The Spore hype train rolls on
Electronic Arts has already expressed the high hopes it has for Maxis and Will Wright's creature creation simulation, Spore. The question is whether or not Spore's heaping helping of hype can possibly translate into stellar sales, and Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian today expresses a distinct possibility this could be a reality.
In fact, Sebastian estimates North American sales for Spore could reach as high as 2 million units from the time it officially launches this September 7th to the end of this month. It's not entirely clear if this prediction factors the PC version alone; such sales would be quite the achievement for the PC platform in recent memory should this prove to be the case! That said, Sebastian is certainly not discounting Warhammer Online as a strong performer for the PC this month, pegging sales at 650,000 units.
It won't be until around mid-October before we see the official NPD Group retail sales breakdown for September, but analysts like Sebastian believe that when the time comes we can expect to see Spore leading the pack, at least for PC. Meanwhile, Spore reviews have already started appearing in European print magazines, and scores have reflected what reviewers have described as a fairly average, if not content-rich game.
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The big thing: Sims was such a big hit because it resonated with non-Gamers. Non-gamers are also more likely to buy games than steal them (sadly.) The concept of the Sims generated more mainstream exposure than will the concept of Spore. Non-games, casual gamers and female gamers can relate more to the concept of the Sims than Spore.
I'm guessing that Spore will sell about 65% to 72% of EA's estimates.
Just my guess of course.
I wasn't a big file-sharer when Sims 2 came out (though I know there was a scene release about a week before it came out). The scene release of Spore was yesterday (the 2nd) and I saw a hell of a lot of snatches in a lot of places.
Piracy however I doubt is going to put a major dent into EA profits. I remember when Sims 2 came out a bunch of people on a bunch of forums had gotten it up to that week early. I am seeing much less of that with Spore (though it's only been a day and a half or so).
Overall, I think this is a game that just about anyone could pick up and play--male, female, gamer, or not. (At least what I've played so far.) I work retail electronics, too...and its selling really well so far.
Also...It'll be interesting to see how the creationism crowd reacts to a popular evolution-themed "god" game.
So even besides the horrible DRM I wasn't really all that interested in playing the game.
I also think that many reviewers were swayed by the hype. There are only 2 reviews on metacritic that give the game mediocre reviews, while I've read many, many comments from users saying that the game isn't all that fun. I haven't played the game so I guess I can't really judge it though...