Sega: Madworld on Wii was a “mismatch”

[Reasonable]

bmmb1 said:

Reasonable said:
It was an odd title for Wii, sure. But I think the issue is more that the publishers don't know how to reach the audience on Wii (which for sure will be much smaller than the total Wii install base) very well.

To sell something you need to reach who you want to sell to, and while I do believe the Wii overall has a smaller potential demographic for title's like this than the HD Twins I have no doubt the install base is big enough to support title's like MadWorld but I just don't think the marketing and sales messages are reaching enough people.

BTW what's with the Bayonetta comparison? That was a title that sold ok'ish on a platform (360) with a proven small demographic who are interested in such stuff, and ok'ish on a platform (PS3) where it had a better chance to sell but it's launch was badly harmed due to a lot of negative press (fair negative press for once) regarding the quality of the port.

MadWorld was a niche title that sold ok'ish but failed I think to reach the right awareness level with Wii owners to do better.

The reason for the comparison (which was done in the article) is that they are both by the same developer.

I know that - what I meant, but didn't explain too well, is that neither title was in a genre that looked likely to sell huge amounts on any console currently and I don't think (even allowing for the same developer/publisher, etc) that they are very comparable at all.

Bayonetta sold ok for what it was I thought, although if it had been properly multi from the start I believe it would have sold better on the PS3 than it did bringing it's total up.  But it was unlikely to sell hugely - enough to be a success on HD consoles, but little more than that.  Certainly it is far from being a core title alongside the MGS, GoW (both franchises), Halos, GTs and the like.

Madworld sold maybe a bit below what I believe it would have done on the PS3/360 - which I guess is the point of the article - but I don't think it's worth comparing it to Bayonetta as that wouldn't have sold any better on Wii (might have done worse in fact) and I'm not sure (unlike Bayonetta) that there is even a fair benchmark to judge from.  How many titles like Madworld have been on Wii?  What evidence is there for expected sales?  With Bayonetta you could look at DMC and other similar titles.  With MadWorld it was a new IP that barely fit existing genres with a mature rating and a distinct lack (I felt) of a clear premise.

MadWorld's problem I believe is marketing and actually easily defining what it is.  These are two huge blocks.  People buy things they can easily understand (for example that's one reason we tend to group things in genres with known traits) and they buy things they know about.  MadWorld I felt simply didn't aquit itself well in those two key categories.

Appart from a few cases (mainly involving known ip like Resident Evil) most titles like MadWorld just don't seem to generate enough awareness within the Wii ecosystem.  Certainly most fellow Wii owners I know (the more casual, not looking at sites like IGN types) simply don't know titles like this exist for the most part - hence they have no real chance of buying it.

Apart from a small minority I'm sure MadWorld ended up depending on random shelf searching to generate sales - which is far from ideal.