Let's talk dev costs... Namco went on record saying that a game developed for the PS3 must reach 500,000 copies sold before it'll break even. That's BEFORE it'll start making money back for the developer. On the flip side, the Wii is so drastically cheap to develop for that a developer can sell only 100,000 copies and still be making a hefty profit. The point is, from a 3rd party perspective, it's a safer bet to spend $5-10 million making a game than it is to spend $50 million making a game, even if the cheaper game to develop won't sell as much.
"I mean, c'mon, Viva Pinata, a game with massive marketing, didn't sell worth a damn to the "sophisticated" 360 audience, despite near-universal praise--is that a sign that 360 owners are a bunch of casual ignoramuses that can't get their heads around a 'gardening' sim? Of course not. So let's please stop trying to micro-analyze one game out of hundreds and using it as the poster child for why good, non-1st party, games can't sell on Wii. (Everyone frequenting this site knows this is nonsense, and yet some of you just can't let it go because it's the only scab you have left to pick at after all your other "Wii will phail1!!1" straw men arguments have been put to the torch.)" - exindguy on Boom Blocks
