Edit response time: That people interested in games did not know about it would be very indicative of a major failing and current lack of relavance of mainstream gaming media. That would seem to be very much on point, as there is no need to help us for not knowing, but it would seem Sony might need help.
The fact that I never seen or heard of this is no surprise though, the only time gaming news coverage shows up for most is when there is some sort of scandal. Its why I know more about “Mix Tape”, “High Guard” and “Marathon” then this game.
I like my small indie / oddball games but I find I get more info from people steaming a game and talking about it then a “review” that had clearly been bought and paid for. And it seems I am not the only one, as clearly no one is reading the “major” gaming news sites anymore. Well at least in this case no one from their target audience is.
This is the only gaming space I’ve encountered on the internet that has this many people unaware of Saros’ existence. The prevailing theory elsewhere for its lack of success is launching at $70, only on PS5, and people having already bounced off of its predecessor, Returnal. There aren’t 130 outlets reviewing the game because no one is reading them.
What other gaming areas are you thinking of? Are they user driven for content and discourse like this?
And there are 130 outlets reviewing the game because they are in the business of reviewing games and this one was a rare exclusive for the ps5. It would be odd if they did not review it (and give it questionably high marks). If you look at a game like xenonauts 2 that also came out recently that sold about the same number of copies (very odd since one is very niche) they only have 14 critic reviews vs 130. The issue is the critic reviews clearly don’t hold the same value to consumers as they once did.
That is not made by clear by comparing those two games the way we just did, no. Game review and news outlets cover the games most likely to be of value to their audiences, partially because they foster that with their own interest, and partly because the data tells them what their audience is reading or watching. Saros got 130 different outlets reviewing it because it’s generally seen as a big deal for their audiences. Xenonauts 2, not so much, which is why it was only covered by 1/10th as many publications. We’re here on Lemmy because we’re more likely to leave a thing we don’t like even if we’re used to it, like reddit. If you don’t like traditional games media, fair enough, but I don’t think either that preference or our choice of being on Lemmy is representative of broader trends. I was just at a board game night where we had to give clues about Sabrina Carpenter, and I knew nothing about her. It doesn’t mean her publicist is bad at marketing; it means I’m not the target audience for it.
Game review and news outlets cover the games most likely to be of value to their audiences, partially because they foster that with their own interest, and partly because the data tells them what their audience is reading or watching.
Have to vehemently disagree with this, it is clear that their coverage is not dictated by the value their audiences receive but from other more corporate values. And as time goes on the media coverage on games has been less and less valued. It has nothing to do with my option on the media but my observations on the industry. The reason I brought up zenonaughts 2 was that it has 1/10 the reviews but similar sales, and that is indicative of the clear decline of the main stream gaming review system not having the pull it once did.
It is very much not clearly indicative of that. It has 1/10th of the reviews because it is expected to be relevant to far fewer people than Saros. The audience tends to value games that they’ve had marketed to them, which is a correlation for what should be obvious reasons.
They sold a similar amount, your agument only works if saros sold a proportional amount more (10x in this case). As it stands the marketing clearly did not work.
The studio’s previous game, which is very similar on a gameplay level, sold over 1M copies. Saros costs $10 more than Returnal cost and almost twice as much as Xenonauts 2. Beyond that, Returnal was a difficult game, and trophy data shows lots of people didn’t get anywhere close to finishing it; distaste for the previous game and a slightly higher price for what is, by Sony’s standards, less production value than you can find in other PS5 games at $70, are far better explainers for Saros’ performance.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you’re submitting before posting to see if it’s already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don’t share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don’t want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
Edit response time: That people interested in games did not know about it would be very indicative of a major failing and current lack of relavance of mainstream gaming media. That would seem to be very much on point, as there is no need to help us for not knowing, but it would seem Sony might need help.
The fact that I never seen or heard of this is no surprise though, the only time gaming news coverage shows up for most is when there is some sort of scandal. Its why I know more about “Mix Tape”, “High Guard” and “Marathon” then this game.
I like my small indie / oddball games but I find I get more info from people steaming a game and talking about it then a “review” that had clearly been bought and paid for. And it seems I am not the only one, as clearly no one is reading the “major” gaming news sites anymore. Well at least in this case no one from their target audience is.
This is the only gaming space I’ve encountered on the internet that has this many people unaware of Saros’ existence. The prevailing theory elsewhere for its lack of success is launching at $70, only on PS5, and people having already bounced off of its predecessor, Returnal. There aren’t 130 outlets reviewing the game because no one is reading them.
What other gaming areas are you thinking of? Are they user driven for content and discourse like this?
And there are 130 outlets reviewing the game because they are in the business of reviewing games and this one was a rare exclusive for the ps5. It would be odd if they did not review it (and give it questionably high marks). If you look at a game like xenonauts 2 that also came out recently that sold about the same number of copies (very odd since one is very niche) they only have 14 critic reviews vs 130. The issue is the critic reviews clearly don’t hold the same value to consumers as they once did.
That is not made by clear by comparing those two games the way we just did, no. Game review and news outlets cover the games most likely to be of value to their audiences, partially because they foster that with their own interest, and partly because the data tells them what their audience is reading or watching. Saros got 130 different outlets reviewing it because it’s generally seen as a big deal for their audiences. Xenonauts 2, not so much, which is why it was only covered by 1/10th as many publications. We’re here on Lemmy because we’re more likely to leave a thing we don’t like even if we’re used to it, like reddit. If you don’t like traditional games media, fair enough, but I don’t think either that preference or our choice of being on Lemmy is representative of broader trends. I was just at a board game night where we had to give clues about Sabrina Carpenter, and I knew nothing about her. It doesn’t mean her publicist is bad at marketing; it means I’m not the target audience for it.
Have to vehemently disagree with this, it is clear that their coverage is not dictated by the value their audiences receive but from other more corporate values. And as time goes on the media coverage on games has been less and less valued. It has nothing to do with my option on the media but my observations on the industry. The reason I brought up zenonaughts 2 was that it has 1/10 the reviews but similar sales, and that is indicative of the clear decline of the main stream gaming review system not having the pull it once did.
It is very much not clearly indicative of that. It has 1/10th of the reviews because it is expected to be relevant to far fewer people than Saros. The audience tends to value games that they’ve had marketed to them, which is a correlation for what should be obvious reasons.
They sold a similar amount, your agument only works if saros sold a proportional amount more (10x in this case). As it stands the marketing clearly did not work.
The studio’s previous game, which is very similar on a gameplay level, sold over 1M copies. Saros costs $10 more than Returnal cost and almost twice as much as Xenonauts 2. Beyond that, Returnal was a difficult game, and trophy data shows lots of people didn’t get anywhere close to finishing it; distaste for the previous game and a slightly higher price for what is, by Sony’s standards, less production value than you can find in other PS5 games at $70, are far better explainers for Saros’ performance.