Mummelmann said:
There are many games of high quality that sold very poorly, like Beyond Good & Evil, GTA Chinatown Wars on DS (sold very poorly compared to the mainline games on home consoles, especially considering the massive installed base), Psychonauts sold practically nothing, Grim Fandango, Okami, for a few examples. I think, in many cases, the low sales can attributed to the environment they release in, perhaps they are of a unique flavour in visuals and gameplay that get overshadowed by simpler and more mainstream alternatives in the genre on a given platform or perhaps (as in the Wii U's case, in my opinion) the title is presented in a platform environment that has little else bearing any resemblance to the title and few other titles that are likely to appeal to the same customer, greatly reducing the purchasing incentive for the hardware itself. I do think that Bayo 2 would have performed better on PS, for instance, given that this is a platform that is more likely to appeal to what I imagine is the core audience of such a title but I'm not so sure about W101; it is a quirky title that fits the Wii U's image better than Xbox or PS, in my opinion, and I believe that this odd but fantastic little title was destined for obscurity simply due the nature of the product itself and its presentation. Lots of great music and good quality movies get ignored all the time. Quality =/= appeal, as it stands in today's consumer minds and the modern entertainment arena. Look at the PSP and DS' top 20 bestsellers; it illustrates perfectly the point I'm making on appealing to the core audience of any given platform. For instance; GTA: Chinatown wars (as mentioned above) is at spot #100 on the DS (and the only GTA released there at that, leaving it entirely without competition) list while spots 1 and 3 on the PSP lists are GTA titles (the two of them also likely stole most of the customers away from Chinatown Wars on the PSP since they were more traditional in their gameplay and followed a more similar narrative as well, which ties into my point of games being outshone by more mainstream alternatives in the same genre, or same franchise even, as is the case here). In short; yes, I do believe that being on the Wii U will ultimately cause lifetime sales to be lower than they could have been on a platform with a different core customer but I also think that this title is quirky and unique enough in certain aspects to be outdone by other, more mainstream alternatives on said platforms (basically, I'm saying that Bayo 2 was likely never destined for epic sales regardless due to the nature of the product). Like I mentioned; quality =/= appeal. |
Well said - You mentioned Okami, a great game I have played and could not understand between high ratings and word of mouth why more people would not pick it up sooner or later - I played it in the Wii but I think it was on PS3?? Too maybe - Due to the super hero look of the Wonderful 101, I think with the right marketing and lots of it, it could have sold much better. It has the initial visual appeal to attract the younger market but the game play to attract more experienced gamers - and it looks harmless enough for parents to pick it up for their kids if the kids told them they wanted it- but W 101 marketing was practically non existent so we will prob never know what could have been For now at least it seems any non 1st party Nintendo game will struggle in the Wii u as well- particularly niche titles -
