What I don't get is why SEGA putting new games like Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance on sale frequently and very quickly after release.
They're kinda saying that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds sold well in number (more than 2 million sold) but then saying the game's disappointing in term of financial (many fans bought during sales).
If there is one thing I learned about freemium games from Sonic Speed Sim is that the services values your time just as much as your money. If you won't pay £10 for a skin you want, then you may pay 10 hours to unlock it through menial tasks.
In a way, discounts could be the same thing. Sega can boast how many sales a game is having, but at the cost of not getting as much money from it. If the video game "EXAMPLE" costs £30 and only one-hundred customers can afford it, then they could discount that game to £10 and then three-hundred people would afford it. Sega could then show investors how popular "EXAMPLE" is given three-hundred people brought it. However, three-hundred customers spending £10 or one-hundred customers spending £30 would still result in £3000 for Sega either way.
The only difference between a discount and freemium content is you don't need to jump through hoops to have the game cheap. Customers would simply regard that Sega are being generous and Sega are hoping that generosity alone would be a commercial move for more people to buy the discounted game enough to make ends meet.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorld did not meet sales expectations, nor outsold Mario Kart World, but it did gave MKW a run for it's money and CrossWorld is still a popular racing game given Sonic the Hedgehog as well as other promotional characters such as Sega, Nickelodeon and third-party characters. Both Sonic and these characters have thriving fanbases which means CrossWorld has a lot of clout behind it.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, while a great instalment to the series, did not meet expectations or sales to Sega. And that while Sega do have a fairly sizeable fanbase for their classic games in general, the individual fanbase for each of their classic games have pretty much stagnated from lack of fresh content and instalments.
Take
Bubsy for example,
The Woolies Strike Back was his first major game since 1996, and there are fans who would rather excuse Bubsy 3D so 1994 was the last major game before that. Bubsy had not had a major game in 11-14 years. Woolies strike back recieved generally unfavourable reviews while gamers mocked him for his flaws in past games.
UFO had pretty much a steep hill when they took on making brand-new Bubsy games. But, instead of calling quits, they continued to make more Bubsy games such as
Paws on Fire! which had mixed reviews which is still an improvement over the original. It was here Atari knew the metal was hot enough to strike and released a brand-new Bubsy game with the ballsy title of
Bubsy 4D! Granted, still mixed reactions but the game was still praised.
What I'm pointing out with Bubsy is that UFO and Atari put in the effort to revive the series and in doing so, provide fresh content for the old fanbase that was left dry since
3D to have new interest for older fans to return and new fans to join, thus a larger fan base means more positive reviews on games that fans will be more willing to pay for.
I am looking forward to Crazy Taxi: World Tour, Jet Set Radio and Golden Axe, but because these games have had no fresh content in years, doesn't guarantee these games will sell well. Shinobi being the prime example of that. So, Sega can either regard it a hopeless endeavour and cancel those Power Surge games, or should commit to restoring those classic franchises and climb those hills!
