Is Q1 a great time to release games?

[a0161613]

Q1 = the first quarter of the year, January to April.

So we all know the games companies go all out to release their AAA title in the run up to Christmas. Like it or not, it's a solid idea, driven by money. It can't be argued as it is historically very successful. WWE, Call of Duty, FIFA, Zelda, Gears of War, all games scheduled to be released in the September to November period.

But Q1 this year has a crammed release schedule of games that would fit in Q4 without losing any face. SSX, UFC, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Mass Effect 3. Just three titles coming out soon and all designed to capture a gamer in the post-Christmas lull. I have never known a Q1 schedule to have so many great games. I know Mass Effect has always aimed for this time of year but it seems to be leading the charge this year and it will not be the only quality new title in the charts.

For me, this is welcome. I don't see why all Triple A titles should be released in Q4. I was disgusted when Gears 3 was deliberately held back until late 2011 just to boost sales.

The summer tends to have very few quality releases and this tends to be the domain of sports and movies. It makes sense for games to come to the fore in the colder months. This is especially true as gaming becomes so prevalent in North America and Europe.

I'm delighted Final Fantasy and Mass Effect have escaped this trend as these are games I will plow many hours into and they dont deserve my attention to be hogged by FIFA or anything like that.

So is anyone anticipating this raft of stellar Q1 releases like I am? Which titles are you looking forward to and why?

 

[FlexAmerican Dynamite]

I think november to december is way to crowded with hugely anticipated games such as CoD and other blockbuster titles. To be the best releasing of a game would be in Jan. Releasing a game during the summer to me isn't smart because that's when it's warm and parents encourage their kids to be active and play outside.

 

[Lee]

It's a good idea but not at the same time. For me it's great, I have money and a steady flow of games does me nicely. Take Q1 and games I will be getting:
- Resident evil revelations (out today)
- bit.trip sage (marchish)
- Last story (feb)
- rhythm paradyse Wii (feb)
- Kid Icarus (march)

Add into that the fact that games that were released in November are now dirt cheap due to January sales gives me a bigger opportunity to get them.

However for a whole the market slumps in Q1 for retail wise hence the Jan sales, it picks up again around Easter time so I guess that's why we don't get many Q1 games released.

 

[¡Roján!]

I really don't think Q1 is a good time to release games, at all. I, for one, refuse to, especially with the amount of money being spent in Q4 beforehand. Take this year, for example. I bought Saint's Row: The Third (not finished), Modern Warfare 3 (not even started the single player), WWE12 (loads of replay value), Arkham City (getting it's second re-play). That all cost me around 120 pound. That is a lot of money. Simply put, I don't have enough money, at the moment, to spend on videogame, at all. That's probably why the Q1 market has been left so un-tapped. I've still to get Halo: Anniversary and Assassin's Creed: Revelations from Q4!

I suppose, I'd be okay with some of the AAA titles from Q4 being spaced out a little bit, from each other, but, if that doesn't happen then, my money problems during Q1 will always be the same. What I do believe however, is that the June to August period is very barren. Games like FIFA, WWE and other should probably be released then, when no other games are around to give them any competition.

 

[M]

Any time throughout the year is absolutely fine to release a game if you have the right marketing team behind it, as long as it gets the exposure it needs to reach the commoners, it shouldn't have to rely on holidays to be able to sell (see pokemon for an example) and quite frankly it gets too cramped over that season for anyone to be able to buy everything, so therefore lots of titles get unnoticed.

I have no problem with a finished game being held off as long as it's either because of a pre-announced release date, a test version being released early so any faults can be removed, or even just an extra month or so to hype it up a little more. that being said, releasing a game in Q4 just for the sole reason of sales pisses me off, i dont want to hear the same thing as i did last year; "OMG you gotta get skyrim, and mw3 and bf3 and uncharted and halo etc." - i was still finishing dark souls, a better game than them all put together at the time, "WTF is a dark soul?" - their reply, every fucking time.. i think i need more intelligent friends...

 

[Dagger Dias]

I think that the first quarter of the year is not as good of a time to release games, in terms of potential financial success. The reason a lot of games get pushed back is so that companies will make more money off of holiday sales. However, a great game can still generate fantastic sales if promoted properly. It's the same principle that applies to any product you are trying to sell. You have to make the people care about it, therefore, the better your promotion of the item is the more people will want to buy it. That holds true even in the first quarter of the year.

Some people are less likely to buy games during the first quarter due to having spent a lot of money during the holiday season. I'm one of those people, during the first couple of months of the year I'm almost always close to being broke. Christmas is a big deal to us, so a ton of money gets spent. The two games that come to mind as anticipated purchases are Mass Effect 3 (for the wifey) and Final Fantasy 13-2 (for myself). I doubt we will be getting too many more games for a while other than that. It's too expensive. We both have spring birthdays so the games might end up being birthday gifts, so that money can be saved for more important things.

With that being said.... Even people like myself who are trying to save money can be convinced to buy a game if the advertising shows us what a great game it is. You have to make the consumer WANT your item. That mindset can generate decent sales during any time of the year, even the first week of January, provided you make the people care. The first quarter is arguably the most difficult time of the year to generate any interest, but you also have the small advantage of there not being as many other releases to worry about competing with. With many of the bigger titles being pushed back to holiday releases, first quarter releases can usually be released with a smaller amount of competition compared to fourth quarter releases which often contain huge titles.

 

[BlueLightning]

It is, for the sole reason that since there isn't the competition of a Christmas rush, it's easier to get noticed and shine.

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

It's probably a horrible time to release games.

I work with the bar industry, and THEY suffer in January-March, because everyone is still reeling from credit card bills, and other financial obligations from Christmas. I can't imagine people are out buying video games over alcohol while dealing with that. If it's not an absolutely terrible time to release video games, it's definitely at the bottom of the totem pole.

 

[BlueLightning]

It's probably a horrible time to release games.

I work with the bar industry, and THEY suffer in January-March, because everyone is still reeling from credit card bills, and other financial obligations from Christmas. I can't imagine people are out buying video games over alcohol while dealing with that. If it's not an absolutely terrible time to release video games, it's definitely at the bottom of the totem pole.

This is true, however, I don't think companies release games in this time period for huge sales numbers. Instead, I think they cash in on having less competition than the Christmas season, to be able to at least get some decent sales and then by September, they can drop the price down 20 bucks and be one of the go-to cheaper games for presents or especially for a good Boxing Day sale. At least, that's the way certain games have looked the last couple years.