Legally distinct is where things can get extremely murky already. A spiritual successor is in no way guaranteed to get the sales figures of the original IP. Sometimes fans go rabid, others not so much.
Now, in less general terms Dead Space is a horror game, a niche segment of the market that traditionally “doesn’t sell well”. In usual big game company fashion, it’s really difficult, if not impossible to get apples-to-apples numbers on sales and costs. I’m not claiming to be a DS fan, let alone expert but does spending $162M (Callisto Protocol’s reported cost) on the development of a niche game, that is a legally distinct game from a franchise that has been reported to not sell well sound like a good idea?
I couldn’t find a sales figure for DS3, a game that I remember being poorly received by fans at the time so the best I can do is use the 4 million copies from DS2, a game that was supposedly a commercial failure with a $60M budget. CP had a sales expectation of 5 million copies. At $60 per ideal sale, Krafton were apparently expecting to make $300M. Does 85% profit margin sound realistic?
Keeping in mind EA and other large publishers in the AAA and rolls eyes AAAA sphere have a history of over-estimating their sales numbers, begging the question of whether the people setting these numbers are doing so realistically or just because that much profit sounds nice?
Regarding your question of EA or IP (or market), I’d add on “Or is it due to project mismanagement?”. Are incompetence and greed making it so that fans will never see more of a franchise they love?
Legally distinct is where things can get extremely murky already. A spiritual successor is in no way guaranteed to get the sales figures of the original IP. Sometimes fans go rabid, others not so much.
Now, in less general terms Dead Space is a horror game, a niche segment of the market that traditionally “doesn’t sell well”. In usual big game company fashion, it’s really difficult, if not impossible to get apples-to-apples numbers on sales and costs. I’m not claiming to be a DS fan, let alone expert but does spending $162M (Callisto Protocol’s reported cost) on the development of a niche game, that is a legally distinct game from a franchise that has been reported to not sell well sound like a good idea?
I couldn’t find a sales figure for DS3, a game that I remember being poorly received by fans at the time so the best I can do is use the 4 million copies from DS2, a game that was supposedly a commercial failure with a $60M budget. CP had a sales expectation of 5 million copies. At $60 per ideal sale, Krafton were apparently expecting to make $300M. Does 85% profit margin sound realistic?
Keeping in mind EA and other large publishers in the AAA and rolls eyes AAAA sphere have a history of over-estimating their sales numbers, begging the question of whether the people setting these numbers are doing so realistically or just because that much profit sounds nice?
Regarding your question of EA or IP (or market), I’d add on “Or is it due to project mismanagement?”. Are incompetence and greed making it so that fans will never see more of a franchise they love?