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Butcher Bay sold 'purely on word of mouth,' better than word of foot photo

It’s no secret that Starbreeze and Tigon Studios’ Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay had less-than-stellar sales. According to Tigon head honcho Ian Stevens, the reasons for the game’s lackluster performance are varied. Stevens recently told CVG that when Butcher Bay debuted consumers weren’t big on Vin Diesel and were highly skeptical of a film property translating well as a videogame.

But what success it did have was the direct result of gamers talking to each other. From the interview:

It wasn't until the game got out there and was reviewed that people came back around to it. So we sold purely on word of mouth. So we kind of have that out there now and Starbreeze has gone and done another game that's been really well received. So I think that gamers genuinely are going to give us a better shot this time around.
He also mentioned that Vivendi’s lack of marketing dollars might have impacted the sales. Money, as we have found through thorough research, has the ability to make anything look good. We submit this picture of Madonna as evidence.

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12 comments | showing # 1 to 12

grafkhun's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 16:34
grafkhun
Good to see this game get some more attention.
carpwrist's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 16:47
carpwrist
Lolz, David will be pleased to see an homage to his 'bald-white-guyness'.
mr spooky's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 16:49
mr spooky
CheapyD has has stop visiting Destructoid, don't know why.
Mogambi's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 17:19
Mogambi
CheapyD!!!!!!
ArrestedDeveloper's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 17:25
ArrestedDeveloper
I can't wait to see what Wombat looks like.
Jon2309's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 17:25
Jon2309
> this picture of Madonna

Not money, photoshop.
Mogambi's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 18:03
Mogambi
Big Ass Chains!!!
Guttlesswonder's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 21:50
Guttlesswonder
The original butcher bay was probably in my top 3 games for the original xbox. I know I definitely got the word out to my friends about it. And even though starbreezes last game wasn't on par with the feeling I got from BB, the remake with added content is still one of my most looked forward to purchases.
Lodin's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/24/2008 22:35
Lodin
Buy it on simply the fact that I has my beard in it and you can beat up a guy that looks exactly like me in it! That is the greatest gift of all!
Yes, that is me in there.
stafax's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/25/2008 03:33
stafax
Butcher Bay is one of my favorite FPS games, it's one of the few single player games that I actually played multiple times and even went ahead and beat it on hard mode as well, I usually just beat every other game on normal mode one time and I'm done. I really hope this one is a commercial success because with the time and care they put into the first one, they really deserve it to do well.
atastysammich's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/25/2008 09:01
atastysammich
@Jon2309
They certainly didn't do it out of the kindness of their heart(s). Something like that's better reserved for sealing her and all of her post-80s music away with magic.
Mr Gilder's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/26/2008 08:03
Mr Gilder
I believe this entirely. Butcher Bay was one of the few first person games of the previous generation that I actually liked (meaning, considered unique enough) to buy. I saw no advertisements, and read no reviews. I specifically remember that I was working at Microplay at the time, and derided the game for being another licensed load of bunk. It wasn't until a friend told me it was actually quite good that I cared enough to try it out for myself.
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