God of war

[MarvelGamer]

Wondering why God of War Ragnarok release date falls on a Wednesday rather than the usual Friday? Apparently, the game was supposed to release on a Friday but a last-minute decision was made to pull it back a few days. Source? Sony. A now-deleted trailer uploaded by PlayStation itself mentioned a release date of 11/11/22 for God of War Ragnarok – the same day that Starfield was supposed to release prior to its delay. However, fanboy theories that Sony wanted to stomp out Starfield are just that – fanboy theories.

 

[Barukanen]

Are you that concerned with which exact day a game is released upon?

It would make sense for Sony to release their exclusive on the day Starfield is released. Keeping in mind, that it'll probably appear on the Game Pass on that same day. Either way, should you wish to play both of them you will do so regardless of when they drop.

As a business I expect there to be always competition but realistically I don't see it matters much as people will always buy the games when they're usually cheaper way after their release dates. It's only the really die hard fans that'll be that keen early on.

 

[Colif]

i can see the appeal on raining on someone elses parade, console makers do it every time they get a whiff someone else has something good. Generally when there is a new console announcement due. Get attention off the new shiny thing.

But it can backfire if the thing you try to distract from overshadows your product to point no one notice it exists.

Many people only play new games, they may not go back to a game overshadowed by a giant.

BTW: I don't know which of the 2 games would have been the giant. Could be both. Or neither... I wait and see, I don't listen to hype.

 

[Brian Boru]

people will always buy the games when they're usually cheaper way after their release dates

"always"—no
Depends why people buy games:
Diehard fan, as you say;
Easily influenced by hype or peer group;
Bragging rights online or at water cooler;
Friends are getting it;
Plenty of spare cash;
Impatient nature;
No willpower;
etc;
etc;
etc…

Heck, never mind buying on release date, look at the numbers which jump on KickStarters and Alpha/Beta and Early Access:

Exhibit A = Baldurs Gate 3 early access, info from steamspy.com and SteamCharts.com:
Nearly 50,000 reviews;
2,000,000 - 5,000,000 Owners;
22h 17m Average playtime
4,066 playing now
5,933 today's peak
48,418 all-time peak

 

[Barukanen]

"always"—no
Depends why people buy games:
Diehard fan, as you say;
Easily influenced by hype or peer group;
Bragging rights online or at water cooler;
Friends are getting it;
Plenty of spare cash;
Impatient nature;
No willpower;
etc;
etc;
etc…

Heck, never mind buying on release date, look at the numbers which jump on KickStarters and Alpha/Beta and Early Access:

Exhibit A = Baldurs Gate 3 early access, info from steamspy.com and SteamCharts.com:
Nearly 50,000 reviews;
2,000,000 - 5,000,000 Owners;
22h 17m Average playtime
4,066 playing now
5,933 today's peak
48,418 all-time peak

I also feel that BG3 numbers are some what inflated due to he time between their last release. 22 years is some time to wait, I imagine there's a lot of fans not just of the game type itself but people similar to WoodenSaucer who believes he'll be lucky to see TES6 that have came back for it.

 

[Zloth]

Is Friday usual now?? I thought Tuesday was more common. At least on PC, Friday means the inevitable day-1 bugs have to be handled on the weekend! Put it on a Tuesday and you might have time to release a hot patch before the weekend crowd starts playing. (Monday is no good because, well... Monday)