Mafia 3 sold fast - even though it's abit rubbish

Mafia 3 is publisher 2K's fastest-selling game ever.

More than 4.5m copies of the open-world crime game were shipped during its first week on sale. Now, that's not copies sold to customers; it's copies shipped to shops. But it's an impressive first week haul, nonetheless.

Mafia 3, then, has sold faster than the likes of BioShock and Borderlands. But it has some way to go before becoming 2K's best-selling game. That accolade belongs to Borderlands 2, which has sold an impressive 13m copies since going on sale in 2012.

I think everyone is surprised with how well Mafia 3 is selling. I'd like to play it for the story, but not until a big price drop.

Shit games like this sell more than good games like Titanfall 2.

Its disgusting.

Cant blame it, its a strong brand right now.

Was a bit of a dry spell?

Well, it's "shipped" ... i don't know how many of those translate into actual sales.

However, it's huge for a broken game

Indeed.

Sales of this game prove emphatically that nobody buys games based on reviews anymore. Reviewers almost fell asleep just trying to explain what they experienced and the mugs out there bought it anyway.

@mjorh: Doesn't really matter if it's shipped. Publishers/developers make money from shipped copies. Not if those retail copies actually sell. You also don't make and ship 4.5 million copies, if there isn't great demand. You'll drop the value of the game, effectively making copies worthless. Black Friday and holiday sales are coming up too. So inventory can be cleared out.

But yea, those numbers was a total surprise for me. If those were lifetime numbers, that would have surprised me a bit. However, M3 hasn't even been out a month. So I'm am taken back by how fast this game sold.

I don't like the time era, too much like GTA titles. I prefer the 30's/40's Mafia thing. 1968 just looks bland while the entire game reeks of GTA styling.

The problem with Mafia 3 is the fact that it's pretty damn good for the first few hours, but soon after it becomes too repetitive.

Good game overall an 8/10 thanks to the ending, without the great ending a 7/10.

Yeah it's repetitive on the main storyline missions and it works like crap, but the game also brought new gameplay mechanics and it looks pretty good, also the soundtrack is awesome.

oh i see, but i'm a bit at loss regarding how this exactly works, suppose that a company ships 5 Million copies, what if the retailers wouldn't be able to sell like 20% of them? i mean isn't this would be a loss in profit for the retailers as they haven't sold all the copies? And how exactly you could know about the amount of demand?

What do you mean by that? i haven't played it tbh so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt, but from what i've seen, there's nothing "new" about this game in terms of gameplay

That's the power of marketing...

I'm actually quite annoyed by the whole Mafia III thing. So much effort was put into creating a detailed and interesting game world, but what you do in that game world is so utterly lacking in creativity it's actually quite sad. It's like 95% of the effort went into creating the setting and the remaining 5% was put into gameplay, polish, and everything else.

I think the abysmal A.I is somewhat to blame - Even with basic scenarios, having dynamic and unpredictable A.I can turn a basic firefight into something epic. But if they just stand there and shoot it's nothing but a glorified shooting gallery and get old quick.

Agreed. They should have stuck to the 30/40's. That's one of the things that made the first two Mafia games stand out.

Those are SHIPPED numbers, but it still probably sold a lot more than it deserved to consumers. I guess people will never stop buying shitty open world games. Same for Watch Dogs 2.

Watchdogs 2 looks pretty good.

Dynamic clouds and weather climate, including shadows by clouds on the ground/buildings/cars etc; new guidance system while driving with an arrows that directs you on where to turn that basically removed the necessity of looking every second on the minimap; Instant change of a scene presented in a cool way when you arrive to mission location and the setting is have to be at night etc.

I personally loved it, but the mid to late stage of the game was a huge grind. Drive here, kill racket leader, drive back. Drive here, kill someone, drive back. The first few hours and probably the last 4 target missions are the best parts of the game. I played the Xbone version, game crashed around 5 times, multiple texture issues, glitches etc. If they cut the game by about 5 hours and fixed the glaring issues, I'd give it a 8. But for now, a 7 at absolute best. In regards to the "shipping" I work at a local store, we received an abundance of copies. It sold extremely well the first two days, probably 10-15 since. We already have about 20 traded copies also. Expect this in a games sale before Christmas

@mjorh: In a scenario where 20% of retail copies aren't sold. Then at some point, if they're not moving off the shelf. A retail is technically losing money. As its wasting precious shelf space that can be used for products that are selling well. So a sale or clearance is needed to get rid of excessive inventory. Which could result in a retail loss for that batch of copies. But not taking action after a set time, will result in greater potential profit loss.

Demand would simply be how many copies retail outlets orders. Which will initially be based in part to pre orders. Along with other factors like how much previous games in a series sold. After launch, demand will be based how fast or slow a game is selling.

I agree. Apart from the grind and glaring bugs/crashes, this is a good game. It could have been a great game if executed better.

And the game was a technical let down on both consoles (doesn't look great) and PC (30fps lock on launch)

I still love the setting, especially the music. And I find the shooting and driving to be so much fun.

Not surprised. Gamers have made AAA gaming crap by supporting crap. This is going on for quite some time now.

Thanks!

@howmakewood said:

@uninspiredcup said:

Watchdogs 2 looks pretty good.

lmao

Oh well. If that's what people want, let them. Who am I to tell them otherwise? There's so many games (wildly popular ones too) that I'm not interested in. But, I'm not going to ruin other people's fun.

@Cloud_imperium:

I think the real issue is people like you having elitist attitudes over something as trivial as video games.

One day you will realize how silly you look being mad at people for liking "unsophisticated" games. They are all an unproductive hobby in the grand scheme of things.

Ding ding ding ding ding

We have a winner

Bad game is a bad game. Making something more sophisticated or making it unsophisticated doesn't change anything. Mafia 3 is a flawed game from what I've seen. Calm down.

I'm waiting for it to go on a big sale.. I want the game because I love New Orleans and the Faux-Orleans setting they went for, but from all I've heard im content to wait until a sale :)

Farming idiots with preorders on the backs of how good the previous games were is a standard industry tactic these days.

Just look at Diablo 3.

Game is a flop. Repetitive bs missions, riddled with technical issues. I traded this trash in.

Everyone I know in person, is enjoying the game. Of course here where everyone knows what is best in gaming its not good.

Shit games with big marketing budgets sell well, just look at No Man's Sky.

The people you know in real life are actual people who enjoy playing video games and have actually played this game. That is not what this forum is about. Hating games you haven't played just for the sake of being miserable is the thing done here.

I haven't played it and have no opinion on it because I haven't played it and wouldn't know. I have watched youtube videos but obviously that isn't much help and does not make me anymore qualified to give an opinion than anyone else who hasn't played it. One of the youtubers I like didn't enjoy the game but I won't co-opt his opinion and state it as my own.

@cainetao11: does anybody you know have technical issues with the game? I had it where the game crashed following the mission with Vito. After that I couldn't continue playing the game as I just got transported back to the end of that mission, where I couldn't escape from the vehicle. I contacted 2K they told me to delete the game then reinstall it. I done this. Then the game wouldn't load at all. Then 2K told me to wait for a patch. Patch installed however then the game wouldn't save. Anytime I died it took me back to the meeting I had and all the missions I completed I had to do again. That's when I was like f this trash and went and got my refund.

This shouldn't have been an open world game, and I wish every developer would stop thinking they can make a great open world game. Seriously, these developers are destroying their games by doing this crap. Watchdogs has absolutely no right being open world, it will destroy any really cool ideas it has with the hacking ability by downgrading and dumbing down all its capabilities in order to fit in with some boring overly large city. I just don't think many people care about level design anymore and it's a shame.

Sounds like this game needs some patches. Coolyfett has not played it yet. Is it a quality GTA clone or nah?

Gritty games with guns tend to sell well - I think there must be a bit of impulse buying going on: when in doubt, buy a game with guns and cars in it...