arms.

Comments

[Wes]

If the rumors are true, I wonder how many eggs Gearbox is going to put in their Halo 4 basket.

Basing a business on a single product, and using the gains from it to support the mediocre performance of other products is a very, very bizarre practice, in both theory AND execution.