Syndicate sales hurt by GAME troubles – Starbreeze CEO
Jamie Donnelly April 16, 2012 - 11:25 amNews: Starbreeze CEO Mikel Nermark has said that GAME’s financial woes that left it facing closure had a negative effect on Syndicate’s sales.
There are many things that can influence how well a game does on release, and the UK’s largest videogame retailer facing closure and being unable to stock major titles is probably one of the bigger ones. Starbreeze CEO Mikel Nermark certainly thinks GAME’s financial difficulties had a knock-on effect, causing Syndicate‘s sales to suffer.
Speaking to GI International, Nermark said: “There’s so many reasons why a game succeeds or fails from a commercial point-of-view. We released the game about a month or more ago, and we’re doing our post-mortem right now: what did we do right, what did we do wrong, and of course we will look at the commercial side as well.
“The numbers are not as high as we would like, and I think if you asked anyone they would say the same thing about any game they made. But [Syndicate] was released in the midst of GAME going under; the retail space is hurting, and I think that hurt us because we were such a retail product.”
While it’s easy to blame external sources, and GAME going under would’ve undoubtedly influenced sales, Syndicate may have been destined for poor commercial performance from the start. Deciding to reboot a strategy franchise as an FPS alienated original fans, and while it was by no means a bad game, you’ve got to be better than good to stand out in a crowded market.
It was recently revealed that the studio behind Syndicate is moving into free-to-play territory with Cold Mercury, and you can find all the latest Starbreeze news here at BeefJack.
Comments (1)
Are they entirely confident that Syndicate sales weren’t just hurt by Syndicate?
Obvious troll is obvious