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Forums - Nintendo - Nintendo trying to figure out ehy Metroid Other M didn't sell

MaxwellGT2000 on 16 November 2010
Khuutra said:
MaxwellGT2000 said:
Khuutra said:

So they should have expected it to sell 33-50% as much as the last Metroid game on the console? Why would it be realistic to expect it to be the worst-selling console Metroid of all time? Why make the game if those were their expectations?

You an Earthbound fan questioning this?  Why make Mother 3 if they knew it was late in the GBAs life, not coming to America, nor going to sell a million?  Because it's a solid game that people would enjoy! I know that isn't really the case for Other M but it's not outside of Nintendos realm, they don't just make series that sell gangbusters they focus on the little guys too with things like Fire Emblem, Punch-Out!!!, and Sin and Punishment, those are all lower tier franchises (Metroid being queen of low tier) for Nintendo and the one series that they seem to try and push to Zelda tier is Metroid and has yet to make it. 

They made Mother 3 because Itoi is an auteur who's able to foot the bill for production!

Making a game with a budget like Other M's would make no sense if they expected Fire Emblem-esque sales.

I agree with forest-spirit that their expectations were unrealistic for Other M, but if their expectations were in line with his then they shouldn't fund a game that expensive.


Actually Itoi didn't Iwata said he would fund it out of his pocket and if you watch the credits in the end of Mother 3 it says he was the producer Iwata did that for many reasons, love of the series, for the fans, and Itoi is a great friend of his from working at HAL(APE) together.

It's just not a series as popular as Zelda, they see the potential for the series to be bigger than it is, but all the different things they try to do just doesn't work, this time it was taking the series into a new area that would be easier for people to get into and thought it would boost sales, it didn't now they're just going to have to go back to the drawing board.  

Also how expensive was Other M if you have those numbers?



MaxwellGT2000 - "Does the amount of times you beat it count towards how hardcore you are?"

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hsrob on 16 November 2010

Metroid fans are used to their Metroid games representing the pinnacle of quality in their respective genres, Other M just isn't.  It just got lost in the sea of 'decent' games on the Wii and perhaps many would rather pick up a random decent game rather than one that could diminish a treasured gaming memory.



jarrod on 16 November 2010
Mr Khan said:
jarrod said:

Khuutra said:

Making a game with a budget like Other M's would make no sense if they expected Fire Emblem-esque sales.

I agree with forest-spirit that their expectations were unrealistic for Other M, but if their expectations were in line with his then they shouldn't fund a game that expensive.

I think Sakamoto earned some serious leeway with the higher ups thanks to breakouts like Wario Ware, Rhythm Tengoku and Tomodatchi Collection.  The last one alone outsold every game Retro's ever made, and it's only released in one country. :/

Looking back, Other M was pretty clearly a vanity project and when (if?) Sakamoto gets to take the franchise out again, I doubt he'll have nearly the same sort of resources handed to him.  The CG bill alone probably dwarfed the R&D budget for all his DS games combined.

So you don't think it wasn't a matter of

"Sakamoto's ideas for this Metroid game are right on the money. Let's let him run free and he'll return a hit."

instead being

"It's Sakamoto. His ideas *are* hits."

I always assumed that the former was the truth, that someone higher up than Sakamoto really thought his ideas were the future of a more mainstream, revived-in-Japan metroid, and that's why they gave him complete control, rather than them just letting Sakamoto have a vanity project because of his past successes

I think it was a bit of both, Sakamoto's track record (which is pretty hit laden) and higher ups liking the direction.  I also think this was on the tail end of Nintendo's "core push" on Wii, since late 2008 they'd been working with 3rd parties on releasing and highlighting key brands (Monster Hunter, Sengoku Musou, Tales, WE Playmaker) as well as following with some of their own (Sin & Punishment, Reginliev, Xenoblade, Metroid).   That push seems pretty much over now imo, on both sides.

I do think Sakamoto will get Metroid again (and probably work with Team Ninja again), but I doubt he'll get the same sort of budget, so we can probably say bye to those cinemas.  And the game will probably be better off for it.



jarrod on 16 November 2010
ksv said:

It didn't sell because Sakamoto is an idiot, and Nintendo are idiots for thinking that adding cutscenes and a story a 9-year old could have written will make the "hardcore" want the game.

In fairness, the story seemed on par with about every big budget "hardcore" JP action game I can think of.  For some reason people can let the campy plots, awkward scripts, and bad acting slide in stuff like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Dead Rising, etc, etc... but Other M's really gotten raked over the coals for it.  And really, it's narrative is no worse than any of those.

The game really felt like a AAA HD game (in SD) to me.  The story was practically RE in space, hell even the creepy over the shoulder exploration segments gave me RE4 flashbacks.



LordTheNightKnight on 16 November 2010
jarrod said:
ksv said:

It didn't sell because Sakamoto is an idiot, and Nintendo are idiots for thinking that adding cutscenes and a story a 9-year old could have written will make the "hardcore" want the game.

In fairness, the story seemed on par with about every big budget "hardcore" JP action game I can think of.  For some reason people can let the campy plots, awkward scripts, and bad acting slide in stuff like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Dead Rising, etc, etc... but Other M's really gotten raked over the coals for it.  And really, it's narrative is no worse than any of those.

The game really felt like a AAA HD game (in SD) to me.  The story was practically RE in space, hell even the creepy over the shoulder exploration segments gave me RE4 flashbacks.


But the games had those from the beginning (or since the Ninja Gaiden reboot). Metroid has not.



A flashy-first game is awesome when it comes out. A great-first game is awesome forever.

Plus, just for the hell of it: Kelly Brook at the 2008 BAFTAs

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Kasz216 on 17 November 2010
LordTheNightKnight said:
jarrod said:
ksv said:

It didn't sell because Sakamoto is an idiot, and Nintendo are idiots for thinking that adding cutscenes and a story a 9-year old could have written will make the "hardcore" want the game.

In fairness, the story seemed on par with about every big budget "hardcore" JP action game I can think of.  For some reason people can let the campy plots, awkward scripts, and bad acting slide in stuff like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Dead Rising, etc, etc... but Other M's really gotten raked over the coals for it.  And really, it's narrative is no worse than any of those.

The game really felt like a AAA HD game (in SD) to me.  The story was practically RE in space, hell even the creepy over the shoulder exploration segments gave me RE4 flashbacks.


But the games had those from the beginning (or since the Ninja Gaiden reboot). Metroid has not.

Yeah, it's like how (almost) nobody give Mario flack for having to save the princess.

Yet if Megaman suddenly had to save some robot princess....



CrashDestroyer on 17 November 2010
Kasz216 said:
LordTheNightKnight said:
jarrod said:
ksv said:

It didn't sell because Sakamoto is an idiot, and Nintendo are idiots for thinking that adding cutscenes and a story a 9-year old could have written will make the "hardcore" want the game.

In fairness, the story seemed on par with about every big budget "hardcore" JP action game I can think of.  For some reason people can let the campy plots, awkward scripts, and bad acting slide in stuff like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Dead Rising, etc, etc... but Other M's really gotten raked over the coals for it.  And really, it's narrative is no worse than any of those.

The game really felt like a AAA HD game (in SD) to me.  The story was practically RE in space, hell even the creepy over the shoulder exploration segments gave me RE4 flashbacks.


But the games had those from the beginning (or since the Ninja Gaiden reboot). Metroid has not.

Yeah, it's like how (almost) nobody give Mario flack for having to save the princess.

Yet if Megaman suddenly had to save some robot princess....


Or Sonic.



"To play or not to play, that is the question."- A wise man

 

Lifetime sales prediction

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Xbox 360 47.7/73 Million

PS3 43.6/69 Million

LordTheNightKnight on 17 November 2010
Kasz216 said:
LordTheNightKnight said:
jarrod said:
ksv said:

It didn't sell because Sakamoto is an idiot, and Nintendo are idiots for thinking that adding cutscenes and a story a 9-year old could have written will make the "hardcore" want the game.

In fairness, the story seemed on par with about every big budget "hardcore" JP action game I can think of.  For some reason people can let the campy plots, awkward scripts, and bad acting slide in stuff like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Dead Rising, etc, etc... but Other M's really gotten raked over the coals for it.  And really, it's narrative is no worse than any of those.

The game really felt like a AAA HD game (in SD) to me.  The story was practically RE in space, hell even the creepy over the shoulder exploration segments gave me RE4 flashbacks.


But the games had those from the beginning (or since the Ninja Gaiden reboot). Metroid has not.

Yeah, it's like how (almost) nobody give Mario flack for having to save the princess.

Yet if Megaman suddenly had to save some robot princess....


Well if Wily kidnapped one, that would be fine. Actually, MMIV turned out to be about saving a kidnapped girl, so that wouldn't be too out of character for the series.

And that is the issue. It's too out of character in the eyes of a lot of fans. It would be like if Mario Kart was presented as part of the Super Mario Bros series proper. That would not have gone down so well.



A flashy-first game is awesome when it comes out. A great-first game is awesome forever.

Plus, just for the hell of it: Kelly Brook at the 2008 BAFTAs

theprof00 on 17 November 2010

maybe because it's a hardcore franchise, and hardcore wii gamers probably have a modded system?



LordTheNightKnight on 17 November 2010
theprof00 said:

maybe because it's a hardcore franchise, and hardcore wii gamers probably have a modded system?

 

From what I've seen of the 360 and PS3, those gamers are more likely to flock to a game due to hype, and then consign the game to their shelf or sell it to a used games store.



A flashy-first game is awesome when it comes out. A great-first game is awesome forever.

Plus, just for the hell of it: Kelly Brook at the 2008 BAFTAs