By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
DM235 on 30 December 2009
Edit Thread
Killergran said:
DM235 said:

And I wasn't expecting them to sell equally, but NSMBWii is selling so well as if they're giving away real gold coins with each game.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii captures the most important values the Wii stands for. In short, if you buy a Wii are very likely to be interested in the game. It's also based on one of the best known characters in the world and it's a spiritual sequel to the second best selling games in the world. Everybody knows it, everybody can play it, everyone that has a Wii shares some of the values the game is based on.

Now look at Little Big Planet. It really doesn't go well with the rest of the Playstation library. Quirky and fun isn't really the image the PS3 has, is it? It's more closely associated with epic and techniqually superior games. There are no iconic characters, no recognition, no really mindblowing innovations. Just a critically acclaimed game that has a bunch of minor innovations that makes it feel fresh.

And really, almost 3 million is not at all bad for a PS3 game. Not at all bad. It's the 11th best seller on the PS3, according to VGChartz numbers. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is currently nr 10 on Wii, according to the same source, even though that's going to change next week...

So you agree, it's a lot to do with Mario?  Have you played both?

I somewhat disagree with the library comment.  The PS2 had a fair number of million+ selling platformers (Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and Clank, Jak), but so far only Ratchet has appeared on the PS3 (PS1 games excluded).  But the PS3 does have it's share of quirky games (Buzz and EyePet come to mind).  I know that Sony has been trying hard to compete with Microsoft, and therefore the image of the PS3 has been leaning toward a hardcore gamer demographic, but to me it is still more of a jack-of-all-trades type console, with something for everyone. 

I think at this point that most people know who Sackboy is, and I don't think that NSMBWii has mindblowing innovations (just a great formula that works).  It is lacking the recognition, as it is a new IP.  I also have to throw in once piece of anecdotal evidence here.  My wife does not play video games.  However, when I showed her NSMB DS, she liked it, and she actually finished it.  When I showed her LBP, she also liked it and finished it.  What was even more surprising was that she would actually ask me to play LBP with her, when normally she'd rather watch TV.  I know that one sample point is far from being statistically significant, I think you have to agree that both games have a lot of appeal to gamers / casual gamers and even non-gamers.

Do you think that people that don't normally play platformers would pick up a copy of NSMBWii?

What my thought process was that there is a similar percentage of gamers on each console who like to play platformers (maybe this was my error in judgement).  If a platformer was released on both the PS3 and the Wii, I would expect the Wii game to sell twice as much, given that is has roughly twice the marketshare (63 million vs 30 million).  Using this logic, NSMBWii should sell 6 million.  You and I both know that it will sell far more than that (20 million maybe?).  Although Super Mario Galaxy is close to this formula, at about 8 million.

Looking deeper into the numbers, it looks like Japan just never caught on to LBP.  It has only sold 0.15 million, while NSMBWii is already at 2.0 million.