Activision expects "a bigger ramp-up" from Shred's disastrous sales
CEO Hirshberg claims new Tony Hawk is "a gift orientated game"
Activision Publishing CEO Erich Hirshberg has attempted to assuage fears about the poor retail performance of Tony Hawk: Shred.
The game, which is bundled with a skateboard-like motion control accessory, sold just 3000 copies in the US during its first week.
Hirshberg claimed the game, which has suffered from poor reviews and a release date that fell between those of Move and Kinect, would see better sales over time.
"For the first time we're targeting that game to kids," he told Gamasutra. "It's a gift-oriented game, but, that said, we need to build awareness for the game still.
"I think you'll hopefully see a bigger ramp-up as we get further into the gift giving season." Hirshberg also noted that chat show host Ellen DeGeneres had hailed the bundle as one of the top 12 gifts for Christmas.
Shred developer Robomodo laid off 60 staff last month, and admitted it would no longer work on Tony Hawk games.
Nice one, Activision--you've even got that market cornered now.
Also: top "ramp" punnage there, official spokesperson!
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Pete Fairhurst on 19th November 2010 3:15pm
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Sam Maxted on 19th November 2010 4:04pm
This is a large Game store in the center of a city and it was quite busy today.
Last year in the US, you could not walk in to a GameStop or a Bestbuy to see stacks of the board packages out in the open on sale.
And the peripheral is nearly as much as kinect, or 2 move kits? When you can use it for two games, neither of which anyone seems to like. I think it might not pick up very much.
Translation: The game most likely is crap but but they're hoping parents will buy it thinking it is a fun & good game since it is (a) its skateboarding and (b) it has Tony Hawk's name on it just so they can make some kind of cash on a failed game.
Actually, the game isn't terrible (as far as the Wii version goes), it's just the worst time to market what's basically an expensive fake skateboard for ONE game to folks who'll get more value from no skateboard with Kinect or Move (PLUS more games they can actually play with those two). I'm sure Guitar Hero sales aren't exactly flying through the roof either and while Rock Band 3 is great stuff, those guitar controllers are getting out of hand (a REAL Fender guitar with controller buttons on it? Let's raise Jimi Zombie from the dead and have him set that on fire, I say...)
Oh, you can use probably that Shred board as a portable ironing board, I suppose... but that's not rad, dude.