DS Games Selling Badly: Or Why Install Base isn't the End All Be All

[jman8]

c0rd said:

Erm, I don't get it.  All you've shown are games that didn't sell well on a system with a large install base.  Does that actually prove anything?  If there were PSP versions released that sold better, I can see your point, but otherwise it doesn't help the case of lesser selling systems at all.  These are new, unproven IPs - if Dragon Quest IX does bad then you have a case.

jman8 said:

Yes the DS has sold a ton of copies of games. Yes, the DS has the largest install base ever in Japan. Neither of those two things means that an individual game is automatically going to sell really well even if it is a good game from a highly reputable developer. That's the point.

That's also why you don't see all devs jump ship from 360/PS3 development to the Wii. Even when the Wii exceeds 50% of the market, you're not going to see this happen.

Nothing guarantees a game will sell well, however, a larger install base is always better than a smaller one.  If you're trying to pin the failure of these games on the DS' demographics, you don't have a case unless you have examples of PSP games that did better.  Otherwise, all I see here is Square Enix struggling to break out with new IPs, which has little to do with the DS.

You're right, pretty much. But here comes a subtle nuance. A larger install base is always better than a small one, but a large install base doesn't necessarily lead to large sales. In fact, on a system with a large install base and a ton of software offerings, there are additional challenges a developer faces that they wouldn't have to deal with as much on another system. Most of the time the benefits of the popular system outweighs those additional challenges. That's why the DS gets so much support. But sometimes, like in the case of these two games, those challenges aren't able to be overcome and good games aren't able to take advantage of that huge install base.