NY Times: Hardcore game sales fade faster on Wii
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=179028A report published by the New York Times on Monday suggests that AAA game sales taper off more quickly on Wii than Xbox 360 or PS3, this despite the logical comparison of other highly promoted games.
Wario farts in the face of low attach rates
According to VG Chartz, whom The Times cites as their data source, Super Smash Bros. Brawl sales have dropped 90 percent in the first four weeks while total sales stand at an estimated 4.89 million currently. One might initially find that number to be alarming.
However, this wouldn't be the first time that a high profile game saw a sharp drop in sales after a highly publicized launch, as the report fails to mention. In similar fashion, Halo 3 sales dropped by 81 percent within its first four weeks, using the same VG Chartz estimates cited by the paper.
The occurrence of either case, independent of platform, suggest that a drop in launch sales in no way reflects gamer indifference, only that marketing arguably did its job building pre-launch buzz.
Regardless, its long been known that Wii owners on the whole don't buy as many games as Xbox 360 or PS3 owners, as indicated by its lower 3.7 yearly attach rate (4.7 for Xbox 360 and 4.6 for PS3).
Popular analyst Michael Pachter offers one explanation. "It reflects the broadening of the demographic," he told The Times. "Nintendo's market doesn't feel the same sense of urgency to buy every game that's coming out."