Not too long ago I made an article comparing the success of Halo to the success of Metroid, among other interesting things.
Now we ALL know that Metroid Prime was a game without multiplayer and Halo was a game with online multiplayer support. However, is multiplayer the be all end all of sales?
A game like Assassin's Creed 1 will tell you the opposite. Solely catering to a single-player immersive experience, Assassin's Creed 1 had no online multiplayer support, no local multiplayer support.
Nonetheless, it went on to sell a total of 9.6m units across the PS and 360 platforms.
| Pos | Game | Platform | Year | Genre | Publisher | North America | Europe | Japan | Rest of World | Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assassin's Creed | X360 | 2007 | Adventure | Ubisoft | 3.04 | 1.55 | 0.07 | 0.53 | 5.18 |
| 2 | Assassin's Creed II | PS3 | 2009 | Action | Ubisoft | 2.19 | 1.92 | 0.21 | 0.83 | 5.16 |
| 3 | Assassin's Creed II | X360 | 2009 | Action | Ubisoft | 2.74 | 1.57 | 0.08 | 0.50 | 4.90 |
| 4 | Assassin's Creed | PS3 | 2007 | Adventure | Ubisoft | 1.77 | 1.84 | 0.09 | 0.77 | 4.47 |
| 5 | Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood | X360 | 2010 | Action | Ubisoft | 2.43 | 1.43 | 0.03 | 0.43 | 4.32 |
| 6 | Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood | PS3 | 2010 | Action | Ubisoft | 1.55 | 1.80 | 0.11 | 0.73 | 4.19 |
| 7 | Assassin's Creed: Revelations | X360 | 2011 | Action | Ubisoft | 1.98 | 1.39 | 0.03 | 0.39 | 3.80 |
| 8 | Assassin's Creed: Revelations | PS3 | 2011 | Action | Ubisoft | 1.23 | 1.76 | 0.07 | 0.69 | 3.76 |
Assassin's Creed II followed the same success, as well without multiplayer. It's only with Brotherhood (the non-numbered sequel to ACII) that multiplayer was introduced.
Comparing to Halo, we have:
| Pos | Game | Platform | Year | Genre | Publisher | North America | Europe | Japan | Rest of World | Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Halo 3 | X360 | 2007 | Shooter | Microsoft Game Studios | 7.64 | 2.69 | 0.13 | 1.17 | 11.64 |
| 2 | Halo: Reach | X360 | 2010 | Shooter | Microsoft Game Studios | 6.59 | 1.76 | 0.08 | 0.83 | 9.26 |
| 3 | Halo 2 | XB | 2004 | Shooter | Microsoft Game Studios | 6.82 | 1.53 | 0.05 | 0.08 | 8.49 |
| 4 | Halo: Combat Evolved | XB | 2001 | Shooter | Microsoft Game Studios | 4.98 | 1.30 | 0.08 | 0.07 | 6.43 |
| 5 | Halo 3: ODST | X360 | 2009 | Shooter | Microsoft Game Studios | 4.16 | 1.28 | 0.06 | 0.60 | 6.09 |
(Halo4 and AC3 removed for simplicity, since they're new releases)
Now why is it a game like Metroid follows this trend rather than Halo's or Assassin's Creed's?
| Pos | Game | Platform | Year | Genre | Publisher | North America | Europe | Japan | Rest of World | Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metroid Prime | GC | 2002 | Shooter | Nintendo | 1.96 | 0.67 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 2.82 |
| 2 | Metroid Prime 3: Corruption | Wii | 2007 | Shooter | Nintendo | 0.86 | 0.54 | 0.07 | 0.16 | 1.64 |
| 3 | Metroid Prime 2: Echoes | GC | 2004 | Shooter | Nintendo | 0.87 | 0.35 | 0.07 | 0.04 | 1.33 |
The answer is simple: Nintendo doesn't know how to advertise its core titles to the extent that the likes of MS and Ubisoft advertise their older-teen posterboys. Even Sony, which gets less sales overall for its 1st party offerings, puts a lot of advertising money into some of its blockbusters, like Gran Turismo and Uncharted.
As far as I remember, Metroid Prime 3 had little to no advertising, as with Metroid Prime 2. The first prime had some advertising, it was a big new game with big potential. However, it got much less exposure than Halo.
The follow-up question is, even if they wanted to, COULD Nintendo support the advertising style MS gives to Halo, and if so, would it yield some kind of return on investment even if the game's sales didn't cover the cost?
