If, like me, you are still ploughing through the pile of games released in Oct and Nov last year then you've probably come across Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. Published by EA the new games - both new IP – were released in the middle of the pre-Christmas rush and suffered accordingly. Neither met sales expectations.
But EA's Games Europe Senior VP Patrick Söderlund thinks both games will eventually be seen as a success:
I think if you analyze games like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge for their lifetime performance, I bet you'll find them to be seen as successful
But Söderlund admits that releasing new potential franchises towards the end of the year was not the best timing.
They're both new IPs; it's hard to break new ground with new IPs, especially in that Q3 window, when you have games like Gears of War 2, Call of Duty 5, and a bunch of other really strong products with a 2, or 3, or 4, or 5 on it. So, I think that we could have done a better job as far as ship timing on, probably, both of those.
And who can argue? Both Dead Space and Mirror's Edge would have almost certainly fared better in – say – June when competition for both shelf space and media coverage was far weaker.
Talking about Mirror's Edge specifically Söderlund admits the first game wasn't perfect but "future versions" will fix issues.
What I'm saying is that I think that as long as you learn from your previous product, and you learn from what worked and what didn't work, you're ultimately going to be okay.
So, did you play/buy Mirror's Edge or Dead Space? If not would you have been more tempted if they had been released at a quieter time of the year like last summer or last month?
