The long awaited release of BioShock Infinite is just a few weeks away and it seems people are getting more and more excited for the game as pre-orders for the game have been increasing. According to Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia, BioShock Infinite pre-order activity has “accelerated” and has caused Bhatia to increase his March shipped prediction to 3 million copies.
Bhatia went on to say that after checking pre-orders at major retailers it has raised his company’s confidence that BioShock Infinite will be a success and as a result their shipped predictions from 2.7 million to 3 million copies. Bhatia also said that retailer’s confidence in the game is growing as well as pre-orders grow and the game continues to gain steam. Finally Bhatia said that one of the major things that will help sales for BioShock Infinite is the fact the game is being developed by Irrational Games and Ken Levine, which Bhatia said hurt the sales of BioShock 2.
BioShock Infinite is a game that lost a lot of hype after not only continual delays but long stretches of time where little to nothing was shown about the game. The video game industry is an industry very much built on hype and with Irrational Games playing their cards close to the vest as it pertains to BioShock Infinite it may have hindered sales in an especially crowded month.
I actually think BioShock Infinite sales are going to hinge a lot on reviews, because I think gamers are being cautious due to the delays, lack of information about the game, and supposed development issues. If the BioShock Infinite lives up to the hype and reviews very well, I think 3 million shipped will be a little low, but if the game reviews poorly I think it could sink sales as well as future iterations of BioShock.
Source: Game Industry International
