Throughout the Wii's 5 plus years of being on the market, several games that could be branded "hardcore," games which would likely find some sort of success on the PS3 and Xbxo 360, have struggled on the Wii. And thus began the endless debate.. Who takes the blame? Nintendo? Third party developers? Marketters? The consumers themselves? This misguided article takes the position that it is US, the loyal Nintendo fan, that is to blame, for Nintendo of America's conservative approach in releasing certain games, and hones in the the recent stubbornnes of NOA to release three games, which look to be of very high quality, and are solely lacking in the Wii library... Here is the article, complete with my rebuttal:
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"Nintendo has come under a lot of fire lately for their refusal to release three hotly anticipated Wii JRPG's in North America: The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Pandora's Tower. Despite critical and commercial success in Japan, and localization of all three titles planned for Europe, Nintendo of America (NoA) has stated on many occasions that there are no plans for North American release for these titles. This, of course, has inspired rants, protests, and fan campaigns to get these titles into America. Really though, with the lackluster performance of other "hardcore" titles in America, can we really blame NoA for wanting to sit these games out?
Gamers cry out that Nintendo simply isn't giving these games a chance, but NIntendo has given the market for these games plenty of chances. Gamers are very vocal about their want for hardcore experiences on the Wii, but almost every game released that is not based on an already existing core Nintendo franchise has been met with abyssmal sales.
This article owns ITSELF within the first paragraph. It notes almost immediatly that the aforementioned titles are coming to Europe, yet its central thesis seems to be that Nintendo gamers, all over the WORLD, don't support some of their more "hardcore" titles. So doesn't the point that these games are being released in Europe go against the central point of this article? If it was REALLY an issue with sales, why the hell does NOE have no problem releasing these games, which are probably going to perform even WORSE there than they would in America, since the US has always been a stronger market for Nintendo?
MadWorld. Muramasa. Red Steel 2. The Conduit. All critically well-received titles, marketed towards the "hardcore" audience, that have all achieved abysmal sales. MadWorld sold about 390,000 units in America, Muramasa only 260,000. Red Steel 2 and The Conduit, both first-person shooter games, arguably the most popular genre right now, both only sound about 270,000 in America each. What really scares Nintendo, though, is when high profile sequels, such as the Conduit 2, barely sell 50,000 worldwide. Even more scary to them is when members of their core franchises, such as Metroid: Other M, can only push 550,000 units in America.
This paragraph shows the true ignorant nature of this article, not to mention is highly subjective. For one, it basically implies that the aforementioned games are very good, and thus should have sold on the Wii.. But of course, they didn't, because of those damn "teh cazual" Wii fans who don't appreciate or understand the complexities of these marvelous gems. Muramasa didn't sell, but let's be honest. Is their a single person that expected a game like this to sell? Especially when its predecessor on the PS2, Odin Sphere, bombed terribly? The other games were simply not good. They were far from the $50 admission price, and were sorely lacking in the replay value department. Not to mention the complexities of the controls would be enough to deter a large portion of the Wii audience.
The real laughers in this paragraph are as follows: Claiming The Conduit was a "critically well-recieved title," and implying that Metroid: Other M was somehow a good game.
I just love how nobody ever considers the real problem for the failure of a game might actually be... *GASP* the GAME! If a game doesn't sell, it simply wasn't good enough to sell. Period. End of story. Were the games not marketted enough? Sure, I guess you could make that argument. But Minecraft, an ugly looking indie game made by some dude in his basement, and is currently still in beta, has sold a million. Word of mouth is by far the most powerful form of advertisement. If these games the author mentioned were good enough, word would have gotten around. THEY WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH. End of story.
Now, might these have sold better on the HD consoles? Perhaps a little, but that's mainly because Wii gamers are harder to please than the HD console gamers, who tend to fall more easily for hype and marketting glitz. Besides, sales would have fallen like a rock a few weeks after release, like most HD games tend to do.
This is terrifying to Nintendo. This is showing them that the market simply doesn't exist for "hardcore" games on the Wii, especially when titles like Just Dance 2, Wii Fit and Wii Sports Resort continue to sell like hotcakes in North America. Not to say that those titles are bad, far from it. It's just showing Nintendo that the market for the Wii remains a very casual-oriented one.
What does that even mean, a "casual-oriented" market? For that matter, what is a casual game? What is the gameplay like? The author of course doesn't say. It's much easier to lump consumers into vague demographics and rely on message board lingo and stereotypes than actually try to explain yourself and back up your arguments.. So if the market for "hardcore" games doesn't exist for Wii, how do you explain the sales for games like Super Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Metroid Prime, Super Smash Brothers, Zelda, Resident Evil 4, Monster Hunter Tri, etc? If the game is good enough, it WILL sell, no matter how "hardcore" or "casual" it is. God I cannot wait for those meaningless buzzwords to die...
Of course, one could make the argument that none of these titles are JRPG's, the genre of the three games that Nintendo fans are currently fighting to bring stateside. And that would be a valid argument, if the JRPG market for the Wii had proven to be successful. The few releases, however, haven't been all that promising sales-wise. Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World has sold a measly 200,000 in America, while Arc Rise Fantasia only 100,000. It could be argued that Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles and Pandora's Tower are all substantially more hyped than those games, but the numbers tell Nintendo of America that there simply isn't an audience for JRPG's on the Wii, much less any system right now.
Other than Final Fantasy, the JRPG genre in general has failed to stay relevant this generation. Lost Odyssey, arguably the most prominent JRPG release other than Final Fantasy XIII this generation, has only sold about 450,000 copies in the U.S.. Other JRPG releases, such as Cross Edge, Infinite Undiscovery, The Last Remnant, and Blue Dragon have also struggled to find success, critically and commercially, in America.
Xbox 360 has far more JRPGs than the Wii. The market is starved for a JPRG on the Wii. The author uses two examples for JRPG blunders on the Wii, but again, both of those games were poorly recieved, not to mentioned made entirely by third parties. In the case of Lost Story, Xenoblade, and Pandora's Tower, these are second party titles, meaning Nintendo has much more leverage over regulating both the quality as well as the marketting hype. There is NO reason these games wouldn't put up at least decent numbers as long as they are good games and NOA does their part in pushing them.
One could blame Nintendo, for marketing the Wii from the get go as a "casual" system, meant only for young children and older people, cutting off the hardcore userbase that helped them become so successful. Another could also blame the decline in popularity of JRPG's in recent years. However, as much as those factors come into play, Nintendo fans need to also take some of the blame onto themselves. Nintendo did deliver quality, hardcore-oriented titles onto the Wii, and we voted with our wallets when we chose not to buy those games. While we helped core Nintendo games like Super Mario Galaxy, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Donkey Kong Country Returns sell millions worldwide, we also showed Nintendo that we neither wanted nor cared about anything else.
Yeah, Nintendo really cut off the hardcore userbase with Wii, what with their classic 2D Mario game, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Zelda, Metroid Prime, Metroid Other M, Fire Emblem, Smash Brothers Brawl, Monster Hunter Tri, Resident Evil 4, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Epic Mickey, Goldeneye, Sonic, Punchout, Dr. Mario, etc.
This is where the article goes from wrong to outright infuriating. As a Nintendo fan, I refuse to take a single ounce of blame for NOA's stuborness, or cowardice to relase the games, if you'd prefer. Consumers owe Nintendo absolutely NOTHING. It is NINTENDO'S job to crank out as many games as possible, with as much quality as possible. They are a business. It is THEIR job to please US, not the other way around. I have said this countless times with the third parties constantly bitching about their lack of Wii success, but the same is true with Nintendo. If your game didn't sell, there was someting wrong with the GAME, not us consumers.
I have faith that these titles could make it to America some day, at least The Last Story anyway (NoA issued a trademark for it last month). But don't pretend for a minute that Nintendo is "screwing us over" or "not listening to their fans". We can protest and campaign all we want, but Nintendo already has the numbers in front of them. If Nintendo ends up not localizing these titles for North America, we have no one to blame but ourselves."
Again, I will never blame myself, or any Wii gamer for the poor performance of certain games, nor will I blame us for NOA's incompetance. Why the hell should we lower our standards in order to appease the multimillion dollar companies? Make your games better, and we will buy them. There is a reason NSMB Wii has sold 25 million units, (and no the reason is not "durr durr because it's Mario!") It's because it's truly a great game.
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In closing: Regarding NOA's reluctance to release these three RPGs, which look to be of very high quality, it still baffles me, especially when you consider NOA had no problem releasing HIGHLY obscure games like Fragile, Sin and Punishment, and Sakura Wars. There is just no excuse for them not to bring them here. While I can't say the exact reason behind their logic, other than their sheer stuborn attitude, I do know that the reason is NOT us consumers. To suggest that is not only completly false, but a shameless attack on the very people that made Nintendo a major player in the first place.
