Namco Bandai's Ski Game did not debut to large sales, but has been a steady seller throughout 2008. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=17460 It used to be that hit games garnered most of their sales in the first couple months, then were summarily forgotten, but Namco Bandai probably won't argue with the steady performance of We Ski. The company recently announced that they've sold 130,000 units of the game in Japan, 330,000 units in Europe, and 560,000 copies in North America.
But these sales numbers do more than describe a successful game. It's been ages since We Ski came out in Japan (late January 2008), and the game's American and European releases around the middle of 2008 are also ancient history by conventional videogame sales wisdom. In fact, when We Ski debuted in America in May, it didn't even break into the NPD top 10 sellers list, falling at number 13 with uninspiring sales estimated between 60,000 and 102,000 units.
But the fact that the game has shown continued sales performance, termed "legs" by some, suggests many qualities in We Ski's favor. For one, We Ski launched at a value price in America with a suggested retail price of $29.99 compared to the typical $49.99 price tag. Another thing in We Ski's favor was that it was the first third-party game that was compatible with Nintendo's Balance Board Accessory. In fact, Namco took care to position the releases of We Ski alongside or soon after Nintendo released the Balance Board accessory and their Wii Fit game onto the market.
Namco's patience has paid off, but the company hasn't rested on its laurels. Their follow-up, We Ski & Snowboard, came out in Japan in November, and is coming to Europe in February and to North America in March.
Topic: We Ski Coasts to a Million Units Sold (Read 2097 times)
