Not long ago, I picked up Psychonauts for the PlayStation 2. I had heard a lot about the game and was extremely eager to try it. For one, Psychonauts had a great pedigree; the game was developed by Double Fine Productions’ Tim Schafer, a former LucasArts designer who helped create such classic titles as The Secret of Monkey Island, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. And secondly, Psychonauts had garnered a ton of strong reviews and awards since it debuted in 2005. And these weren’t just run-of-the-mill positive reviews that we see almost every day for virtually every game, thanks to the dread “8 to 10” review scale that many media outlets use (or “4 to 5” scale, depending on which site or magazine you read). These reviews were gushing love letters praising the game’s imaginative visuals, original story, and sly humor. So why did the game end up as a commercial bomb?
For some strange reason, Psychonauts only sold about 400,000 copies, according to Schafer (the figure doesn’t include digital downloads). The game, which was published by Majesco, was released on the PC, PS2 and Xbox but it didn’t sell well on any of those platforms. So despite all the critical acclaim that the title received from both the gaming media and the people that actually played it (including me), Psychonauts never found its audience. Why?
There are probably a lot of factors. While Psychonauts got a lot of credit for redefining the platformer genre with its dream-like animation, entertaining gameplay and witty dialogue, the game is still a platformer and thus probably turned off a lot of people that were simply interested in shooter titles or MMOs. Second, the premise is a bit odd: you play Raz (pictured below), a young boy with psychic abilities who enrolls in what seems like a summer camp for clairvoyants but is actually a training facility for secret telepathic agents.
And third, it was a while ago and before my time covering games for Tom’s Hardware Guide, but I don’t ever remember seeing much marketing or promotions for Psychonauts, so it’s likely that the game got lost in the shuffle of other titles with considerably more hype. Schafer’s previous achievements like Full Throttle and Grim Fandango were more cult favorites than mammoth blockbusters, so that may have affected people’s perception as well.
It’s a shame. Psychonauts is a fantastic game, whether you enjoy platformers or feel like you’ve outgrown them. The game just has that extra creative element that makes you smile. Perhaps Psychonauts will find more of audience on digital distribution; the game was added to Valve’s Steam last year and was also recently added to GameTap. That’s a good thing, since Schafer says the retail version of game is now officially out of print. I’m glad I got my PS2 copy when I did.
Earlier this year, I started a discussion thread on THG regarding great games that sold poorly or simply bombed commercially because I was interested in hearing about some of these unsung games. I started the discussion off with Psychonauts and Indigo Prophecy, which I also love. I got plenty of good nominations for the list, too, from PlaneScape: Torment, Clive Barker’s Undying, Beyond Good and Evil, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. We’re going to start charting some of the games at TwitchGuru and THG in the near future, not just to shed some much-needed attention on these noteworthy titles but to also dissect what went wrong in terms of them missing out on commercial success. Any other nominations are welcome. Stay tuned for more…
Comments (11)
Great game and very unappreciated indeed. =(
Indigo Proph (Fahrenheit) is also damn awesome, I should play it again imo.
Two big gems...but I guess its lack of marketing!
Posted by Joe | August 13, 2007 7:04 PM
Posted on August 13, 2007 19:04
Never heard of it.
That's the thing IMHO - no matter how good a game is, if there's no advertising then who will even know it exists???
I don't think that it's lack of interest as much as it is lack of information. Because platformers DO well on playstation consoles - Crash Bandicoot, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Dexter, Spyro, etc.
It's just about advertising. Some games are just going to do well because of the genre - Shooters, Sports, MMO and RPG games, etc.
And others do well because they get advertised heavily. Especially platformers and fantasy/action games. I mean, God of War for instance or Ico - both were kind of "well, the reviews look good...but I've never even seen an advertisent or a preview or a...etc." Gears of War did good because everyone pretty much said "OMG I can't believe these graphics on a PS2!" and so people rented it and bought it and by the time the sequel rolled around, it had become a powerhouse franchise. Ico was the same way - it came out early on in the PS2's development cycle and was kind of lull for a while until people started saying how great it was years later and now it's on most people's list of 'greatest PS2 games of all time'.
But ultimately it comes down to advertising I think - If I don't know it even exists, how can I know to go and play it?
Posted by Benjamin | August 13, 2007 7:57 PM
Posted on August 13, 2007 19:57
I've heard of it..just the name and graphics are a complete turn off to me from the box cover.
This led me not to purchase the game.
Maybe I should check it out to see what this game play is like.
Posted by brian | August 13, 2007 11:12 PM
Posted on August 13, 2007 23:12
Psychonauts was one of the best games I have ever played. It was weird, wacky and funny. I could not put it down.
Posted by Patrick Jones | August 14, 2007 3:54 AM
Posted on August 14, 2007 03:54
I'm in the fairly odd position of saying that I actually hear more about the niche titles than I ever do about mainstream titles anymore (it's a weird trickle that I currently feed off of, but it's still effective, because you can go pick out just about any mainstream game, while only niche titles require you to really keep a watch for them) but I can say that Psychonauts almost passed by even me. I still don't even own a copy, which I intended to do after it was released on Steam.
My perception is that it just didn't have enough weird hype going for it. Weird games require weird hype to sell. Psychonauts was marketed very traditionally, and minimally at that.
Posted by GyRo567 | August 14, 2007 4:38 AM
Posted on August 14, 2007 04:38
And yet Halo sells millions of units....
Posted by f. | August 14, 2007 6:00 AM
Posted on August 14, 2007 06:00
I found one of those games for $4.00 at Big Lots. It's called "Darwinia". Awesome game, but the graphics are definitely not going to call to you.
Posted by aenema42 | August 14, 2007 6:22 AM
Posted on August 14, 2007 06:22
I've never heard of it, so I guessed it was a console game, now I see it's on PC too.
I've never heard of ANY games mentioned here, so I guess... there's no ad campaign as it were with others like DOOM3 or Crysis, etc.
Posted by Guybrush | August 14, 2007 12:18 PM
Posted on August 14, 2007 12:18
i watch Xplay alot so i knew about the game before it came out, even with all the good reviews for some reason i wasn't impressed, i dont know why? seeing as it came out for pc i might give it a try..
Posted by kriminal | August 14, 2007 6:43 PM
Posted on August 14, 2007 18:43
I still haven't played this game yet. I know exactly why:
It's all about FOCUS. What was this game's FOCUS? I may have been visionary, fun and just a fantastic game, but what was going to attract me to it? A strange stroyline that took a few seconds to digest? A platformer with adventure game elements? That sounded hard; frustratingly hard, to me. Telekinesis? That's NEVER implemented well in games.
Essentially, this game's creativity and originality is what killed it. People don't like things that are unfamiliar (or familiar things that they didn't like much, like adventure games in general), strange hard-to-understand at a glance storylines, and space games. Yes, it's unbelievable how many people still think 'Psychonauts' is a SPACE SHOOTER, like Descent: Freespace.
Me personally, I'm going to download this game on Steam and give it a try. Maybe it'll rock and become one of my favorites, maybe it'll be like I think (a bad game with good reviews),
Posted by CHayNZ | August 14, 2007 7:10 PM
Posted on August 14, 2007 19:10
I hate to say it, but given that the mass market these days tends to be kids and young adults that get their advertising and gaming choices from terrible magazines and TV I'm not surprised games like this go completely under the radar.
More serious and well rounded gamers that are up to date on their news (reading the big websites, indie websites, AND flipping through some gamer mags) definitely saw this gem and made their own assessments to play or pass.
I don't think it's limited to the genre or art style either.. Look at a game like Freedom Fighters.. that came out of left field and was an incredibly fun ride. Those who really keep up with gaming previews, reviews, news, etc would have found both titles.
There will always be games that go under the radar because of improper/poor marketing choices (or lack thereof), bad press kits, bad timing of releases (how do you compete living in the shadow of more anticipated games?).. is it all about the hype? ^_^ who knows.. it sure seems that way though.. even over-rated games that end up getting poor reviews are more often than not popular beyond belief. I'm definitely no expert.. that's just how it looks to me on the surface.
Posted by sliptide | August 14, 2007 11:43 PM
Posted on August 14, 2007 23:43