MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

[jeffy777]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

I'll have to disagree with you Jayhawker about baseball games not being profitable or worth the time. They sell very well if you don't compare them to football. No sports game will touch Madden. But if you just compare PS3 sports titles then the Show does very well against the major sports. In fact, the Show 10 on the PS3 sold a similar amount of games to NCAA 11 and baseball games collectively on the PS3 are similar to basketball sales as well. The previous year when Live was around there was over 1 million basketball sales on the PS3 but baseball can hold it's own. Selling 600,000 copies of a game on one platform is big and I'm sure SCEA made good money.

Madden 11 - 1,800,000
NBA 2K11 - 730,000 (no Live/Elite)
Show 10 - 610,000
NCAA 11 - 600,000
NHL 11 - 310,000 (and no 2K11 competition)
MLB 2K10 - 140,000

Note that FIFA 11 did 3.72 million sales but that is skewed by Europe as less than 400,000 units were sold in North America.

He wasn't talking about comparing the sales of baseball games to othe sports games. He was talking about comparing the sales of baseball games to other video games in general (such as Call of Duty, GTA, etc.).

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

He wasn't talking about comparing the sales of baseball games to othe sports games. He was talking about comparing the sales of baseball games to other video games in general (such as Call of Duty, GTA, etc.).

Exactly. 2K has to run the numbers on how much additional revenue it could create versus the additional costs in doing a better port. Possibly, if they thought SCEA was going to tank a season, there might be enough market to go after. But right now, for this release, there is nothing to grab.

I'd venture to say that 600K is the cap for baseball sales on the PS3. In fact, I suspect it is exceeding the cap by some percentage due to the hype surrounding it as a PS3 gem. It is the kind of game you can show off to friends, when you might never actually buy a baseball game.

Even if 2K11 is as good as I hope it will be, there is no way it eclipses 200K on the PS3. The only reason they are releasing it there, at this point, has to be because of the license agreement they made with MLB. I don't think it's right, or fair, but it is the landscape as it exists.

So yeah, if I had a PS3 and was interested in MLB 2K11, I'd wait to see the state it is released in before plunking down any cash. And it is a day one buy for me on the 360.

[Jamin23]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

One thing I notice and I know this is early, but hope it gets fixed is the scoreboards still have the huge black space around the picture of the player. It looks really bad.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

He wasn't talking about comparing the sales of baseball games to othe sports games. He was talking about comparing the sales of baseball games to other video games in general (such as Call of Duty, GTA, etc.).

What's the difference? If you guys expect any sports game other than Madden or FIFA in Europe to touch GTA or Call of Duty sales you guys are nuts. If that's what was needed to make money nobody would be making video games period.

If you want to compare it to other video games that are in the normal sales ranges go right ahead. Show me the sales numbers that say selling "only" 600,000 copies on one platform is not a big deal. The Show 10 ranks 71st in North America out of 588 titles ever released on the PS3. That puts it just outside of the Top 10% of all games ever released in North America. Only 34 titles have ever sold over 1 million games in North America on the PS3 and 4 of the top 6 are COD. Exactly how many copies do you guys think they have to sell to be "worth their while"? I think your expectations are way too high.

[rudyjuly2]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

Even if 2K11 is as good as I hope it will be, there is no way it eclipses 200K on the PS3. The only reason they are releasing it there, at this point, has to be because of the license agreement they made with MLB. I don't think it's right, or fair, but it is the landscape as it exists.

MLB 2K9 sold 150,000 copies on the PS3 and that game (only tried the demo) was awful. I could barely stomach the demo. The bad taste in people's mouths led to a drop to 140,000 last year. Who knows how many titles a truly good game could sell for them? The Show 09 sold 640,000 so that was just under 800,000 baseball games sold two years ago on the PS3 and 750,000 last year. MLB 2K11 could eclipse 200,000 but to do so it has to steal market share from Sony.

You can't give up on competing for those sales given the fact TT is spending between $30 and $40 million dollars annually on a semi-exclusive baseball license. They have been losing money because of it. I would make the exact opposite argument that you guys are making. 2K is already guaranteed to get 100% of the baseball sales on the 360. The real growth for 2K is by growing their market share on the PS3. That's the most logical way to improve sales imo.

[SoxFan01605]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

MLB 2K9 sold 150,000 copies on the PS3 and that game (only tried the demo) was awful. I could barely stomach the demo. The bad taste in people's mouths led to a drop to 140,000 last year. Who knows how many titles a truly good game could sell for them? The Show 09 sold 640,000 so that was just under 800,000 baseball games sold two years ago on the PS3 and 750,000 last year. MLB 2K11 could eclipse 200,000 but to do so it has to steal market share from Sony.

You can't give up on competing for those sales given the fact TT is spending between $30 and $40 million dollars annually on a semi-exclusive baseball license. They have been losing money because of it. I would make the exact opposite argument that you guys are making. 2K is already guaranteed to get 100% of the baseball sales on the 360. The real growth for 2K is by growing their market share on the PS3. That's the most logical way to improve sales imo.

I dunno. I'm torn on this. In theory, I agree with your point (and certainly don't think they should give up and stand pat on the PS3 version), but I think that right now they have a better shot at expanding their 360 and PC sales to really make a jump.

I mean, they could stand to up sales on all three platforms, but competing against a product that is already ahead and has just added a version of the same feature (controls) that might have set you apart is tougher than simply competing against your previous iteration (not saying the analog controls in The Show will be a hit-that clearly remains to be seen-but the point is that playing catchup against an already good game that is still progressing is a daunting task for any developer, let alone one that is also trying to battle financial instability).

I guess my point is they don't need a special focus on the PS3 or switch their root dev system. Simply continue to make strides in the base product and hope that is enough to bring overall users back into the fold. Maybe then (once you have a better quality core product) you can put more focus into cutting into The Show's numbers on the PS3. So in that, I tend to agree with Jayhawker's base premise that it doesn't make much sense for 2K to push the issue on PS3 right now.

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

hi def trailer looks better.Love the lighting. Need some previews

[AtlBraves09]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

I dunno. I'm torn on this. In theory, I agree with your point (and certainly don't think they should give up and stand pat on the PS3 version), but I think that right now they have a better shot at expanding their 360 and PC sales to really make a jump.

I mean, they could stand to up sales on all three platforms, but competing against a product that is already ahead and has just added a version of the same feature (controls) that might have set you apart is tougher than simply competing against your previous iteration (not saying the analog controls in The Show will be a hit-that clearly remains to be seen-but the point is that playing catchup against an already good game that is still progressing is a daunting task for any developer, let alone one that is also trying to battle financial instability).

I guess my point is they don't need a special focus on the PS3 or switch their root dev system. Simply continue to make strides in the base product and hope that is enough to bring overall users back into the fold. Maybe then (once you have a better quality core product) you can put more focus into cutting into The Show's numbers on the PS3. So in that, I tend to agree with Jayhawker's base premise that it doesn't make much sense for 2K to push the issue on PS3 right now.

- I just dont get that... I understand what your saying, but 2k is going to get 360 and pc sales regardless. I don't understand why they wouldn't atleast try to put out an equal product on the ps3 so that they could up those sales totals by at least 100,000. I'm not saying that they should try to compete with the show, I think that they have an untapped resource of ps3 users, if that makes sense. Theres nothing to lose by doing this, worst case scenario, you get the ps3 version looking on par with the 360 version and sell more copies on that system. Its not like sales are going to decrease on either system from doing this.

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

- I just dont get that... I understand what your saying, but 2k is going to get 360 and pc sales regardless. I don't understand why they wouldn't atleast try to put out an equal product on the ps3 so that they could up those sales totals by at least 100,000. I'm not saying that they should try to compete with the show, I think that they have an untapped resource of ps3 users, if that makes sense. Theres nothing to lose by doing this, worst case scenario, you get the ps3 version looking on par with the 360 version and sell more copies on that system. Its not like sales are going to decrease on either system from doing this.

But it does cost time and money to get the game working on the PS3. If the bean counters at 2K don't see an upside in spending the money, they won't. I really don't know what the costs are. But it seems pretty clear that this is how 2K has viewed it over the last two releases.

If it makes some people feel better to bang away at the developers as lazy and uncaring, I guess that is their prerogative. But believe it has to do with how 2K is deciding to allocate their resources in an effort to maximize profits.

[AtlBraves09]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

But it does cost time and money to get the game working on the PS3. If the bean counters at 2K don't see an upside in spending the money, they won't. I really don't know what the costs are. But it seems pretty clear that this is how 2K has viewed it over the last two releases.

If it makes some people feel better to bang away at the developers as lazy and uncaring, I guess that is their prerogative. But believe it has to do with how 2K is deciding to allocate their resources in an effort to maximize profits.

- Believe me, I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I am just trying to understand the reasons why, because I would have genuinely enjoyed this game if the graphics werent so contrasting between the two platforms. It wasn't my intent to offend anyone, (developers, fellow posters) It's just something that I have been wondering for a while and apparently other people are as well.

[Hapshoops32]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

Ok, I'm a big fan of MLB: The Show... Have gotten all kinds of miles out of MLB 09... but I have to admit, this trailer looks pretty good. It will be interesting to see what everyone thinks... I LOVE the NBA 2K11 game - if MLB 2K11 gets close to that kind of a game, it could give the Show a run for its money.

[Radja]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

if 2k wants to make money, make your baseball game as good as your basketball game. that game is awesome. because of all the good hype, people have been buying that game who are not fans of the real thing or fans who don't normally buy basketball games.

if you make a game a 'must have', you get market share. if you have glaring inexcusable flaws, you lose market share.

the thing 2k is wrong about is they think they are losing money because of the semi-exclusive license. they are losing money because the product shipped with problems that should never have made it through the door with 2k7 and 8. 2k9 should never have been shipped and 2k10 didn't have errors and injuries, which are fundamental to baseball. they lost sales immediately because of bad reviews and impressions on the sites promoting and/or selling their game. by the time patches were released people had moved on and those sales were gone. some of those negative feelings carried over to the next season and the snowball of disinterest was rolling.

i did not buy 2k10. i will be buying 2k11 partly because there was a lot right with 2k10 but mostly because nba 2k11 is soooooo good, i expect mlb 2k11 to match that with their game this year and finally deliver the game they should have all along.

[EnigmaNemesis]

i did not buy 2k10. i will be buying 2k11 partly because there was a lot right with 2k10 but mostly because nba 2k11 is soooooo good, i expect mlb 2k11 to match that with their game this year and finally deliver the game they should have all along.

That is a pretty tall order to expect 2K10 to turn into NBA 2K11 all of a sudden. It took years of refinement for that game (NBA 2K11) to get to what it was last year, and NBA 2K10 was not like the MLB game as far as needing a very large turn around.

But for your sake I hope you are right. Would love to have a more competitive market again. But indeed some high expectations.


Sent from the dugout using Tapatalk

[jeffy777]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

I really don't see MLB 2K10 as needing "a very large turn around". Yeah it needs some work, but it's actually just a few tweaks away from being a very good game (at least the 360 version). As Radja said, there was a lot right with 2K10. Kotaku gave it the award for the comeback sports game of 2010. I don't care what anyone says: it was a better game than some people here give it credit for, and if VC focuses on the right things, 2K11 could really be a great game. Will it be on the same level as NBA 2K11? Probably not, but it still doesn't need "a very large turn around" to be a great game.

[EnigmaNemesis]

Re: MLB 2K11 First Look Trailer (720p)

You take what I said out of context.

I did not mention anything about what was needed for a very good game. To be of the level of NBA2K11 (which had years of refinement of already great basketball games every year), however, it will need a very large turn around.

That much is true.