Anarchy Reigns delayed... again

[CrazyT]

Seems the game is allready finished

The message reads, "Finally, we break the bad news about Anarchy Reigns US/EU release date – Sega has decided to change the date to TBC. While our work on the game is finished, localized, and ready to go, as publisher, Sega gets to make the final decision as to when it is released. The Japanese release date, however, remains unchanged for July 5, 2012."

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/anarchy-reigns-delayed-in-the-west

Don't think it's a bad choice. Nobody really sells their game on july but I think it's a good risk if they... market it right (*sigh)

[max_cady]

Here's the thing, July and August are usually the slowest months, so Anarchy Reigns would have zero competition in that month.

Especially in July 2012 when there's only like a Wii title and a few 3DS titles coming out. The only other major console releases are the London Olympics and Namco's Inversion which I'm sure nobody knows it even exists...

[MadeManG74]

Seems the game is allready finished

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/anarchy-reigns-delayed-in-the-west

Don't think it's a bad choice. Nobody really sells their game on july but I think it's a good risk if they... market it right (*sigh)

I dont think marketing can save a game like this to be honest. Its the dictionary definition of niche appeal.

[SEGA RedWolf]

Either way there are 3 new trailers out.

Max
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbUZxCRuaTQ[/youtube]

Douglas
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oTLSp3dEB0[/youtube]

New Trailer
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKJ_HVmGjHY[/youtube]

My god Max looks sick! D: This game looks sick! My 360 needs this game... now.

[ezodagrom]

This is such a bad decision from SEGA West, after Sonic Generations (sandwiched between BF3 and MW3) and Binary Domain (released too close to ME3) they should already know that releasing their games at busy times of the year is not a good idea.

[Aki-at]

Especially in July 2012 when there's only like a Wii title and a few 3DS titles coming out. The only other major console releases are the London Olympics and Namco's Inversion which I'm sure nobody knows it even exists...

And you know the funny thing? I'm sure nobody knows Anarchy Reign exists either...

[crackdude]

This is potentially great news. Could mean actual marketing is coming along to promote the game.
Could also mean that Sega West is fucking up the shit.

[Nathan]

It's so obvious to everyone else, but why is SEGA so clueless when it comes to their marketing? I've said this before, and I'll say it again. EVERY single game SEGA Of Japan or SEGA West develops, publishes, ports, or whatever, should have the FULL backing of all of their marketing resources. It's a shot in the foot every time a good game comes out, because they don't know how to push it.

Yeah, it's a niche game, but I'm sure that's how all genres of video games/movies/music/entertainment in general start out...with a cult following, then the masses come onto it. Good niche games aren't necessarily meant to stay niche.

Except if it's SEGA's.

[Aki-at]

Wait are people actually expecting this game to be anything but a bomb even with marketing?

I see no hype, I see no interest from even most of Platinum's fan who know this is coming, I see nothing. Binary Domain and Sonic Generations are games that can be successful, this outside of a small cult following is going to be anything but successful. There just is nothing too appealing to a wide demograph.

[max_cady]

In a sense, it's true... This is a spiritual sucessor to Mad World, a game that did make some noise, at one point, due to being the first major M-rated title on the Wii, but on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 demographic, this type of single player action brawler is fairly common.

Here's a crazy thought, since Aliens: Colonial Marines has been pushed into Q1 2013, do you guys think... that they'll drop Anarchy Reigns in November along with Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed?

[Ben]

I agree that the chances of this game doing well are slim, but I think that's only due to Sega's refusal to showcase it.

I asked this a while ago back on the front page but didn't get a response; what, exactly, makes this a "niche" title? It's a 4-player online fighting game.


It's not like we're talking about some strange 3DS crossover Stategy RPG or something....this game looks like it's just a really fun time. People like 4-player fighters (they brought Brawl by the millions) and this one has online play.....I dunno. Not really sure what makes this a niche title other than "it hasn't been marketed."

Maybe someone can explain it to me, because I dunno. =/

[Barry the Nomad]

It's far more than a four player online fighting game. It looks to be anywhere from 1 player to 16 player. Which is really the coolest selling point. If you like solo games, it seems to have a TON of characters that you can play a 1 player mode as for each one with different stories. Then you can play 2 player, if you like that classic one on one sort of setup. And from there its any sort of combination you can think of.

[Aki-at]

I asked this a while ago back on the front page but didn't get a response; what, exactly, makes this a "niche" title? It's a 4-player online fighting game.

It is a brawler. Brawlers have not been mainstream since the 16 bit days.

Further more, it is not based on any particular form of fighting (Something wrestling and boxing games can enjoy) so just because it is a brawler, does not mean one can use the games I mentioned as a starting point. Nor is it a major fighting IP (IE Tekken, Street Fighter etc)

Finally the art style and characters... They are not appealing to the majority of gamers.

And Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a party game. A party game with Mario, Link and Samus, characters who have all appeared in games that did 2 million+ what does Anarchy Reign have? Rehashes of characters from a failed title on the Wii?

SEGA could market this with millions, it would still fail horribly.

[MadeManG74]

I asked this a while ago back on the front page but didn't get a response; what, exactly, makes this a "niche" title? It's a 4-player online fighting game.

Did you just answer your own question? Even 1 on 1 fighting games are in decline, hell even SF x Tekken bombed (the fact that it's the worst fighting game to be made in the last decade probably helped it fail, granted...).

It's not like we're talking about some strange 3DS crossover Stategy RPG or something....
this game looks like it's just a really fun time.

Unfortunately, fun has little to nothing to do with popularity.

People like 4-player fighters (they brought Brawl by the millions) and this one has online play.....I dunno. Not really sure what makes this a niche title other than "it hasn't been marketed."

As Aki said, people don't like 4 player fighters, they like Mario and Friends Party Game^TM.


I think that you are severly over-estimating the open-mindedness of today's market. Big franchises are getting bigger (or at least, shrinking less fast) and everything else is just about in the toilet. This sort of concept would have worked infinitely better as an XBLA game I think.

What really makes me feel sad is that they seem to be putting so much emphasis on multiplayer, and you just know that the servers are going to be a graveyard within a month.



On a purely personal perspective, I don't know how to feel about this game. First of all the graphics look bad. This might be because it's catered to big online arenas though. Secondly, I find the aesthetics nowhere near as nice or interesting as their previous games. The gameplay has moments of looking really good and really strange. I'll need to play a demo to see what I think of it. As I said before though, the biggest issue I can see is the focus on online play, and it'll probably be dead within the month. I'll probably end up getting it, just in the hope that at least the single player will be fun, but i really don't know...

I see no hype, I see no interest from even most of Platinum's fan who know this is coming, I see nothing

The game does have somewhat of a following over at shoryuken.com, so that's something I guess.

[Ben]

Street Fighter X Tekken still sold over 1 million, FYI...it may not have met expectations but I'm sure Sega would be more than thrilled with the number.

Fighters aren't exactly on a decline...Street Fighter 4, MK9, MVC3, etc. all sold incredibly huge amounts of copies. I think if anything fighters went on an increase this gen, but Tekken is not big and few cared to see it mixed with Street Fighter...negative publicity (on-disc DLC) didn't help. Again, though, I need to emphasize...game sold over a million.

My point is this.....I don't think this game's nearly as niche as you guys are making it out to be. Had Capcom published this I'm sure it could have been a moderate success. The characters are unappealing? I dunno, they don't look that much different than the characters I see in any other fighter....all fighting games have over-the-top characters. 

I think that you are severly over-estimating the open-mindedness of today's market. Big franchises are getting bigger (or at least, shrinking less fast) and everything else is just about in the toilet. 

Hm...you make it sound like no games outside of big franchises should be released going forward. 

I mean, I don't want to imply that the industry's in incredible shape at the moment but even I'll say that's  a pretty bleak view...

I think the fighter fanbase is rather open-minded......I'm sure they'd be interested in trying this. Hell games like King of Fighters XIII seem to even have an audience. It's a traditionally hardcore genre.