Project Cars 3 Sales [Discussion]

[Chikane_GTR]

Looking at the UK weekly sales in video games on the first week project cars 3 debut at #17

second week now Project cars 3 is nowhere to be see in the top 40

Source

https://ukie.org.uk/news/2020/09/marvels-avengers-hulk-smashes-its-way-no1-debut

We now await the NPD for the us and PSN monthly top downloads
for September but if the uk is anything to go by project cars 3 has bomb hard sales wise.

 

[Bloodytears]

I bet that NFS Heat has had more sales in September than PC3

 

[wicken]

Not exactly a sales number but...

As of 30th August, PS4 had 14,000 players and Xbox had 6,200 players.

 

[cosme]

Not exactly a sales number but...

As of 30th August, PS4 had 14,000 players and Xbox had 6,200 players.

How did you count? Based on trophies percentage?

 

[wicken]

How did you count? Based on trophies percentage?

Yes. I've taken the data from this website https://gamstat.com/games/

 

[Scaff]

When you then add i

Yes. I've taken the data from this website https://gamstat.com/games/

When you then add in the PC numbers and compare to PC2, the numbers look very poor indeed.

More players across all three platforms on PC2 and PC2 seeing more new players on both Xbox and PS4 in the launch month!

 

[gregc]

This is quite interesting (to me anyway!) in terms of potential market, purely on Steam, and how player numbers compare. pCARS3 is barely a blip compared to (ancient) AC...

AC has modding to keep it fresh of course, but then ACC is miles ahead too.

 

[Scaff]

This is quite interesting (to me anyway!) in terms of potential market, purely on Steam, and how player numbers compare. pCARS3 is barely a blip compared to (ancient) AC...

View attachment 956767

AC has modding to keep it fresh of course, but then ACC is miles ahead too.

Yep, its a product of a massively misjudged marketing campaign that managed to confuse/dismiss both its core audience and potential audience. What's even more astounding is that SMS was warned that it was way off track more times than I can count by those same people, and they arrogantly dismissed those concerns out of hand.

PC3 is a self-engineered failure.

 

[fernandito]

Yes, pc3 marketing campaign, if ever existed of course, has been just as poor as misleading to say the least. This is not looking good for pc3 and sms in general if we take into account also their ultra-delayed game from the ps3 era, and that..,console?

I feel sad for the scattered Driveclub folks too, some that went for OnRush (fail), and now the rest that have worked on pc3.

I have much respect for Ian Bell and will always believe the industry has so much need of daring folks like him, but I begin to question his judgment as head manager of a company. Maybe age, stress are beginning to take their toll on him, although mentally consuming guys of his kind isn't as easy as it seems, not even for life itself and the slaps so kindly grants you quite often.., although another story is consuming you financially if you fail on one or two projects in a row, of course. That can finish him, too.

 

[Scaff]

Speaking of Driveclub, it managed to gain more new players on PS4 in the same period than PC3 did!

 

[gregc]

Yep, its a product of a massively misjudged marketing campaign that managed to confuse/dismiss both its core audience and potential audience. What's even more astounding is that SMS was warned that it was way off track more times than I can count by those same people, and they arrogantly dismissed those concerns out of hand.

PC3 is a self-engineered failure.

Yes, pc3 marketing campaign, if ever existed of course, has been just as poor as misleading to say the least. This is not looking good for pc3 and sms in general if we take into account also their ultra-delayed game from the ps3 era, and that..,console?

I feel sad for the scattered Driveclub folks too, some that went for OnRush (fail), and now the rest that have worked on pc3.

I have much respect for Ian Bell and will always believe the industry has so much need of daring folks like him, but I begin to question his judgment as head manager of a company. Maybe age, stress are beginning to take their toll on him, although mentally consuming guys of his kind isn't as easy as it seems, not even for life itself and the slaps so kindly grants you quite often.., although another story is consuming you financially if you fail on one or two projects in a row, of course. That can finish him, too.

While I agree 100% with both of the parts of bolded above, and speaking as someone who is one of those that Nathan's "if it's not for you then it's not for you" comment completely applies to, this outcome gives me no pleasure whatsoever, in fact quite the reverse. We know from pCARS2, and more recently even more so AMS2, how much potential lies in the Madness engine and SMS' other underlying tech for a "proper sim". I hate to think that this might effectively go to waste in the future due to the flop that pCARS3 appears to be.

I hold on to the hope that this was just something to finish off the deal with BN (incidentally, whenever this comes up I always think of this - maybe that would have been a better name...), and that Codies bought SMS as part of a plan to get into the "proper sim" market - because in that scenario, the fate of pCARS3 becomes more or less irrelevant.

Oh well, pCARS2 isn't going anywhere and there's a long term plan from Reiza for AMS2 to look forward to over the next couple of years.

 

[fernandito]

^Well the madness engine has its commercial uses too (remember that web announcement from last year, was it?), kinda like the rFactor guys and his professional applications on simulation and actual pilot training. Perhaps that is enough to keep MrBell and SMS afloat despite his latest bad calls, bordering on undertakings I'd say rather.

Speaking of Driveclub, it managed to gain more new players on PS4 in the same period than PC3 did!

View attachment 956771

Damn Sony. Seriously I'm starting to take their decision of killing the Evolution only to keep feeding that Dinosaur whose sim is already 25 years old, should have dedicated himself to professional photography instead (just like Kojima should have dedicated himself to film directing), and has evolved his sim so little on the physics department since then borderline personal. This wasn't fair, let alone on such an Elite Studio like this one that was bringing us 60FPS racers of a high quality already on the ps2 era, not to mention Driveclub as their latest gem.

Not fair. I hate Sony only because of this, and don't give a damn about anything else on this subject. Damn YOU sony.

 

[Scaff]

While I agree 100% with both of the parts of bolded above, and speaking as someone who is one of those that Nathan's "if it's not for you then it's not for you" comment completely applies to, this outcome gives me no pleasure whatsoever, in fact quite the reverse. We know from pCARS2, and more recently even more so AMS2, how much potential lies in the Madness engine and SMS' other underlying tech for a "proper sim". I hate to think that this might effectively go to waste in the future due to the flop that pCARS3 appears to be.

I hold on to the hope that this was just something to finish off the deal with BN (incidentally, whenever this comes up I always think of this - maybe that would have been a better name...), and that Codies bought SMS as part of a plan to get into the "proper sim" market - because in that scenario, the fate of pCARS3 becomes more or less irrelevant.

Oh well, pCARS2 isn't going anywhere and there's a long term plan from Reiza for AMS2 to look forward to over the next couple of years.

100% agree with everything you say, to the degree that I'm looking at PC ownership once again to allow me the likes of AMS2 and AC.

Ironically I picked up a copy of Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends, which is an SMS title that was complete at launch, not filled with bugs and plays great with a gamepad, so they do know how to make an accessible title when they want, but they messed that one up with effectively zero marketing at launch!

 

[Corsa]

I haven’t purchased it yet, and the likelihood of doing so dwindles each day.

Can someone give me a redeeming feature to buy?
Is it at least fun?

 

[Bloodytears]

@Scaff does this site have NFS figure? Just to compare.

 

[David Wright]

Ironically I picked up a copy of Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends, which is an SMS title that was complete at launch, not filled with bugs and plays great with a gamepad, so they do know how to make an accessible title when they want, but they messed that one up with effectively zero marketing at launch!

Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends was developed by Blimey Games. Blimey were owned by 10Tacle studios who went bust. Blimey then also went bust but were re-born as Slightly Mad Studios. The game was owned by 10tacle and seems to have been sold to another developer/publisher for finishing and publishing. It wasn't originally going to be part of the "Test Drive" franchise.

 

[PJTierney]

Speaking of Driveclub, it managed to gain more new players on PS4 in the same period than PC3 did!

View attachment 956771

How is that possible?

Driveclub isn't available for sale.

Presumably, it's new registrations to that website, which then counts all Trophies on that player's account a "new player" for each game.

If that's the case, it'd be like counting TrueAchievements stats as sales numbers, when that's not entirely accurate as not all Xbox players register for TA*.


*TrueAchievements only has about 550,000 users, whereas the Xbox playerbase (including Xbox 360 and OG Xbox) is at least 50-100 million.

 

[Scaff]

Test Drive Ferrari Racing Legends was developed by Blimey Games. Blimey were owned by 10Tacle studios who went bust. Blimey then also went bust but were re-born as Slightly Mad Studios. The game was owned by 10tacle and seems to have been sold to another developer/publisher for finishing and publishing. It wasn't originally going to be part of the "Test Drive" franchise.

It’s still published as an SMS title shown as the dev, it’s on the back of the box. 👍

 

[Scaff]

How is that possible?

Driveclub isn't available for sale.

Presumably, it's new registrations to that website, which then counts all Trophies on that player's account a "new player" for each game.

Nope it still shows multiple trophies for a single player as a single player, while DC has been delisted they may be people who bought it and had not yet played it, played it but only just managed to get their first trophy or they bought it second hand.

It’s also worth noting that those are global numbers and the site does acknowledge that a 10% margin of error does exist due to how they extrapolate the numbers.

As it’s all based around trophy rarity they also get more accurate as the numbers increase.

It also doesn’t need people to register as it draws the info directly from the public trophy date on Sony’s website (and I assume MS as well) via an API feed.

 

[fernandito]

How is that possible?, Driveclub isn't available for sale.

People who buy second hand discs at GAME or wherever, then install on their consoles then play. Then the PSNetwork reads their accounts (accounts that before never shown Driveclub as a played game), and marks them as new clients for that game.

Not that hard to understand.

 

[T0MMY3688]

AC has modding to keep it fresh of course, but then ACC is miles ahead too.

ACC has its target audience while pCARS 3 weirdly decided redesign the core of the franchise to the point that its old fans no longer recognised it. Add in the poor marketing, it is just a game that the fans don't want it and whoever the new audience is couldn't find it.

I still think pCARS 3 is just a rushed project to fulfil Bandai Namco contract, the game just looks rushed and incomplete.

@Scaff does this site have NFS figure? Just to compare.

NFS stats is pretty high but there is EA Play on both consoles, no idea on how many paid for it vs folks that plays on EA Play.

Link to the site: https://gamstat.com/games/

 

[fernandito]

^ Glad to see Rivals is still liked.

To me the perfect Need for Speed game would be one using a map like the one of NFS:Rivals, with the engine of Driveclub and its legacy 1.0 physics. And of course no gadgets for either police and drivers, only upgrades for both.

 

[David Wright]

It’s still published as an SMS title shown as the dev, it’s on the back of the box. 👍

Indeed. I was just trying to explain why it might be less buggy and publicity different to some other SMS titles. The game was bought from a bankrupt 10Tacle by ATARI. It was something of an orphan game really. Work started on it in 2006 but it wasn't published until 2012. Although this post-dates Shift2, the version of the madness engine used pre-dates the original Shift.

 

[BFIFE22]

^ Glad to see Rivals is still liked.

To me the perfect Need for Speed game would be one using a map like the one of NFS:Rivals, with the engine of Driveclub and its legacy 1.0 physics. And of course no gadgets for either police and drivers, only upgrades for both.

I missed out on NFS Rivals and regret it, but MW 2012 made be swear off the franchise until NFS Heat.

 

[doblocruiser]

To add to these disappointing figures. Almost no activity from the Bell boys and the social media accounts. Like they don't believe in it themselves anymore.

I hope that those Evo guys get a real chance at Avalanche Studios.

The future of PCars, don't know how that is going to look like. Codies could pull the plug and evolve it further into the GRID franchise.

Futher will tell

 

[MaccaUeno]

To add to these disappointing figures. Almost no activity from the Bell boys and the social media accounts. Like they don't believe in it themselves anymore.

I hope that those Evo guys get a real chance at Avalanche Studios.

The future of PCars, don't know how that is going to look like. Codies could pull the plug and evolve it further into the GRID franchise.

Futher will tell

Don't worry, if you have a different opinion than a select few on the official forum you'll get an "infraction", I have 1 infraction so far for being insulting apparently by pointing out a moderators comment was snarky about SIM tyres and the others was belittling by saying a members comments were just white noise...

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I could be in those PC2 figures. Bought it a few months ago, and decided to do my first race a week ago.

As for PC3, I'll be waiting until the price drops. There's a lot of games to play currently.

 

[CopperySinger]

If a arcade racing game comes out in 2020 that is similar but inferior to pgr4 2007 almost a 15 year old game, I can't expect sales to be serious. Last gen console pgr4 had fun factor and beautiful graphics in its era; in this era Forza horizon arcade series set the bar for fun factor and graphics on consoles. If arcade project cars 3 can't meet this standard, I think sms should hang it up and stick to simulators. PCARS2 was almost great as a sim it just needed to improve physics force feedback AI and graphics all at once; this would have been the ideal PCARS3 imo. I haven't played PCARS3 yet but it appears to look subpar compared to Driveclub Forza AC And Gran Turismo maybe I'll play it when it becomes about $4.99 on the market.

 

[Brend]

Talked about it in the latest episode of the podcast I’m part of but this doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. There’s just a huge resounding identity crisis that is complimented by a game that slowly unravels itself the more you play. The initial impressions are very strong but frustrating design decisions and (shock) technical issues keep it from being a nobrainer recommendation.

 

[breyzipp]

PC3 deserves the low sales it gets. On launch week people said it’s what GRID was supposed to be. Well after playing PC3 the past couple of weeks and a few hours today I played GRID right after I played PC3.

The following experience is on my Xbox One X.

GRID does have some big advantages over PC3:

1) Way (and I mean WAY) better graphics. My race in San Fransisco (GRID) looked gorgeous (I forgot how good the graphics are in GRID). Half an hour ago my race in Shanghai (PC3) looked liked a pixelated disaster on my 4K HDR TV.
2) Way (and I again mean WAY) better frame rate. I guess GRID runs at a solid 60 FPS while PC3 tries but fails to get 30 FPS?
3) Cars feel more weighted. In PC3 I swear if my driver turns his head and sneezes, the car slides off track in the opposite direction.

PC3 advantages over GRID:
1) More tracks
2) More cars

That’s basically it. If it’s not for the cars or tracks then GRID sure is the better game. But it all probably matters little since the Forza and GT giants eat both for breakfast.