Why stealth games don't sell anymore?

Games
1

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-11-18-pok-mon-and-spyro-top-hyper-competitive-week-at-uk-games-retail

“Hitman 2 was the other big adult release of the week and it, too, had a weaker-than-usual opening. IO Interactive’s stealth game debuts at No.10. The last Hitman title was an episodic digital release, so comparisons are impossible to make. Compared with 2012’s Hitman Absolution, launch physical sales of Hitman 2 are down 90 per cent.”

So it seems Hitman 2 isn’t selling very well. The data is from UK, but also it has been discounting heavily in other countries like France or Italy, when less than one month has passed, so they can be easily extrapolated globally. Obviously people buy more games online now, but a 90% drop is too much, in comparison with other titles.
Another data point, in Steam Hitman 2 hasn’t reached the number 1 position not even on release day, and now its position 9 in the Global Steam seller list.
Also, the game hasn’t been pirated on pc.

The game had barely any marketing and now it shows. That’s the reality of the industry, and why it has been reduced to cheaper indie games or super expensive AAA games. If you are small indie, you don’t have to sell a ton to recoup costs of development, and if you are a big AAA game, a marketing campaign is expensive but it can multiply your revenue. A-AA without a strong publisher backing like Io are in a bad spot.

Is the problem in Hitman in special, or are stealth games in general the ones with the problem?

Let’s argue it’s Hitman in special, specifically the online component.

People that complain about the online requirement has a valid point (progression in SP needing online is bullshit, Elusive targets shouldn’t have a time window, even if they only can be played once), but at the same time, they are irrelevant.

The game isn’t selling because of that. People with that complaint are a drop in the ocean. It’s like believing our community is representative of all the gaming market. It isn’t the case. Most casual players won’t even know about the online requirement in the first place, they don’t know about the details of the game so much, so logic dictates it can’t be affecting their buying habits!

Lack of marketing is a much stronger factor, in reality.

I’m starting to think it’s the entire stealth genre.
It just seems stealth games aren’t in. I have no idea why a entire genre is like that, but here we are today.
In the past, even before Absolution, Blood Money was a million seller, but it seems the market has moved away from it. It isn’t only Hitman, it’s also Thief, Splinter Cell, even semi-stealth games like Deus Ex, so there is a pattern here.

Why?

2

I’ve been surprised by the lack of buzz for Hitman 2 outside of its own subreddit.

However, Hitman in March 2016 debuted to (I think) 8000 concurrent players on Steam, whereas Hitman 2 debuted to 10-13k. It can’t be that bad! I’m not sure comparing physical sales in the UK with Hitman Absolution is at all relevant (although if that includes console sales then 90% does sound grim).

3

On the computer market at least, I’m starting to think the 60€ price tag was a mistake. Even more, 90€ with the gold edition. They are not a big AAA game anymore, but they are still trying to charge like one.

Unless you are RDR2, Cyberpunk or a super expected title/hype machine like that, the sweet point of Steam games seems to be 30-42€. People at this point are much more money savvy, they are accustomed to sales, and the backlogs are big. If your game is more expensive, they will just wait until the next sale.

4

In my case, the buzz around the Hitman sequel was “more of the same, which is good”. I’m not even close to having exhausted the content in the last game, so why would I buy it?

I would also urge caution on the Absolution comparison - phsyical sales from six years ago are not at all comparable, especially for a formerly episodic franchise.

5

I have to confess I made the thread, but I’m the first one I didn’t buy the game :D :D.

I still have to play the Patient Zero campaign, which I bought in the Autumn sale. And now I’m tighter with money because real life stuff (I bought a house!) so now more than ever I will await until 50% discount for all games.

6

Not sure the numbers are comparable. The difference is that for Hitman 2 they launched with a free to play demo (with just the prologue). For Hitman I think they just had the prologue + Paris for $15.

The masses will wait until the sale no matter what price you launch at.

But they still got my $60 as one of my two pre-orders this year, just since it’s more of the same and I put 200 hours into Hitman.

7

I find stealth games stressful. Whatever I’m doing, maybe I’m in the wrong place and someone is about to come round a corner and SEE ME. I don’t need that constant pressure. Where stealth is a component I can dip in and out of (like Ubigames) I can cope but otherwise I stay away.

8

I believe this might be the case for many, compounded by marketing issues and a bit of brand fatigue maybe? I haven’t played many Hitman games but at this point I’m having trouble distinguishing them from each other. The episodic nature of the reboot made things more confusing, IMO.

9

I was thinking something similar. In how more casual players can play now any modern action/adventure game and just have a small ration of more casual stealth experience, as most now allow playing with a bit of stealth, like in for example the Tomb Raider games.

10

This thread seems to be making the assumption that Hitman 2 is an oddity in the current market. The fact of the matter is that while Hitman 2 has gotten great reviews, it has also

  1. Burned a lot of people due to the episodic nature of the last game who didn’t “get” the reason behind it, nor people who aren’t sure if the new Hitman is episodic or not (thus should they wait)
  2. Is touted as a more polished version of the last game
  3. Came out in the same time area as RDR2, which a ton of people haven’t finished (and according to that chart a ton of people are still buying
  4. Is competing in the same week as Fallout 76 (which while is not getting great reviews still has the fallout name)
  5. Is also competing in the same week as Spyro which has lots of positive nostalgia about it.
  6. Lack of marketing like others mentioned, I only knew it was coming out due to Giant Bomb. This is probably caused by not having Square Enix money anymore.

There are probably other things that could be mentioned. It’s 1 game, 1 game does not make a correlation and there are probably tons of reasons that Hitman is not doing so great that have nothing to do with it being a stealth game.

11

I talked about this in the Hitman 2 thread, but I feel like this is a big reason. RDR2 is THE AAA game of the season. It’s hard to compete against that.

At the same time, I agree with the article’s premise. Hardcore stealth just doesn’t sell in AAA numbers. These are essentially sandbox puzzle games. Every level is an interlocking set of puzzles that can go hilariously wrong, but the experience requires patience and problem-solving that I think the majority of gamers do not care about.

I think their GAAS model is terrible as well. Only the truly hardcore care about the Elusive Contracts and other time-limited content. For anyone not obsessed with Hitman, these additions are a waste of potential.

12

There are issues to find in Hitman, yes, like

-online drm
-Denuvo in pc
-time-limited content like Elusive targets
-people not liking the idea of episodic release in the previous Hitman (despite this not being episodic anymore, it may be some people don’t know about it)
-People getting the impression the game don’t have as much content of big AAA open world or a AAA FPS with the full package: single player, coop, pvp, etc.
-Only the most hardcore players caring about the replay value it offers, other people will play it once and that’s it.

In any case, how many years since there was a mainly stealth based big game on the market? These two Hitmans, Thi4f (ugh) and Splinter Cell Blacklist, years ago. Thief and Splinter Cell has been abandoned, and I fear Hitman will be the next one.

13

This may be a perception that people have, but I can’t imagine only playing through the levels once. That would be like playing Tetris once.

14

Metal Gear Solid V comes to mind, but that’s a huge brand.

15

In mgsv you can ask for a tank and complete missiona killing people with the tanks. The stealth approach is not forced.

16

But if you blow them up with a tank you can’t catch them all.

17

It’s not just RDR2, but CoD, BF5, etc. Hitman is not a top-tier game that can compete with those, so launching right in the middle of the busiest season filled with games that will sell 10-20 million copies is the wrong timing for them.

Launch Hitman in May/June, or get it out in late August or early September. Mid-November is the worst-possible timing.

18

I would have pre-ordered Hitman 2 if it wasn’t so closely released to RDR2. Really bad timing for sure.

19

Maybe stealth games are boring for the average gamer?

Like. the guy that skip all dialogs to go directly to the pew pew, or that get infuriated if they have to wait 3 seconds (instead of 2) to revive after they got killed.

20

Arkane continues to publish them: Dishonored 2 is a stealth game and Prey is stealth heavy.