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Forums - Nintendo - SEGA: Its not game over for Mature Wii Titles

Carl on 30 June 2009

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sega-its-not-game-over-for-mature-wii-titles

Sega's recent targeting of a mature audience on the Nintendo Wii has been successful in the long-term, with the publisher telling GamesIndustry.biz it has more budget for similar adult content on the format.

Although The House of the Dead: Overkill didn't set the charts on fire on initial release, the company said that sales at a lower price point have made the game profitable, and the company is still willing to experiment with product despite the Wii being seen as the home of sugar-sweet games.

"House of the Dead: Overkill was a profitable title for us," revealed Gary Dunn, MD of European development for Sega, speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz.

"Whilst it had a rather sharp tail at full price, they do bubble away at a lower price point for a long time. You get your money back and a bit on full price, but over the years, if we do the final product return on investment, profits come from the lower price point."

Although another mature title – MadWorld, developed by Platinum Games – also didn't hit blockbuster status, Dunn is happy to take the risk, and has cash in the bank if the company decides to release more 18-rated titles.

"You have to push boundaries and explore. I think whilst MadWorld commercially didn't sell what we were expecting I wouldn't say it's game over for mature Wii titles from Sega.

"We're taking a look at the resources we have now. We've got money to invest in development, we're just considering where to invest it next," he added.

Sega was one of the first publishers to try to sell mature games to a Wii audience, with Electronic Arts also now eyeing the market with its Dead Space franchise.

Bethesda, publisher of Fallout and the Elder Scrolls, is also planning to try its hand at mature Wii games, with a title due to be announced this year.



                            

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bardicverse on 30 June 2009

Economics 101 right there. Offer a product at a lower price and it will sell better.



arsenal009 on 30 June 2009

Wait, so does this mean MadWorld lost money?



dampowell on 30 June 2009

I do not think it necessarily meant it lost money, just didn't do as well as expected. Plus, the games (HOTD & Madworld) are back to full price in all major store chains, which probably means they are having good tail sales and interest in stores. Maybe.



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CrashMan on 30 June 2009

Mad world MAY have, I am not sure about the particulars.

This does show an interesting difference between "Internet Success" and actual success.

On HD consoles, even Million seller games may lose a company money, depending on how big the budget (and anecdotally, the PS3 is the worst offender in this case.) While Wii games, with their much reduced production costs don't need to sell nearly as many copies to turn a profit. And ANY profit is good for business.

I hope other companies follow suit. It is a snowball effect.

One company makes a "hardcore" game for the wii and a few people buy the console that wouldn't have otherwise. This increases the install base. Another game of this sort is released and a portion of the new audience purchases it, as well as some more people jumping on the console who wouldn't have. After a while, the install base is large enough to support bigger projects with larger budgets and hooray for everyone.

At least thats how it should work. Time will tell if it does.



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TruckOSaurus on 30 June 2009

I think it just comes down to value. Both HotD and MadWorld are very short games with little replay value, it's only natural that informed gamers might decide to wait for a lower price until they buy them.



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c0rd on 30 June 2009

Why must these games be mature, anyway? Or, not just mature in Sega's case, but completely over the top?

I don't think Wii owners are demanding games filled to the brim with F-bombs and gore... hell, that's rare on the HD consoles. They should try toning it down a bit and seeing how that works.



Son1x on 30 June 2009

Sega, just give me Phantasy Star 5...



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Aion on 30 June 2009

Its shouldn't be M rated titles will do better in the future.



 

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megaman79 on 30 June 2009

@Rol, EA did extensive research prior to deciding DS Wii would be on rails. Don't you believe EA?



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