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Words Of Wisdom on 04 June 2008
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LordTheNightKnight said:
Words Of Wisdom said:

The key at this point is not console market share, it's market penetration on the part of game developers. It doesn't matter if my market size is 100 million people if only 5 of them will actually pay for my product. By comparison, a 7 million person market size where everyone will buy my product is phenominal.

The Wii needs to solidly show developers that their big name titles are worth putting on it versus the PS3 or 360. Right now there's a stigma following the Wii that has yet to be shattered. You can point to sales evidence if you like but it's not overwhelming enough to actually be a solid case to developers yet.


How can the Wii by itself show it can sell games it doesn't have yet? Developers have to put their games on it, to see if they will sell. The Wii can't sell games that aren't being made. It's putting the cart before the horse. If developers want to see if the Wii will sell their big budget games, they have to put some of their big budget games on the Wii.

Sure a developer risk money, but they risk money on HD systems. That's why they market the hell out of them. I also noticed that the biggest selling Wii games often have the most marketing. Not always, but the fact is that marketing sells Wii games same as HD games.


The cart before the horse is not quite the analogy I would have chosen.  The "Chicken and the Egg" analogy fits so much better.  Developers want assured success for their games before they put them on the Wii yet need they can't see that success until other developers begin putting similarly targeted games on the Wii.  More than anything, the Wii needs more developers willing to take the plunge right now.

I would say always.  Good marketing will result in more copies sold than bad marketing.  That is a statement of fact.  However, the profit from those extra copies sold must cover that marketing.  If developers are approaching the Wii as a cheap alternative, they're going to try to minimize their investment at the risk of possibly hurting their bottom line.