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Third Parties Admit To Rough Times On Wii
Even if you make a great game, it's hard to gain traction on the Wii if you're not Nintendo. We saw it in 2009 with titles like MadWorld and The House of the Dead: Overkill, and the trend shows no signs of reversing.
In a fascinating article on industry news site Gamasutra, Paul Hyman explores the dichotomy of an immensely popular console that few can sell software for. Chris Kramer of Capcom and Wedbush Morgan's ever-loquacious analyst Michael Pachter lend insider perspectives to the phenomenon.
"[Zack & Wiki] was one of the highest-rated Wii games and was beloved by the media, it sold abysmally – about 120,000 units in 26 months – for no apparent reason," Kramer told Gamasutra. As discouraging as these results are, Capcom continues to show strong support for Nintendo's console with the Japanese release of Monster Hunter Tri and upcoming 2D fighter Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
Hyman also notes that "stores like Target and Best Buy have reportedly told game publishers not to even bother approaching them with collections of mini games, which they will no longer pick up." While this may help curb the avalanche of shovelware for Wii, the reasons behind highly rated commercial failures go far beyond being lost in the shuffle.
Pachter's advice is simple: "Wii publishers need to concentrate on fewer games but games of higher quality." That'd be great news for consumers, though on the development side it's easier said than done.
How many of you have pulled out the wallet for critical darlings like MadWorld or Zack & Wiki? Honestly, now. We'll know if you're fibbing.
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