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Squilliam on 26 February 2011
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LordTheNightKnight said:
Squilliam said:
LordTheNightKnight said:

"This is a considerable increase in cost because they cannot slap some PC version footage or whatever with the Wii version in many places without being fined for misleading advertising."

1. If you mean "in addition to the original cost", but this ignores that many multiplatform marketing campaigns note all the systems, without having to have separate commercials or footage.

"The average sale price for Wii titles is lower than Xbox 360 and PS3 titles. So whilst they may save money in making it, they don't exactly reap that reward in a retail setting."

2. That would only apply if the development cost was 2/3 (the $20 cut versus $30), but it's often 1/3 or even more.

"Will Wii titles stand the test of time as compared to many HD console releases?"

Considering how many get thrown into used bins compared to Wii games, it looks like this favors the Wii.

"lso 360/PS3 titles often sell the same or better when made into sequels whereas on the Wii especially sequels have often done considerably poorer."

3. First of all, there are few Wii sequels to these games in the first place. Second of all "often" doesn't mean "all" or "guaranteed". Sure Red Steel 2 and No More Heroes 2 had lower sales, but neither lost money, and Call of Duty has been consistent hits on the Wii. Third of all, the 360 and PS3 versions tend to get surrounded by other games of the type, so they actually have an audience. The Wii needs more of those games in the first place, not the rare release. And the aforementioned reasons are not real reasons not to do it.

1. I haven't seen anything of the sort and it depends on local advertising laws. Its easier to develop one advertising campaign worldwide and going by what I remember often games have different advertising between Wii and HD versions.

2. Development costs are 1! cost involved in releasing a game. You still have marketing, distribution and console owners fees to take into consideration as well and many of this fees severely restrict the margin per disc if the price per disc is lower.

3. What you call a hit in terms of revenue is different to what a current publisher would call a hit. Selling 500k is insufficient in this day and age. This is especially true if that 500k was sold at an average sale price of $35 over a period of 6 months.

As for legacy revenue im talking about cut priced software, bargain bins, compilations and remakes and on the PC this is an especially important source of revenue especially again with regards to Steam.

 


1. Well I don't know how the whole thing works, so I'll leave it at that.

2. I still have to find the article, but it admitted that $20 for Wii (and likely past consoles) went directly to the game and $30 for PS3 and 360. That means distribution and console owner fees are already taken into account. So by that number, it's basically marketing and development costs. That same article also stated that typical HD game costs are about $20 million, while high Wii game costs are in the $15 million range (assuming any Wii game has topped Mario Galaxy's $16 million), with The Conduit likely not even near costing $10 million (especially with reduced prices later on) considering that would be what 500K would earn directly for the game. That means marketing would have to be pretty high to make a poor margin compared to the HD games, and most developers don't spend more than a pittance for Wii game marketing, even the "casual" games.

3. Sega is fully publishing the sequel, and promised to market even more. So they clearly think that was sufficient. Plus your "this day and age" comment is false. It should be "insufficient with the budget and marketing of an HD game". Applying those standards to Wii games is the same BS spin developers have been using to justify not supporting the system, despite what the hard facts say.

 Thats assuming a full price game purchase from the first shipment of software. Your margins per game sold are always going to fall considerably once you're talking about games which cost between $20 and $40. If the game price drops $10, the publisher loses at best $7 in revenue. Nintendo doesn't take any loss, distributers and disc manufacturers don't take a loss and retailers certainly also don't take a loss. So if they were making $20 at $50 they are making $13 at $40. So unless they can sell at full price, those numbers don't work particularly favourably for games which cost only $5M to develop. These are the hard numbers, you cannot deny the lower margins publishers take reflect the lower development costs. The Wii is no more a safehaven for publishers than the HD consoles are. They both reflect the challenges of retail distribution. This isn't BS spin, it is the reality of distribution by retail and the costs publishers incur from all sources in order to get their games into your hands.



Tease.