Welcome to the first thread of a new entry in the “Sales of the Day” series, I’m calling “Sales Hit or Miss” Game of the Day. Hit or Miss is my attempt to expand the games that are examined in the “Sales of the Day” series, as the other threads/articles lend themselves more towards talking about hit games. In the Hit or Miss threads/articles, we’ll be looking at the sales of moderate performing titles (sales ranging from 250k-1.5 mil depending on circumstances), comparing the game to other titles with similar characteristics(one chart in the thread, multiple in the follow up article), as well as look at any quotes or information from the game’s publisher/developer on the sales of the game. After looking at all of that, we’ll try to determine if the game has met the expectations of the publisher/developer (a hit), or if it fell short (a miss).

Sales Hit or Miss Game of the Day

12/9

Madworld

Description: MadWorld was released in March of this year in North America as well as Europe/Others, with lots of anticipation from Wii gamers looking for something more violent than the console’s typical offerings. The game got off to a decent start selling ~65,000 in its first week. However; after seven weeks, the game was already below the 10,000 a week mark. Since then it has continued to have low but steady weekly sales, with the total now standing at 350,000. Is that 350,000 enough to satisfy Sega/Platinum games, or did they expect more after the game received some critical praise (~83 average on gamerankings.com), and the effort they spent marketing the game (the “Death Watch” commentators trailers and TV spots)? Vote in the poll, then let us know what your thoughts on MadWorld’s sales are, as well as how you think the publisher/developer view the game.

Note: The game has not yet released in Japan.

Update: Poll taken down, now that the follow up article has been posted. Thanks to everyone who participated in this thread!

The thing is, mature games on the Wii are generally going to have a smaller audience, and you can see from that list, it is major franchises that are doing well

As for will it make them money... it is doubtful, but it won't be a gigantic flop

nice read.

I thought the Wii sold mature games better then that?

Its worse then i thought but hey the Wii has it own audience so

Yea but that isn't a fair assessment.  If you look at PS3 and 360 as well, it's generally the major franchises that are rated M that sell well too.  All the new IPs that achieved decent sales as well were also pretty well advertised and hyped.  But if you take something like Condemned, you can see the similar kinda sales to that of Wii games of similar position. 

OT: Really, this was a miss for Sega and Platinum games.  Although 350,000 in actual sales (maybe a good 400k-500k in shipments) is good enough to make a profit, but they missed opportunity to establish a franchise on the platform like No More Heroes.  They hype was maybe there but not widespread.  A marketing campaign existed but not on the levels of a franchise with much confidence behind it.  Indeed it would have seemed the loyal wii userbase picked it up with some others that caught into the hype and recently just becuase of a $20 pricetag.

Now I must say, this game is a tough sale.  It was a new property, bolded and capitalize M rating, and a unqiue/different style and look for a western audience.  But I would still have expected more given it had little competition when it released.

The game just does not look like something I would want to play, I have seen it as low as 12.99 on Amazon.com and I just can't justify a purchase of the game! I have MA games on both the PS3, and Wii/Gamecube but this game just looks bad!!

Are you certain? I was sure that Madworld was the one that slipped through the cracks. To paraphrase from memory: it didn't do as well as hoped, and it wasn't profitable, but it wasn't a huge bomb either. Your comment sounds closer to what they said about Overkill. I could be wrong though. Can anyone confirm/deny?

http://seganerds.thekartel.com/blog/2009/06/30/sega_not_done_with_mature_titles_on_wii

This was what I was referring to. Yours is more recent though.

How many of those are triple A material? (in your opinions, guys)

IMO, only RE4, and that's why it sold so well despite being a port from a last gen game.

The rest are good games too (loved NHM and HOTD:O), but top of the line?
The other consoles get the AAA games, so it's no surprise they sell like that.

If we're admitting the RE4 port, then I'd toss in both Call of Duty games.

Hit, in terms of what it tried and miss overall