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Originally Posted by maerean_m
I was reading that the Electronic Arts' Sims 2 franchise sold 70 million copies so far. Also Ubisoft's Petz product line (Catz, Dogz, Horsez) collectively sold 3.5 million units.
So, when GRAW2 sales only 1 million copies and Silent Hunter 4 only a couple hundred thousands, WHY should anybody be bothered to make Silent Hunter 5?
Everybody complains about what a crappy game Silent Hunter 4 is and that SH4 is just a big collection of bugs and how they want back the $50 spent on the game. Nobody just enjoys the game. Everybody should join the navy and see what it means to be a captive of Time Compression =1 and not being able to blow the ships you spot (WW2 is kinda over).
You can imagine that making a Silent Hunter is not a walk in the park (as it is when making Sims 2).
WHY should there be a Silent Hunter 5 (Silent Hunter must reach the 230 version number (Silent Hunter 230) to have the same sales as Sims 2)? Ubisoft should stop all projects and start making Sims 2 clones and make BIIIG bucks. 2 years from now you'll only find Sims 2 clones in the shops. I wish everybody to enjoy their future copy of Sims 2.
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I promise you no real game is a "walk in the park" to make. The fact that something like the Sims looks cartoony and silly to the average hardcore sim fan doesn't have a heck of a lot to do with how "hard" it is to make.
As for why this franchise persists, it's entirely possible to make a little money from niche titles. You don't have to sell 5 million copies to succeed; you just have to take in a reasonable amount more in than it cost to make, market and distribute the thing. A game like this is never going to be a grand slam. But give it a short schedule, keep the team as small as you can, and you can get away with relying on your core fanbase plus some number of casual purchases to keep a series like this alive for at least a few iterations.