Reggie, the Million games profit and a unfortunate declaration to NYT

[mike_intellivision]

Kenology said:

Any reasonable person would know that either Reggie misspoke, or the reporter really messed things up.  Didn't stop Kotaku editor and Nintendo troll Luke Plunkett from being all over the story though!

So, How Many Copies Does A Wii Game Need To Sell To Make Money?

By Luke Plunkett, 6:30 AM on Tue Mar 31 2009, 5,337 views

Nintendo are making money off the Wii. We know. But if you're not Nintendo, and you're planning on releasing a Wii game (or re-releasing a PS2 game), how many do you need to sell?

Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime has a fair idea. Speaking in broad terms, he reckons the average Wii game needs to sell a million copies to start turning a profit. Sounds easy, except...not many Wii games have sold a million copies.

In fact, of the 486 games currently on the system (according to the New York Times), only 16 have sold one million or more units (and that's according to the NPD Group). And of those 16, 9 are Nintendo titles.

Meaning only seven games published by a third party have sold a million or more units. That's...not many. Sure, Reggie was speaking in averages (so some games that have sold under a million may have cost little to develop, offsetting that), but still. Averages go the other way, too.

Goes to show, the Wii isn't the automatic money-printer you may think it is!

Oh. Unless you're Nintendo.

Video Game Makers Challenged by the Next Wave of Media [NY Times]

Source

I wonder if they will post my (unregistered) comment.

You have got to love how the part about "less than on other platforms" was completely ignored by Kotaku.

 

Mike from Morgantown