On the ga review platform managed by Murakami Ichirou, the official professional review of Sekiro gave it a recomndation of four and a half stars, praising the ga's originality and the fact that it created an entirely new genre of gaming.
Of course, this innovation seems to be a small one in today's video ga industry, but it is still quite rare.
At the sa ti, the official review platform recomnded that players persist through a certain amount of playti, as the feedback after a certain number of hours would be very positive.
Now, let's look at the review of Ghost of Tsushima.
This ga was rated four stars.
The official review praised the ga for effectively showcasing a standard formulaic open-world ga. It didn't have many standout features or innovations, but given the mature, industrialized ga developnt context, the ga's completion was very high, and the play experience was solid.
The ga also incorporated many elents of Japanese traditional culture into the gaplay in a natural way, and Murakami Ichirou gave it high marks, believing it was a great way to promote Japanese traditional culture.
Looking at the two gas individually, the reviews didn't seem particularly impressive.
...
However, when comparing both gas side by side, the reactions from players were intense.
"What? Why is Sekiro rated so highly? This ga is impossible to play!"
"That's right, I died at least twenty or thirty tis before my two-hour refund window ca up. Can anyone show another ga where you die twenty or thirty tis in the first two hours?"
"Upstairs, there are gas like Dead Cells."
"That's an indie ga, don't compare it to a big-budget title, and in that ga, once your character levels up, small enemies are a joke. But in Sekiro, the level-up stats barely make a difference—how is that normal ga difficulty?"
"I think Sekiro deserves two stars at most!"
"Ghost of Tsushima should actually get four and a half stars, maybe even five stars. After being brutalized by Sekiro, I feel so much calr when I play Ghost of Tsushima. No comparison, no pain!"
"Yeah, do you think Gastar Electronics Entertainnt did this on purpose? Using one ga to highlight the excellence of another?"
"I don't think so, Gastar Electronics Entertainnt wouldn't need such a lowbrow marketing strategy."
"I think..."
...
Negative reviews for Sekiro are spreading rapidly on the internet.
Although so players still gave positive reviews, such as praising the ga's action system as one of the best in the industry, it was clear that most of the negative feedback drowned out any positive comnts.
At the sa ti, Sekiro's refund numbers were rising fast online.
Initially, Sekiro had over 3 million sales.
But after the flood of negative reviews, Sekiro's sales rapidly plumted.
This was the first ti Gastar Electronics Entertainnt saw a ga experience negative sales the day after its release.
Oh, wait, no ga really has "negative sales," right?
The competition was stunned.
They couldn't understand what Gastar Electronics Entertainnt was trying to do.
Looking at the scale and quality of Sekiro, it was clear that it had been made with care.
Yet they had chosen to make it extraordinarily difficult, directly turning off most players.
Gastar Electronics Entertainnt could have reduced the difficulty, allowing players to experience the ga more smoothly.
The base of the ga was quite solid, according to these industry professionals.
But if you think about it from a different perspective, could this actually be part of Gastar Electronics Entertainnt's strategy?
Don't just look at Sekiro's sales.
Sekiro was priced at just $35.
But Ghost of Tsushima was priced at $59.90.
The price gap between the two gas was significant.
And because of Sekiro's discouraging effect, it had sparked a wave of praise for Ghost of Tsushima. This praise had even surpassed the actual quality of the ga.
Ghost of Tsushima was really only worth four stars.
That four-star rating included so personal bias—reducing it by half a star would still be reasonable.
However, most players had now elevated Ghost of Tsushima to a near-masterpiece status, which was far beyond what the ga deserved.
And this resulted in a massive surge in Ghost of Tsushima's sales.
Its first-day sales barely reached 3 million.
Normally, second-day sales would drop by at least 30-50%, and if the ga quality was slightly worse, the drop could be as much as 70-80%.
But Ghost of Tsushima's second-day sales didn't drop—in fact, they increased, reaching over 4 million copies sold.
Many players acted as unofficial promoters, enthusiastically recomnding the ga to their friends.
"Want to learn about Japanese culture? Want to play a truly authentic Japanese cultural ga?"
"Then co play Ghost of Tsushima!"
This move also stunned the competition.
Is this even possible?
They learned sothing new today.
Sacrifice one ga, then use it to highlight the excellence of another, making a ga that might not have been particularly impressive beco an unexpected success.
It looks like this was Gastar Electronics Entertainnt's strategy all along.
If Ghost of Tsushima sold well, Sekiro's developnt costs wouldn't even matter much.
According to industry estimates, Ghost of Tsushima's investnt cost was around $100 million.
While Sekiro's developnt cost was estimated to be between $50 million to $60 million.
If they discarded Sekiro and treated it as part of the developnt cost for Ghost of Tsushima, Gastar Electronics Entertainnt would still make a huge profit.
This strategy is quite a textbook-level marketing approach.
However, this kind of marketing strategy does have so negative consequences.
The most serious one might be employee loyalty.
The team that developed Ghost of Tsushima would definitely have a huge morale boost, but this might lead to overconfidence, thinking their ga was far superior.
anwhile, the team that developed Sekiro might feel abandoned and could lose trust in the company.
Of course, this is not sothing players are concerned with.
In any case, both gas are experiencing unexpected changes, and many people are now paying close attention to Gastar Electronics Entertainnt.
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