Ask anybody knows us and they will tell you how much we love this time here even though it’s extremely hectic, between movie screeners, the site, newspapers, the radio segments, and of course getting a holiday gift guides ready for all formats as well as our convention coverage and appearances, there’s certainly a lot going on.
This is to say nothing of course of all the usual holiday hustle and bustle between family, shopping, prepping the house, and the endless errands that always seem to be more plentiful than your available time.
Of course this is also a great time thanks to the arrival of several fantastic games that make their way to the market in time for the holiday season. The next seven days will see the release of Fallout 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 opened which are writing to huge fan enthusiasm and expectations as well as lofty sales expectations for their publishers. As excited as I am for the games, I found myself thinking about younger gamers are those not in a position to pick up two titles that are released so close to one another and how difficult the decision process must be in determining which one is the first purchase.
Naturally there are those who will purchase both of them on or near launches they have the financial ability to do so or have saved up knowing since the summer that both were due to be released at this time. Others will hope that they been good enough throughout the year toward one or both of the titles to appear as a holiday gift, while others will go through the game rental options to get their fix until they can make a purchase at a later date.
Movies regularly schedule their release dates well in advance in an effort to give notice to other studios to stay clear with their high budgeted offerings as nobody wants to see their investments totaling in the millions of dollars diminished by going head-to-head with another mammoth on opening day.
Typically a film once announced tends to stay to its release date barring any difficulties in production. Videogames on the other hand are very commonly adjusted from their release date as development needs arise. Typically you’d units often see a change from a holiday release date as getting the items to market during this time is critical in order to maximize the return on the investment for the company.
That being said, I hope two massive releases do not harm one another’s initial sales by releasing so close to one another as it will be very interesting to look at the early sales of both titles especially when pre-orders are factored in. Regardless of the final numbers, I think it’s safe to say that both games are going to sell exceptionally well and gamers can look forward to some fantastic gaming in the months ahead.
Everything is risk. Given that Fallout 4 is single player and COD is mostly multiplayer I don’t see the 2 games cannibalizing each others audience.
I felt bad for Mad Max releasing the same day as MGS5.