[HN Gopher] Sega mistakenly reveals sales numbers of popular games
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Sega mistakenly reveals sales numbers of popular games
        
       Author : kelt
       Score  : 195 points
       Date   : 2025-06-21 06:23 UTC (16 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.gematsu.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.gematsu.com)
        
       | koshergweilo wrote:
       | It's wild to me how Team Sonic Racing sold more than Total War
       | Three Kingdoms
        
         | raincole wrote:
         | ... Why? It would be quite surprising if it were the other way
         | around.
         | 
         | I'm quite surprised that TW:3D sold that many copies, tbh.
        
         | CactusRocket wrote:
         | I think in general Total War and its genre is relatively niche.
         | While almost everybody is up for a bit of cartoony racing.
        
           | Ekaros wrote:
           | On other hand TW Warhammer III sold surprisingly well to me.
           | I would have expected it to be much more niche...
        
           | furyofantares wrote:
           | I tbink it's easy to underestimate this - everyone seems
           | surprised when I tell them Mario Kart 8 is the 5th best
           | selling game of all time.
        
             | andrepd wrote:
             | Well it's been continuously sold for over a decade now, and
             | bundled with the Switch.
        
               | mook wrote:
               | Famitsu (a Japanese magazine) has top ten sales of
               | console games in Japan every week. Until the Switch 2
               | launch, Mario Kart 8 was there nearly every week.
        
               | furyofantares wrote:
               | It's bundled due to the success of the game and not the
               | other way around:
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44338584
        
             | stavros wrote:
             | What's the list?!
        
               | astura wrote:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-
               | selling_video_gam...
        
               | k__ wrote:
               | Interesting that most of the best selling games aren't
               | sequels.
        
               | dijit wrote:
               | It's more interesting to me that so many _are_.
               | 
               | It's rare for any product to have more success in later
               | invocations than the first edition, that is where the
               | narrative is fresh and strong- and even in the event
               | sequels are stronger, they tend to increase sales of the
               | first season/movie/etc; because people want the whole
               | experience.
        
               | k__ wrote:
               | Aren't sequels always touted as safe bets?
        
               | dijit wrote:
               | Yeah but only because there will be a _reactivation_ of
               | x% of people.
               | 
               | I think the margin is usually 70%~ but depends a lot I
               | guess.
               | 
               | You can safely bet that >50% of people who enjoyed
               | seeing/playing the first of something would be interested
               | in the second.
        
               | lolinder wrote:
               | Video games I feel like reverse this general trend,
               | though. Unless they have a major story component (and
               | sometimes even if they do) many games get iteratively
               | 'better' (better for the purposes of making sales if not
               | of making original fans happy) for various reasons:
               | improvements to the core game loop, polish that makes the
               | game more appealing to new audiences, and most
               | importantly graphics.
               | 
               | Story-based content is what struggles with sequels
               | because it's really hard to both capture the feeling of
               | the original sufficiently to satisfy existing fans while
               | also telling a new story that's interesting in its own
               | right. Being derivative without being too derivative.
        
               | PaulHoule wrote:
               | At least for a while, technology got consistently better
               | at a high rate for video games. Today I'm not so sure.
        
               | furyofantares wrote:
               | I remember in the 80s/90s when it seemed every movie
               | sequel sucked. Just cashed in, and not really planned for
               | from the beginning.
               | 
               | I don't think it's ever really been true that video game
               | sequels sucked. Maybe Zelda 2 and to a lesser extent
               | Mario 2 - but game developers seem to break new ground on
               | sequels a lot. In fact I think sequels have been better
               | than originals more often than not throughout game
               | history.
               | 
               | For one thing it may just be more common for the first to
               | not reach its full audience.
               | 
               | But my experience as a game developer is also that, when
               | you start out making a new game, you probably kinda suck
               | at making that game. Games sometimes suck for most of
               | their development until they suddenly get good near the
               | end.
               | 
               | And by the end, you get really good at making that
               | specific game. A lot of game design has to come together
               | to enlighten further game design decisions, and you
               | really come to know what's fun by the end of it. Not to
               | mention the technology you build for it!
        
               | teamonkey wrote:
               | A lot of game development is trying to find an idea that
               | hits. When developing a new game, there are a lot of
               | unknowns, budgets are tight, a lot of compromises are
               | made, and often there are plenty of rough edges.
               | 
               | A sequel allows the same team to build on the shoulders
               | of the first game, keeping what worked, adding features
               | that players missed and refining those that didn't work.
               | It's seen as a safer investment, with an existing fan
               | base to leverage, and so this often leads to larger
               | development and marketing budgets with a focus on growth.
        
               | jonhohle wrote:
               | I'm shocked Overwatch is so high.
               | Microsoft/Activision/Blizzard seem to barely give it any
               | attention and basically killed off its pro scene.
        
               | philistine wrote:
               | A pro scene is absolutely not a sign of a popular game.
               | Oftentimes it's the reverse. There are so many strange
               | externalities with a healthy pro scene that can
               | positively destroy your general appeal. Leaving you with
               | perhaps 10,000 really insane players, and no community
               | outside of that.
        
               | cosmic_cheese wrote:
               | I've not gathered any data to prove it, but I've long
               | held a hunch that there's something of an inverse
               | correlation between multiplayer games' popularity among
               | highly competitive players and the masses.
               | 
               | Most people don't want to spend large amounts of time
               | "getting good" and don't enjoy getting matched up against
               | players that absolutely destroy them, but instead prefer
               | more casual games against other players with middling
               | skills. The thing is though, even if highly competitive
               | games include an unranked queue intended for casuals, it
               | ends up being filled with smurfs[0] and the like looking
               | to smash lower skilled players, which drains the fun from
               | the game for those players. Thinking about it that way,
               | it'd make perfect sense if the most popular PvP games
               | would be those that are shunned by the highly competitive
               | - a lack of "pro" players might be considered a feature
               | rather than a bug.
               | 
               | [0]:
               | https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/17209/where-
               | does...
        
               | furyofantares wrote:
               | An unranked queue is often just like "well, we didn't do
               | any game design for you on meta-progression".
               | 
               | Normal players would like to participate in the
               | progression systems you design! Having a ranked queue
               | that is uninviting to normal players due to skill, and an
               | unranked queue that is uninviting to everyone due to
               | progression design, but less uninviting to normal players
               | than the ranked queue, is a pretty suboptimal result.
               | 
               | It's lately become a lot more popular to just secretly
               | (or at least stealthily) put people in with bots. Marvel
               | Snap was really successful at emulating opponents at low
               | ranks and gradually increasing real opponent density the
               | higher you are. Battle Royale games with 100 players per
               | game can easily add a bunch of bots so you aren't at the
               | bottom and can even win. I noticed Mario Kart World also
               | has bots in most knockout matches (and I highly
               | appreciate that it is transparent about this fact.)
        
               | washmyelbows wrote:
               | There's also a ton of multi sale per person in overwatch.
               | Especially before role queue existed, it was easier to
               | just spend 10 bucks on a new account to learn a hero than
               | to suffer ELO hell while doing it. People are so toxic in
               | competitive shooters, and playing at the ELO of your best
               | heroes while on a hero you don't even know the abilities
               | of is very very unpleasant. I struggle to think of a
               | person I played with that didn't have multiple accounts,
               | some with as many as 5-10.
               | 
               | This is to say nothing of the rampant cheating in the
               | game, which if a person ever gets banned for, there is
               | nothing stopping them from just spending 10$ on a
               | replacement account.
        
             | soulofmischief wrote:
             | Wii Sports enjoyed a similar status, as it was also bundled
             | with a console. I don't think console bundles are
             | necessarily a fair way to count video game sales.
        
               | furyofantares wrote:
               | Mario Kart was not originally bundled with the Switch and
               | the Switch has never been exclusively bundled with Mario
               | Kart. You've always been able to buy a Switch by itself
               | or bundled with other games - Mario Kart was not even the
               | first bundle. It was like the 8th or something - two
               | years after release, and has been re-issued every Black
               | Friday since, but there have been numerous other bundles
               | since as well.
        
           | ninetyninenine wrote:
           | RTSs aren't popular anymore. Took me by surprise too.
        
         | makeitdouble wrote:
         | Team Sonic Racing is also available on iOS and android stores
         | while Total War Three Kingdoms is PC only. The price must also
         | be widely different, so the sales numbers are complex to
         | compare.
        
         | Kye wrote:
         | Critters doing zoomies will always be popular as a game
         | concept.
        
       | deafpolygon wrote:
       | It's amazing how valuable of an IP Sonic is. It still sells
       | consistently well after all those years.
       | 
       | I'm surprised even more at the P5R sales! I might actually have
       | to give it a real try-- tried it a couple years ago (P5 non-R)
       | and didn't really take to it, but I was put off by the whole
       | anime vibe.
        
         | xdfgh1112 wrote:
         | If you're put off by the anime vibe then there's no point
         | trying it at all, you won't like it. It is a very anime game
        
         | haiku2077 wrote:
         | If you don't like the anime style, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
         | is directly inspired by Persona's combat system but has a more
         | mature tone. I liked it a lot, and it's 97% positive reviews on
         | Steam, so you're likely to enjoy it too.
        
           | nottorp wrote:
           | > directly inspired by Persona's combat system
           | 
           | That means they're both QTE based?
        
             | weiliddat wrote:
             | Turn based but with QTE elements
        
               | PixelForg wrote:
               | And you can even parry! In terms of parrying, for me it
               | is harder and more satisfying than Sekiro's parry
               | system(which was my number one game in terms of combat,
               | now Clair Obscur has taken it's place).
        
               | nottorp wrote:
               | How is it turn based when you get timed prompts to "press
               | button not to die"?
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | How is hamburger not a salad when there are veggies in
               | it?
               | 
               | Proportions matter.
        
               | haiku2077 wrote:
               | When you select what action you want to do, the combat is
               | paused and the game displays a menu.
               | 
               | Executing the action, dodging and parrying, and shooting
               | ranged weapons all happen in real time.
               | 
               | It works really well in practice, combining both
               | strategic and twitch gameplay.
        
               | nottorp wrote:
               | Of course, if you like twitch gameplay, and if you can
               | stomach twitch gameplay being labeled as "turn based".
               | 
               | I might agree with the former but I don't like false
               | advertising.
        
               | burch45 wrote:
               | I think the false advertising does great disservice to
               | Clair Obscur. It turns off people who don't like turn-
               | based combat and ends up disappointing people who do like
               | turn based combat. I very nearly bounced from what is a
               | great game because it was not at all what I was expecting
               | with respect to combat.
               | 
               | Clair Obscur's combat would be better described as dodge
               | and parry based as that is the primary mechanic. In terms
               | of lineage, the combat is much closer to PunchOut than
               | Final Fantasy 6.
               | 
               | It's really fun if that is what you are expecting though.
        
               | nottorp wrote:
               | Yes but their Steam page says:
               | 
               | "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a ground-breaking turn-
               | based RPG with unique real-time mechanics, making battles
               | more immersive and addictive than ever."
               | 
               | Turns out the real time mechanics aren't unique. Not sure
               | I want "addictive" battles or "addictive" gameplay
               | either. Isn't that the realm of free to play?
        
               | chriskanan wrote:
               | The game is only about 30 hours and has no micro
               | transactions. It is addictive until you beat it. Easily
               | game of the year.
        
               | nottorp wrote:
               | I know what it is, i read the reviews and decided to skip
               | based on QTEs [1] :)
               | 
               | I still don't understand how "addictive" is a positive
               | term.
               | 
               | [1] To preempt some complaining, I haven't touched an
               | Ubisoft or EA title in at least 10 years. So it's not
               | like I'm an AAA "consumer" that skips the darling indies.
        
               | staticman2 wrote:
               | If I had to defend the term addictive- presumably the
               | addiction goes away when you beat the 30 hour game.
               | 
               | So it's not addictive in the ongoing, problematic way
               | that cocaine would be.
        
             | npodbielski wrote:
             | You do not have to Parry. You do not have to dodge. Most od
             | the game you can tank and heal or resurect.
        
               | bigstrat2003 wrote:
               | I don't think that's true. I played the game and without
               | doing some serious level grinding, you take too much
               | damage for it to be viable to ignore the dodge/parry
               | mechanic.
        
               | haiku2077 wrote:
               | There are multiple guides on Youtube for both normal and
               | expert. In practice some grinding in the first area is
               | helpful and some fights are RNG heavy, but the majority
               | of the game is actually really well balanced for it,
               | especially since you get Pictos/Luminas and weapons
               | specifically designed for that playstyle.
               | 
               | Personally, I killed Simon on my second try by rebuilding
               | my party to intentionally die to his attacks, proc some
               | key Luminas and trigger the start of a high damage combo.
               | The game rewards creative builds and lateral thinking.
        
             | zerocrates wrote:
             | Setting aside the big argument on whether Clair Obscur
             | counts as turn-based, Persona 5 definitely does: it's more
             | classically/rigidly turn-based than even the Final Fantasy
             | games that use ATB.
        
           | v5v3 wrote:
           | >It's amazing how valuable of an IP Sonic is. It still sells
           | consistently well after all those years.
           | 
           | There have been ongoing movies and tv shows so each
           | generation of kids grows up with Sonic.
        
             | nateburke wrote:
             | Growing up I never had exposure to video games, so I didn't
             | really know about Sonic until my son saw his face on some
             | toy and IMMEDIATELY had questions. Who is that, what's his
             | name, what does he do, ....
             | 
             | I think there's something about Sonic's face that is
             | timeless, innate, prehistoric even.
        
               | ninetyninenine wrote:
               | It's just cool. Cooler than Mario which is a fat plumber.
               | Think of it as the difference between a Lamborghini
               | (sonic) vs. VW beetle (Mario)
               | 
               | Sonic wins on aesthetics and style while Mario is popular
               | entirely because of the quality of the games that have
               | cemented Mario as timeless.
        
         | ineedaj0b wrote:
         | it sold well because i've bought a copy on every console. i'd
         | play for 30 mins, get bored, and quit. it finally took after i
         | played for 5 hours straight. i finally got 'it'. try playing it
         | on break at work. you've really got to get a few hours in
         | because the game's first level is basically a huge tutorial.
        
         | hnlmorg wrote:
         | Sega is one of those companies quietly pumping out content for
         | a loyal fan base. They don't get as much limelight as Nintendo
         | do with their IP, which is a shame because Sega's games are
         | definitely on a par with the stuff Nintendo release.
         | 
         | > It's amazing how valuable of an IP Sonic is. It still sells
         | consistently well after all those years.
         | 
         | It's not as surprising when you consider Sonic is also mascot
         | who they've ploughed millions into.
         | 
         | The movies will have definitely reignited some interest into
         | Sonic too
        
           | ekianjo wrote:
           | > Sega is one of those companies quietly milking IP dry for a
           | loyal fan base
           | 
           | That's more like it
        
             | hnlmorg wrote:
             | When you look at pretty much every other brand out there,
             | Sega aren't nearly as aggressively milking their IPs.
             | 
             | They're not even in the same league as Nintendo, Disney,
             | Lego, etc. And when you look at other games companies from
             | the same era (Capcom, Atari, etc) then you'd see that Sega
             | are still releasing original content too vs the same
             | rehashed shit that people buy purely because of the name.
             | 
             | Then on the other end of the spectrum you have companies
             | buying studios and letting those games rot (like EA).
             | Studios encouraging micro-transactions (Microsoft with
             | Minecraft, EA, Roblox, Epic, etc) and even underage
             | gambling with loot boxes. Shit that has no place in gaming.
             | It's Also Sega are one of the least aggressive companies
             | out there "defending" their IP against fan-made content.
             | 
             | Sega are a massively underrated brand in today's gaming
             | landscape.
        
               | egypturnash wrote:
               | Look, as far as I'm concerned the continued existence of
               | Atari is worth it solely because they keep on giving
               | money to Jeff Minter to reinterpret their eighties coin-
               | ops as weird psychedelic trips, not all of them work but
               | they keep him and Giles and his sheep fed and give him
               | time to tinker with his own weird games.
               | 
               | Any other decent Atari rehashes are pure lagniappe.
        
         | amiga386 wrote:
         | Sonic fans spend money regardless of game quality.
         | 
         | It's the same reason for the decade-long glut of capeshit.
         | Hollywood found that (people who were then) teenage boys could
         | be relied upon to show up for a superhero film, no matter how
         | bad, provided it starred their favourite characters.
        
           | chgs wrote:
           | To be fair there were very few misses in Marvel until covid.
        
           | hnlmorg wrote:
           | Same is true for most big games franchises though.
           | 
           | People continually buy the next EA sports game even though
           | it's basically just the old game but with the year
           | incremented.
           | 
           | People still spend PS50 on new copies of 10 year old Nintendo
           | games like Mario Kart 8. And let's be honest, the last great
           | Mario game released was Super Mario Galaxy.
           | 
           | If there's one thing you can guarantee, it's that people will
           | waste their money on stuff they like. And if there is one
           | truism that HN commentators forget, it's that software
           | doesn't need to be academically perfect to be good software
           | for their particular target audience. In the case of games,
           | it's being more enjoyable than the alternative of not playing
           | that game. Which, frankly, is a pretty low bar a lot of the
           | time.
        
         | Keyframe wrote:
         | Power of the brand! I wonder how that (change) reflected on
         | FIFA / FC for Electronic Arts.
        
           | chickenzzzzu wrote:
           | EA is still doing fine financially, despite some duds. It
           | turns out people buy fun, not names.
        
           | Hamuko wrote:
           | I've been under the impression that EA keeps selling football
           | games, and the more lucrative microtransactions, pretty much
           | the same as ever. Meanwhile FIFA has no games out on the
           | market at the moment, with 2K Sports reportedly having the
           | license at the moment with no games out.
        
           | hnlmorg wrote:
           | People always bought FIFA for the EA brand rather than the
           | other way around.
           | 
           | Much as I dislike the modern era EA, it's hard to argue that
           | their Football / Soccer games are duds. And EA have always
           | been liberal about their branding so everyone knew that FIFA
           | was an EA game.
        
         | jhanschoo wrote:
         | I have an incomplete P5R playthrough languishing somewhere, and
         | I really should admit that I'm too old to care about playing a
         | game that's focused on teenagers dealing with common teenage
         | interpersonal problems and growing up from them for 90+ hours.
        
         | stevenwoo wrote:
         | I felt that way about the setting but once I got into it, it's
         | possible to play and enjoy it as a variation of the card
         | combat/collecting mechanics of Pokemon and that opens one to
         | try Shin Megami Tensei V and maybe min maxing the other stuff
         | in the game.
        
           | lanfeust6 wrote:
           | SMT is more my speed as I hate the sluggish pace of the
           | lifesim stuff. As Atlus games go, Catherine got it right.
           | Perfect pacing throughout.
        
         | mackal wrote:
         | Those numbers are for both original and remaster.
        
       | swarnie wrote:
       | Video game consumers have always baffled me and this data just
       | adds to it.
       | 
       | Who are the 7 million people going out to buy the 20th Persona
       | game? What are you actually hoping to get from it that isn't just
       | a slight variance on something you've already had multiple times
       | before?
       | 
       | I have friends genuinely excited to go buy Mario Cart for the
       | 17th time this year... Once you've made two objects move along an
       | enclosed route at differing speeds and slapped Nintendo marketing
       | on top hasn't the game play evolved as much as possible?
       | 
       | Could the money not be better spent coming up with new and
       | interesting concepts rather than copy pasting the same stuff out
       | every 12-18 months?
        
         | nikanj wrote:
         | For many people, the 17th Mario Kart is the first one they buy.
         | New people are made every day, and they won't pay today's
         | prices for the first SNES version of Mario Kart
        
           | xg15 wrote:
           | I think this is the correct answer, and also applies to other
           | media: The 20th Star Wars or Disney reboot isn't for you -
           | it's for your grandchildren.
        
           | matsemann wrote:
           | Or we haven't played every game in the series. Like how most
           | iPhone generations "are the same", but most people don't buy
           | every year.
           | 
           | I last played Mario Kart on Nintendo Wii and enjoyed it.
           | That's 17 years ago. I'll probably buy one of the newer
           | versions at some point. And it will be very different from
           | the game I played.
        
         | louiskottmann wrote:
         | There a lots of gamers. Games like Baldur's Gate & Expedition
         | 33, which satisfies your criteria, far surpassed those numbers
         | already.
         | 
         | I know people who rewatch the same TV series every year and go
         | to the same vacation every year.
         | 
         | Fear of change is deep.
        
           | TeMPOraL wrote:
           | Fear of change, or even just isles of stability, to help
           | recuperate and reorient yourself whilst navigating the stormy
           | seas of life.
           | 
           | Myself, I'm quite open to new forms of entertainment, as well
           | as those previously unknown to me. Even within my favorite
           | genres, I'm more than happy to explore - but I'm still gonna
           | rewatch at least one Star Trek show each year.
           | 
           | It doesn't matter that I've seen most of those show 6-10
           | times each over the course of my life; it doesn't matter that
           | I've watched some specific episodes 20+ times already. What
           | matters to me is, each time I see those characters and those
           | locations, _it feels like coming home_.
           | 
           | (And more so than actually coming home.)
           | 
           | People anchor to different things like this, not just TV
           | shows. Sometimes it's a real place (or an event in that place
           | - e.g. vacation), sometimes it's a club, sometimes it's a
           | video game or an outdoor hobby.
        
         | elaus wrote:
         | Is this really limited to video games?
         | 
         | People are excited to buy new cloths, even though they're "just
         | a slight variance on something you've already had multiple
         | times before".
         | 
         | They love to try out the new hyped-up food stand, even though
         | the hotdog will be just a slight variance on all the hotdogs
         | they had before.
        
           | msgodel wrote:
           | Clothes wear out though. I buy the same two maroon and gray
           | button up shirts once a year because usually the ones I
           | bought a few years ago have holes in them by then.
           | 
           | Video games don't wear out, you can still play the same
           | software you bought in 2003 today.
        
             | tsimionescu wrote:
             | Why do you assume that the millions of people who buy the
             | new Persona or Mario Kart game are the same ones that
             | bought the old one? It's very likely that they're fresh
             | 12-20 somethings that were younger or otherwise just missed
             | the old ones.
             | 
             | Not to mention, for Perosna in particular, each Perosna
             | game tells a whole new story, so buying the fifth one is
             | like going to see the fifth movie in a franchise: you know
             | you like the style, and you want to experience a new story
             | in this style. It's also not even a very long series -
             | compare to Final Fantasy, for example, which will soon get
             | its 17th main game (probably more like 25th or something if
             | you included spinoffs).
        
             | TeMPOraL wrote:
             | > _Video games don 't wear out, you can still play the same
             | software you bought in 2003 today._
             | 
             | The way you perceive them does, at least did back in 2023
             | (or 2013) and earlier.
             | 
             | You pick up, say, original Half Life or something from that
             | time; story-wise it's the same game you remember, but in
             | terms of experience, is nigh-unplayable in its original
             | form now, because you already experienced how decades of
             | progress in videogames look like. Not just in terms of
             | graphics, though that is a big part, but also in terms of
             | UI! Properly mapped controls and GUI behaviors are alone
             | worth looking up/waiting for a remake. And/or, the Nth
             | installment of a game in the same universe.
        
               | msgodel wrote:
               | I often play games from the 90s from before I learned to
               | read. IMO often they're better than modern games
               | including their own remakes.
               | 
               | Every good game has odd control schemes, that doesn't
               | mean it's worn out.
        
               | alt227 wrote:
               | > _you already experienced how decades of progress in
               | videogames look like_
               | 
               | IMO the quality of games has gone greatly downhill, and
               | when I pick up something old like Doom 3, Half Life 2, or
               | Portal, I am staggered by how good they are in comparison
               | to most of the unity based slop which currently passes
               | for games.
        
         | inertiatic wrote:
         | You know, humans pick up hobbies like cycling or running which
         | they do consistently for years, listen to specific music genres
         | or even electronic music which is mostly just a beat, hang up a
         | painting they like in the living room and look at it for years
         | and years, go out to their favorite place to eat consistently
         | or cook the same passed down family recipe, and in so many
         | other aspects avoid sudden changes, and you're surprised that
         | for video games we enjoy the same formula repeatedly?
        
           | swarnie wrote:
           | If you walked in to my living room and saw 17 almost
           | identical paintings where maybe one is styled to look like
           | papercraft, one has a little dinosaur, one has a racoon tail
           | ect you'd rightly think i was a bit mad even before i
           | announced i'd paid $80 for each one.
           | 
           | Now if i had 17 unique paintings exploring a variety of
           | motifs and styles, each one with a story to tell that would
           | actually be worth talking about.
        
             | InsideOutSanta wrote:
             | Why are you so judgmental of what kinds of paintings people
             | hang on their walls? Just hang the paintings on _your_
             | walls that _you_ like and leave everybody else alone.
        
             | skeaker wrote:
             | Likening a game to a painting is just a false premise.
             | Games are a unique medium that can in themselves hold lots
             | of different things which inherently makes them hard to
             | compare wholesale to other mediums. They can be similar to
             | Chess in the sense of requiring strategy or a physical
             | sport in that they can be almost entirely composed of the
             | skill expression of the players. They can even hold
             | paintings or novels in their entirety, or do something
             | entirely unique that just can't be done in other mediums
             | (my favorite example of that is Outer Wilds).
        
             | hnlmorg wrote:
             | Actually, I would think the artist is mad for selling those
             | paintings so cheap. Paintings usually command a much higher
             | price tag.
             | 
             | Then I'd compliment your ability to create a flowing theme
             | throughout the house.
             | 
             | The problem with your analogy here is that art for the home
             | (or anywhere outside a museum or gallery) is generally
             | bought to compliment the overall aesthetics of the
             | building, rather than to be enjoyed in isolation.
             | 
             | > Now if i had 17 unique paintings exploring a variety of
             | motifs and styles, each one with a story to tell that would
             | actually be worth talking about.
             | 
             | That's called "eclectic", which is basically an artsy way
             | of saying "mismatched". Some people dig that style.
             | Personally I don't.
        
         | TeMPOraL wrote:
         | Are you also surprised by popularity of sitcoms like _Friends_
         | or _HIMYM_ , or reality shows? They're even more repetitive
         | rehashes of the same mundane thing, both episode to episode and
         | within the genre.
         | 
         | Who are the millions of people who watch, for the 20th time in
         | their life, how Character A does something unrealistically
         | stupid, ends up in an awkward situation, and then spend the
         | rest of the episode being continuously teased over it by other
         | characters, because they're all written to be slightly stupid
         | and low-key assholes.
         | 
         | This is not to criticize sitcoms and reality shows (and people
         | watching them) here, but rather to point out that the same
         | phenomenon you described also manifests with vastly more
         | popular forms of entertainment, so there must be _something_ to
         | enjoying the experience beyond sheer originality.
        
           | swarnie wrote:
           | I was going to make a point here about it being ok to
           | occasionally churn out some uncomplicated slop because it
           | helps fund more interesting projects, that was until i looked
           | up the maker of Friends and found NBC pretty much only make
           | that kind of stuff.
           | 
           | NBC and Nintendo, no evolution or original thought. Just copy
           | paste it to the masses because its all the seem to want
           | anyway based on this thread.
           | 
           | Maybe im wrong for demanding more....
        
             | chgs wrote:
             | You're not willing to pay for more though. You thought that
             | the only way "good" things were funded was by "bad" things
             | which people enjoy subsidising you.
        
             | Fargren wrote:
             | Things can be challenging, easy, predictable, and trite and
             | still be good. Garfield/Tetris/KFC is fine. There's not
             | shame in enjoying it, and there's certainly no shame in
             | working on it (or selling it).
             | 
             | Evolution and original stuff are amazing and we should want
             | them to exist. To be disappointed because we also have
             | stuff that isn't like that is to turn a blind eye to what
             | makes up a lot of our life.
        
             | hnlmorg wrote:
             | You're not wrong for wanting it. But you are wrong for
             | expecting that every studio should only ever release
             | completely original content.
             | 
             | The reality is that there is room for studios to release
             | original content _AND_ sequels.
             | 
             | For every Star Wars and Marvel rehash there is a Big Hero
             | 6, Elementals, and Zootopia.
             | 
             | And for every Nintendo there are a dozen indie games
             | studios releasing creative new games.
             | 
             | The key to avoiding rehashes is literally just to avoid
             | them. ;)
        
         | Den_VR wrote:
         | Tell us what you think about professional football next
        
           | swarnie wrote:
           | The British one? Bores me to tears
           | 
           | The American version? Same but with more advertisements for
           | pharmaceuticals.
           | 
           | I think that's more an issue with the specific
           | rules/players/fans though, I've not had a problem watching
           | multiple matches of other sports in a day.
        
         | radicalbyte wrote:
         | You can apply that logic to anything: why bother returning to
         | the same great restaurant? Why bother with sports matches? Why
         | buy a new car? New mobile? New computer? New TV? Why install a
         | new version of an OS or software?
         | 
         | It's because they change: They tell new stories. They look
         | better. They play better. They introduce completely new
         | mechanics.
         | 
         | Persona: we're up to 5 in 25 years (almost 30 now!), during
         | which time we've seen a massive increase in compute on
         | consoles. Having a new game every 5 years seems very
         | reasonable.
        
           | misnome wrote:
           | Not to mention the entirely of art, music, literature. The
           | concept of stories in general.
           | 
           | It's such an absurdly bad take they can't be serious.
        
             | scott_w wrote:
             | Sadly I suspect they are. There's an entire culture of
             | denigrating anything fun by absurdly reducing it to its
             | basic components. I've seen a lot of people denigrate
             | football by calling it "kickball" and "just 20 men running
             | around chasing a ball on a field." I guess we could say our
             | job is just hitting a keyboard thousands of times a day, no
             | idea how anyone would enjoy that! /sarcasm
        
               | alt227 wrote:
               | Sorry but I think your analogy is just wrong.
               | 
               | In football anybody in the world who has legs and can
               | walk can perform the main goal of football which is to
               | get a ball into a very large net. It doesnt take any
               | skill to perform the feat whatsoever. The skill only
               | comes with who you choose to play against. From that
               | angle, it is just 20 _people_ chasing a ball around, it
               | just depends on the skill level of the players as to
               | whether that is interesting to you or not.
               | 
               | With programming, not everybody with fingers can achieve
               | the end goal which is to write working software. It takes
               | years of learning and practice to be able to make even
               | the most basic piece of software, whereas my 2 year old
               | child can reliably kick a ball into a net.
               | 
               | The difference between the two is that football, and
               | sport in general, creates enjoyment by intense moments of
               | tension and excitement in a small space of time.
               | Programming is an intellectual activity, where its payoff
               | is in solving mathematical and logical puzzles to achieve
               | a goal. Its not far fetched to see that people who get
               | enjoyment from one type thing might not enjoy the other.
               | 
               | Why does everybody have to enjoy everything?
        
               | ToValueFunfetti wrote:
               | That seems like an unfair comparison. It doesn't take
               | years of learning to write the "kick a ball into a net"
               | of programming; most everybody writes hello world on
               | their first day. Programming and sports both have vastly
               | different difficulties depending on whether you're
               | approaching it as an amateur or a professional.
        
           | JKCalhoun wrote:
           | At some point though, kind of like bad movie sequels, you
           | start to think that Corporate has run out of ideas.
           | 
           | Of course someone there is looking at the balance sheet and
           | noticing that recycling is actually profitable so who can
           | blame them if we want to keep repurchasing the shinier
           | version of the thing we liked before?
           | 
           | Then I suppose we have ourselves to blame -- or not.
           | 
           | I suspect the OP though is bemoaning the lack of new,
           | original ideas that this kind of commerce workflow eschews.
           | (Myself, I'm not into first person shooters and so
           | essentially walked away from mainstream gaming decades ago.)
        
           | thaumasiotes wrote:
           | > You can apply that logic to anything: why bother returning
           | to the same great restaurant?
           | 
           | > It's because they change
           | 
           | That's not true at all. I don't return to the same great
           | restaurant because it's new and different. If I wanted that,
           | I'd look for a different restaurant.
           | 
           | I go back to the same great restaurant _because I 'm hungry
           | again_.
        
         | khazhoux wrote:
         | Wait till you hear how many chess games I've played!
        
           | swarnie wrote:
           | That's fine, no one is stopping the development of new board
           | games to re-releases chess every six months with maybe one
           | new piece or higher definition.
        
             | alt227 wrote:
             | We all get that you are not somebody who likes
             | sequels/remakes etc for releasing similar and/or repetitive
             | content. But some people really do, and this whole thread
             | and the sales numbers it is based on are kind of evident of
             | that.
             | 
             | Why do you have such a problem with other people enjoying
             | that type of content?
        
         | Ekaros wrote:
         | Same could be said about movies, tv-shows and books. Same plots
         | over and over again.
         | 
         | Religion is really the worst offender. Same service with same
         | text time after time, year after year. Like they do not even
         | take effort to mix it up every couple years or rewrite it...
        
           | ozim wrote:
           | I really like if they would do shotgun Jesus riding a t-Rex
           | that instead of being crucified is immersed in giant crucible
           | showing thumbs up as he is consumed by molten hot metal
           | because he knows he will be back.
        
         | Pooge wrote:
         | Because games get better and gameplay (i.e. mechanics) get
         | changed.
         | 
         | Play Persona 5 Royal, then Persona 1. Tell us it's the same
         | game and everybody would think you are crazy. Hell, even
         | Persona 5 _Royal_ is way better than Persona 5 in a lot of
         | ways...
         | 
         | Maybe you are satisfied by only trying out _completely_ new
         | things--if they even exist--but most people don 't.
        
         | 100721 wrote:
         | Sometimes, we just don't "get" the appeal of something. For me,
         | one of those things is fishing.
         | 
         | For someone else, it might be reading Hacker News.
         | 
         | For you, it's video games.
         | 
         | I don't think there's anything wrong with differences of
         | opinion, even to the point of bewilderment, but it doesn't feel
         | productive to question people's interests and reduce them to,
         | frankly, disingenuous levels of oversimplification.
         | 
         | I think one of the more beautiful parts of the internet is how
         | we can be connected and talk about our differences and
         | understand each other better. But it does not seem like you are
         | truly attempting to understand, instead your posts read more
         | like "looking down one's nose," which isn't fruitful or
         | productive for anyone.
         | 
         | Maybe I am mistaken! If so, I'd like to encourage you to try to
         | reach understanding of others without depicting them as "mad"
         | or financially wasteful or simple-minded.
        
           | bowsamic wrote:
           | Well there are indeed tastes that might be harmful for
           | society and should be questioned. Sometimes it is wrong to
           | enjoy certain things
        
           | PaulHoule wrote:
           | I can understand how people like fishing [1] but... Fishing
           | minigames? I like Japanese games a lot but not the finishing
           | minigames. One of the many things I found tone deaf about
           | _Horizon Worlds_ was that the starter world asked you to pick
           | a game genre you like and when I picked RPG it put me in....
           | a fishing minigame.
           | 
           | [1] though my favorite time doing it was catching smelt on
           | the docks on the back side of the barrier island at Hampton
           | Beach with my grandparents and bringing back enough to fill
           | the freezer
        
         | throwaway743 wrote:
         | Because they're fun and slight variances can have huge impacts
         | in terms of emergence, among other things.
        
         | captainbland wrote:
         | Mario Kart World added some kind of extreme sports game style
         | features which make it play quite a lot differently from older
         | entries, and of course new content which takes advantage of
         | that.
         | 
         | In some ways this is the optimal way for a video game company
         | to innovate as they need ROI (people don't generally buy new
         | IPs in high numbers even if they're really good and it often
         | takes a couple of installments to build trust and sales!) so
         | creating new gameplay out of trusted IPs is a good way of
         | achieving that.
        
           | InsideOutSanta wrote:
           | I could understand if the complaint was about a sports game.
           | Most of them are released annually and are genuinely very
           | similar to their previous versions.
           | 
           | However, every new Mario Kart game is genuinely distinct from
           | its predecessor. You can show me any screenshot of any Mario
           | Kart game, and I will immediately be able to identify what
           | version it is.
        
         | jkafjanvnfaf wrote:
         | The only series that release "every 12-18 months" are sports
         | games and Call of Duty, and I can assure you that the overlap
         | between that audience and the Persona one (which has five main-
         | series entries of which barely anyone has played the first two)
         | is extremely small.
         | 
         | Have you considered that you may just be very out of touch?
        
         | InsideOutSanta wrote:
         | Why do people read books? They all arrange the same letters in
         | a different order. Once you know the letters, you've seen all
         | the books.
        
           | alt227 wrote:
           | Great comment, have an upvote.
        
         | ozim wrote:
         | Your take on this is downvoted because that's quite arrogant to
         | reduce all racing games to two objects moving.
         | 
         | Everything in life can be much more complicated and nuanced if
         | you put an effort in it as reality has infinite amount of
         | details. There is a lot of value in refining successful
         | concepts.
         | 
         | Also a lot of "new and interesting concepts" turn out not to be
         | that useful or that interesting like not that many people
         | listening to experimental music or reading novels whose writers
         | think they are smarter than everyone else.
        
         | oreally wrote:
         | It's just the palate of the mass consumer who has such busy
         | lives that they don't have the time to think about what other
         | games can offer them.
         | 
         | And even if a "new and interesting concept" turns up, it's is
         | too bothersome to learn for them. That's why once they find the
         | fun in one thing, they tend to stick to it and be blind to
         | others.
        
         | HK-NC wrote:
         | So many series I used to love that I wish did exactly this
         | instead of reinventing themselves for a phantom new audience. I
         | guess my health improved.
        
         | Jcampuzano2 wrote:
         | In your replies you've shown yourself to be a professional
         | hater. Either you're trolling or you really just have no
         | understanding of humans. You must be baffled by practically
         | everyone around you if your comment is your true belief.
         | 
         | Surely there is at least one thing that you enjoy in your life
         | that is fairly similar across iterations.
        
         | tmsh wrote:
         | Imho you are (1) trying to be original on HN (going against the
         | grain) and (2) being dismissive of people's genuine interests
         | in an area - gonna lead to defensive downvotes.
         | 
         | I agree with the responders that this is a common fallacy (good
         | insights / learnings for us all). Eg I like following baseball
         | but if you were to ask me about it 10 years ago I'd be pretty
         | reductive about. I agree with the responders that there's
         | beauty in the seemingly little things at first that build. That
         | said not all of us take the time to appreciate certain areas of
         | beauty because there's a lot of beauty out there. And that's ok
         | but nature does seem to indicate repetition and variation are
         | fine.
        
       | v5v3 wrote:
       | The real story here is the highlighting of the flawed attempt to
       | redact a document.
       | 
       | Happens a lot.
        
         | quickthrowman wrote:
         | The only foolproof way I trust is to redact it digitally, print
         | it on paper, and scan it.
         | 
         | I've used bad redaction to my advantage at work to make money,
         | I'm all for other people using bad redaction techniques :)
        
           | bqmjjx0kac wrote:
           | > I've used bad redaction to my advantage at work to make
           | money
           | 
           | You've certainly piqued my curiosity. Can you say any more?
        
             | rogerrogerr wrote:
             | Probably trading of some sort?
        
             | quickthrowman wrote:
             | I sell construction work. Sometimes my customers will have
             | me price up something that someone else priced to them and
             | they will send me a competitor's redacted scope letter with
             | the pricing blanked out so I can bid 'apples to apples' aka
             | the same scope of work.
             | 
             | I've unredacted proposals using the 'unflatten' command in
             | Bluebeam Revu (which is by far the best PDF editor) which
             | allowed me to underbid my competitor and win the job (and
             | at a higher price than I would've submitted).
             | 
             | Definitely an ethical grey area, but an edge is an edge ;)
        
               | aeonik wrote:
               | I really don't think this is grey, I think these cases
               | have clear legal implications, though I'm not a lawyer.
               | You are circumventing redaction, regardless of how
               | boneheaded it is, the intent was clear.
               | 
               | I'd not do this if I were you.
        
               | quickthrowman wrote:
               | The information was in the document they sent me, they
               | should've removed it completely if they didn't want me to
               | see it. The situation is identical to them mailing me a
               | paper copy with a black piece of paper scotch taped over
               | the price.
               | 
               | There are zero legal implications, it was a private
               | contract. My customers regularly _tell me the exact
               | price_ that my competitors have submitted to them and
               | that isn't illegal.
               | 
               | Probably there are legal implications for attorneys
               | circumventing redaction in legal documents but
               | construction proposal letters have no protections against
               | unredaction.
        
               | IshKebab wrote:
               | I would be really surprised if there was a law against
               | this, and even if there was who really cares? As long as
               | you don't make it super obvious (like consistently bid 1p
               | under the competition) nobody will know.
        
               | dghlsakjg wrote:
               | Morally gray, sure.
               | 
               | Legally, I can't see what's wrong with using information
               | that you have, even if the other party didn't intend for
               | you to have it. Lawyers themselves will use information
               | in court that was accidentally sent to them by a counter-
               | party, and that the other lawyer never intended them to
               | have.
        
           | tomp wrote:
           | What if you just block out text in PDF, then _Print to PDF_ -
           | does that retain the text behind the black block?
           | 
           | If it does, then _Export to PNG_ almost certainly removes it
           | (while also removing all _other_ selectable text)
        
             | capitainenemo wrote:
             | That sounds pretty foolproof so long as your black box fill
             | method doesn't fill with a 99% opacity, or a flood fill
             | leaves behind a few invisible anti-aliased pixels, or the
             | merge operation of the black box doesn't result in some
             | multiplication leaving a few bits of difference. Even if
             | you erased the layer below, then filled above, I've had
             | erasures vary in the bits outside the alpha channel messing
             | up games using the texture info.
             | 
             | Overall, I kind of understand the paranoia even though in
             | principle it does sound pretty foolproof.
        
               | tomp wrote:
               | Wouldn't all those fears apply to printing as well?
        
               | capitainenemo wrote:
               | The alpha channel ones would not apply to printing, and
               | overall printing is an extremely lossy operation, where
               | all those minute details get washed out in approximate
               | ink levels and the muddiness of the physical world. It
               | might not be totally foolproof, esp for a very accurate
               | print process (don't use your photo printer maybe), but
               | it's probably many orders of magnitude noisier..
               | 
               | I think if you're really concerned, you'd print it once,
               | apply physical black tape on it (or cut out with a
               | razor), then scan that :)
        
               | Akronymus wrote:
               | Printing would presumably have enough imprecision to mask
               | those.
        
           | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
           | Print single-sided. Otherwise there's a risk that nominally
           | invisible bleed through from the other side can be enhanced.
           | It's better to just convert a PDF to images directly and
           | redact that.
        
             | mjevans wrote:
             | That is the EXACT process I automated the non-redacting
             | parts of using cron jobs and task folders at a past job.
             | 
             | Flatten everything to a set of just images.
             | 
             | Have normal human staff draw black boxes over anything to
             | be redacted.
             | 
             | Compose a new 'PDF' that's a set of 'scanned' images.
        
               | nkrisc wrote:
               | I wonder if using certain kinds of inks could cause
               | slight differences in reflectivity over the redacted
               | text, leaving artifacts that could be used to reconstruct
               | the text in scanned documents? Seems like applying strips
               | of opaque tape over the redacted text might be the most
               | certain method, though maybe overkill after all.
        
               | 3eb7988a1663 wrote:
               | This was sort-of the winning solution to an underhanded C
               | contest to redact an image. Hazily remembered, but the
               | winner used a trick where already black pixels got
               | redacted to one color black and already white pixels got
               | to an ever so slightly different black. Reversing the
               | image would then make it trivial to read the original
               | black-on-white text.
        
               | moefh wrote:
               | I remember that one: the two blacks were not slightly
               | different, they were both exactly black but written in
               | different ways.
               | 
               | The image was in PPM format, which stores the color
               | components of the pixels as ASCII text (so a white pixel
               | is stored as "255 255 255" and a black one is "0 0 0").
               | To redact the image, the code replaced every digit of the
               | numbers with '0', so white became "000 000 000" and black
               | stayed as "0 0 0". Both are black and indistinguishable
               | if you're viewing the image, but you can tell them apart
               | by looking at the file text.
               | 
               | Sadly the UCC homepage seems to have vanished, but I
               | found this account from the author:
               | http://notanumber.net/archives/54/underhanded-c-the-
               | leaky-re...
        
               | 3eb7988a1663 wrote:
               | Ah right. Had to be sneaky enough to escape being
               | outright flagged. A not-quite-black would have failed the
               | test.
        
           | IshKebab wrote:
           | You don't need to be that paranoid. Converting to a raster
           | image format is sufficient.
        
         | oxguy3 wrote:
         | I used to work at a company that requested a lot of documents
         | from municipal governments. We found random people's SSNs on
         | more than one occasion.
        
         | uncircle wrote:
         | I should go sell to an intelligence agency a malicious PDF
         | editor that covertly shares the plain text version any time
         | someone uses the block out tool.
         | 
         | There are billions of PDF files out there, but the ones are
         | being redacted are the most valuable of the lot.
        
         | remram wrote:
         | Did they mean to redact though? The slide makes it seem like
         | they are hidden because they are being adjusted, not because
         | they are secret.
        
       | robin_reala wrote:
       | A reminder that Apple's Preview app has Redact functionality
       | specifically for this use case: https://support.apple.com/en-
       | gb/guide/preview/prvw11580/mac
        
       | throwaway743 wrote:
       | Surprised Like A Dragon sales are lower than others. Been gaming
       | since a kid in the 90s, and it easily ranked in my top 10. It's
       | an instant classic.
        
         | extraduder_ire wrote:
         | That whole series is pretty niche in the grand scale of things.
         | Still does decently for a game that releases a sequel every
         | year or two.
        
         | marginalia_nu wrote:
         | I think the west has been sleeping on the series a bit.
         | Infinite Wealth (although arguably a weaker entry) seems to be
         | selling better, plausibly an effect Like A Dragon being a bit
         | of a sleeper hit that managed to penetrate the western markets
         | a bit.
         | 
         | Was probably strategically smart to reboot the series a bit
         | with Kasuga. Makes it a bit more approachable.
        
         | propter_hoc wrote:
         | Speaking personally as a JRPG fanatic, I've taken a look at the
         | series a bunch of times on Steam, and there are so many
         | obstacles to getting into it:
         | 
         | - where do I start? There's a dozen titles and no clear entry
         | point
         | 
         | - supposedly the series' genre changed over time? So if you
         | like it in one game it might be a different game in a sequel
         | 
         | - it looks weirdly unserious? Like much of the advertising
         | focuses on doing bizarre side activities rather than any actual
         | plot-driven message
         | 
         | - all this on top of having a very non-traditional environment
         | for an RPG which already is a bit of a hurdle in messaging what
         | the game will be like
         | 
         | It's just very unclear from the outside how to get started with
         | this series, and what I'll get if I do pick one to try.
        
           | 3eb7988a1663 wrote:
           | I think your read is right on the money. There is an overall
           | plot to the games, but the reason to play is in all of the
           | ridiculous side quests, which are decidedly not serious:
           | "Help this naked guy who forgot his clothes", "Help this guy
           | make baby formula", "Stop the roomba gone rogue", etc
           | 
           | The games are a mashup of genres, but it is only the latest
           | one which leans so heavily into the RPG aspects. Prior
           | installments are more "fist fight dudes" core gameplay.
        
         | tmjwid wrote:
         | It's always on GamePass as well, I'm not sure if this counts as
         | a sale in these figures. Although I don't think Infinite Wealth
         | was though so not sure.
        
         | pacifika wrote:
         | They renamed it from Yakuza, so it lost name recognition, not
         | surprisingly.
        
           | m4rtink wrote:
           | Isn't it the other way around, woth "like a dragon" being the
           | actual japanese name of those games ?
        
             | shinymark wrote:
             | You're right but it was called Yakuza in the west for many
             | years. I don't know if they made the right decision or not
             | renaming it but it is interesting to consider if it made an
             | impact in one way or another on sales.
        
         | 3eb7988a1663 wrote:
         | I have enjoyed a couple in the series, but they are a bit hard
         | to recommend. All of the story lines are anime-ridiculous, have
         | a mixture of fun and grindy minigames (the business development
         | loses its luster pretty quickly), and a lot of trapsing around
         | the map doing fetch quests for the lost soul du jour.
         | 
         | If you want a great story, it is weak. Looking for a great
         | tactics game, it is weak. The combination of gameplay styles is
         | a ridiculous ride, but I can see how the genre mashup has
         | limited appeal.
        
           | npinsker wrote:
           | The fantasy being sold (playing as a ragtag crew of 45yo,
           | relatively normal, down-on-their-luck men) probably doesn't
           | help either.
        
       | consumer451 wrote:
       | Only somewhat related, but a very cool link:
       | 
       | > These retro SEGA games are now free on Android (and iOS) until
       | they disappear forever
       | 
       | https://www.androidauthority.com/sega-retro-games-android-fr...
        
         | tecleandor wrote:
         | Oooooh, Crazy Taxi has the original music. Other ports
         | didn't/couldn't license it.
        
           | techpression wrote:
           | One of the best game soundtracks ever, many fond memories of
           | it playing hours upon hours on the Dreamcast.
        
         | andrepd wrote:
         | > End of Service: These games will be discontinued and removed
         | 
         | Depressing how ephemeral and consumable everything is
        
           | alt227 wrote:
           | However this 'End of Service' means they are stopping serving
           | ads to the game, removing online services, and allowing them
           | to be played offline forever.
           | 
           | This is a much better outcome than most games or software
           | that is discontinued.
        
             | andrepd wrote:
             | Indeed, but they will also stop selling or distributing
             | them, meaning they will only be available via
             | pirates/archivists (which are endlessly harassed by these
             | companies).
        
               | alt227 wrote:
               | These games will never stop being sold, they are too much
               | of a reliable income stream. They will be discontinued in
               | this form, and then rereleased in some new retro games
               | pack or 'remastered' version or such like. It has
               | happened several times before now and it will continue
               | forever.
        
         | AlexandrB wrote:
         | Don't know about some of the other titles, but Sega absolutely
         | ruined Sonic CD classic. 1.0 shipped as a svelt ~20 MB game
         | developed by the folks behind Sonic Mania. It was great[1]. At
         | some point, Sega decided it needed to go free to play, so they
         | added ads and tons of bloat to the game[2]. It now sits at ~200
         | MB with in app purchases to disable the ads (which don't seem
         | to work for some people). A real shame.
         | 
         | [1] https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/retro-rings-sonic-cd-
         | hits-i...
         | 
         | [2] https://powerupgaming.co.uk/2016/10/27/sonic-cd-goes-free-
         | to...
         | 
         | Edit: Looks like the "end of life" version (4.0?) disables the
         | ads but keeps the bloat which is better than I hoped for.
        
       | StefanBatory wrote:
       | To see WH3 sell less than Three Kingdoms was a surprise to me.
        
         | Ekaros wrote:
         | Three Kingdoms likely did very strongly in Chinese market.
         | Where as Warhammer is much more western brand. And well if some
         | are happy enough with 1 or 2, and don't need to expand from
         | there that also cuts sales.
        
           | 3eb7988a1663 wrote:
           | I also recall Warhammer 3 having somewhat mixed reviews at
           | launch owing to bugs and/or missing features relative to the
           | previous entry. As you say, if you are already happy with
           | what was available in Warhammer 2, why buy the sequel which
           | is going to have its own DLC treadmill?
        
       | b0a04gl wrote:
       | persona 5 royal doing 7.25mil and sega still acting like it's
       | some niche anime side hustle. meanwhile they keep pushing sonic
       | into every genre except tax software
        
         | Hamuko wrote:
         | We do have a Persona 5 dungeon crawler, a Persona 5 rhythm
         | game, a Persona 5 hack-and-slash game, a Persona 5 tactics game
         | and a Persona 5 mobile game, as well as a Persona 5 TV anime
         | and Persona 5 manga.
        
           | kubb wrote:
           | But still no persona 6 ;(
        
             | philistine wrote:
             | It's their model working as expected. The hand-picked team
             | lavishly designs the main games, never rushing their
             | design. Persona 5 released in 2016, when it was meant to
             | only release on the PS3. Once Persona 6 is out, other work-
             | for-hire studios can work on spin-offs to make the big
             | money.
        
             | throwaway106382 wrote:
             | Metaphor is a fantastic detour until then though.
        
             | PaulHoule wrote:
             | It's hard for me to picture how P6 could really be a step
             | forward.
             | 
             | I played P4G long ago on my PS Vita, bought P5R on Steam a
             | while back and I'm most of the way through it on my Steam
             | Deck right now.
             | 
             | I love the story and the art for P5R but the game is a bit
             | weak _as a game_ , mainly in the way that other turn-based
             | games (a genre I like) tend to be weak. Except for one
             | battle, status effects mostly don't matter (just wait a few
             | turns and they expire) Games with mechanics that don't
             | matter are just so widespread: I think of _Fire Emblem_
             | games where the weapon triangle doesn 't matter because (i)
             | it is so easy to overlevel characters, and (ii) if your
             | characters is overleveled the weapon triangle doesn't
             | matter.
             | 
             | P5R is a crazy long game that doesn't make you make any
             | choices about which social attributes you develop or which
             | characters you befriend, new game plus is unimaginable
             | because the game is so long so you feel you have to do
             | everything which makes the game longer. On top of it the
             | game sets deadlines for you to clear various dungeons which
             | are never challenging to hit.
             | 
             | ... and it's not that it is a bad game relative to other
             | games, it's one of the best, but playing through makes
             | think that people need to make something really different
             | in the area of turn-based games mashed up with visual
             | novels such as shorter games that you have to play through
             | to experience everything or games where every mechanic is
             | meaningful. Back in the PS Vita era there were many games
             | where I would really enjoy the NG+ such as _Akiba 's Trip
             | 2_ in which playthoughs got faster and faster as you got
             | stronger or the _Neptunia_ games which had first rate voice
             | acting in two languages and NG+ meant you could enjoy both.
        
         | chrisco255 wrote:
         | Not gonna lie, SonicTax has a nice ring to it.
        
           | egypturnash wrote:
           | get your refund FAST
           | 
           | comes with coupons for chili dogs
        
             | ethbr1 wrote:
             | And... we've come full circle, back to the 90s.
        
             | 8345083401 wrote:
             | 100m
        
           | sdenton4 wrote:
           | Tell me you don't want this guy working for you, to maximize
           | your return...
           | 
           | https://labs.google/fx/tools/image-fx/5sc6a32l10000
        
         | makeitdouble wrote:
         | Sega Sammy's content business is only about a third of their
         | total revenue, and that's for all games, anime, licensing deals
         | (LEGO etc.)
         | 
         | Persona 5 Royal is for all intent and purpose, a side hustle.
         | 
         | https://www.segasammy.co.jp/cms/wp-content/uploads/pdf/en/ir...
        
         | gfaure wrote:
         | Don't give them any ideas... https://taxheaven3000.com/
        
         | BobbyTables2 wrote:
         | I'd love to see Sonic as CPA fighting Dr. Robotnik at the IRS!
         | 
         | Tails would be a clerk...
        
       | dghughes wrote:
       | Sega in 2025? I thought they disappeared decades ago.
        
       | mrweasel wrote:
       | Why would Sega not reveal sales number for each game?
        
       | camcil wrote:
       | I would've imagined these numbers to be much more than they are.
        
         | StochasticLi wrote:
         | Yup. This is surprising to me too. These are numbers of a
         | relatively small IT/financial firm. I guess all the hundreds of
         | millions of dollars in gaming are taken by a small % of
         | companies like Rockstar or the big mobile games.
        
       | m4tthumphrey wrote:
       | Off topic: how can anyone use that website. The ads are pure
       | aids.
        
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