Listen to what many industry executives have to say, and you'd be led to believe original intellectual property doesn't sell well late in a console cycle. The time to introduce a new IP supposedly comes when new consoles are launched; once those systems have been around for years, that's when the focus shifts to existing properties. This is something that has never made a lot of sense to many people, and the performance of Dishonored isn't about to do anything to convince those people that executives have it right.

Despite being an original IP -- just the sort of game that supposedly shouldn't be excelling at this point in time -- Dishonored is doing very well. After receiving a strong critical reception prior to its release in early October, the game has gone on to sell better than publisher Bethesda anticipated.