By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SnowFlow on 09 April 2009
Edit Thread
Procrastinato said:
theRepublic said:
Procrastinato said:

Astrotrain, how do you explain CoD:WaW's relative lack of success (I said relative -- 1M is a fine number, but not compared to the 8M of the PS360 versions, across the approximate same number of consoles).

I think that qualifies as a "AAA" franchise title, it reviewed well, etc. It even has a market vacuum to thrive in, which is supported by your own claims that it has no real competition. Why then the 1:8 ratio?

If its not demographics, I find myself at a loss, as to what it might be.  It benefitted from the same cross-platform advertising and everything. The ratio seems too out-of-whack to be mere coincidence, or a "freak occurance". It even released at a cheaper price.

A couple of reasons.

Apparently, CoD 3 for the Wii was the worst version, and not a very good game (but it outsold the PS2 and PS3 versions anyway).  Then, there was no CoD 4 for the Wii, which was the breakout hit of the series.

Those things hurt the brand on the Wii, while at the same time it was gaining popularity on the 360 and PS3.  So on the Wii, the CoD brand was sort of starting from scratch, while the other versions could build on the success of CoD4.

CoD3 was the worst entry in the series, across all platforms.

Your argument kind of falls apart after that, in my book, since you can basically sum up all the FPS games on the Wii, like Metroid Prime 3 (which didn't suffer from the pitfalls you mentioned), CoD3, CoD:WaW, etc. and they still probably won't catch just the PS360 CoD:WaW numbers, let alone the numbers of the gazillion other shooters available (in competition with each other) on those consoles.

You could say "they don't sum up because there aren't very many titles!" and to that I would say "They don't even thrive in a market vacuum, as you state, despite excellent review scores on several of the titles."

I think your reasoning is a bit of stretch.  But... to each his own, as they say.

 

 

COD4 not being on Wii really hurt it's overall pull for the COD franchise, plus COD W@W Wii was horribly gimped; didn't have split screen, didn't have all the modes.  This is all stuff that I as well as many others look for.

Metroid Prime 3 sold respectivly but it's a niche game and niche games don't have really high ceilings, look at Mirror's Edge on PS360, it's a niche game and had relatively low sales.  Infact both versions combined don't even add up to what Metroid Prime 3 has sold.  So this proves the point that hardcore niche games on PS360 and grounded too.

Madworld and House of the Dead look like alright games but honestly nothing about either game screams "buy me".  No More Heroes deserved to be a flop too because it has got to be the worst game I have ever bought.  If stuff like this replesents the mature-hardcore offerings on Wii that is somewhat sad.

To put it simple third party devs are for the most part throwing their trash, recycling, and offbeat games on Wii.  The Conduit and Monster Hunter 3 should be good examples of how mainstream AAA games sell on Wii, so long as the general public know they exist (advertising and publicity will play a massive roll too).  I used RE:4 as an example because it is the ONLY AAA third part aminstream game that even pops into my head.  For an aging port it's enjoyed good sales too.