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RolStoppable said:
You seem to assume that all the people who didn't want to pay for both, the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64, would have bought a N64, if Super Mario 64 was a free game to them. This doesn't make any sense though.
People who aren't interested in a system won't buy it even when the price of admission drops.
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@Bold. And that's where you're mistaken two times over.
1) People who are interested may not buy a console if the experience they're looking for (in this case say SM64) is cost-prohibitive to them, especially if they have the choice of buying a competing product. (Business 101).
2) People who at first aren't interested in a system may change their minds if cost is made reasonable to them. We see that alot even on the forums, where games are a hobby. With greater reason this applies in a context where games are not a hobby and there is less platform bias.
That's for the merits of Mario, given another price at that important launch window.
As for exposure, here are those who bought an N64 without Mario64:
| Article |
NA |
EU |
Japan |
Rest of World |
Global |
| Nintendo 64 (N64) |
20.11 |
6.35 |
5.54 |
0.93 |
32.93 |
| Mario 64 |
6.91 |
2.85 |
1.91 |
0.23 |
11.89 |
| Those with N64 but not Mario |
13.20 |
3.50 |
4.63 |
0.70 |
21.04 |
If they bought an N64 without Mario, they would certainly not Not buy an N64 with Mario. That wouldn't make any sense.
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Since the N64 lifecycle is already over, we can say with certainty that the N64 sold as many units in North America as it possibly could, because by the end of its lifetime the console itself and the games had to be put on sale to clear the shelves of retailers.
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Nope. (see above) Demand creates supply. The same liquidation would have occured regardless. Wow, gaping holes Rol.
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But let's assume SM64 was bundled, so it would have sold 20m copies in North America. How would the sales of the non-bundled Super Mario Sunshine have looked like? Not much differently, because SM64 had a lot of artificial sales due to it being forced on every N64 owner.
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First of all Super Mario Sunshine would have been a different game, because Nintendo would have had to adapt to its new consumerbase, which would have more exacting demands than the loyal one it had. They would have also not gone in silly directions since they would not have needed to differentiate.
But let's assume for a second they made Sunshine in hypothetical scenario, as they did it in reality. Sales would have been higher, since exposure to 3D Mario would've been accomplished. Forced or not, artificial sale or not, the marketing and exposure is what mattered.
And it would need exposure, not because it's a different series, but because it is a whole new play control that could have some lost if they have no exposure to it. Simple as that. it's like going from riding a bike to riding a motor bike. Both are bikes, one just needs much more experience and training.
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SMB with its permanent bundle also had artificial sales, after all. The same goes for Wii Sports. The true merit of a game/series can only be judged, if people have to pay for it as a standalone. SMB was of course not a true 30m game in North America alone. Nobody would think that, because it defies common sense. An opportunity to play a game does not necessarily translate into a purchase of a sequel. Not every person liked SMB, so it's delusional to believe that millions more would have bought SM64 sequels, if SM64 had been a part of their N64 purchase.
And, of course, the exposure of Super Mario 64 as it was went beyond its actual sales, because people were lending it to friends (if they had their own N64) or at least given the chance to play it at a friend's place (if they didn't have their own N64).
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@1st para. Exposure. I would have expected 3D Mario to have a similar trend to 2D Mario. SMW sold half of SMB, and the next would have sold half of that, but a full retro celebration (à la NSMB) would sell like hotcakes.
Here is pokemon for a different traditionalistic series over the years and platforms:
@Italics. Very true. But without owning it, it was purely an experience, they never really had a chance to adopt the play controls, despite throughly enjoying it (in my experience).
