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Forums - Nintendo - Are 500k sales a success on Wii?

CDiablo on 28 December 2008

Id say profit wise anything above 200k is good for a Wii game.



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bigjon on 28 December 2008
Snake612 said:
It depends on which third party game you are talking about. In my opnion, any console that sells 500k worldwide is an success. Unless, if it is a huge exclusive game like Super Smash bros or halo 3 or mgs4, then, no. Other than tht, 500k is an EPIC SUCCESS.

 

 EPIC success? no. But is not going to bankrupt them. Also, I think the number is now like 600k break even for HD games that are not massive projects, just midline games. For the Wii it is about 350k to break even. But for low budget titles like NMH, De Blob, and Zack and Wiki it is closer to 150-200k. And then games like Disagea are even lower (under 100k break even point)

DS games for the most part seem to be around 200k for a midlevel title (due to the fact the games only cost 29.99), but alot of the casual type games may have even lower break even points. That is what makes a game like cooking mama so profitable on the DS, I am willing to be they would have made money with 150k in sales, but it has sold like what 3 mil? All gravy. Those types of games do not sell on the PSP, or HD consoles... period. (beside the Disagea type games)



End of 2009 Predictions (Set, January 1st 2009)

Wii- 72 million   3rd Year Peak, better slate of releases

360- 37 million   Should trend down slightly after 3rd year peak

PS3- 29 million  Sales should pick up next year, 3rd year peak and price cut

Valkyria00 on 28 December 2008

Guys Im talking about QUALITY titles! Which is why I didnt say name shovelware.

I named two big games for 2009. The Conduit and MadWorld so try to stay away from saying shovelware makes profits because thats not what Im worried about Im talking about quality 3rd party games.



bigjon on 28 December 2008

ok, for a QUALITY Wii game, with a decent marketing budget I would say 400k for the Wii, 600k for the HD consoles.

But again Z&W, Deblob, and NMH are QUALITY titles with budget not much more than shovelware.



End of 2009 Predictions (Set, January 1st 2009)

Wii- 72 million   3rd Year Peak, better slate of releases

360- 37 million   Should trend down slightly after 3rd year peak

PS3- 29 million  Sales should pick up next year, 3rd year peak and price cut

Valkyria00 on 28 December 2008

I meant that as a reply to people who posted shovelware as an example. They say under 100k is a success.

Low bugget doesnt mean less quality and you posted some good examples. NMH is a quality title with a low budget. Is 500k a success for it. Fuck yea. (I know it hasnt hit 500k)



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famousringo on 28 December 2008
shakarak said:
I would say so. i worry though about a game like conduit.

High voltage has about 120 employees. They created the quantrum 3 engine, and this game that we know of has been in development for about a year and a half. The only other games I'm aware they have been working on are those three wiiware games (ign previewed the Animales game back in June). So you can tell that i'd say 75% of the workforce works on the conduit. If that game does not make 1 million worldwide it's obvious that it wont turn a profit. ALso consider they are not publishing it themselves and that a portion will go to sega.

Does anyone know what the average pay of a senior engineer, game designer, artist, sound engineer and so forth are? Just take that into consideration and It's going to be tough for the conduit to make bank.

 

Your 75% estimate is really high. Last I saw, High Voltage said that 30 people were currently working on The Conduit. Here's a list of published and announced games they've developed for Wii alone:

Animales de la Muerte
Ben 10: Protector of Earth
Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess
Evasive Space
Go, Diego, Go! Great Dinosaur Rescue
Go, Diego, Go! Safari Rescue
Gyrostarr
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
High Voltage Hot Rod Show
The Conduit
V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack

I'm sure they have a quite a few people working on their Quantum engine who aren't strictly working on The Conduit project, but I'm also willing to bet that they're still working on some unannounced licensed games. They might even have some projects in the works for other platforms, though they seem pretty committed to Wii development at this point.

The point is that those 120 people churn out quite a few games, so I wouldn't assume that the majority of the studio is working on The Conduit at this point. And I don't agree that 1 million is going to be Conduit's break-even point.



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arsenal009 on 28 December 2008

500k is definitely a profit. I think i read on this forum, not 100% sure, that average Wii game needs 200k to make profit & average ps360 game needs 600k.



shakarak on 28 December 2008
famousringo said:
shakarak said:
I would say so. i worry though about a game like conduit.

High voltage has about 120 employees. They created the quantrum 3 engine, and this game that we know of has been in development for about a year and a half. The only other games I'm aware they have been working on are those three wiiware games (ign previewed the Animales game back in June). So you can tell that i'd say 75% of the workforce works on the conduit. If that game does not make 1 million worldwide it's obvious that it wont turn a profit. ALso consider they are not publishing it themselves and that a portion will go to sega.

Does anyone know what the average pay of a senior engineer, game designer, artist, sound engineer and so forth are? Just take that into consideration and It's going to be tough for the conduit to make bank.

 

Your 75% estimate is really high. Last I saw, High Voltage said that 30 people were currently working on The Conduit. Here's a list of published and announced games they've developed for Wii alone:

Animales de la Muerte
Ben 10: Protector of Earth
Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess
Evasive Space
Go, Diego, Go! Great Dinosaur Rescue
Go, Diego, Go! Safari Rescue
Gyrostarr
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
High Voltage Hot Rod Show
The Conduit
V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack

I'm sure they have a quite a few people working on their Quantum engine who aren't strictly working on The Conduit project, but I'm also willing to bet that they're still working on some unannounced licensed games. They might even have some projects in the works for other platforms, though they seem pretty committed to Wii development at this point.

The point is that those 120 people churn out quite a few games, so I wouldn't assume that the majority of the studio is working on The Conduit at this point. And I don't agree that 1 million is going to be Conduit's break-even point.

Well maybe 75% was a little high.  But what do you think would be there break-even point?

 



yushire on 28 December 2008

I wonder if Wii gamers will be hugely disappointed with the graphics of The Conduit. Its still possible. After all, HVS still wants to make profit not to prove a point. But if the graphics was as everyone expected than its financial lost to them. HVS I MEAN and even SEGA.



end of core gaming days prediction:

 

E3 2006-The beginning of the end. Wii introduced

 

E3 2008- Armageddon. Wii motion plus introduced. Wii Music. Reggie says Animal crossing was a core game. Massive disappointment. many Wii core gamers selling their Wii.

 

E3 2010- Tape runs out

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2009/ICG_Tape_runs_out.jpg

dib8rman on 28 December 2008

Just tossing this out there; but I'm under the impression Mad World wont break 300k.

I mean unless gore n' gritty sells versus cool funky fresh.

The funky fresh part is No More Heroes, the game is gorey but it's definetly not dark n' gritty. But then again Mad World could be more comedic than grim so it could pull it off.



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