| Squilliam said: Because once to factor in all the costs, the bigger the game the less the Wii "advantages" on overall cost are important. 1. Massive advertisement; You have to advertise as much if not more than HD games to target the wider demographic of users on the Wii. 2. The cost/benifit ratio still applies; Why spend $10,000,000 making a Wii game look good when for an extra $10,000,000 the game will look 5* better? 3. Overall cost ratios come down and favour HD development more as your overall budget increases. Wii $10,000,000 game + $10,000,000 advertisement vs HD $20,000,000 game + $10,000,000 advertisement and the ratio is 2:3. 4. Easier to target demographics and advertising + word of mouth very easy to do with the HD community. The demographics they target for these games are deep, wide and easy to get to within the HD owner userbase. Also never underestimate the power of word of mouth selling games, especially within Xbox Live |
1. I'd like to see evidence to support this. The only advertising budget I'm familiar with was $20 million for Lost Planet on Xbox 360. Anecdotally, I do not see more Wii advertising than HD advertising.
3. Except that a blockbuster HD game tends to cost more to develop. Lost Planet cost $20 million and GTA IV cost $100 million, as examples. The highest known budget for a Wii game is $10 million for Red Steel (which I have no idea how they spent that much on that game). Of course, Gears of War was done for $10 million as well, but generally speaking, you can do a blockbuster for less on Wii, because it doesn't require as many art assets.
Ultimately, though, I don't totally disagree with the OP. I think HD consoles are well-suited to blockbusters; maybe more so than Wii. That said, I think Malstrom may be right that the blockbuster system is being disrupted by Wii. The Wii had no blockbuster games this holiday (unless you count Animal Crossing or maybe Guitar Hero and Rock Band) yet it outsold the competition with ease.
Why does it bother people? Two reasons: One is that we're totally jealous. The other is that it makes no sense for companies to be putting more money and effort into less popular consoles.
