Namco Bandai 'proud' of Enslaved, hinting at possible sequel
VP of marketing Carlson Choi says poor sales were down to bad timing
Namco Bandai's vice president of marketing, Carlson Choi, has spoken about the company's pride at producing a game as critically successful as 2010's Enslaved, but admits that the title was released at a bad time, damaging sales.
In a brief interview with Silicon Era, Choi talked about the dissonance between the game's high Metacritic rating (82) and relatively low numbers at retail, saying that the publisher certainly hasn't ruled out the possibility of a sequel.
"Quality is key and our mission is to bring the best quality. It's an 80 plus rated title [on Metacritic] it did extremely well from a game quality standpoint. At DICE, we got six nominations. It speaks to the one element that is critical, which is the quality of the game," Choi said.
"To answer that question of the challenge of the unit number it really didn't do what we anticipated. To be perfectly frank, I think as a company prior to us reforming this organization, going to market, I think the game went to market at a very busy season. It launched in the midst of a busy holiday season.
"Last year, there were like 4000+ games for consoles. We didn't do a good job finding the right time for it because when you look at the quality of the game it speaks for itself. An 80+ rated game is guaranteed a hit. We got DLC that came out that got 10 out of 10. Ultimately, I think that game had the quality needed to address the gamers.
"I think it's a matter of getting into the market at the right time, which is something you will see us do much better. Even this morning with some of the announcements, we're getting ourselves ahead of schedule letting you know when its coming and incorporating community communication."
When asked about the likelihood of an Enslaved 2, Choi was coy, but hinted that it was something being considered.
"You tell me, do you think gamers want more? I can assure you, a title like Enslaved, and every title we've worked on in the past we're going to re-examine them and say what is the potential for the game? We've been doing a lot of studies, consumer engagement, and community engagement - let's put it this way: one of these days, stay tuned there will be more news to come."