Mmm-Hmm.
So, the NPD is also lying and fudging numbers and MK11 wasn't the best selling game for 2 months straight?
Damn, I must have just been dreaming that shit up, then.
I get that not everyone on here is happy with the game, whether it be Frost's remake, the roster in general or PC issues, but good lord that's some ridiculous denial.
It isn't so much as denial, as simply looking at the big picture. For example, how do you explain MULTIPLE sales during those 2 best selling months? Be it Amazon or Steam. They had multiple sales during that time. Hell even websites that resell keys, were doing crazy sales, and they don't usually do that with games that are "best selling". AT BEST. You could see 10% discount. But MK11 was going all the way to 35%.
Second. NPD sources sales data from consumers and retailers. MK11 physical sales were whooping 50% lower than MKX in UK alone. Of course, people tried to explain with "well, it is a digital distribution age. Who buys physical copies at this point?". Yeah, that is understandable, but a whooping 50%? Really?
So all that is left is digital sales. Sure NPD could sourced the data from digital stores, like Steam or PS4. But then here is my problem. (EDIT) Steam spy showed that MK11 didn't do as hot as MKX. Not even close. Sales didn't do so hot on Switch either (due being inferior version graphically). Best reported sales were on PS4 and XBOX alone. So those two consoles had to make up for sales lost on PC.
They had to make up their sales during the time of censorship controversy that definitely hurt the sales (and don't bring me the bullshit that it was just an echo chamber and vocal minority. It would have been if certain dev kept his f$cking mouth shut). Devs targeting specific groups of fans also didn't help them. Youtube demonitizing all videos that show MK11 violence, forcing people to go through additional annoying editing just to get their videos monetized.
I am not saying that those two months couldn't happen. I am just saying that nor me, nor Xenon take what we are being told for granted. We do research. and simply... shit doesn't match up. Cause you know... after getting screwed over multiple times and losing both money and time, it made me want to actually check what is happening instead of listening to empty bullshit promises. Cause there is nothing sacred no anyway. Official dev word means, less than a dog shit.
Also can you guarantee me that NPD wasn't bought off? Can you right here, right now GUARANTEE me in this current day of Gaming Industry that NPD wasn't bough off or WB didn't adjust their numbers? Especially right now, as we have companies like Disney being caught red handed, lying about their Captain Marvel success and that phantom 1 billion it made?
And... at the end of the day. Just by looking at MK11 now. It is a month away from dying on PC. (just like I predicted. Right on time.) Switch... that one is even worse quality wise. Just RIP for that one. Low number of participants in MK11 tournaments. Even in EVO they there overshadowed by less known games. Low viewership on Twitch.
Sigh... I sound like broken record, but point is. The only thing that MK11 achieved was the biggest number of concurrent players on PC. And that is because the game managed to launch DAY 1, unlike MKX. But after that, everything went down.
Here is my final theory. MK11 did great during the first 2 months, but it didn't meet WB's expectations. Biggest launch ever in MK franchise? Yeah, sure. Couldn't even muster half of the hype MKX had. And didn't even break MKX records. MKX DESTROYED the sales. We are talking the hype that put GTA5 long awaited PC release to second place in sales. Freaking GTA5.
But they didn't want to acknowledge the controversy about censorship, and show that it managed to affect it's sales. So they did the same thing as Disney did with Captain Marvel. Inflated the numbers to silence people's criticism. It was basically the equivalent of shouting LALALALA over an angry mob.
And no. I don't do this shit, because OH NO FROST TURNED INTO UTTER GARBAGE. Please. I may have waited fro Frost for 8 freaking years, but doesn't mean that she makes entire MK for me. Hell, if they didn't include her in the game I wouldn't have said anything. At best "well sucks", and in this instance I would been happier if I didn't get to see the garbage she became.
Nor PC version being complete shit. That one wasn't even surprising for me. I was 99% sure, that it will be as broken as previous ones as well. It was other people that were vowing that everything will be fine and telling me to try the game. Nah. I dodged the bullet.
I just simply look at everything through magnifying glass and don't believe a single fookin word. Be it NRS, nor any other company. Gaming industry is a multi billion war machine. Especially in current conditions where games were being infected with politics and all companies tried to justify that and hide any negative feedback towards those practices. Hell we have now Casinos in Basketball games that are rated for E. Nothing is sacred. So NPD doesn't really have much credibility, especially when the game was published by WB, which is a multi billion dollar company itself. They could have easily inflated numbers or bought off NPD or Sony (as Sony is going political itself. With all recent censorships and non existent guidelines, that force devs to go through time wasting review processes without knowing if their game matches the guidelines or not.) or even Microsoft (that declared that they also support social politics agendas and that XBOX isn't a platform for Free Speech (literally said that)) to report different numbers.
The end result being. I can't prove that my theory is correct, as I don't have absolute evidence, but you can't tell me or anyone else who is being skeptical, that this is just a denial, then we have multiple cases that don't match to what is being said and multiple legitimate reasons to doubt the credibility of anyone reporting anything at this point.
But hey. I don't need to play or like the garbage that is called MK11, to enjoy MK itself. Maybe even the new MK movie will good? (doubt it, as it is done by the guy who did Furious 7 and went stupid with SAW, but hey I am open to be surprised).