Has the wing commander movie killed the franchise?

[Mace]

Well, Wing commander III came out in early 1994(I did not purchase it until until November 1994, since then I managed to beef up my computer with a new motherboard+CPU to be able to actually run the game at a descent speed! Legacy CD-rom games actually got more expensive over the years, and I remember WC3 in it's original release became hard to find.... There was a budget re-release however by the time WC4 hit the stores, that was already out in 1996. I can walk into a gamestore and take a copy of prophecy gold of the shelf, or if it is not there have it ordered.

Super Mario and Sonic are also family games, and resident evil, doom etc, are basic shooters anyone can have a go at from any home system or console, and with street fighter and mortal kombat on fulltime display at most stores.... You need a joystick to pilot wing commander and you have full 3D freedom of movement, that makes it difficult to control for some, and only very few people play (combat) flightsimulators anyway.

It's a wonder that a space sim has any storytelling and character depth in it at all, so it is actually a big deal that it got turned into a cartoon series, a set of books and a movie(exactly the opposite the star wars franchise did).

 

[Kaunisto]

You need a joystick to pilot wing commander and you have full 3D freedom of movement, that makes it difficult to control for some

I've never in my 15+ years of WC had a joystick; always played with mouse
(not that it makes any difference to your point)

 

[MartySheen]

I've never in my 15+ years of WC had a joystick; always played with mouse
(not that it makes any difference to your point)

You should try it with a joystick. Its an awesome experience. Especially WC1 - the best dogfights of the entire series imo

 

[AD]

So why is Wing Commander dead? I think the problem is that there was a decline in the games sales after and even before WC III, again, long before the movies.

Thinking back to my own experience with trying to get the third game...there were problems. I remember my dad having to go all over the place back in about '96 and maybe '97 to get the third game. I had to have it after borrowing it off a friend for a while. And maybe that should have been a hint as well. I remember wondering why a game so popular would be so hard to find. We did get it eventually. Then when we got WCIV, I remember being a little amazed that we got it for such a low price. I can't remember how much exactly...but believe me it was low. SIX CDs, and the game have only been out, maybe less than 18 months. Then I got Prophecy when it first came out. The same friend who lent me III said, "Don't play it. I played the first 6 missions and got bored with it. It's the worst Wing Commander game I've played". Ouch. That because this friend was a serious game buff and I wondered if I'd like it. I played it once, beginning to end, and while I didn't hate it...I remember feeling like it was a let down.

Looking back, was this all a sign that the games were in decline? I know, this was just my experience...none of these things happen to anyone else, right?

But still...wasn't WCIV a disappointment, sales wise? I know the game cost somewhere around 10 million to make, and apparently, while the games did sell a lot, it was not enough to make that much profit. I think Prophecy didn't reach what was hoped for either. That's probably why they stopped the original Wing Commander storyline.

Then, what about the spin off games (With the exception of Privateer). Didn't Academy, Armada and even the recent Arena fail to reach expectations? See usually with spinoffs like to game like Super Mario Bros, Mortal Kombat, Star Wars: X-Wing, and even Sonic, usually do well. The Wing Commander spin off games DIDN'T. Add to that the second Privateer game, which was a huge flop.

As popular as Wing Commander was, I don't think it reached the level that other game franchises reached. Another problem was I never once remembered seeing it available to rent for like Playstation, even though it was released for it. Again that probably happened only to me. But come, on, Video Game consoles were ahead of computer game consoles in the 90s, laregly becuase of where we were with RENTALS. Where I lived, it becasme illegal to rent computer games in the mid 90s, thus if you wanted to see what a game was like...best to rent a console games. I went to a few places like blockbuster and others and couldn't find it for PS1.

You don't really know what you are talking about here. It may not have had the iconic pop culture influence of Mario, but WC3 was the biggest selling/ highest grossing PC game *EVER* when it came out, and it was a long while before it was topped. You're inability to find it was more likely that it had sold out than that it wasn't selling well. There's a hole in your logic here. And pretty much 18 months after WC3 came out, WC4 had been out for four months already (WC3 Dec. '94; WC4 Feb. '96). No wonder you got it cheaper. Most new games today are 50 percent of the original MSRP after a year... sometimes less.

WC4 sold very well as well, but it's profit margin was eaten away by the fact that it was so expensive to start with... though in today's standards for a AAA title 14 million is peanuts. Even Prophecy did relatively well, aided by the fact that it cost significantly less than WC4 (somewhere around 1million IIRC).

Before Doom and Duke Nukem, Wing Commander was *the* PC game. Really, Space shooters decline kind of parallels the improvements to 3D graphics acceleration capabilities. Another significant factor is that EA just wasn't confident in pressing forward with a Wing Commander game without further involvement from Chris Roberts who left the company to form Digital Anvil (and make the movie) after Wing 4. Privateer 2's issues also were of technical nature though. I don't know about it's sales but it's generally talked about fondly *except* that it was unbalanced.

Regarding the PSX versions... of course they didn't sell as well as the PC version. WC3 came out nearly two years after the PC version if I'm remembering right. Not only that though, it was probably the number one selling 3DO game out there. They sold systems just for that game. Rental markets are wierd though. My local stores only get a fraction of the xbox 360 and PS3 games for rent. And often it's weeks after the game actually comes out. It's hardly a significant revenue maker for the game devs and publishers and is in no way an indicator of how well any particular title is selling.

Also, quit the snarky comments towards Tooner, or I'll tune you. His comment was rational, and thought out at least.

 

[powell99]

I've always wondered, what was the game that finally beat out Wing Commander 3 for the best selling PC game?

 

[Mancubus]

I've always wondered, what was the game that finally beat out Wing Commander 3 for the best selling PC game?

well, I'd say Starcraft it's still best selling no Sims and No MMO PC game

 

[Quarto]

well, I'd say Starcraft it's still best selling no Sims and No MMO PC game

Definitely false - The Sims beat Starcraft easily when it comes to units sold. And I believe World of Warcraft also beats Starcraft.

As for WC3, I don't think AD is correct about it being the bestseling PC game at the time. I believe Myst pretty much beat any PC game of the early 1990s.

 

[Mancubus]

Definitely false - The Sims beat Starcraft easily when it comes to units sold. And I believe World of Warcraft also beats Starcraft.

As for WC3, I don't think AD is correct about it being the bestseling PC game at the time. I believe Myst pretty much beat any PC game of the early 1990s.

Sorry, what I meant was that Starcraft ist best selling game except sims and MMOs

 

[AD]

Definitely false - The Sims beat Starcraft easily when it comes to units sold. And I believe World of Warcraft also beats Starcraft.

As for WC3, I don't think AD is correct about it being the bestseling PC game at the time. I believe Myst pretty much beat any PC game of the early 1990s.

Yeah, I knew about myst though it predates WC3 by at least a year or more. But at the time it came out it was up top and one of the highest grossing. Games like Half-life, Age of Empires 2, and others by the late 90s/ Early 2000s all surpased the sales levels of the previous titles, sometimes by a huge margin.

Still, this really isn't a numbers debate. And the point is still the same, that PC gaming and sales of WC games weren't declining by any stretch of the imagination. Even WC prophecy sold well enough at the time.

 

[ChrisReid]

As for WC3, I don't think AD is correct about it being the bestseling PC game at the time. I believe Myst pretty much beat any PC game of the early 1990s.

I believe it was EA's best selling PC game for many years (until The Sims, so still a huge feat).

 

[Mace]

Yeah, I knew about myst though it predates WC3 by at least a year or more. But at the time it came out it was up top and one of the highest grossing. Games like Half-life, Age of Empires 2, and others by the late 90s/ Early 2000s all surpased the sales levels of the previous titles, sometimes by a huge margin.

Still, this really isn't a numbers debate. And the point is still the same, that PC gaming and sales of WC games weren't declining by any stretch of the imagination. Even WC prophecy sold well enough at the time.

There was a lot of competition, and the reviews WCP got were not all that positive, I have some articles lying around from a magazine that went fair all the way, and It's competitor was I-war.

Prophecy lacked multiplayer features, although they were promised, and a lot of other things to it. Still it was one of the greatest games I ever played, and the storyline was driven enough to keep one occupied enough to play on and skip college

At the time Prophecy came out, space sims were already on the downfall, after at least four re-incarnations of the star wars sims, there were I-war, Freespace, Jacob's Star, and tons and tons of little known games that basically copied all their competition.

If there would come 50+ Sims clones on the market, EA would probably not invest a lot of money into it, and I would not blame them.