Starcraft 2 Pre-Order sales!
I can’t say this isn’t a surprise to many but Starcraft 2 has registered over 800,000 pre-order copies reserved already! Keep one thing in mind too, this is a real time strategy game, not an MMO. Remember Age of Conan? Well their pre-ordered sales we’re about the same, but that’s an MMO. As I’ve said many times over, it’s getting to the point where NO company or developer can really compete with Blizzard | Activision when it comes to releasing quality games. We all know Electronic Arts loves to shove games down our throats that more often then not are sub-par, they seem to have a knack for releasing big budget games then after the first patch everybody’s leaving.
I listed an article up on here last week stating the development cost spent on Starcraft 2 reached 100,000,000 dollars. Thats a number larger then most start-up companies could even dream of to have a budget for an MMORPG let alone an RTS. I’m calling it now, Blizzard is fast becoming the Microsoft of the PC gaming industry. The money they have to play with and the talent they have working for them allows them to consistantly come out big with every new game launch. Look at how long its been since the last Starcraft came out? 12 years ago? A company that can wait 12 years, and spend over 100,000,000 million on a game in just development costs is truly a feat.
I smell monopoly.
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Wow I didn’t know they spent that much on SC2. I’m impressed but I would assume they will easily make it back over the next few years with the 3 versions of the game.
The correct term would be an Oligopoly not a Monopoly, and really these companies aren’t controlling anything so it’s not even that. Yes, they have money and man power, but they aren’t preventing others from rising.
You don’t need money and man power to make a fun, enjoyable game, though it can help in the resources department.
Blizzard just knew what people wanted and were quick to get their foot in the door.
They made a couple of RTS that were fun and had a nice theme to them. Couple years later, hey let’s make this story into a bigger story.. Bame WOW was created. Same thing with SC2, they said hey let’s make a space RTS with a decent story, it did well and was addicting. Now years later they did the same thing. They just focus on what the players like.