Was XCOM 2 a flop?

I just saw this game on the steam store already 33% discounted on Steam and I heard it is releasing for consoles later this year. I looked at the Steam reviews and it only has 76% positive reviews on Steam which is very low for this game. I assume this is because of the performance issues and this is why I didn't buy the game myself. I looked on Steamspy and it's only done around 800k which is quite low compared to Total War which is on 650k right now and it's only been out 2 weeks. I think this game is a flop personally I don't think consoles can save it considering it's predecessor didn't even do well on the consoles which led to this game being a PC exclusive release.

No.

No.

I think the issue with the game was i think there was a bug in the game where it deleted your save at like the last mission, or something similar to that. I'm tempted to get it, but I'm not sure if I want to spend $40 on it now.

Its a flopped based on who's definition?

Hard to say. Steam, and specifically Steam sales, really does have some weird distorting effect on the sales lifetime of a game. XCOM EU/EW reportedly sold more than both of its console versions combined, but even that took many months to hit 1 million. Total War: Warhammer is reportedly the fastest-selling Total War game launch ever - surpassing Rome II, the previous record holder. Rome II went on to sell more than 1.1 million copies in North America and Europe alone after six months, so Warhammer is on track to surpass that.

Come back in another six months after a few more patches and maybe an expansion or two and ask that again.

Why is everyone's favorite word in here "flop" LOL. It's like you'll lived to say a game flopped. What gives you the indication that the game flopped.

It is the best game of 2016 so far.

Good question. The only people who can definitively declare a game a flop or not are the publishers of said games, matched up against budget and internal sales projections. None of this information will ever be divulged to the general public. Forum posts about games being a sales "flop" is therefore moot, and serve only to provoke discussions.

That is your opinion but Steam reviews taken from 12k+ are only 76% positive

No , but performance issues affected the sales

So 3/4 of people think it's good, that's pretty high.

what? why? It was a great game, better than the 2012 version. I just didn't like how you were way too OP by the end of the game and the avatar project bar was shit.

I had a total of zero issues with Xcom 2, I don't even recall a single CTD.

It's fairly common knowledge that a lot of people have problems they automatically blame on the latest game they're playing, with out realising that the problem is actually in their PC. I'm sure some people did have problems in the same way that I didn't but don't take them all as gospel.

GTA V has 80% positive reviews...is it a flop?

Less than a score of 10 on GS is a flop.

@BigShotSmoov007: Agreed. And citing user reviews? I know there is something in aggregate scores but user ones are absurd to a large degree. People throw a 9/10 or 1/10 on games because they're emotional about spending money on it.

I play a lot of video games, and XCOM 2 is by far the best of this year.

One of the best games of this year, hardly a flop and lol @user reviews, it had some technical issues thus the butthurt in scores

Yes, very big budget game and it sold less than quarter what XCOM did. Consoles will lighten the blow, but this thing is a disaster no matter what systems they port it to.

It was a disappointment. Ridden with several, small but aggrevating issues that add up.

But still a fairly good game. Better than EU, but worse than Long War, UFO Defense and Terror from the Deep.

No, one of the highest rated games this year and while sales aren't excellent, they're still good. Expect a slight increase in the number of sales during the summer.

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-and-xcom-2-are-selling-extremely-well-on-pc-36079

http://gearsiege.com/2016/02/10/xcom-2-sales-passes-over-500000-in-first-week-better-than-rise-of-the-tomb-raider/

http://www.pcgamesn.com/xcom-sales-flounder-consoles-win-pc

Yes, I know how to use Steamspy. Also, some random journalist claiming a game is selling well does not mean it's a success by any extent of the imagination. Journalists claimed QB, Halo 5, etc. were a success as well, they just drink the kool-aid and don't follow sales like some of us, nor do they look at these things in context.

Selling vastly under what the previous game sold is not a "success"

I guess you didn't actually read or even click on a single link or you'd know that none of them were from Steamspy.

I'll take the word of a "random journalist" before some random troll on a forum. Present your evidence to back up your claim or stop trolling.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown has been out for almost 4 years (3 years and 8 months) whereas XCOM 2 has been out for 4 months. Do you have any sales figures for XCOM: EU after 4 months, because without these figures you can't really assume that XCOM 2 has been selling vastly under XCOM: EU as it's more than 3 years older.

Did you not read the articles? Just ctrl+f and you see steamspy is mentioned in both of them. The numbers are straight from Steamspy.

Yes, you're right they did get their figures from Steam, I apologies.

Now how about you backing up your statement

Games are a lot more frontloaded than you think. XCOM2 has been hovering around the same amount for a few months now. Unless a game is an evergreen title or is a new IP with positive WoM, really the only thing that will move the needle in any significant way after release is price slashes, which is of course less revenue per sale for the publisher.

My statement being? That it sold significantly less than XCOM?

Just check Steamspy (and this doesn't even reflect console sales for XCOM, even if the console sales were lower comparatively to PC). And like I said, XCOM2 doesn't have good legs, nor is it an evergreen title, nor is it a new IP with positive WoM.

@unrealgunner: Not at all. Can't wait for the sequel!

To flop or not the flop? That is the flop. Sorry I'm just flopping here. Flop flop flop flop flop flop flop!!! Flop.

I understand that many games are frontloaded, (although sales are more steady on PC compared to consoles), but that's not my point. We cannot make the assumption XCOM 2 has been vastly underselling compared to its predecessor because we don't know the sales figures for the game after 4 months. XCOM: EU also had price slashes. Accoriding to steamspy it even had a free weekend at one point, so actual sales would be under what steamspy claims which is 3,339,939. It may bee hovering around the same mark, but this could've been the same case with XCOM: EU.

@phantomfire335:

Free weekend adds <100k. This is easy to tell if you find other less popular titles that received free weekends, as the effect is minimal as time goes on.

XCOM2 sales would not be so concerning if the reception wasn't so lukewarm and the legs so nearly nonexistent.

Yes, it is true we don't know XCOM sales at this same comparable point, but it's important to consider A) XCOM was a new IP (don't even say it, because you would be completely missing the point) with positive WoM so legs would contribute strongly B) even without comparing to XCOM, and examining XCOM2 by itself, 800k sales after four months with no signs of healthy legs is not good for a AAA game

I dont know how this could be considered a flop... Its coming to consoles is a reason?

No, not at all. I loved the game and others have too. Sure, it didn't sell as much as some AAA titles, but that's expected.

And, why is the game releasing on consoles a reason for it supposedly being a "flop"? Isn't that a good thing?

@StealthMonkey4: SteamSpy clearly states, on the left hand column under owners "The game had a free weekend on 2015-09-10, The data is not reliable" it also only shows data from 05-18-2016. meaning it only indicates that it hasn't really shifted a lot of units over the past month, unfortunately it doesn't appear to have function to show data prior to the earliest date shown.

Your comparison of the sales of a 4 month game to a 4 years old game is incredibly flawed and you have not a shred of evidence to support it, other than "I said so because I think it is"

From the devs of fractured space who had their game up for a free weekend

"Smashing through the final milestone before we had our first coffee of Friday morning, we ended the weekend having attracted just shy of 270,000 new downloads."

Considering this was a pretty niche title and it gained a lot of users, I think it's safe to say the effects of a free weekend are pretty big, much more than under 100k. Imagine a free weekend with a game as popular as XCOM: EU. Not to mention, the game's been featured of humble bundle stores and featured in a few steam sales.

Steamspy states:

"That's the "free weekend effect". If the game had a free weekend recently, it will see a jump in "owned" for roughly 25 million users.

Free weekends work like this:

1. Promotion starts.

2. Steam adds the game to the "owned" list for every gamer that logs in during that weekend.

3. Promotion ends.

4. Steam removes the game from "owned" list only when the user logs in next time.

So the effect of free weekend is pretty devastating for accuracy of "owners" parameter."

I don't quite get what you mean by lukewarm reception, it got a 9/10 here on gamespot and it's 88 rated on metacritic (if that matters to you). I'd say it garenered high praise and was well received.

I can see why you think 800k in 4 months is bad, (other AAA titles sell millions in a matter of weeks). But as I said, there should be a big jump in sales throughout the year due to summer and winter sales as well as possible humble bundles and discounts on sites such as greenmangaming. But we'll have to wait and see.

Indies like City Skylines have done infinitely better than this game. This game did not live up to it's expectations

@phantomfire335:

The effect is reduced over time. If a free weekend was over a year ago, it isn't even accounting for 100k, and is so minor that it is practically negligible considering the Steamspy margin of error.

That does not equate to being a flop. Also City Skylines was very disappointing with core mechanics being broken and no solution.

@GarGx1:

I've already addressed the free weekend excuse. Take away ~100k (at most) for free weekend and include the ~500k console sales, it's at about 3.7m

You need to find something else to damage control, because the free weekend argument simply holds no water.

@StealthMonkey4: Back up your opinion because until you do that is all you have.

@GarGx1:

Grey Goo had a free weekend Oct 10, 2015 and was at 160k on March 9, 2016.

That is only a 6 month gap (the effect is diluted more over time), and obviously includes actual sales as well.

Now please admit you were wrong and move on.

It's coming to console now so I'll assume yes.

No.

Huh? I think I've misunderstood you here. I just showed that fractured space gained 270,000 users for its free weekend and considering that fractured space is a very niche title, I would expect a bigger game such as XCOM: Enemy Unknown to gain more during a free weekend. Also, how many owners did Grey Goo have before the free weekend? Is there a way to see this on steamspy because I can only see data from the past 3 months :/

@phantomfire335:

The free weekend of a game being added and removed works the same regardless of how "niche" the title is... I mean you literally even posted the exact wording from Steamspy about how free weekends work...

Ahh, I understand what you mean now. My mistake, I was referring to the peak number of users instead of current. It should still have an effect on sales, but as you said around about 100k or over as of recent titles. My points do still stand however.

I'd imagine it would have been planned for consoles before launch, regardless of performance. Console-only magazines were invited to the pre-release event, which wouldn't make sense if no console version was planned.