| Kenryoku_Maxis said: People need to stop blaming the sales of games based on excuses such as a game being 'niche' or 'bungled Cover Art'. Muramasa falls under the same genre as Metroid and Castlevania, its not niche. And the concept art for Little Kings Story is no different or obscure than something such as Katamari Damacy or Disgaea. The simple reason these games didn't sell is because they didn't have good marketing (IE: any aside from limited online advertising) and were poorly distributed (were only available in limited venues such as Game Stop and certain department stores, but not found in most Best Buys, Wal Marts, Toys r Us, etc). The simple fact is, hardly anyone is buying Marvelous games because hardly anyone knows about them. Not because of things like 'niche genre' or 'bad cover art'. |
I agree that 'good cover art' is a lame excuse, I'd say LKS didn't sell because it's not as good as people on this site say it is. I bought it and didn't enjoy it, but more importantly it has some pretty big flaws that kept it from being both accessible, and from being what a mainstream audience would want from the game.
However it's not innacurate to call some games niche. Well loved by a small group, but with some big barrier to enjoyment for the rest. Being of the same genre as Metroid or Castlevania doesn't mean the game isn't niche (both of those series are somewhat niche themselves though, they're certainly not 'mainstream'). The content and appeal of the games are dramatically different, and 'appeal' is what decides if a game is niche or not. Both Halo and XIII are the same genre, but one is clearly more niche and limited in appeal than the other.
A game I'm developing with some friends:
www.xnagg.com/zombieasteroids/publish.htm
It is largely a technical exercise but feedback is appreciated.
