Do cinematics help game sales?

FatAssasin

I was having this discussion with a fellow worker and thought I'd open it up to a wider audience.

Has the quality or amount of cinematics in a game ever pursuaded you to buy the game? I think we can all agree that Blizzard and Square have some of the best cinematics around, and their games are extremely successful from a sales standpoint, but my question is, are the two related in any way? Would they have sold as many units with no cinematics whatsoever?

Does the phrase, "Over an hour of in-game cinematics", do anything for you? Is it a selling point, or just a bonus? Some might even argue that cinematics detract from the gameplay experience becuase they're not interactive and can take you out of the game for a short time. After all, you're buying a game not a movie.

I'd really like our company to do more high quality cinematics, and I'd like to be a part of that kind of work. So maybe what I'm really looking for here is ammunition to use with the money folks to justify spending more in house on cinematics.

Thoughts?

Slayerjerman

Short answer - yes.

GFX sell games, so more eyecandy = more hype = more sales.

sundance

i dunno about helping ssales, but i think they can be very helpful in terms of story telling. compare jedi knight 2 or jedi academy, to delta force: land warrior, and the two JK games have better story lines, cos the cinematics convey the characters better and move the plot along. then look at DFLW and there's no cinematics, just a buncha mission briefs, which don't make you feel like 'longbow' or 'gas-can' are characters, and not just archetypal soldiers.

i felt that CoD was actually let down slightly by the fact that it only uses two cinematics, one each for the US and UK briefings on D-Day, and all the other stuff is delivered in-game, in scripted bits. it makes the characters of evans, martin and...uh, the russian into kinda bland everyman figures. although i guess that may have been the point...

ryan77

yes

MoP

I would have bought Warcraft 3 for the cinematics alone
Dawn of War also has a ridiculously good cinematic intro, and notice it became a talking point - everyone says to their friends "hey, have you seen that game with the cool intro cinematic?" ... so yeah I think it does help sell games.
Not in a "over an hour of in-game cinematics!" manner though, the best way is not to advertise it too widely (maybe small teaser clips along with gameplay movies) so that when one person buys the game, they get blown away by the cinematics and go and tell all their friends about it.
That's my theory. It's probably wrong.

Ryno

There are no cinematics in multiplayer, and that's what I generally buy the game for.

When I buy a single player game, sometimes the cinematics are a plus, sometimes a minus. If they are astoundingly good, ala Blizzard, they're almost always appreciated. If it is a story based game, it's good as it helps to keep players oriented plot wise. If it is a pretty straight forward action game, such as Call of Duty, cinematics should be used sparingly, or they become annoying as they repeatedly remove you from the action. Sprinkled in here or there they can be OK, but I definitely wouldn't call it a selling point.

swampbug

Yes.

How it effects me personally.. After playing a game like HL2. Pre-rendered cutscenes feel like a waste of time. I prefer staying within the engine the entire time.

JKMakowka

As a free promotion video maybe, otherwise not at all.

In most games they are just annoying.

Kevin Albers

Yes.
They don't always result in more sold copies, but sometimes they do, indeedy.

Scott Ruggels

They are not necessary, but they do help sales. Even more if the games are Japanese. it's like the reward for suffering through that awful turn based game play....

Scott

acc

I can't count all the times I've heard someone say "wow this new game looks so awesome!" after watching a pre-rendered cinematic.
Personally, it only hurts my opinion of the company doing it, and therefore the game. It brings up the question: "Why don't they use these resources on <i>making games?</i>"

Asthane

It depends on your definition of "cinematics". It used to be that I'd say yes, pre-rendered cinematics are a huge selling point for me. However, in the past few years in-engine cutscenes have come to the point where they can do 90% of the storytelling. Now, if you want to consider non-interactive in-engine cutscenes as "cinematics", then yes, you could say they still mean a lot to me, but the line is hard to draw. Some of the character interaction I've enjoyed most came from the Thief series in overheard conversations, letters to be found-- or the System Shock series, in the form of emails, taunts from Shodan, etc. Though you really cannot consider these "cutscenes" or "cinematics" in any way, shape, or form, they do often replace the need for "real" cutscenes.

Of course, if there is a need for cinematics (Ie, A large scene, usually involving explosions and/or armies)-- and the game instead gives a poor quality in-engine mock-up, then I do get , but that is after the point of sale.

Toomas

If high quality then yes but if its crappy looking then please NO.

eepberries

I actually tend to like the Metal Gear Solid 2+ style real time videos better than alot of game cinematics. They usually just don't fit well in most games. Like in Diablo 2. There were some random cg movies sprinkled throughout, and to be honest, they were boring and added absolutely nothing to the game. The only series where I've really liked cg movies is Final Fantasy.

The Quake 2 intro was cool too though.

Daz

Personally Id like to see any and all pre-rendered cinematics interupting my game experience dead and buried. If you must use cinematics as a story telling device, use the engine.

However, a kickass ( and it has to be kickass ) one off intro or promotional pre-rendered piece such as Blizzard stuff or the Onimusha 3 trailer most definitely is indeed very strong marketing material imo.

tubboy

YES

The3DGuy

yes. look at the Metal Gear Solid series. Awesome stories in MGS1 and MGS3 and the ingame cinematics do make it more enjoyable. with the ingame cinematics its like the game doesn't stop, while if you had a FMV it kind of feels like the game stops to show you something rather than it still being the game.

Thermidor

I think they help sales for the reasons already stated , as an artist i find tthey great to watch , but when i want to ply , i just skip them , really i would rather see the effort and man power put into making the game better ... god knows , they all need it

KDR_11k

No. When I read a review of a game recorded videos are only mentioned if they hurt the game experience and reviews account for the majority of my sales decisions. I don't necessarily trust a single review source and usually go for multiple sources and word of mouth. I haven't had any of these talk much positive about a game's videos. Videos get acknowledged as either part of the game or distracting when I already have the game but before I buy a game I don't care about them. Scripted sequences, cuscenes, videos... Doesn't matter as long as it doesn't get in the way. Though I don't like scripted sequences much because I often feel useless while they play (e.g. in Half-Life when you are talked to or something else you cannot influence happens) and don't know what I should do since just standing around watching doesn't seem like a good idea to me but the game's script won't let me proceed before the sequence is over, anyway (and often I miss parts of the sequence because I don't look in the right direction when they happen and listening to dialogue is hard as well since I'm often oo far away to hear anything, I cannot understand a single word from the GMan's final speech in HL1 and I have to play HL2 with subtitles). So they're basically cutscenes without camerawork and the option to run around.

Jay Evans

I think Blizzard and Square are known to have amazing cinematics therefore they are a special case. For most games, I think cinematics increase game sales by being used as a promotional tool, not because they add to gameplay. If you see an add for a game on tv most of the time you will see clips of the cinematics. To "Joe Public" this relates to "wow this game has good grafics, dude..." As a result I think ingame cinematics are often poorly done or farmed out, just so the company can get some jazzy promo material to stick into their game. That being said, personally I love watching in game cinematics, but for me it woulden't influence a buying decision. I much prefer in-engine scenes that help advance the story.

FatAssasin

Personally, I like to take a break from the action once in a while to watch a well done prerendered cinematic. In Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes, short cinematics were used at the end of boss fights to show the death of the boss at a better camera angle and with better effects and animation than could have been done in game. Plus, they had short movies to introduc new characters. Overall, I think it worked pretty good.

I agree that the qualiy of the cinematic has a lot to do with whether it helps or hinders the gameplay experience. When done well, they give you a view of the characters and environment that you usually can't get from the game graphics because of the greater detail. But that's changing with the greater graphics capabilities of newer engines. So I think we'll see more cinematics use the game engine, which I think helps keep you immersed in the game world.

The most annoying thing about movies during the game is when you can't skip them. LOTR: The Two Towers was a big offender here. The level intros were great to watch the first time, but after the fourth or fifth time in a row of having to start the level over, it became extremely annoying and actually made the game less fun.

I think the overall consensus is that they help if done really well and actually move the story along. But if they're just eye candy then it's annoying, unless it's more of a single promotional piece. And if you're going to do anything other than an intro and outro, keep it short and to the point.

Irritant

Single Player - Yes.

Multiplayer DM - No.

I find it amusing that so many TV advertisements use 90% of their time showing these amazing cinematics, then at the last minute cut to the actual game

MacD

I agree with most of the things said above, like !making them skipable!, the use of into's to set the scene (and the fact that with better ingame gfx it's possible to get the same effect with ingame scripted sequences), their use as promo material etc.

Another thing though is the use of CG as reward; done badly in Diablo 2, but used to great effect in Alpha Centauri after building a world wonder.

But as with most things, it depends on the game...I can imagine games where cinematics would be useless as anything but promo material, but I can also think of games where cinematics can be usefull as either scenesetters, rewards or to help the story along in ways which just can't be done ingame (think of the ravaging of Seattle(?) in Deus Ex 2).

So do cinematics sell games? Sometimes they have nothing to do with it, sometimes the lack of cinematics makes for a game which could have been better and is now missing something. And if it could have been better, it could have sold more, because ultimately good games sell good and great games sell great.

Pseudo

I bought onimusha 3 because of the trailer alone. So yes.

And to this day my favorite part of the Final Fantasy games is getting to watch the next awesome cinematic.

KDR_11k

And to this day my favorite part of the Final Fantasy games is getting to watch the next awesome cinematic.

Might just be the lack of anything else to do. I mean, if you were looking forward to the next boss battle or something people would give you weird looks and call you nuts.

A propos, is Onimusha 3 any good? I've seen it in the bargain bin so it's definitely in my price range for PS2 games.

Pseudo

I got bored with Onimusha 3 rather quickly. The gameplay just wasnt exciting for me. But damn that cinematic looked good!

Sage

I hate most real time rendered cinematics since they are usually poorly done and utter crap, especially if you can't skip them! I love the cinematics made by Blizzard and was rather pissed that they didn't make more of them in Warcraft 3 frozen throne especially since they charged the same as the full game. When they are made well they add to the gameplay they make games sale. I decided to buy Warcraft 3 sooner after I saw some of the cinematics at my friend's house. Later.

Alex

Joshua Stubbles

I'd say that cinematics would help sales, but really only if they are in-game. Games like MGS:Snake Eater are simply amazing, in that they have movie quality cut scenes, but they are done with the in-game engine. Things like that really show how powerfull the engine is, and can provoke some weary shoppers to pick up the title.

Pre-rendered scenes aren't that appealing to me. Sure, they look amazing, and you can do things you can't do otherwise. They also bring the player out of the games immersion. The look is so distant from the in-game playing, that it totally kills the effect.

Thermidor

Argh , ive just been playing Gradius 5 , and there is a ingame cinimatic that is un-skipable at the end of lvl 2, very frustrating ... obviously its not doing anything to sales as i already bought it ... but its certainly stopping me from playing it!

Joshua Stubbles

Now THAT is something that bugs the crap outta me. If you put cinematics in a game, for the love of god, make them skippable! I hate having to wait through cut scenes in games. Especially when you've seen them 10 times over....

Wrath

I think it depends a lot on the developer's reputation for producing quality cinematics. Squaresoft and Blizzard come to mind as having really aswesome cinematics in their games...and I can honestly say I've bought FF games based on the snippets of their cinematics I saw. Blizzard games I bought because I knew they would be good games.

Rick Stirling

I buy games to play games, not to watch a movie. I would guess that MOST people who buy games don't see the cinematics until they have bought the game. Therefore they don't buy it because of the cinematics, therefore they don't affect sales.

FatAssasin

That's a logical argument if you don't take into account word of mouth. If cinematics can enhance the gameplay experience then reviews will be better, and more people will tell their friends what a cool game it is, thereby increasing sales. So I guess a better question would have been, "Do cinematics enhance your enjoyment of a game?", which is the question that many of the posters actually addressed when answering my initial question.

The overall answer seems to be that they help if they are integral to the story, are very well done, and can be skipped. Definitely something worth keeping in mind.