SC cannot be compared to any mainstream 10mil+ seller because...
A. Most female players won't be into it B. Most casual gamers won't be into it C. Not enough community building
This is what games like The Sims and MMO's present to the consumer and why WoW and other broad scope games have reached 10mil copies. That and almost every 10mil+ seller is on console.
But whatever, you live your pipedream of SC2 hitting 15mil copies sold.
Starcraft was never that advanced back in the day...but guess what, bells and whistles don't matter. Starcraft was a success because it had amazing gameplay (including constant patching to keep the multiplayer balanced), a great sense of humour, not cutting edge tech (it helps if more people can actually run the game) and excellent free multiplayer (including how incredibly open the custom multiplayer maps could be, which allowed players to re-create different movie battles, in a way).
Starcraft outsold other RTS games because it didn't take itself seriously, yet it was polished. It wasn't pretentious, but the strategy was deep.
Just wanted to point out that a game's success isn't based on how "shiny" it looks...it's all about the gameplay. Heck, Starcraft players will buy it just because the resolution will be better...you don't need better looking units.
WoW has sold 10mil in 3-4yrs and has a way broader audience then a futuristic RTS a genre that's never been particularly received well.
Have you seen the SC2 videos and screenshots? The game is not THAT much better then the first one, nothing spectacular has been seen and very little tech advancements.
Compare it to the recently announced Dawn of War 2 screenshots. Or even Company of Heroes which is now 2 years old.
@decidence, Sometimes the sequel is just better. I might call this the Terminator 2 clause. I wouldn't primarily base it on numbers from SC. One thing i would weigh into consideration is the ammount of PC gamers, has it increased or decreased? WoW really changed the way to look at PC gaming. I would be more apt to use that as a case for argumentation as opposed to SC1.
@lstormy10, I dont think historically TSE has been consistent for consistencies sake alone. I think what the admin's do, is choose the best option, which sometimes means breaking tradition. Hence the case with Project H.A.M.M.E.R. They had to make a new rule. I think Red Steel if what lao says is correct would be another example. Hence TSE Beta.
Lol... you know that the original SC has not even broken 10 million copies right? Are people expecting to make money on their investment buying at 1500 dkp, maybe if you wait 20 years.
@Laoldar, I mean in the case of people buying because of hype.
Red Steel was because of there being solid sales figures being released a significant amount of time after its release and majority of sales were essentially finished.
@decidence, Admins do not step in to take control of stocks. The community determines the price of stocks by buying and shorting - if you believe it is overpriced, short it to bring the price down.
15 million sales is a very good estimate for this. You obviously do not know much about the worldwide popularity of Starcraft. Especially in Korea and other asian countries.
Not to mention it is one of the most popular RTS games ever released in the US.
We will also probably see some cross promotions by Blizzard in their other games, such as World of Warcraft.
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SC cannot be compared to any mainstream 10mil+ seller because...
A. Most female players won't be into it
B. Most casual gamers won't be into it
C. Not enough community building
This is what games like The Sims and MMO's present to the consumer and why WoW and other broad scope games have reached 10mil copies. That and almost every 10mil+ seller is on console.
But whatever, you live your pipedream of SC2 hitting 15mil copies sold.