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:

I cut your post up a bit, so you can see what parts of it I'm actually responding to.

Yes. I've played both, though not at length. But I think that in this case, it's not even relevant. The image the game has is more important than anything when it comes to sales.

And for the record, I don't think New Super Mario Bros. Wii does anything mindblowingly innovative either. But Super Mario Bros. did. That's the game that started the series and shot it up to stardom. It even made Mario more famous than Mickey Mouse. And that's the game Little Big Planet would have to outdo in terms of innovation to reach the same iconic status.

The Playstation 3 has some quirky but fun games. But take a quick look at the top 50 best sold games for it. In the quirky but fun category you'll find two Guitar Hero games, a ratchet and clank game (which is so focused on weapons I'm not really sure it belongs there) and Little Big Planet. Then take a look at the Wii top 5. Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Sports Resort, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Play. It's just a completely different type of games that make up the stuff people buy on the Wii. Because, I believe, the image of why you want a wii is different, the games people buy on the console is different. There are very few people that bought a PS3 to play Buzz, Little Big Planet or Ratchet and Clank. There are millions who bought the Wii for Wii Sports and Mario Kart Wii. It's a huge difference, and it makes a huge difference for sales of respective types of games on the consoles.

Same with your wife. She loves Little Big Planet, but she wouldn't think that experience was available on the PS3, so she wouldn't buy it. If she told her friends about it they'd probably shake their head and not believe her. It would be a completely different story with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. because the Wii's image is completely different.

I'd think that it's not as much about which console has the most amount of platform lovers (though I'd suspect the Wii would have a much higher percentage) but a case of which console has the most people that use it to play local multiplayer games with their friends and family. Using that logic, New Super Mario Bros. Wii would sell around equal to Mario Kart or Wii Sports (without bundles), while Little Big Planet only has the PS3 Guitar Hero and possibly Ratchet and Clank crowd to draw on.

 

I hope that you get my reasoning. It isn't all that much about the games, but the marketing.

Good point.  If it's the same gamers that are playing Mario Kart that are also picking up NSMBWii, we already know that there are about 20 million of them.  Using the same logic on the PS3 for gamers that play Ratchet, there were only 3 million on the PS2 and under 2 million on the PS3, so LBP has already surpassed those gamers and had broader appeal.  The other interesting point about that is that Ratchet games, just like LBP, don't seem to sell well in Japan.  It seems like all of the gamers who like platformers really prefer the Wii.

Thanks to everyone who replied for the intelligent sales analysis discussion!