THQ blames Red Dead Redemption for lower UFC 2010 sales

by Griffin McElroy on Jul 24th 2010 10:00PM

Last month, THQ reported some not-so-awesome sales figures for its second annual entry into the UFC Undisputed franchise -- to the tune of an almost 50 percent decline from sales for last year's first stab at game-ifying the sport. In a recent discussion with the print version of MCV (via CVG), Jon Rooke, the company's UK marketing director, provided one possible explanation for the decrease: "That's largely down to Red Dead Redemption," Rooke explained.

Though Undisputed 2010 has managed to ship a sizable 2.6 million units, Rooke stated that the title hasn't "delivered the broader sales yet." He added, "Rockstar have probably taken a fair amount of our market share. They shipped 5m units, taking a lot of consumer dollars." We know exactly what he's talking about: We picked up Red Dead Redemption instead of UFC because we heard the former had really great wrasslin' -- but we were unfortunately greeted with hours of rustlin' instead.

Source: CVG

Tags: microsoft, playstation, ps3, red-dead-redemption, Rockstar-Games, thq, UFC-Undisputed-2010, xbox

Reader Comments (71)

Nobody forced UFC to be released the same month of Red Dead.

Looking at the release calendar, June and July are pretty empty. Could have come out at any other time. I don't see Alan Wake doin' much complaining (not yet anyways).

@Lerkero Lol couldn't agree more.

@Lerkero

If anything they should have released it after the AWESOME Brock fightat the last ppv

@BigFat IsBack
That's what happens when your target audience pretty much only gets 2 games a year, 1 for their birthday and 1 for Christmas. So they must choose.

You should make games geared toward adults and the hardcore game audience so they will actually be able to afford your games.

@Lerkero I'm sure the funky DRM they implemented had nothing to do with it.

WAAAH. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT ROCKSTAR. YOU STOLE ALL OUR MONIES. *throws rock*

@Mach2

hey hey! don't throw rocks... at the star.

man what a good line, I am the shit.

@Mach2

no vote up vote up!

Id blame the failed promises & multiple broken aspects of 2 of the main modes in the game + word of mouth for the poor sales.

The problem is that why would you buy a Fighting Game every year? For a couple of roster updates and little features, no one will buy it. That's why EA with Fight Night got away from that strategy. Also with create a fighter you can update your own roster. Fighting Games should come out every 3 years.

@kurzed I agree. I think this is the biggest reason for the sales decline. While 2010 had some good new features and fighters, for people who already had 2009 was it a big enough difference to warrant paying another $60? Not for most, I suspect. 2009 sold so well because it was surprisingly good, AND because it was the first UFC game. So people looking for a MMA game had no other options. Now that people have been able to satisfy that need w/ 2009, most aren't going to run out and buy 2010 for a few new features and fighters.

The reason I didnt get it is because of the stupid online pass that is required if you buy it used. Figured well if they are afraid I may get some back, why give them any to begin with. Same with Madden this year, no more madden for me.... I still bought NCAA though

@rollntider

Same here online pass=no buy from me

@KingOfGods

.........................the online pass is included with retail copies. Developers like to get paid when gamers buy their games man.

@antiCrawl
quit being stupid, read the comment before you post. What part I said I dont like the online pass did you not understand?

#1 I said I would have purchased the game if there was no online pass.
#2 Since they added this feature, there are plenty of other games i can spend my time playing
Alot of people don't purchase games new like me, they buy them from me. So with me not purchasing it they lost a sale.

Explain to me how if i buy a game and dont like it, and resale it, they lose money? The person buying the game wasnt going to buy it retail anyways, thats the reason they and EA tried to implement this... now if you will excuse me, I am going to play red dead redemption I bought new.

@rollntider If you were going to buy it new anyway, what does it even matter to you if online pass is there? You're going to get more or less the same at resale.

Hopefully you see the irony of bothering to buy new at all (to support the developers?) and then begrudge them an attempt and getting at least a piece of the second-hand pie.

If Red Dead can eat into UFC sales, you'd best believe second-hand sales eat into retail sales as well. In my opinion it's a bigger problem than piracy: Say what you will about pirates, but it's not like they had any interest in ponying up $50-60. Compare that to the typical Joe Schmo who walks into Gamestop and pays $55 used for a game that came out last week. That's absolutely a sale converted from retail to line Gamestop's pockets. Why hate on the devs for trying to get paid at least a little bit?

@rollntider

EA games run stat tracking and get server support on their own servers. That is what the Online Pass is for. Plus games like Madden get things like NFL Live, ESPN Live, streaming game scores in the ticker for any and all games, NFL On Demand 2.0, unlimited free roster updates, access to MUT and Online Franchise for free, etc etc.

If you buy it used you still get limited online access. Developers have been doing this for years to some extent. Just when EA decides to do it and name it "online pass" people flip their shit.

@onan

THANK you onan. It is a big problem in the industry. Since when do gamers hate developers and love Gamestop all of the sudden? I'm in the game industry and find bonus's to gamers who buy their copy new a very progressive and helpful way to keep the industry alive.

@rollntider Ya very stupid of these companies to start doing that. New tiger woods will be the same and the reason why I won't buy it.

@Anticrawl
Hey since you work in the industry and all if I buy a game brand new and it blows (Rogue Warrior, UFC 2010, Ninety-Nine Nights III) can I return it to the developer for a full refund? Figuring how you say they are such good people and all I would figure they would be willing to help me out.

My guess is no. So until they guarantee I will like the game I could care less about supporting the developer because they sure as hell are not watching out for me.

@Anticrawl

Since when is it used games vs developers? it's used games versus publishing companies!

And companies like EA and activision ETC. all they care about is the bottom line, it's because of them we get a barely updated Madden or COD each year.

Developers get paid to do the job, and then royalties as a BONUS.

Furthermore used anything is a viable market, you don't see car companies or computer manufacturers trying to prevent resales do you?

@onan

The resale value is going to be less because the used game buyer is more likely going to be aware that they will have limited or no online play unless they shell out more money. Online pass is bad for everyone except the publisher.

@(Unverified)
You can buy a game new and have 30 days to return it to the publisher for a full refund if not satisfied. IT says so in the back of all manuals.

@Altairio That's kind of silly. The market is self-regulating. If a game is worth playing online at all, you'll still eventually be getting the game well below retail price at the second-hand counter, even factoring in the online pass. The only thing it would limit would be used sales in the all-important initial 2-3 week window, and that's only because people will buy retail because it'll end up being *cheaper* than the $55 used + $10-15 online pass.

@yamugushi Also, don't make a distinction between Publishers and developers here, they're both on the same team. Even if they don't financially benefit a dime based off of poor negotiations for performance-based bonuses, at the end of the day they've still sold that many more copies of their title and that makes their next project worth that much more in terms of pay and prestige.

@onan don't be a DA

I never once said it would cost me. I am not buying it out of protest. Sorry you could not figure that out.

Tell me how if i buy a game, it sux and don't ever play it again, turn around and resell it they lose money? The answer is they don't. The original purchaser never used their sucky service and thus they lost no investment.

Alot of people who buy games used, don't buy them new until they are in the bargain bins for less than 20 bucks anyways, and the developers arent making money at that price. I will only buy games as long as it is a game i can resell if i want, I will purchase. Alot of games i keep, but for some sucky game or some easily beaten game, I resell.

I think maybe because its a Doo Doo game...

I think it might be because more people cared about RDR than whatever UFC game was coming out.

Plus, RDR has less tribal tattoos and overall less douchiness.

@Special Agent Bob

I think Jack is a douche.

@Special Agent Bob

...and less sweaty dick punching.

@Special Agent Bob

AND wa-a-ay less homo-eroticism.

Sounds like a personally problem...

@DeeZeee Ugh, sorry for the double post. I meant to say personal problem. Feel free to down vote that....

*Siege tank voice*
prooocedin'

Is it just me or does that referee look like John Locke from Lost?

@t3hguitarman It's just you.

Bought both. One game is good, the other isn't. Guess which one is which!?

I should of known based on how badly they supported 2009. Only was laggy and had "Super CAFs" among other things. Never fixed. Same deal with 2010.

About a month ago the devs said on the forums they were gonna reset everyone's ranks and leaderboards that very week. A month later and it still isn't done. Just a simple example of their incompetence. I will never buy another one of THQ Yuke's games.

@(Unverified) Oh and I also love how they dangle the notion of DLC in front of their consumers on the forums. They stated that there will be DLC. They even had a poll about 3 weeks after the release about "Which fighters should be added as DLC."

Of course...there hasn't been any and there won't be any. Just more lies from them.

RDR sure pwned lots of games.

Alan Wake, This, Blur, Split/Second, possible modnation.. all had low sales.

Tho Alan Wake and RDR were the best of those weeks.

@Faenix

ModNation did pretty alright. UFC didn't do bad either, it just didn't do as good as last year

@Cleric

Too me, thats low - if it cant get near the previous titles sales :/

EA Sports MMA is going to sell less than expected because of Halo: Reach and Medal of Honor and Black Ops.

I'm calling it now.

Hehe nice south park reference

I actually pre-ordered the game. Received it that week, played about 10 hours and traded back in. While I'm sure RDR had an effect, early reviews and problems are also a major deciding factor for others.

The career mode is completely stupid and entirely too time consuming to achieve little success (I don't mean this in terms of winning fights, but in terms of learning new moves and upgrading your character). Between that and the submission fighting aspect, many people were turned off that I chatted with on neogaf and @ operationsports.

They said they cleaned these problems up, but clearly under-delivered and their sales show it. Maybe make a better game next time.

It's funny cause developers were doing good for years with having to charge it's users an activation fee to use a part of there game

Supposed to be a reply to the guy saying develoer wanna get paid

I've heard somw talea in my day but this one is sad.

I didn't buy it cause of my stance against the online pass and because of the fact that I think it is very inferior to ufc 2009 ( things look more robotic off the top of my head)

I blame the low sales on the fact that UFC 2010 wasnt as good as 2009.

i played 2009 a lot and when i got 2010, after the first day i was dissapointed

@endgamer77

Yeah same here, I was a level 85 in ufc 2009 before I finially put the game down. And I played about 30 matches of the 2010 demo before I decided it just wasn't as good as 2009

I blame the low sales on the fact that the game was a turd and that other, better games were released at the same time. If it wasnt rdr "stealing" this games thunder it would have been any other game released within the same time frame.

p.s. USF is not a fighting game, its a sports game.

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UFC Undisputed 2010

THQ blames Red Dead Redemption for lower UFC 2010 sales

Reader Comments (71)

Posted: Jul 24th 2010 10:10PM Lerkero said

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