I haven't been following the comments on this stock, but I'll add to the discussion & reply to Gaara's posts. Gaara you said that there is more competition now in the RTS genre. However, the most popular and highly rated RTS games are the ones from Starcraft's era. A glance through Wikipedia entry on RTS games showcases the noteworthy games.
You state that SC2 won't get good sales in Korea because piracy is too prevalent there, yet SC1 itself sold 1 million copies between Jan 15 2006-May 21 2007 in Korea. (1 million in Korea in the past year, for a 10 year old title which is much easier to pirate!).
True piracy is a problem in Korea but that doesn't change the fact that 4.5 million people there have purchased a copy of SC1, which is easier to pirate than SC2 will be. And what if Blizzard adapts the new norm in Korea with a free game or very cheap game that is supported by microtransactions, thereby eschewing many people's reason to piracy as other successful recent games have done in Korea...
Another point is that SC1 came on the scene when there were less PC gamers and it didn't have a reputation, thus its first year sales were good but not spectacular. SC2 has literally the best PC game reputation to date. SC1 benefited most from longtail sales. SC2 will benefit with a bang right at release and also have a longtail, perhaps even a longer tail than SC1 now with new means of distribution, particularly online distribution.
SC1 has sold at least over 9.5 million & likely over 10 million. And its still being sold at most retailers. SC2 will hit at least 10 million IMO.
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You state that SC2 won't get good sales in Korea because piracy is too prevalent there, yet SC1 itself sold 1 million copies between Jan 15 2006-May 21 2007 in Korea. (1 million in Korea in the past year, for a 10 year old title which is much easier to pirate!).
True piracy is a problem in Korea but that doesn't change the fact that 4.5 million people there have purchased a copy of SC1, which is easier to pirate than SC2 will be. And what if Blizzard adapts the new norm in Korea with a free game or very cheap game that is supported by microtransactions, thereby eschewing many people's reason to piracy as other successful recent games have done in Korea...
Another point is that SC1 came on the scene when there were less PC gamers and it didn't have a reputation, thus its first year sales were good but not spectacular. SC2 has literally the best PC game reputation to date. SC1 benefited most from longtail sales. SC2 will benefit with a bang right at release and also have a longtail, perhaps even a longer tail than SC1 now with new means of distribution, particularly online distribution.
SC1 has sold at least over 9.5 million & likely over 10 million. And its still being sold at most retailers. SC2 will hit at least 10 million IMO.
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