Sony: We Didn't Expect Bloodborne To Do This Well

n an interesting interview with MCV, which we highly recommend to check out, the boss of the UK branch of Sony Computer Entertainment, Fergal Gara admitted that the highly acclaimed PS4 exclusive Bloodborne, exceeded their expectations in terms of sales.

It did surprise us, we had expectations to do well. We looked at the Souls series as a frame of reference, and we thought we could do better than that. We did – and then some. Relative to some of our sister territories, we were being quite ambitious, but even that proved to be conservative.

Fergal Gara goes on saying what one of the reasons is behind its success:

I think Bloodborne might have just landed just at the right time; it was a relatively quiet time, it was a very high quality title and a great platform differentiator for us. We were caught a little bit behind in terms of the volume, but we were able to chase it and maximise its potential.

http://gearnuke.com/bloodborne-sales...sony-surprise/

I hope this :

• Puts to rest any notions about the game being a 'niche' game. The damn thing is a million plus seller at this point, if it is niche, almost every single (non Nintendo) exclusive franchise would also be niche
• Leads to us getting a full on, Dark Souls/II styled expansion

There is no exact number that defines a niche or not. It's always relative.

In a market of hundreds of millions of gamers, a million people playing one game could be considered niche.

I'm not saying it's niche, I'm saying that selling a million plus does not automatically mean something is not niche :)

OT: Not surprised this game did well. It had great marketing, came out in a good time, but best of all: it's one of the best PS4 games out at the moment. And am sure it was the reason for a lot of people to get a PS4.

I absolutely agree. I'm just saying that if Bloodborne is niche, then almost every major game out there is niche too, and yet I see this argument reserved just for Bloodborne, as if people are trying to downplay it.

I would flat out say it is the best game on the PS4, the best game on PS4 and Xbox One, and possibly just the best game on this generation's consoles period.

Can't wait for some expansions!

Didn't it approach the million mark in about 10 days? And wasn't it 4th on an individual sku basis?

Anyways, all the Souls games are floating around the 2 mil territory, right? These games aren't smash hits, but anybody still calling them niche either doesn't understand what niche means or is just perpetually salty about something they don't like.

Reminds of people who still call MGS niche. Just because a game isn't CoD, GTA, Skyrim, Mario Kart, Minecraft, etc. doesn't mean it's some obscure franchise/title.

Nah man, it's a niche game. I know this because I stopped playing a few hours in. This was the same experience for everyone who bought the game I bet.

1 million dollar sellers aren't niche

back in the day we called those "greatest hits"

games like ori the blind forest and indies are niche

people don't understand what niche means anymore, it means sales are lower than 1 million + which bloodborne isnt

Exactly what happened for me, I don't understand how someone could enjoy this.

Yeah, man. A million in 10 days, on one platform (one with a horrid attach rate, I remind you). The game sold well, people can bring forth all sorts of explanation about a game drought or whatever other nonsense, the fact is that it sold well, it exceeded all expectations. It is not a niche game. A niche game is Persona (series sales of 6 million across 14 different SKU releases) or Metroid (series sales of 15 million across 12 different SKU releases). If people call Metroid a major franchise, ****, Souls is far bigger than it ever was.

To be clear, Dark Souls and Dark Souls II are at 2.5 million each (with Scholars of the First Sin, II is probably beyond 3 million at this point). Bloodborne is at over a million. Literally the only 'niche' Souls game was Demon's, the very first one, which had sub 500k sales worldwide. That's it.

People need to stop living in 2009.

I believe the appropriate way to enjoy Souls game is a technique called 'gitting gud'

@ProtossX:

Maybe you should go look up what niche means. It has nothing to do with the 1 million selling mark.

When people say niche surrounding a Souls game it's not only because of the low adoption rate, it's because it REALLY requires a special kind of person to be able to actually play it. There are plenty of games that don't appeal to me and don't appeal to others but we can play them no problem and still find some enjoyment, a Souls game is not something where this happens, you either love it or you fucking hate it, and A LOT of people hate it.

For a change, he isn't wrong, though. Souls are not niche. They are big enough to be prominently headlined at VGAs, which is as mainstream as games showcases get. They outsell most first party franchises. They get mass acclaim and major GotY wins. They routinely sell millions.

By no definition, really, are these games 'niche.' If there had even been some form of a drop off- you know, something to suggest that people bought one on hype, then got turned off by them (because of their so called 'niche' appeal), and didn't by the later ones- you and other proponents of the 'niche' argument might have actually had a point. But no, as it stands right now, Souls is either holding steady with each new game (Dark Souls II), or accelerating (Bloodborne).

People here tend to always try and downplay genres/games they arent interested in, or fear will promote an "enemy" platform. I think it's awesome to see any game that breaks the current corporate molds do well. It's our only shot at getting AAA budgets behind new ideas anytime soon.

I was a big fan of Demon's Souls, and enjoyed the Dark Souls games as well. My quandary: I was planning on grabbing BB in the next week or so once my Dragon Age Inquisition playthrough was complete. But now Witcher 3...

Bloodbourne is for sure a AAA, blockbuster, must have 1st party exclusive. There is nothing niche about it, it is as important as a Zelda or Halo imo.

This is true of literally every single game on the market.

Yes, I see people on these forums use terms like 'niche' and 'nerd' to put something in a bad light.

Don't know what is up with that.

I like a lot of niche things in gaming :D

Game collectors are also in a very niche market, nobody puts those in a bad light, yes ? I'm very envious of some collections ^^

Definitely looking forward to playing the game someday. I just don't feel like buying a PS4 or Xbox One at the moment.

Wow, I knew Metroid wasn't a show stopper, but I had no idea the sales were that low for the franchise.

Now do excuse me, I don't follow the sales game much and I don't know where to look for good info... but I just looked around and a few places have Demons Souls pegged at about 1.7 million. I did see that 500k figure, but that was (allegedly) the total sales for NA by Sept. 2010.

If that 1.7 million figure is true though, then even Demons Souls is out of niche territory.

Guess this means no DarkBorne on Xbone and PC.

Oh hell no it's not, absolutely not, don't even try to peddle that bullshit, I'm not one of these groupie idiots around here who will soak it up. These games are so black and white in terms of adoption it's insane, I've never in my life seen a game franchise that doesn't seem to have any form of middle ground.

lol

And the nerd rage begins.

Honestly, Demon's Souls was a quick mental math calculation for me. I remembered NA sales at 250,000 for Atlus (at the time, it was their most successful release), and 250,000 for Japan. Negligible sales in Europe. I had no idea it reached 1.7 million worldwide, that seems nuts. Honestly, the figure seems a bit suspect. Did you source it back to its origin? A lot of even reputable sites like Forbes will often quote VGChartz, and then these sites (Forbes et al) are further cited by other sites, leading to perpetuation of false numbers. That is the only reason why I ask.

Also, apparently Metroid is 17 million, not 15 million. Eh.

Really? Are you sure?

How about Smash? One of the highest selling games on the planet, you either like it or you don't. Call of Duty? Same. Assassin's Creed? Ditto. Final Fantasy? Yep. Monster Hunter? Yeah. Motherfucking Wii? Yep, the exact same.

You either like Bloodborne (say, @cainetao11), or you are lukewarm towards it, or you love and adore it (a lot of people on this board, admittedly), or you hate it (for instance, you, or Lulu_Lulu). Just like any other game.

Stop conflating and projecting your own experience, interpretation, understanding, and opinion on everyone. You don't like the game? Fine, no biggie, I probably don't care for your favorite game either. But to project your opinion on an entire demographic as a whole is presumptuous, ignorant, and frankly, annoying.

You're acting like I'm some small portion of people who say this, it's so cut and dry, I've never met or even seen someone who is lukewarm towards it or kind of likes it, it's just extremists on both ends of the spectrum, this franchise is a gaming enigma.

Is Forza niche?

From a sales perspective sure, from a playability and accessibility standpoint, no.

I'd say that from a playibility and accessibility standpoint, a racing sim is far less accessible than a fantasy RPG that has you fighting Cthulhu.

Yeah, hoping to see a major expansion pack. I assume we'll see something at E3. Never played the Dark Souls expansion, and I wish they would remaster Demon's Souls. Wouldn't mind going through that again when it's actually active. Got the lame version of the Old Monk.

I don't know how you could possibly quantify that into a logical statement, one is driving cars which is basic function of daily life for a billion people plus racing/driving games are immensely popular and the other is a dark and brooding hack and slash with no real story engagement with unnecessary difficulty.

The former unquestionably is more accessible and has more playability, anyone can pick up a racing game and enjoy themselves even if it's not their cup of tea, that will never be the case with a Souls game.

NICHE TITLE said the other Damage Control: Nya edition dude.

Okay, I'm done.

I do agree that it's that way for the majority of people, but I guess I'm a little weird in that I do really like the combat and challenge of Bloodborne, but I also find it fairly grindy and repetitive and some of the design decisions are head-scratchingly stupid. And aside from the combat I find it to be really weak in terms of most other things I expect in an RPG (yes, even an action RPG). It's a good thing, then, that I enjoy that basic gameplay loop enough to want to sink time into it. If I were reviewing it I would probably give it an 8.

But, yeah, I do agree that the vast majority of gamers who have played it either hype it up as the second coming, or they absolutely hate it.

It is the best game for about 2-3days more until Witcher 3 comes out. 10/10 ...one of the best game ever made if believe Gamespot

Man, I guess we all knew where this topic would end up, but still...

hahaha

No damage control required, the game killed itself in two weeks and fell off into oblivion.

I'm not saying you're going to find it to be a perfect game, but the trend appears to be pretty black and white for this franchise.

I think my head literally hurts after that last comment.

Something is wrong with NyaDC. Let me ask you a question (don't lie to me), did any of the Souls games touched your private parts?

@freedomfreak: The Dark Souls 1 DLC is awesome not only because of it having some of the best bosses in the game, but because it has one of the more understandable storylines in the game, and one of the best. Totally something that gives you that "sunuvabitch!" kinda reaction when you figure out what happens.

Unfortunately the whole "restart once you defeat Gwyn" thing is so stupid and makes the DLC that much harder to reach.

Man, being wrong on predictions is one thing, posting this stupid crap on the other hand with literally no proof is just digging that grave deeper.

Just because it sells well doesn't mean it isn't a niche game, it just says a lot about the PS4 library

Yes, your experience = everyone's experience. I love the internet

Well, that sucks, because I finished it.. Dark Souls 2 had it right. Nice of them to give you the option.

The proof is everywhere, it went silent, the game was the bees knees for like two weeks and then just vanished and stopped being talked about, it survived on hype and that hype died as soon as normal humans played it and realized this shit doesn't appeal to them. The only reason it's even being brought up now is because it was thrust back into relevance by a Sony derived article highlighting their surprise, not because the game is popular and buzzing...

Shit's dead dude, has been for a month...

@nyadc: goddamn mobile not allowing me to post a gif for how fucking stupid that is. Livio help me out.

Played the game the entire week. Community is still great. Still sold over a million in ten days. Still a 93 at Metacritic. Waiting for your solid proof it "killed itself."

Can't believe I actually have to spell out in bold text that I'm being sarcastic, holy fucking shit

Sarcasm

It shot itself in the foot by being hyped and geared to the mainstream who would inevitably reject it like every other Souls game before it, it killed itself by attempting to convince the masses that they were going to like it and failed because of what it is. The drought and hype built this game up to be something for everyone, people needed something to play but when they actually got it they genuinely questioned what in the hell they spent their money on.

It killed itself by not exactly misrepresenting what it was, but rather by trying to appeal to a larger demographic who was naive to what they were getting into by purchasing it.

The hype died when everyone finally figured out what this was all about, that mainstream crowd went away and this shit died.

Bish you're crazy and have no idea wtf you're talking about. I just stopped playing half an hour ago, was invading everywhere from 1am to like 4am. The only thing's dead is your brain!

@nyadc:

@freedomfreak: In that case, wouldn't his getting used to it also be wrong?

Seems wrong to me.