Tony Hawk used to be a household name in the video game world. But that was back in the days of the PSOne and the PS2 and maybe the early PS3. Nowadays, he’s not doing so hot.
The latest entries in the Tony Hawk Skateboarding franchise haven’t been doing so well. The most recent game, Tony Hawk: Ride introduced a new skateboard peripheral that made the game extremely expensive. So with a steep price point and abysmal review to boot, the game totally bombed at the sales office. Tony took this opportunity to step back and reevaluate the series. After some deliberation, he and Activision announced Tony Hawk: Shred back in April.
But Mr. Hawk is just completely sold on the idea that you have to have a peripheral to make it a good skateboarding game. While owners of the Ride skateboard are able to reuse their purchase on the sequel, apparently that wasn’t enough to promote sales. In the game’s first week of release, October 26th through November 1st, it managed to sell a gruesome 3,000 copies according to the NPD Group. Across all three major platforms.
I’m sorry Tony. You may be an excellent skateboarder, and I am not one to judge. But one of these days, you’ve just got to put bury the proverbial board. Go back to doing tricks, or maybe release an HD-remake of one of your older games. One of the good ones.
[Source]
