It wasn't exactly a crowded month, as Excitebots was the only Wii release from Nintendo in April, and there weren't any major third-party Wii games released either. This robust sequel to ExciteTruck (a game that sold quite well, being a Wii launch title) didn't even have to compete with one of Nintendo's GameCube remakes in terms of new releases.
We all know that Nintendo's catalog releases have been mega-blockbusters over many months and even years. "Evergreen" titles like Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii deserve their success, and Nintendo is encouraging new Wii owners to pick up these games through continued marketing efforts. But as I ponder on the next episode of Radio Free Nintendo, could worthy new releases be suffering under the weight of these mega-hits?
As a relatively small company, Nintendo of America seems unable or unwilling to devote resources to all its games. It's no secret that the debut of Excitebots was, in game industry terms, a secret. Other than the standard press release, Nintendo offered no promotion at all for this game, despite fans and critics (including NWR) saying it's one of the best racing games on the system. Even Nintendo's own, insular promotion tools have so far been withheld for Excitebots. As of this writing, the official Nintendo home page has nary a mention of the game (see screenshot), while the website does push Penguin and Friends and DLC for Animal Crossing: City Folk. Excitebots hasn't exactly been showcased on the Nintendo Channel, either -- the lone trailer is currently on page 8 of 12, below videos for 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl and multiple spots for World of Goo, not to mention third-party tripe like Imagine Music Fest. Nintendo's other first-party game from April, Rhythm Heaven for DS, has an entire page of videos as well as a playable demo. While Excitebots has been on shelves less than a month, it's already disappearing from any official place where consumers might learn about it.
Not every game can get the star treatment, I realize that. Nintendo is clearly obsessed with Punch-Out right now, and that's fine. But Excitebots is worthy of more love than this, not only from the press (who have delivered) but from the game's own publisher and retail partners. It shouldn't be hard to sell this game. After all, it's basically Mario Kart with robots... and it even comes with the Wii Wheel (optional) that kids and grandparents seem to love so much. You could also present it to traditional gamers as an off-road Burnout, or to lapsed/nostalgic gamers as the modern sequel to Excitebike. But for now, most of these people don't even know the game exists.
We can only hope that when the game finally gets a release date in Europe, Australia, and Japan, Nintendo's branches in those regions will push it harder. It's not too late in America, either -- but if Nintendo doesn't step up efforts soon, this stellar arcade racer could fall into obscurity.
I really don't understand Nintendo these days. They do that last-minute piss-poor marketing for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and that game sells below expectations. Then they do that massive viral marketing campaign for Smash Bros. Brawl, which I think we can all agree was brilliant and paid off tremendously when the game came out. And then they go and announce Excitebots at the last minute, and the game unsurprisingly sells poorly. Really, what were they expecting would happen? Excitebots isn't my kind of game, but from all accounts it is a good game and didn't deserve the treatment Nintendo gave it.
I really don't understand Nintendo these days. They do that last-minute piss-poor marketing for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and that game sells below expectations. Then they do that massive viral marketing campaign for Smash Bros. Brawl, which I think we can all agree was brilliant and paid off tremendously when the game came out. And then they go and announce Excitebots at the last minute, and the game unsurprisingly sells poorly. Really, what were they expecting would happen? Excitebots isn't my kind of game, but from all accounts it is a good game and didn't deserve the treatment Nintendo gave it.
I tend to think that the great Smash bros. Brawl blog was Japan-oriented.
I think that Nintendo's marketing has been very strong on some points, like the Wii would like to play campaign, and the female oriented DS tv ads featuring games from nintendogs to professor layton and stars from America Ferrarra to Lisa Kudrow. I also think their marketing for Wii Fit was pretty awesome.
However, I don't think they've created a repeatable formula for marketing, or have a template for success. I wonder whether they've identified what works and what doesn't in their marketing programs.
One thing I just learned is that the 13 K figure is only for the first two weeks of release. Since Excitebots was released near the end of April it only had two weeks to be an April best seller. Should we wait till the May numbers and see how the game does in a month?
One thing I just learned is that the 13 K figure is only for the first two weeks of release. Since Excitebots was released near the end of April it only had two weeks to be an April best seller. Should we wait till the May numbers and see how the game does in a month?
Hah. No.
This is about longtime sales. I personally would be interested in what the game moves in 6 months, and worldwide, than in 6 weeks in a single market.
They do that last-minute piss-poor marketing for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and that game sells below expectations.
QuoteThey do that last-minute piss-poor marketing for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and that game sells below expectations.
What exactly were the expectations for the sales? It still sold better then MP2 Echoes which had an OK marketing campaign, and sold around 1.5 million.. Not to mention with the lack of marketing that means every copy sold is more valuable in terms to return on investment. So I'd like to know what this so called "expectations" is, is it from Nintendo or some forum nerd? All I know is that Sony/MS would be dang happy with their massive budget HD games to sell 1.5 million for a more "niche" series.
You know, my store did not even get this game in. A first party title, and we didn't get it. That's odd.
Wario Land sold much better than this in its first month. So did MadWorld (about 5x better).
Besides, saying that Corruption sold better than Echoes really isn't saying much in the grand scheme of things.
Considering that Metroid Prime 3 sold only 300K copies less then Bioshock (according to some sources... don't know if it's true), I consider that successful.
BTW, NOA's marketing has always, always sucked. Even before Reggie. They do a few good things here and there, but most times I don't learn about games via TV ads and mags, I learn about it via the interwebs.
So we should all stop bitching and just say that NOA marketing sucks. Pro Daisy, we need your derailing powers NAO PLZ.
I've become as disillusioned with NOA as Billy F'n Berghammer.
Just a note on Metroid Prime 3's sales: I've also heard previously some vague and conflicting reports on how well it has done, but the recent publishing of Nintendo's internal figures on Wii and DS million sellers (worldwide, life-to-date) sheds some light on this:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/nintendo-reveals-wii-and-ds-million-sellers
Metroid Prime 3 is not on the list referenced in that article, so I think we can be sure now that it has not yet sold more than a million copies worldwide. It therefore has probably performed somewhat better than Echoes, but would be much farther behind Bioshock than 300k at this point.
i did see an excitebot add somewhere random and big, like the front of yahoo, but i don't remember now.
i think its title throws people off, excite bots doesn't sound like a racing game to most people.
The most concerning thing for me about Excitebots' weak sales in the US is the idea that they might influence NoE to not release it in Europe at all. It still hasn't been announced officially here yet for some reason, so it is possible that NoE's decision-making on what to do with Excitebots could be influenced by these numbers (as the poor Disaster: Day of Crisis sales in Europe may have sealed its fate in North America).
The most concerning thing for me about Excitebots' weak sales in the US is the idea that they might influence NoE to not release it in Europe at all. It still hasn't been announced officially here yet for some reason, so it is possible that NoE's decision-making on what to do with Excitebots could be influenced by these numbers (as the poor Disaster: Day of Crisis sales in Europe may have sealed its fate in North America).
Maybe this was kept so close to the chest that NoE didn't know until we did that it was coming out now so they didn't table it into their release schedule. That wouldn't surprise me that the different branches do not communicate very well with each other.
Maybe this was kept so close to the chest that NoE didn't know until we did that it was coming out now so they didn't table it into their release schedule. That wouldn't surprise me that the different branches do not communicate very well with each other.
At this point I still expect Excitebots to come out here eventually, and so I think you may well be right Stratos, but I remain somewhat concerned by the chance that my theory may end up being accurate.
I think part of the logic there was that the N64 was near the end of it's lifecycle and GameCube was just gearing up. A number of titles always fall through the cracks or get transfered to new systems at those times. Eternal Darkness, Dinosaur Planet and Resident Evil Zero were ported. Animal Crossing for the GameCube was actually a port of the Japanese N64 version so it could have happened for S & P but they just didn't think it would be worth the effort from a financial point of view.This would suffice if the game weren't released at all, but it doesn't explain why it wasn't first released in the region it was intended for.
Sounds like an Eye for an eye situation if that happens and poor Greg's hunger strike would never end :(.
Nintendo probably figured they wouldn't need advertising anyway since those dedicated Epic of Zelda-game-loving Nintendo elite fans would've gobbled up any noncasual game that came their way. Oh my bad, those fans don't buy ****, they're too busy typing about a lack of first party titles.QFT and sig'd for truthness.
I've always found NOA to be, well, completely ****ing clueless with marketing.
Metroid Prime 3's "failure" (selling more than Super Metroid oughta mean something, jeez) is always a scapegoat for some reason I have yet to decipher.
i think there is a lot of truth in Ian's post. Nintendo doesn't seem to know how to advertise itself very well.
Care to give any recent examples? Maybe more than just a random game here or there?
Quotei think there is a lot of truth in Ian's post. Nintendo doesn't seem to know how to advertise itself very well.
Care to give any recent examples? Maybe more than just a random game here or there?
I miss seeing more of Reggie. He hasn't appeared much since last E3, has he? I always viewed him as a figurehead Nintendo fans listened to and could be used to promote games to us. Is this just because he's been promoted and doesn't oversee advertising anymore?
I miss seeing more of Reggie. He hasn't appeared much since last E3, has he? I always viewed him as a figurehead Nintendo fans listened to and could be used to promote games to us. Is this just because he's been promoted and doesn't oversee advertising anymore?
He probably bought Scrooge McDuck's Moneybin and has been busy swimming in all that cash Nintendo's made the past few years. Othewise, he's probably been busy preparing those extensive financial Powerpoint presentations they put out at E3. It takes a long time to put together something so thoroughly effective at boring all of us to tears. -_-'
I miss seeing more of Reggie. He hasn't appeared much since last E3, has he? I always viewed him as a figurehead Nintendo fans listened to and could be used to promote games to us. Is this just because he's been promoted and doesn't oversee advertising anymore?
He probably bought Scrooge McDuck's Moneybin and has been busy swimming in all that cash Nintendo's made the past few years. Othewise, he's probably been busy preparing those extensive financial Powerpoint presentations they put out at E3. It takes a long time to put together something so thoroughly effective at boring all of us to tears. -_-'
Maybe they could get a license to use LittleBigPlanet like Sony did for their presentation ;)