Call of Duty: World at War is the best-selling Wii FPS*

[famousringo]

Video_Game_Critic said:

famousringo said:

Video_Game_Critic said:

 

Your third statement sums up many of the games for Wii.  Terrible games like "Mario Party 8" and "Mario and Sonic Olympic Games" outsold "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess".

Carnival Games, Wii Music, Game Party, Sonic and the Secret Rings, High School Musical Sing It, Red Steel and Ben 10: Protector of Eath all sold more than 1 million copies.  Furthermor Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour almost reached 1 million in sales.

Yes, why bother trying to make superior products when Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour can reach 1 million copies sold?

I see that you're frustrated mostly by party games and licensed IPs.

This might be news to you, but there's a rather large market of people who really like party games and titles like Mario Party and Mario and Sonic are amongst the best games in the genre. Carnival Games and Game Party aren't as good, and that's why they've been budget priced since launch, yet still don't sell as well as the best party games. As with Red Steel, it's no surprise that cheap games move a lot of units; they don't need as much value to justify their price.

As for licensed IPs, they're selling to fans of the license. A superior Ben 10 isn't going to draw people who don't like Ben 10 to begin with, so you only need enough quality to draw the fans of the license. I'm sorry that you found the quality of Hannah Montana's games so disappointing. Maybe the next one will live up to the expectations of more demanding fans like yourself.

I disagree because quality party games exist for the Wii.  "Super Smash Brothers Brawl", "Mario Kart Wii" (I do not like it, but it does make a good party game), "House of the Dead: Overkill", "Rayman Raving Rabbids" and "Boom Blox" to name a few.  Some of these games sold very well, but others did not.  Why is Mario Party 8 outselling Boom Blox and its sequel?  Both are party games?

First off, Mario Party 8 hit the market almost a full year before the first Boom Blox. By the time Boom Blox showed up, the party genre on the Wii was well-saturated. Now that Boom Blox Bash Party is out, the well has almost completely run dry. For a dramatic demonstration of this over-exploitation, see how Deca Sports 2 bombed on the heels of the original Deca Sports.

Second, Mario Party is an old and well-defined franchise from arguably the most trusted publisher on the planet. Boom Blox is a completely unknown IP coming from a publisher which many people harbour a lot of antipathy towards.

Third, calling the first Boom Blox a party game is a little bit of a stretch. The second game obviously shifted focus heavily towards local multiplayer, but at least half of the content in the original is geared towards single player. Multiplayer wasn't exactly an afterthought, but it's clear that EA didn't go into that game with the intent of making a party game. Compare that to Mario Party 8, which barely even supports single player. The original Boom Blox is more puzzle game than party game.