jarrod said:
WiiWare's issues are pretty immediate, and Nintendo's done more or less nothing to really alleviate that imo. Indeed, their plan to essentially handicap the more successful digital service (Virtual Console) in order to push WiiWare has more or less backfired, and ultimately just made interest in DD software on Wii seemingly decline overall. Nintendo is aware of the problem though, Iwata's talked about to shareholders and their efforts with the 3DS store (emphasis on pushed content, better visibility/organization, standardized user ratings, integrated Nintendo Channel, etc) are encouraging for the Wii successor. I also think Nintendo promising an upgrade path for purchased DSiWare to your new 3DS is vital, a LOT of interest dropped off for VC/WW when the differences between Nintendo's and Sony/Microsoft's licensing setups were drawn clearly a few years back. I wasn't aware quite how badly things had gotten now though. WiiWare had quite a few early success stories (FFCC My Life as a King, Lost Winds, Mega Man 9, NyxQuest, etc), the most notable of which is probably World of Goo (which sold a whopping 60% of it's overall sales on Wii, versus 40% collectively for Steam, D2D, retail and 2DBoy's own store). This sort of fall off seems pretty massive, and I'm curious if Virtual Console's had quite the same sort of precipitous drop (it certainly has in terms of new releases). Platformers last gen had already been declining last gen, but there were still some 3rd party standouts on home consoles (Rayman 2-3, Sonic series, Klonoa 2, Billy Hatcher, Maximo 1-2, MMX7-8, etc). This generation, that's pretty much only continued on Wii, with a (1st party driven) focus on 2D too. PS1/N64/Saturn however was LOADED with stuff, the decline really didn't start until this last decade imo. Sonic 4's been a massive sales disappointment I'd say, especially given the long delay to tune up quality. I'd say doing a bundled retail release (to get to the reliable Sonic fanbase) is probably the only hope the project has at all, but I think the damage has been done to a degree. This game wasn't made for the hardcore, it makes little sense to target those users to the exclusion of your base, especially since they're the most vocal and word of mouth was likely to be unkind no matter how the game turned out. Then again, it's Sega, so no surprise with how the clusterfuck worked out. Neversoft reviving Crash is interesting though, and long past due imo. I think the IP still has real untapped value, I hope it goes well. I also wonder why the PSone games have never been collected for reissue, you'd think a "Crash Collection" with Crash 1-3 and CTR would be a huge seller... are the rights tied up with SCE/ND or something? |
I'm always going to be a skeptic when it comes to Nintendo and online, I just think they've got so far to go that it's hard to see them ever catching XBL or PSN in all regards - and this will always then hinder WiiWare sales. Sure enough it shouldn't be too hard to get WiiWare having a better apprearance and more space for promotions, but without the fully integrated online experience - friends lists, achievements, quick join features blah blah - people simply won't use Wii online as much, and less people using Wii online is less potential WiiWare customers. They might have an ace up their sleeve though.
I don't know figures for others you listed, but Megaman 9 was projected at 425000 sales across all digital platforms earlier in this thread. Even if it sold best on the Wii, that's still not far beyond 150000, which is a drop in the ocean compared to million sellers like Case zero and Battlefield 1943. Maybe other WiiWare games can boast comparable sales though? (I'm not trying to belittle Wiiware or anything just gather where it's sales potential stacks up)
Especially if there has been a 'drop' - but I think the drop can mainly be contributed to a lack of games (Which actually get promotion / garner interest). Nintendo never bother to put anything on there and actually promote it and aside from World of Goo which got alot of coverage, and those which are also on PSN / XBLA, I'm not sure I can even name any WiiWare games that came out recently...
I know there were platformers last gen but non of them really ever sold or got much coverage, guess that was just the genres last legs really. Sonic is the only third party platformer still going from those listed in all honesty, and I doubt you can put them sales down to quality. Looks like the Wii is helping spark a few new ips though, de Blob and Mickey (As a platformer at least).
I'm sure Sony would love to do a Crash collection, but I think this 'collection' trend will likely be limited to PS2 games. You can stick a PS2 game in HD and add trophies and it's 'acceptable' but I think there'd be alot of criticism in doing the same for a game that looks like a PS1 game - besides they're all on the PSN store for like £4 anyway. It's a shame as I'd love to play them with trophies :P. We'll inevitably see Jak / Dextar and Ratchet/Clank collections though.
EDIT: Found some WiiWare 'estimates' from VGC itself, looks like highest games are around 500k tops (Albeit could be old numbers) with World of Goo around 300k and Pokemon Ranch 'top with just under 700k. Interesting reading but I don't wanna form any real opinion on that while I'm this tired. VC boasts higher sales however, albeit with pretty much just Nintendo games lol.
