At the start of 2010, a Sega of America studio director indicated that Sega is not likely to publish anymore mature content for the Wii console. In general, a number of publishers in late 2009 started to rethink their approaches to Nintendo's console because core-focused content simply wasn't selling as well as casual content like Ubisoft's Just Dance game.

Considering Sega's past comments about the Wii, we were somewhat surprised to see them agree to publish a sequel to The Conduit as well as sign Tournament of Legends. Both of these titles would appear to be more for a core gamer than a casual Wii gamer. IndustryGamers chatted briefly with Sega West President Mike Hayes today about this apparent reversal of Sega's Wii stance. As it turns out, however, Hayes said it wasn't really a reversal at all because Sega offered some erroneous quotes initially.

"To be blunt, there were some erroneous quotes that went out," he told us. "They did come from Sega personnel but they weren't appropriate or accurate. I did speak to a lot of the European press, saying 'Please ignore all that.' With Tournament of Legends we've definitely brought that down to more like a T-rated level. So there's a viable market there. Is it going to be as big as the Teen or Mature market that exists on the Xbox 360 or PS3 platforms? Certainly not. Is it viable, because the cost of development on the Wii is significantly less than those other platforms? Then, potentially the answer is yes."

Overall, Sega remains a big supporter of the Wii, Hayes stressed. "Our general view of the Wii is that it's a platform that's done Sega particularly proud; we've been very supportive of it with the success we've had with the Mario & Sonic series, success we've had with the Sonic series, and some of the redesigned IP like House of the Dead. So the Wii remains a very important part of our mix. So you will see certainly quite a few more announcements on Wii titles that Sega will be producing and publishing," he said.