In an exclusive interview with Critical Gamer, infamous industry analyst Michael Pachter discusses the disappointing sales of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
“Sales of Uncharted 2 fell precipitously in November, and other than pressure from Call of Duty, it’s really hard to fathom why.” He continues “I’m sure that the game will get a boost from winning the VGA’s Game of the Year, but it’s only sold 650,000 in the U.S. so far, which is really shocking given its review scores.” He concludes “I expect God of War 3 to perform better, but am troubled by the relatively lacklustre sales of Uncharted 2.”
Back in November Playstation VP Phil Rosenburg announced sales of over a million for the game worldwide, as reported by Kotaku. Although a fairly impressive figure for a PS3 exclusive, it still pales in comparison to the 2.6 million units sold of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. However it’s still relatively early in terms of the game’s shelf-life, so we’ll have to wait and see how the game performs in the long run.
I expect being named GOTY and since christmas is coming up it will sell a lot more copies, we’ll just have to see. It is a shame though because it is a fantastic game.
What do you expect in US? 90% of the Country is bias towards microsoft being of its origin. This is The same for Sony in Japan but Japanese gamer’s aren’t action fans. I expect games like Bayonetta and the Lately released Star ocean will do extremely well over there, someone will most likely comment on how bayonetta is action, it involves a woman who almost becomes naked. Now when uncharted has shiney faced wrestlers with guns fighting hordes of retarded monsters, america may become aware.
Well Naughty Dog is a U.S. developer based out of Santa Monica Ca., so I’m not convinced Uncharted 2’s lackluster sales are the results of U.S. xenophobia. I do think that being an exclusive developer for Sony is hurting Naughty Dog. They really should seek out a different publisher and make their games more widely available. It really doesn’t matter to me. I’ll definitely be picking up Uncharted 2 for the PS3.
Insomniac could have done the same a long time ago but apparently they enjoy Sony’s services more then making a lot of cash.
Besides, why would you want your best bet of cracking the Cell’s true potential to leave your side?
Perhaps Naughty Dog think about what sony has done for them with the Crash series and aren’t money grabbers like Square Enix after what Sony did for them with FF7 and onwards.
Sony owns Naughty Dog 😉
they think that the game will sell forever?
Why do people even care what Michael Pachter thinks? He’s probably never played a video game and most of his figures are way off.
I’m agree. His observations are all common sense and basic logic. An exclusive game for a console that only sells especially well in a country that doesn’t favour the style of gameplay it offers? Shocking!
I like you …
I’m glad you agree. Everything he says never pans out. Look at him saying that Xbox Live is going to cost $100/month. Microsoft has said for years they are not changing the pricing structure, and they are still not showing any signs of doing so. He really just needs to stay behind his desk, and stop being a rumor monger to the media.
plus that game was overhyped/overrated game to be honest.
IMO gears of war was better game than Uncharted 2 !!
Your opinion as you said but from every aspect of gameplay, detail, story and graphics U2 wins. Plus it was NOT overhyped or overrated, I believe you’re talking about Gears of war 1 & 2 there
He must be!
Uncharted 2 is a masterpiece! Gears is not…
That’s because you’re a complete f***ng moron. Last time I checked Gears of War did not have the pacing or addictiveness of uncharted 2. I couldnt put it down till I was done. Sounds like you havent played it and are passing judgement. Or ur a xbox fanboy.
Glad that is just your opinion. Reviews from critics and gamers alike have put Uncharted 1 and 2 miles ahead of Gears. The first Uncharted sole over 2 million over a long term, I expect Uncharted 2 to hit 4 million by next Christmas. Long term sales are more encouraging than day 1 sales. Sure day1 means instant garbage sequel, long term means undying franchise. Look at PS2 still selling, people will get the good things, just give them time. Only the US is worried about instant sales figures. Everything is now now now there.
I hate 360’s overrated gay games. Uncharted 2 is miles better than anything on crapbox 360, 360 so bad i hate it with my mum!
seriously, Gears online has always been lackluster thats why Halo3 and all the Call of Duty games surpass is in online play. Uncharted 2 has better online than Gears. Gears 2 was especially overhyped and happy to see everyone agrees
no uncharted 2 was definetley over hyped.
not saying its a bad game because its not, but its no where near as good as reviews and the hype train was indicating.
10/10?
no.
9/10 yes.
there are many things holding the game back from a 10.
1 the controls.
2 its so repetitive.
3 there is barely any enemy variety.
4 its too easy, i found U2 on crushing easier than uncharted 1 on crushing.
5 the story is booooooooooorrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggggggg!!!!!!!!!
6 they add all these new characters but do not link to who they are.
how does drake know chloe? how does drake know flynn?
game of the year should of gone to infamous, that game is not getting any where near enough praise.
This guy is doing a very bad job of impersonating me. You would have to be mentally retarded to think that Gears is a good game. 360 uses last – gen technology for it’s games, which is why Final Fantasy XIII will have to be on 49 DVD’s and have compressed audio!
I think Killzone2 was way better game play and story they got hosed
man i love Bayonetta a must for my 360 !!!!!!!!
guys tomorrw is my birthday i will be 49 !
Well for starters this Michael Pachter needs get his facts strait. U2 has sold over 900,000 copies in the U.S not 650,000 and it’s only been out for 2 months. And with the whole VGA thing I sure sales are gonna go up even more.
ahhh no AC you need to get your facts strait.
that is no where near a respectable number.
dont want to start a flame war or anything but for a “GOTY” those sales are pathetic.
the amount of hype the game received it should of sold 3 million in the first month alone.
Can we get this impersonators comments taken down and get an IP ban? I know 360 owners have a lot of spare time on their hands since their console has no exclusive games but this is ridiculous. Also, for the record, im 21, not 49, retard.
And this is what you get when you use VGChartz numbers.
Uncharted 1 only sold 500K copies in the US as of earlier this year. Uncharted 2 has been a tremendous success in comparison to the low baseline set by it’s predecessor. You don’t see a game that sold 100K it’s first month suddenly blow up and sell 10 million in the next iteration.
I think the big thing is that a lot of games sold really well this November. NPD said there were over 39 titles that sold 100,000 copies. Just because Uncharted 2 wasn’t in the top 10, doesn’t mean it stopped selling, it probably shifted around another 100-150K.
Don’t any of these bloggers do even the SLIGHTEST amount of research before writing these articles?
According to VGChartz, Uncharted 2 has sold almost 2 million copies already in less than two months. That’s great sales, and that Sony or Naughty Dog probably did not expect prior to release.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18919
^ TL:DR version is that VGChartz uses a lot of guesswork in its numbers and have in the past invented numbers entirely.
So VGChartz isn’t really a wholly reliable source, the number we used from November comes from an Official Sony source and as such is more likely to be actually correct.
Great, some inbred spastic is impersonating me on here. You guys should ignore all those fake comments, i don’t think Gears is better than Uncharted, only a complete freaking moron would!
Hell, i don’t even own a 360 and for the record Uncharted 2 definetly deserved to win GOTY this year.
“Although a fairly impressive figure for a PS3 exclusive, it still pales in comparison to the 2.6 million units sold of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune”
Are you a fucking moron?
It took Uncharted 1 TWO YEARS and a BUNDLE to reach that level.
Its its first month it sold less than 200,000 units.
I wonder just how are worldwide sales of 1.98 million disappointing?(according to VGChartz) Yes, granted U.S. sales are kind of low, but last I checked the U.S. is just one region and judgements on one region is hardly a good way to look at things.
Uncharted 2 is not the best game of the year, nowhere near it. it only won because the PS fanboys all jumped at the chance to get their beloved game an award, so they spammed the voting.
U2 didnt even win its own category, ‘Action Adventure’, it was beaten by Assassins Creed 2. the fanboys missed that one, as they only care about the big ‘GOTY’ award, so that vote was decided by regular gamers.
Uncharted 2 has very little gameplay and no room for deviation. you always have to climb the same bricks, jump to the same ledge, narrowly avoid falling off the same crumbling ledge and have a mini-cutscene where someone grabs your arm to catch you…….its basically crash bandicoot for adults. it looks like you can explore, but you cant – youre just herded in to linearity.
It’s still better than anything the crapbox 360 had to offer this year. Halo 3: ODST was a $60 piece of DLC that only lasts for 5 minutes and Forza 3 has some of the worst graphics i’ve seen on ANY console, past or present.
360 fanboys tried desperately to rig the awards but the fact that 360 exclusives are so shabby and low – budget cost them to lose anyway. Uncharted 2 is the only game worthy of winning GOTY, the 360 had a load of old garbage that would have been an embarassment to gaming had it won.
It’s no wonder why no 360 exclusive has come close to U2’s Metacritic score…….360 exclusives are aimed at women and children. Uncharted 2 gets played by REAL gamers.
lol we all know youre speaking $hit when you say things like this:
“Forza 3 has some of the worst graphics i’ve seen on ANY console, past or present.”
Forza 3 has some of the BEST graphics in any game on any console to date. Compared to the recently released GT5 Time Trial demo, Forza 3 looks even better when you realise it looks better than GT5 which has had 5 years of development time.
Gears of War and Halo 3 are both sitting pretty on 94/100 on metacritic, whereas uncharted 2 is on 96 – hardly ‘no 360 exclusive comes close’. also, bioshock was exclusive for the first 12 months (and said it would be exclusive forever), and its sitting on the same score as U2.
How could you say that 360 exclusives are aimed at women and children? Halo? no, its aimed at hardcore gamers, which generally are not women or children. Gears of War? that MA15+ rating says ‘women and children only’ does it? Forza? nope. Splinter Cell Conviction? nope. Crackdown? nope. and so on and so on. The PS3 is the console with children and women aimed exclusives – singstar, eyepet, ratchet and clank, jak and daxter, etc. even uncharted 2 aimed more at casual gamers since its so ridiculously one-dimensional that even a toddler could finish the game.
Uncharted 2 is selling fine, better than expected. It passes 2 million next week and has currently sold 1.97 million.
u guys are sony fanboys who love single player games and cant excel in multiplayer. ask yourself this question why does gears 1&2 have better sales then uncharted 1 or 2? why does gears two have more online activity then uncharted 1(oh ye theres no online!) and 2? why does gears have tons more multiplayer dlc? why does gears of war 1&2 have a better metacritic score averaged out vs uncharted 1&2? why is gears of war one of a very select few of games used for competitive multiplayer play in the MLG? hmmmmmm MAJOR LEAGUE GAMING!!!!! PRONiSS BRO PRONiSS!
Hi everyone, my son didn’t mean to make those retarded comments. He knows deep down that no 360 franchise has sold as many units as Gran turismo because 360 retards are too poor to afford games. He also knows Uncharted 2 is by far the best game of this generation with a 97 metacritic but is too thick to admit it.
Also, he smells and lives in a trailer park full of inbred hicks and half – wits, that is all.
While YOU are obviously an idiotic Microsoft fanboy who can’t handle the fact that the 360 has no good games! Why does Gran Turismo have better sales than Halo and Gears put together? Oh right, because Microsoft exclusives are low – quality, compressed – audio games with last – gen graphics!
Why does Uncharted 2 have a better Metacritic score than ANY 360 exclusive??? Oh right, because 360 exclusives are rubbish.
PS3 games are the only ones worthy of being named GOTY, 360 exclusives are an embarassment to the gaming industry.
Ok once you said gears of war 1 and 2. I stopped taking you seriously. I completed both of those games and they were average in comparrisson to Uncharted 2. What are you 12 years of age????the storyline in gears 1 and 2 was a running joke and the multiplayer was boring..oh wait i can play horde…..another boring piece of turd.Major league gaming???wtf?go outside and play football and stop playing your shitbox.Broaden your horizons buddy. Uncharted 2 has created characters like no other game has ever made.
Your an idiot. Uncharted 2 has been out for two months Gears of war has been out over a year of course it’s gonna have more DLC. And at least we get our DLC for free, and don’t have the devlopers trying to grab more money off of us cause they aren’t earining enough off of the sales.
And Uncharted 1 doesn’t have a multiplayer, no, but at least it has a decent singleplayer.
I’m not a fanboy at all, i like the 360 it’s not a bad console and i like Halo, but your just a twat.
Lets just agree that this analyst is probably the last person we should listen too. U2 is a gaming masterpiece and deserved GOTY. It will sell more during December,greatly increasing its count. So lets just enjoy U2 and get ready for the awesome games released next year.
ur comparing the sales of a franchise spanning 3 generations and threee consoles vs gears and halo of this gen? you my friend are an idiot, i dont give a damn about any ps1, ps2, or xbox 1 sales im talking about THIS GEN! and as of this gen ps3 has no title published by sony that has outsold halo3 a microsoft published game heck even halo3 odst has higher worldsales then uncharted2!
Stop pissing all over this website with your bad jokes.
LOL, typical 360 fanboy. Only wants to talk about sales figures after they have been manipulated to their liking but never wants to look at the bigger picture. What a retard!
Here’s the facts, your precious Galo and Gays Of War’s combined lifetime sales still cannot beat Gran Turismo, what does that tell you? It tells me that you 360 owners should spend less time making idiots out of yourselves on the internet and more time buying/playing games.
maverick ill accept this fact im a hardcore gamer n love gaming competitively i rather play mw2, gears and halo then go throw around a football! you go throw around a football ill play madden online! now you need to admit your an average gamer who hasnt played gears 1&2 online and probably suck in cod4 multiplayer as well! admit that ur a semi hardcore gamer or casual gamer and that you buy more blurays then games! i myself stream hd movies for free from my pc to my 360 using media center! u just suck so go play your single player game
ive played un2 it has a GREAT Single player that borrowed alot of great gameplay elements from other great games however lets be honest it cant compete against halo 3, gears or cod when it comes to online multiplayer! in 2 years not as many people will be playing uncharted online compared to halo3 now which is two years old now, LETS BE FREAKING HONEST!
IF YOU DONT BELIEVE ME CHECK OUT VG CHARTZ FOR WORLD SALES OF XBOX 360 GAMES VS PS3 GAMES ALSO CHECH OUT GAMES ONLY PUBLISHED BY SONY OR MICROSOFT. PLUS CHECK OUT METACRITICS FOR 360 MARKS VS PS3 MARKS – IF YOU DONT BELIEVE ME BELIEVE THE FREAKING FACTS!
What? PS3 exclusives get higher rankings on Metacritic than 360 exclusives. Uncharted 2 and LittleBigPlanet have both scored higher than ANY 360 exclusive in history, perhaps it’s you who should take a look at THE FREAKING FACTS.
again i understand and know that the gt franchise around 50mill since its inception but im talking strictly PS3 titles vs 360 titles
If U2 is so extremely good as most of the SDF think why dont the PS3 flyes out of the shop window with a copy of U2 with it?
I like both.
@ 23juniors
Sales figures don’t make a game great, just shows its been marketed better. With the right media hype and spin, a big company can sand to the Arabian’s and convince them it is gold. Sony and Microsoft are different in the way in which they market their exclusives.
Microsoft have very few first party exclusive developers in comparison to Sony. They take a few games and pour all of their marketing funds into those few games or as it appears in this generation, two of those games are Gears of War and Halo franchises. Relentless media barrages of ads featuring those games were created pre and after their launch telling everyone that they are better than God and nothing could possibly be better, because of this those games sold big. In comparison to the amount spent on advertising in the long run for a game like Gears 2 selling between 6 and 7 million world wide, this only yields about as much profit as say a Sony exclusive selling 4 million as Sony has spent FAR less in marketing and a little more in research and development than Microsoft.
Sony has far more exclusive titles under their publishing which is why their marketing budget is more widely based and their top exclusives may only sell 3 to 4 million. It is stupid to call this unsuccessful as Sony pride themselves on variety and choice of games with it ranging from shooters to family games, this is simply different to the microsoft tactics of plugging the hell out of two macho shooter games to make everyone think they are liquid crack.
Now tell me honestly 23juniors. Do you prefer better quality and more choice in games which on the whole customers and reviewers love (metacritic don’t lie :P) or would you rather have slim variation and choice between a few games which are behind the times in quality compared to the competition and are only popular as they are because the company selling you the games paid ALOT of money to brainwash you into thinking they are bigger than Jesus? I know what i would rather have…
I have played Halo 3 and Gears 1 & 2 extensively and honestly Halo’s multiplayer is good but the single player is rather dull for my tastes and Gears is just a dreadfully average shooter with a poor story line and single player and an even worse multiplayer component which tries to make you think that their ‘Horde mode’ is a brand new idea when essentially it is a copy.
Ha Ha this overrated game. I knew it wouldn’t sale well. I mean sure the graphics are good and everything, but its just like every other game on the market right now. I played and beat it and the highest this game deserves is a 8.5. people say the story was good but it was not all that, i mean drakes looking for shangri-la wow thats epic. Now games like bayonetta will be AWESOME and i will be playing that non stop.
Pachter is an asswipe…Uncharted 2 is now nearing the 5 million mark LOL