Singularity delay: new release window has fewer 'competitive titles'

by Andrew Yoon on Aug 5th 2009 4:59PM

While Singularity's delay is old news, we couldn't help but laugh at this remark from Activision's latest financial results:

"Activision Publishing has moved the anticipated release date for Raven's upcoming sci-fi first-person action title, Singularity, from 2009 to the first quarter of 2010. The new launch window, which has fewer competitive titles releasing, should improve the probability of achieving stronger results and establishing Singularity as a first-person action franchise for the company." (Emphasis ours.)

You're wrong, Activision. Really, really, really, really, really wrong.

Source

Tags: activision, delay, lol, Microsoft, singularity, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (104)

Always hilarious to read people saying their own game is crap

Too bad most people already know it's gonna be crap, but who knows maybe it will surprise everyone.

This just in... Modern Warfare 2 delayed until Q1 of 2010.

*Starts hyperventilating*

I didn't get that impression at all that he was saying his game was crap. Just that he didn't want to release it at a time where it would have to compete with too many other shooters.

*Starts hyperventilating*

This article has nothing to do with the game being crap.

Sorry epic reply fail.

*Starts hyperventilating*

*Watches mass pass-outs from hyperventilating*

*harts stenderviperlating*

So I guess Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock 2, and Bayonetta were all crap? OH NOOOOOOO

*Starts hyper--* Oh crap, vomit!

Maybe if they pushed their game into next summer people would want to buy it, otherwise they should have just gone ahead a made a good game to begin with.

Or they could follow their own game's premise, "age" the game until it becomes a great franchise, and then release it right now!

If all of this crap about delays is about MW2, then why is Activision delaying its titles?

...

Ohhh. Now I remember. They're contradictive (insert dirty word here).

Because they think MW2 will crush every single game this holiday season.

They're wrong.That's right I went there.

They don't want two of their own games to compete with each other. Nothing wrong with that. It's widely rumored that that's the reason why Mario Galaxy 2's date is so vague right now, to not detract from NSMBWii

Now in this case, MW2 has it all over Singularity, but why should the publisher let one cannabalize the other?

Plus, they're not deliberately using MW2 to push back other titles, and i do believe that most of the delays are mostly unrelated to MW2

I agree with you on the first part, but saying that the delays aren't related to MW2 would certainly be a candidate for questioning. MW1 sold so well, it overtook Halo 3 and has had over 13 mil copies sold. I'm sure that most devs are terrified that their games won't sell because of the 13-million-pound gorilla's offspring being born in the same timeframe. Hence, delays, and lots of 'em.

A Note To Naughty Dog: Thank you. Uncharted 2 will sell like hot cakes, I guarantee it.

I hope you're right about uncharted, those guys really deserve it. but I'm not sure I see it happening. I'm afraid it already got lost between Halo and MW2. hopefully word of mouth helps it after release though.

^ Paul, I hope you're kidding... This is one of Sony's biggest IP's.

If MW2 manages to sell until March (or April, I forgot its release date), hopefully GoW3 and MAG will blow it outta the water on the Sony side...

As for the 360, you guys would have to provide me insight on that.

what Sony IP has sold like hotcakes without being released between the two biggest games ever?

I'm not trying to argue, Sony published games are easily my favorite. but looking back at the past few years I am in the minority.

God of War 3, Final Fantasy 13, StarCraft 2, etc.

Yeah, thats not nearly as competitive.

yeah remember the last time halo and Cod came out. halo had the biggest launch in entertainment history and then CoD4 outsold it.

god of war and final fantasy are gonna be huge but not Halo huge

Or Mass Effect 2, or Bioshock 2.

While a lot of people like parading around the COD outsold Halo, remember that COD4 was on 4 platforms (5 if you count DS, 6 if you count Mac), and only sold 50% more than Halo.

While COD was definitely a popular game, I don't think it's big enough for publishers to be shaking in their boots for the entire holiday season. Maybe don't release the same week as it, but there's definitely room for competition.

Halo on the other hand, sold all those copies on a single console, which means publishers should be wary of selling anything to 360 owners for a couple of weeks after it comes out. Still, it comes out in September, leaving plenty of time in the rest of the holiday season.

I don't understand why everyone's so afraid of launching against these, when there are other big name sequels now coming out in the Spring (Bioschock 2) that don't have a chance of being picked up during the big spending time.

Flop and bring down Activision with you

Don't say flop and down in the same sentence.

@Longhorn (or @anyone that can help): off topic, from what game is your icon/avatar? thx in advance

@FlashJS

LittleBigPlanet

"this game blows, so we're releasing it later so people won't notice the massive suckage as much, because they won't have anything else to play"

god bless em! at least we know to skip this one from the get go, it seems.

You obviously missed the point. There are probably more competitive titles coming out early 2010 then there are at the end of this year.

fail...

yeah but Halo and MW2 will sell a lot more copies than the dozen games that moved to 2010 combined. the fall may be less crowded but it's more competitive

Competitive titles my butt. Do they realize how many games were delayed this year? This is getting ridiculous.

Anyone else think this is going to be textbook example of self-fulfilling prophecy?

Too bad there's no way to test it.

Haha. I wonder if publishers have realized how crowed Q1 is yet and how sparse Q4 is...

These moves are probably just pressure from investors who were mad that these same companies oversaturated Q4 last year. The investors, being the naturally short-sighted people that they are, don't care that everyone is now in a mad rush for Q1 2010, they just care about the companies doing something different from last year, where they pretty much all lost money (except ActiBlizz, Ubisoft, and Bandai-Namco)

From the look of things... No, no they have not.

Q4 isn't sparse....yet.

What I don't understand is that despite Q4 being crowded, it's also the BIGGEST time for retail sales of the year, and Q1 is usually the quietest. Parents feel compelled to buy games for their kids before Christmas, not after it. Most people end up saving their money for a few months after Christmas in order to recover from the holiday spending binge, and that's only going to be more severe with the current economy. Basic economics must not be a prerequisite for being an exec at a gaming corporation.

Are you kidding me? Scribblenauts will outsell both COD4:MW2:MW and Halo 3: Recon: ODST: Finish the Fight Again. Bungie and Activision should be shaking in their boots. SHAKING.

First publisher to announce they are *moving* their game to the holiday season automatically gets my money based on principal.

Are there any games that haven't been pushed back to early 2010 to avoid competition yet? :)

We still have Assassin's Creed 2 and MW2. We also got DJ Hero, and if I had a PS3 I would definitely get Uncharted 2, and then there's LittleBigPlanet and Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines for PSP. And then Scrriblenauts. I expected a lot more this Holiday season, but hey, we still have some great titles.

left 4 dead 2, and assassin's creed are still holding on tight, releasing about 7 days after MW2...

And then there is also ODST in september.

Oh, and Halo 3: ODST. But you know, that's an add-on, so...

Maybe I should have said "games anyone cares about. :) /troll bait

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Singularity delay: new release window has fewer 'competitive titles'

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