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We Ski Coasts to a Million Units Sold

by Carmine Red - December 29, 2008, 1:52 pm EST
Total comments: 5 Source: Press Release

Namco Bandai's Ski Game did not debut to large sales, but has been a steady seller throughout 2008.

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.

Talkback

We Ski = smart, focused, strategically brilliant move by Namco. Release it alongside Wii Fit, price it at $30 (makes it more palatable after Wii Fit sticker shock), support 4-players, and do something simple, fun, appealing, and well.

I still want to pick this up...

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterDecember 30, 2008

After seeing videos of this and the sequel I am sold, now even more since I own a balance board.

I think this generation of gaming has proved that game sales are NOT a race to the finish but a marathon race. I just love how the minute a game fails to make the top 10 is deemed a flop, yet when they see it do a million they'll like "Oh my god when did this happen?"

KDR_11kDecember 30, 2008

Quote from: pap64

I think this generation of gaming has proved that game sales are NOT a race to the finish but a marathon race.

This totally reminds me of the difference between the US and PAL box art for We Ski... The US box art has them all competitive, racing and extreme while the the PAL version has them happily bumbling down a slope.

It's on my GameFly queue... if I like it, I may plan on buying the sequel since I'm into winter sports, and it would be great to have another Balance Board game.

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