Soundwave said:
I'm seriously tempted to make this my sixth point.
F*ck Metroid.
Pardon my french, from a marketing POV, Nintendo's strategy of having no answer to the need for a older-skewing franchise other than throwing Metroid at people over and over again has been a disaster. Metroid is not a big time franchise for core players and never will be unless the entire game play is changed dramatically.
The mass audience does not like slow paced, solitary games for the most part.
The 4 Metroid games (the 3 Prime + Other M) combined have sold less than GoldenEye on the N64. The two Metroid games on the Wii actually somehow managed to sell less than the two on the GameCube despite having 4x the userbase.
Nintendo needs a GoldenEye. Not these small potatoes.
Metroid is a fine series by its own merits. It's just not the franchise that Nintendo tries to keep positioning it as, and no doubt even they probably have gotten the message by now. Metroid has had 10+ years from Metroid Prime to make its case as a true top tier core gamer franchise and the numbers simply aren't there. No excuses, time to move on and let some other IP have a real chance.
If Nintendo won't invest in a new character because they're too scared to take the risk, then like I said, I've suggested they go sign a deal for the Bond license which is currently free and apparently available. They have history there, it works for them, and I'd virtually gauruntee a high quality Bond game from Nintendo with a good multiplayer component would outsell any Metroid game they make.
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