Mass Effect amasses a million in sales

by Alexander Sliwinski on Dec 11th 2007 1:45PM

Never let it be said that lesbian sex scenes don't sell video games -- and epic space opera plots don't hurt either. Wysteria Lane's street-hardened Microsoft executive Jeff Bell reveals to GameDaily that Mass Effect has affected one million in global sales over the three weeks since launch. In the same breath Bell also said that Halo 3 has reached the five million sales mark.

There's still no word if the rest of the Mass Effect franchise will still be Microsoft exclusive, but with sales this strong we're pretty sure MS is going to try and keep Mass Effect all to itself. We'll see if some exclusivity money changes hands -- and if Sony decides not to partake in the process.

Source

Tags: halo3, jeff-bell, JeffBell, MassEffect, sales, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (76)

It's Bioware... does this really come as any surprise?

Bioware : RPG :: Blizzard : RTS

As far as Bioware exclusivity, I would really love to see all their games come to the PC (PS3 would be okay) since that's where their success has always been.

except blizzard's biggest game is a...rpg

What does that have to do with the analogy? Blizzard's RTS games sell very well, so do Bioware's RPGs... It's would be horrible to make an analogy of that type between a standalone game and an online, living, subscription required game.

Microsoft did an awesome job making things nice for developers-- and thereby wrecking the competition. Not only is it easy to develop for, with a large installed base that actually BUYS games (I'm looking at you, Wii), but after it's all said and done, it takes two minutes to port an Xbox game to PC-- turn a little extra profit once the main buzz has died down on the more profitable (due to less pirating) console version.

Making a game exclusive to Microsoft means you get to release it on Xbox and Games for Windows if you feel like it-- more profit for developers, while helping Microsoft one-up the competition from other consoles. 360 gamers, PC gamers, and Microsoft win.

Now give me the Mass Effect port we all know is coming. I don't care if you hand it off to frigging Aspyr; they did a decent enough job with Guitar Hero. =P

Hey, when good Wii games come out, they're purchased. Now if developers would stop being money-grubbing tards, then maybe less minigame compilations would be on the shelves.

"It takes two minutes to port a game from 360 to PC."

Not really. It takes a lot longer than that.

You've got to take into consideration an infinite permutation set of hardware capabilities, for one.

Haha, well of course. That was a bit of a hyperbole-- but it's still extremely quick and easy compared to usual ports.

And, with the way some ports are completely ignoring weaker hardware (even such easy to run stuff as GHIII) it seems like they are virtually direct ports-- expecting us to have a tri-core processor and such. e.g. two minutes of porting =P

Does it amuse anyone else as much as it amuses me that sony fanboys continue to argue that 360 exclusives like Gears of War and BioShock aren't exclusives because they're on PC...

Its quite pathetic really. This is a CONSOLE war. The PC is on whole nother planet. How the hell does PC even come into play in this discussion. Besides the fact that even IF we were to bring it into the argument buying a game on PC is basically giving money to MS which means more money for the 360!

But besides that the bottom line is that most console gamers are not PC gamers and vice versa (at least that seems to be the general impression I get). So really sony fanboys stop making fools of yourselves. Not even Nintendo fanboys buy that argument anymore. GoW and BioShock are games that are ONLY on the 360. You'll just have to miss out on the fun since we know you only support sony.

"How the hell does PC even come into play in this discussion."

Well I have a gaming PC and all the 360 "exclusives" that interest me are getting ported, so I don't need to buy a 360. It's that simple. I know this is a US-centric blog, but in Europe PC gaming is much bigger (probably more than 60% of the whole market).

"buying a game on PC is basically giving money to MS"

Nope, unless they are the ones publishing it. Or are you refering to the copy of XP I bought many years ago?

anyone who plays RPGs knows this game was groundbreaking in so many ways...and as far as the complaints about graphical hiccups and filtering...does it hinder gameplay? I think not...even the combat is well done, i don't know why people have a problem with it (except for moving your guys around)...other then that, this game was just as impactful as playing FF7 for the first time as a kid, if not more...i sure as hell can't wait for 2 and 3 to come out, especially if they let you continue with your current character...so much was left open for you to do so..

Hey Moose I'm just curious what makes you say it was groundbreaking? I didn't really see anything new or unique to it when I played.

I concur with the "where's the groundbreaking?" comment. I mean, the dialogue system was neat, but essentially it's the same as every other game, only now you get to pick your options before they're done speaking. Mass Effect did things all pretty-like, yes, but groundbreaking? As a very big RPG fan, I disagree.

I gotta agree, it's a big evolutionary jump in bioware style RPGs, but it's hardly groundbreaking. The only thing that is different is the real time combat, but even that gives a nod to the turn based roots by letting you pause combat.

This from a huge fan of the game... I even take the time to look for all those damn minerals.

I'm picking Mass Effect today.Other good games are around, but The alien lesbian just seals the deal. See:
Bioshock is awesome, but you can't play as a lesbian. Halo 3 is awesome, and I own it, but wher's the lesbians? Gears of War? Not meeting the lesbian quota...

They probably mean shipped to retailers not sold to customers.

The game was great, Dont get me wrong, but i dont think it was revolutionary or groundbreaking in any senses of the words. But..it WAS a great game, and a worthy addition to anyone's collection.

Ok, name another RPG like Mass Effect. I can name at least 11 games Just Like FF12. 13 if you count Lost Odssey, but that really not fair since I havent played Lost Oddssey yet.

Another RPG like Mass Effect? I'm going to go with KOTOR 1 and 2. And Jade Empire, though in a much more mystical China kind of way.

ppl will kotor your ass all over this board with talk like that sir :(

see?

(I assume you're talking to me)

They're pretty similar though, are they not?

In structure( three man team, the way you aquire missions, the love triangle),yes but the gameplay is completely unique to Mass Effect. So unique that most reviewers were unsure if they should approach the game as a 3rd person shooter or an RPG.