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Analyst: God Of War: Ascension Had A Disappointing Showing

Many critics and gamers agreed that God of War: Ascension felt a little tired, and some claimed it only existed as a vehicle for the all-new multiplayer.

But whatever the reasons, it seems the latest GoW installment has failed to impress on the sales charts. Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz told GamesIndustry.biz that both Ascension and Gears of War: Judgment for the Xbox 360 suffered from disappointing first-month sales in the US.

In an investor note that gave us an idea of what to expect when the official NPD results arrive, Cowen & Company said estimated month-one sales of Judgment were around 420,000, which is merely a quarter of the 2 million units Gears of War 3 sold in the same time period when it launched in September 2011. As for Ascension , it seems it only sold 360,000 units, which is a big drop compared to the 1.1 million God of War III sold. However, that being said, Creutz did say some third-party titles did quite well; for instance, Bioshock Infinite apparently moved 665,000 copies in just 10 days on the market.

Overall, the firm expects the NPD to reveal that March 2013 saw a 21% year-over-year decline, which has unfortunately been par for the course recently. Bring on the new consoles!

Related Game(s): God of War: Ascension

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WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

I had a feeling the new Gears would probably sink into the muck along with Ascension. That's what happens when you make an entire game based on a business decision.

vatoloco47
vatoloco47
10 years ago

Not only that but the God Of War series always felt very repetitive or maybe that's just me. After playing the first 3 i kind of gave up on it. At least the DMC reboot had alot of changes that didn't make it feel like the rest of them

telly
telly
10 years ago

@vataloco I'm a big God of War fan but you're absolutely right — the style and gameplay that was really refreshing, unique and new when the series debuted is pretty tired at this point. I enjoyed Ascension very much, but it's for the hard core fans only (like me.) both Ascension and Judgement were nice games, but World has this exactly right — the games were blatant cash grabs to trilogies that had already reached their conclusions. How excited to moderate to casual fans of these series get too excited about them? We need new consoles, and with them new ideas, and soon.

Xombito
Xombito
10 years ago

I have no issues with the new God of War. The single player was just as good as previous GOWs imo. The notion that it was made just to introduce multiplayer is ridiculous. I can't really explain why the game didn't sell quite as well as the previous games. But I refuse to believe the game itself suffered just because mp was added.

Temjin001
Temjin001
10 years ago

The single player didn't suffer. I like to think of this as the "Tony Hawk" effect. Back in the PS2 era THPS games just kept coming and coming, most all getting appreciably better during that era. ANd for the longest time they netted very high scores, some of which were goty awarded. But the voice that begins to rise over time, the one that says we need something different, where quality stops being so much the concern, where nitpicking starts arising over frivolity, this starts speaking more to human nature and the way we consume these products and not against the product itself. It stops being so much a quality concern and it's starts becoming an appetite one. I've seen this sort of thing time and time again.

I say only multiplayer-centric games have endured this because they're rooted to the fun of the sport-like play. I absolutely love that my fighters have stayed pure and true since the 16 bit era. I accredit this fully to them being a multiplayer game at their core.


Last edited by Temjin001 on 4/17/2013 12:29:12 AM

unapersson
unapersson
10 years ago

It may well have something to do with it's title, missing out the all important number may just make some people believe it's a spin off. A "God of War 4" might well have sold similar numbers to 3.

Of course there's also the fact it's late in the cycle (but so was GOW2), sequel fatigue and some element of backlash for the multiplayer.

I've only just bought my copy, not because I didn't want it earlier, but because I've got such a big backlog that's its barely worth paying full price for all but really special games I want to play immediately.

Karosso
Karosso
10 years ago

That's why I'm hopping Uncharted takes a break next gen, just give me something new in the beginning ND! Lot's of people hopping for U4 as a launch title, but I'm hopping ND comes on E3 and floors everybody with something completely new.

Draguss
Draguss
10 years ago

God of War is done, it was a great series. They should let it end and pick up something new, instead of trying to milk it until it's no longer profitable.

___________
___________
10 years ago

2 perfect examples of whats wrong with this industry.
take a well known franchise and remove its core values, aka GOW3 = massive sales!
take a well known franchise and restore its core values, improve EVERYTHING, and add in lots of new cool features = really low sales!
WTF!?
good game = poor sales.
bad game = good sales.
sigh.

o, BTW, bioshock infinite only sold 665K units!?
wow, what a let down its the most anticipated game of the year, ok maybe after GTAV, and it did not even manage 1M units!?
i mean most big exclusives reach 1M units, in there first week!
and there exclusives on 1 platform not 3!
bet take 2 are not too happy about this……..

PC_Max
PC_Max
10 years ago

The series should have ended with GoW3. As much as many Gow fans trashed Heavenly Sword for having similar game mechanics as GoW, it was fresh story with a female protagonist. GoW was getting old and the story got tired with no real satisfying conclusions. Well there was with Ares and Zeus' demise. And thats where it should have ended. Come one. Kratos is just a bitter man and will never get over what he did he sough out a bereavement councillor followed by part-time social counselling. Mind you with his temper he would have cleaved them in two. Serious issues.

Time to move on.

Keep Playing!

CrusaderForever
CrusaderForever
10 years ago

It's sad, I would have bought Ascension D1 but they didn't release it digitally because of the spend $50 and get $10 back promotion. At least that's my take on the situation. They didn't want to sell Ascension for $50. I just didn't have the cash at the time but had $60 in my PSN wallet.

My nephew rented it from Red Box and he said it was an amazing experience. He is now going to pick up the GoW Collection. I will get around to buying it soon. Just have zero money for gaming right now. Sony Santa Monica did a fantastic job on the game. They should be commended. I just love the scope of the GoW franchise! I hope this isn't the end and that we some how see GoW4 on the PS4.

Kiryu
Kiryu
10 years ago

God of War Ascension is the best God of War since God of War 1.

JROD0823
JROD0823
10 years ago

Sony Santa Monica lost my money when they went behind everyone's back and pulled a sneaky bait-and-switch with the Kratos statue.

When I pre-ordered the Collector's Edition 8 or more months ago, the Kratos statue was 8" tall and looked very detailed. Then about a couple months before release, the very quietly changed out the 8" tall Kratos statue for a 6" tall statue.

You may say "well, that's only 2" difference, so why get upset about it?", but the new 6" statue has roughly an inch and one half tall base, so the actual size of Kratos is 4 and one half inches tall or less.

That's nearly half as big as the originally advertised statue, because as far as I could tell, the statue was 8" before any stands to keep it upright were added.

<End rant>

slugga_status
slugga_status
10 years ago

I'd have to say Ascension was a damn good game. I personally think the fact that this was a prequel is what hurt sales. People were looking for a sequel to III with maybe a new protagonist or more Kratos.

anjpikapp3
anjpikapp3
10 years ago

I feel like they rushed this GoW…or maybe its just me. I have played through it twice and I have had screen tears as well as system freezes while playing. One part in particular that really pissed me off was right after the "Oracle's Chamber" and before speaking with the Oracle herself, I got stuck between "rebuilding" the bridge. Could not move forward in the game nor go back and re-save. Anyway, I definitely feel that this GoW was rushed and will probably make sure the game is 100% before buying (Never thought i would say this but GoW is no longer a Day1 purchase – The times, they are a changing).

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