Reggie: Third parties don't "get" the Wii, more

[Squilliam]

Khuutra said:

Squilliam said:

This is a real chicken/egg thing going on here. If COD WAW doesn't sell well, the chances that COD 5/6 (depending on who you ask) will be on the Wii will be slim - none.

See publishers are actually very conservative. They spend as little as they possibly on games unless the franchise is so strong they can justify the expenditure. Things like this have a flow on effect. Will games like Conduit see much marketing if COD WAW doesn't sell well? Will publishers even spend money trying to make innovative games when they know they hardly sell anyway and they can get better returns on releasing Nintendo knock-offs?

The actual talent in the industry is actually very limited. The issue isn't about where the publishers invest the bulk of their money/manpower its about where they can best invest the real talent they have. These are the people who make the real money in the industry and the people around them are just there to help make it happen.

 

 

 

 

I can't agree with this assertion only because the lack of third-party sales on the Wii comes from the fact that developers are ham-fisting it on one hand and half-assing it on the other. Yes, it requires a risk, but testing the waters with half-baked software is going to get you the results you are asking for.

Equating any Call of Duty with innovative games is a travesty. Innovative games on the Wii, the super-niche titles that actually try new things, sell much better than their equivalents on other systems. De Blob, Zack and Wiki, No More Heroes, what have you - these games don't even exist on the 360 and PS3, and they sell better than equivalent games did on the PS2. Hell, NMH curb-stomped every single Clover Studios game except for Viewtiful Joe.

This is not a chicken/egg problem, because it is all too obvious where the problem originates: "safe", half-hearted games do not sell.

So... One of the highest selling franchises which has been made with a pretty good effort on the Wii bombs. What does that do? It means that shooters are going to be fewer and further between on the Wii. The Wii proved it can sell music games, and it gets Guitar Hero like everyone else. If the Wii proves is struggles to sell core games then I guess its more cooking mama and petz in the future since they have proved themselves to be profitable ventures.

You know the one thing which breaks the rule on metacritic for higher rated games vs sales are the innovative games. They are rated highly but they never sell as well as titles which aren't innovative, but have a similar or lower rating. Also I never said that COD was innovative, I just said that innovation hardly ever pays off.

And no, COD WAW Wii was not half hearted.