When it hit the market in September 2008, there was no more anticipated game than “Spore”. Unveiled three years earlier, it was one of the more ambitious titles ever attempted – blending the action, role-playing and real-time strategy genres together with content imagined and designed by the players.
Why didn't Spore match The Sims' success?
The game was the brainchild of Will Wright, creator of the most successful PC game of all time – “The Sims”. And while it wasn’t expected to match that game’s record-breaking numbers (in its first year, “The Sims” sold 3.74 million copies in the U.S.), hopes were high.
But “Spore” stumbled when it hit shelves. Sales were strong, but controversy and anger descended upon its strict anti-piracy measures, which required regular authentication and limited the number of times the owner could install the game. Ironically, it ended up being both 2008’s second best selling title and the year's most pirated game.
To date, “Spore” – the original PC release - has sold fewer than 1 million retail copies domestically. Specifically, it has sold 868,000 copies, according to The NPD Group.
There’s more to “Spore” than just the PC edition, of course. EA has put out versions for the iPhone, the Nintendo DS , the Wii and even Facebook. And the franchise has hardly been a failure. Worldwide, it has sold over 4 million units, according to game market research firm EEDAR.
But what kept the original “Spore” from becoming the mega-hit we all anticipated?
It came down to a few factors – the first of which was those very expectations. Because it had an extended ramp-up period and was a media darling from the moment Will Wright announced it, the press coverage for the game never let up. That meant online chatter didn’t either – and by the time the actual game was released, there was no way it could live up to what people imagined it would be.
That final game wasn’t flawless, either. Designed to appeal to both core gamers and the more casual “Sims” player, it ultimately underserved both. Enthusiasts were disappointed with the game’s lack of depth – noting that no matter how unique your creature looked, it didn’t act remarkably different than those created by other people, and while the mass audience had fun with the early levels, they quickly got bored with the space-themed segment – which was the longest lasting part of the game. Rather than focusing on creative aspects, like the early levels did, the gameplay was more treadmill-like, a series of repetitive tasks.
“I don’t think the game was designed to keep the interest of a real gamer – and it was probably too hard to relate to for someone who was more casual,” says Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities. “They made a tweener game that missed on both ends.”
The DRM issues were annoying – but ultimately didn’t contribute too much to the game’s sales with the mass market. Casual players might have been annoyed by some of the features, but they’re generally not the crowd that opts for piracy as a sign of protest.
It’s worth noting that EA did learn from its mistakes. Future “Spore” installments got back to the focus on what was fun about the original – and less about the space levels.
“Spore” as a franchise won’t be going away anytime soon, either. Lucy Bradshaw, VP and GM of Maxis, says “we are continuing to invest in ‘Spore,’ but have not announced our next project at this point.”
The community remains active, though, and the company is making sure creature makers have plenty of new toys to play with – going so far as to launch a recent promotion with Dr. Pepper that gave fans new parts with which to build creatures.
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Posted: 3 Feb 2010
