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Sacred: No blood in the US for good!
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RPGDot Forums > News Comments

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Decado
Head Merchant
Head Merchant




Joined: 25 Mar 2002
Posts: 65
   

quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
I agree these figures prove little. Still, what about meeting your own demand - where's your evidence for "Quite the opposite, really."?


What, did I need to highlight it in bold or something? Diablo 1/2. Pretty much the identical type of game and one of the best selling PC franchises in history. IT STILL SELLS! What further proof do you need that the demand for "M" rated games of this type is extremely high? No "T" rated, ultra hyped game of its type has even come close to the success of Diablo.

As for Silent Storm...all you have have to do is go into the Config file and change a line from 0 to 1.
Post Mon Feb 23, 2004 8:56 pm
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Stranger In A Strange Land




Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia
   

The question is - can you support your statement that making Sacred "T" will harm sales, which you didn't answer . Diablo /2 isn't a success because it's "M" rated but because of it's gameplay. Diablo was a trailblazer and Diablo 2 was able to capitalise on the branding of both Diablo and Blizzard. Sacred will do no such thing, even though it's a nice little game.
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Post Mon Feb 23, 2004 9:12 pm
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Actually, there is a firm marketing idea behind this decision.
Its name is WalMart.
Thats right, a warehouse store.

But guess what, WalMart sells more toys and video games than any other vendor on the market. And they use that obscene power.

Last year WalMart stated they will no longer sell mature video games in their stores. This is a major road block to any game desiring to sell well in the states. So many game companies are toning their games down to get some of that shelf space.

Yes, Take-Two is still on their shelve, so they are hippocrites. If a game is guaranteed to make money it doesn't need to follow policy.

But TOEE was forced to remove much of its evil content, because Atari thought it would be best to get in WalMart.

Sure, sounds like a conspiracy theory. But do a little research and you will understand how much marketing power they have. See those bar codes on your store goods in the US. Walmart was much behind that push.
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:04 am
 
GoodGuy8705
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 22 Feb 2004
Posts: 5
Walmart...
   

I don't know what Wal-Mart you go to but the ones near me sell just about every M rated game out their. As a matter of fact... I bought Resident Evil at a Wal-Mart and that has "explicit violence and gore". Half of the people who originally planned to buy this game are going to be importing the UK version, and since Encore is not publishing it, they won't see a red cent. Now if you do the math, this means Encore will be losing profits because they wanted to sell their game at Wal-Mart? Please, this game should have the same content everywhere it ships. They could put a parental lock on it or sell two different versions. Those are the logical things to do, not censor a game because of a little blood. It's not even that gory... has anyone even played Soldier of Fortune 2?? Encore is being ridiculous and everyone knows it.
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:19 am
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simmschn
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 26 Feb 2003
Posts: 5
   

Seth, you are right! We Germans removed the blood from the game because of our opposition to the Iraq war. We want you Americans to behave peacefully in the future. So, no more blood and no more violence!
And Sacred was just the beginning, wait until you see Gothic 3. We plan to remove all content which would remind you on these aspects. In fact you will play a small pink bunny which can jump around and collect some donuts. When you meet an evil orc you have the chance to jump on his head and give him a hug. This will be great fun!
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:20 am
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sorg
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 21 Oct 2002
Posts: 2
Location: Norway
   

Hmm I cant find a local shop here where I live in Norway that carries Sacred, and my usally uk webshop www.gameplay.com dos not even have it on their list.
Is there anyone out there that know where I can pre-order the uk version of sacred on the web, and can ship it to europe/scandinavia?
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:22 am
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless




Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany
   

www.play.com
Atari will probably just put it on the shelves without much advertising.
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Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:34 am
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sorg
Village Dweller
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Joined: 21 Oct 2002
Posts: 2
Location: Norway
   

Hey Gorath, thanks for a fast reply and help
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:44 am
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Stranger In A Strange Land




Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia
   

I use Game - their service has been outstanding for my orders.
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Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 3:08 am
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Sir Markus
Counselor of the King
Counselor of the King




Joined: 11 Jan 2002
Posts: 369
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA
   

If they're stupid enough to censor the American version of the game, then I just won't buy it. That's the way I as a consumer express my displeasure with their ridiculous policy. I'll wait until it's $4.99 in the bargain bin or I'll just buy a cheap used copy, and tough luck to the folks who made the game.

I was planning on buying this when it hit the shelves, but not now. It's not that I NEED the blood and gore, it's just the basic censorship issue that annoys me.
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 3:32 pm
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Dwango
Head Merchant
Head Merchant




Joined: 06 May 2002
Posts: 68
   

Figured there would be doubters. Read this, and you will understand why some games are on the shelves, while others have to censor their products.

http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,55955,00.html

The point is they have 25% of the market. It is too large a segment to ignore, so american distributors are going to censor games to meet WalMart's guantlet. Especially with a game like Sacred that probably won't get a large audience here in the states.
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Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:00 pm
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Sir Markus
Counselor of the King
Counselor of the King




Joined: 11 Jan 2002
Posts: 369
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA
   

Screw Wal Mart. Why dont game designers offer a 'directors cut' that gamers can order directly from their websites? I think that's a good solution to the problem.
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:11 pm
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sealight4
City Guard
City Guard




Joined: 02 Sep 2002
Posts: 130
Location: Massachussets, USA
   

Giants had a red blood and a nudity patch. Made no difference, the game was good. Sacred can be shipped any way the distributors want, It has to be good with or without blood. Being way out of most demographics I'll wait and see if this game can be something I may buy. Prohibition worked so well maybe stopping M rated games will also. If one has the money at least another version will be available, at a premium price. The US dollar is weak currently against the Pound and Euro.
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:15 pm
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless




Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany
   

There´s another point which makes Walmart more attractive than most other retailers: they pay quickly and make a tax write-off instead of returning unsold inventory. All the stuff at EB or Toys 'r' Us comes back if it doesn´t move, plus payment targets of 6 months are not an exception.
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Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:29 pm
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Freejack
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 24 Feb 2004
Posts: 1
   

It's been stated, but the reason for a decision like this is, quite simply, to get the title on the shelf at Wal-Mart and like-minded retailers. The fact is, Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. If Encore wants to sell their game, they have to cave to the demands of the retailers. Some publishers can get away with games that don't meet the retailers demands simply because they are huge titles with huge marketing budgets. Encore, however, is a relatively small publisher trying to get a relatively unknown title in a generally niche market to sell enough to break even. That simply cannot be done without getting the game on shelves in places like Wal-Mart.

All of you who think that cutting out gore will hurt sales really know very little about how the retail market works. Hardcore gamers make up less than 10% of game sales. If you really think it's important to have that gore (for as little effect as that has on the actual game) don't think you're going to cause significant damage to the publisher. It may hurt a bit, but by and large, those who buy the game at the neighborhood Wal-Mart will never know the game originally had a high-gore option.

I certainly agree that this sucks, but I think you need to understand where this censorship comes from. Not the publisher, the retailer. This has been going on for a long time now. Wake up and do something about it if you really feel that strongly... but trying to hurt the publisher is a long way from the best way to apply your energy.
Post Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:17 pm
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