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HappySqurriel on 17 March 2009
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Impulsivity said:

On one hand this is true, HD games DO indeed cost more, but on the other hand the upside potential is just enormous.

I mean GTA 4 between PC, 360 and PS3 is pretty close to 20 million and will almost certainly pass that. It has in that case made its budget more then 10 times over even before any DLC.

There are almost no Wii games that have those kinds of sales, not even Nintendo games (and Nintendo games are the only ones that come even close).

 

Well, being that GTA 4 has only sold 10 Million copies on the PS3 and XBox 360 after a full year I don't see how they could possibly approach 15 million copies sold ... At the same time Wii Fit has almost sold 17 Million units and sells over 200,000 every week, and Mario Kart Wii has sold amost 15 Million units and sells over 100,000 per week, so it is obvious that the high end sales potential on the HD consoles is not better than the Wii.

 

Impulsivity said:


Yes there will be some flops like Haze or Too Human which won't make the money back, but there are also successes like Assassin's Creed, Killzone 2 and Gears of War which make the money back and then some (several times over).

The HD gaming thing is indeed a high stakes game, much like the movie industry. All HD game devs need to do is adapt to the new paradigm. Maybe instead of a game a month it should be 4 games a year of higher quality (and thus higher sales potential). The cream still rises, its just that making foam has gotten more expensive.

 

The business model that the videogame industry is based on depends on break out successes to pay for smaller niche titles ... The problem with the HD consoles is that the massive successes (like Grand Theft Auto 4) do not make enough money to recover the losses from unsuccessful games.

If game developers followed your pattern of producing less games the industry would rapidly collapse ... While many gamers only care about FPS, Racing and Sports games the loss of variety would alienate the majority of gamers and they would find other things to do with their time. I personally believe that developers need to realize that advanced graphics are not a selling feature to most people, and they need to produce games with graphics at a level that can be justified by its eventual sales.

 

 

Impulsivity said:


I in no way envy the Wii, the games on that system are for the most part flat out awful. I can think of 5 games on either the 360 or the PS3 that are good for every good game on the Wii and that's if I'm generous. If I take out the games I already own in almost identical form on the Gamecube that number goes down even further and fast until I'm left with Wii Sports and Wii Fit.

 

Your opinion is not the same thing as a fact

 

Impulsivity said:


Everyone keeps holding out the Wii as this amazing phenomenon. It only looks that way because its alone in its niche. It has the casual gaming and kids market since Sony isn't effective there till late in the gen (when the hardware is cheap enough for the mass market, see PS2's last 3 or 4 years) and MS isn't effective there...ever. If we were back to the two major players system with one HD console and the Wii I seriously doubt the Wii would be in 1st, especially in software sales. Wii vs one HD console would be close on console sales with the sole HD console dominating on software (especially 3rd party software); this would be especially true in a Wii vs Sony scenario.

The market being split between Sony and Microsoft makes it look as if HD consoles aren't the future; if you combine the game sales of the 360 and the PS3 they flat out dwarf the Wii especially with 3rd party sales. When the Wii games sell the 16+ million that successful HD games sell then talk about how its a sea change. There have been dozens of 10 million+ sellers on the PS systems over the years and very very few on Nintendo systems. Whats the top selling 3rd party Wii game at? A few million? How is that the future of gaming?

 

The Wii was sold out for more than a year, is selling at a rate similar to the PS2, and has outsold the PS3 and XBox 360 combined since it launched ... On top of this Wii owners are buying games at a similar rate to PS3 and XBox 360 owners (approximately 1 game every 2 months) ... So I don't see any evidence that Wii owners are any less dedicated to gaming than HD console owners.