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jarrod on 08 February 2010
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Davey1983 said:
jarrod said:
mortono said:
There is some serious overestimation in this thread. If Metroid Prime 3 didn't even get to 2m, why would this?

Because it's basically "Metroid 5", unlike the Retroids it's going to get a big push, and unlike the Retroids the Japanese will actually buy it.

 

The first metroid prime got a good marketing push, and Metroid Prime sold the most of any Metroid game to date at about 2.8 million.  I don't see this new metroid game getting anywhere near that number for various reasons.  I predict in the 1-1.5 million range.

 

First, Metroid Fusion (so-called Metroid 4) is considered by many (myself included) to be the worst metroid game.  The same guy who was responsible for that is now in charge of this game.  We haven't seen the gameplay, and all we keep hearing about is how they want to explore Samus as a character and her motivations.  People don't buy Metroid because they want to understand Samus, they buy Metroid to shoot at space aliens.  I admit that this could be completely wrong, but look at the trailer for Other M-- cutscenes (aka, cinimatics) about Samus.  This causes me concern in the direction for the game (Metroid Fusion suffered because it tried to tell a story about Samus's backstory that most did not care for).  I am hopeful that I will be wrong and this game will be awsome, but considering that the same guy who made Fusion is behind this I am not optomistic.

 

I am curious, how do you know the japanese will buy it? 

Prime 1 got a great push and lots of industry support.  Prime 2-3 got barely a whimper and still sold 1-1.5m.  Other M is going to at least double them.

The same guy responsible for Metroid Fusion (Sakamoto) was also responsible for Metroid 1, Zero Mission and Super Metroid btw.  That's why many (including myself) are putting more faith in the game's mechanics and world design (ie: what actually matters).  I'll admit, the talked about focus on character has me a little worried (though I didn't mind it in Fusion, bar Adam's handholding), and cinematics are never my favorite thing, but the promise of a 3rd person 3D Metroid by the original R&D1 team (with Team Ninja support, makers of the best looking last gen games) has me pretty excited all the same.

Anyway, I think the emphasis on cinematics may be what actually helps sell the game in Japan.  It's also not a fps which helps immensely, not developed by westerners which also (for better or worse) helps, and the previous console Metroid games sold well in Japan (1.04m M1, 700k SM).  I'm not expecting a million seller, but I'm not expecting another sub 100k performance like the Primes.