Topic: Official Sales Thread

[noname2200]

It's why I stopped visiting their site. And I find it interesting that the DS apparently sold no copies. Have all remaining systems been sold by now?

DS and PS2 are no longer being tracked by Famitsu/Media Create.

Supposedly.

Yet the PS2 still is. *shrug*

[TJ Spyke]

When did they say that? Because last week they tracked it (both).

[noname2200]

When did they say that? Because last week they tracked it (both).

It was brought up in the NeoGAF thread the other day. I took that comment at face value, since I don't recall anyone challenging it.

[TJ Spyke]

I wouldn't trust anything I read from people there TBH. It's like seeing "news" posted on Facebook. If it's not from a professional there, then take it with a grain of salt if they don't have a source.

[ShyGuy]

I like reading GAF because it's so active but man, I don't see how a Nintendo fan can leave that place without feeling depressed. But it's gamer culture, just like sports culture except we rarely kill each other.

So what is Wii U's total now WW? Like 2 Million?

Probably around 3 million.

[Shaymin]

Hey remember in 2010 when Epic Mickey did 1.2 million as a Wii exclusive?

Well...
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-disney-infinity-20130115,0,3494101.story

The company’s only major console franchise in recent years has been "Epic Mickey," a re-imagining of the classic character from the respected video game creator Warren Spector.

Although the 2010 game was a modest success, selling 1.3 million units in the U.S. from its November launch through the end of that year, 2012’s sequel sold only 270,000 copies during the comparable time period, according to a person with access to sales data from research firm NPD Group who was not authorized to share it publicly.

That's under 1/4 the sales, spread among at least four platforms (Wii, WiiU, 360, PS3) and with a team of about 700. For reference, Modern Warfare 3 had 200, and Resident Evil 6 had upwards of 600 people on it.

So much for Ducktales.

Edit: Corrected the Modern Warfare game

[ShyGuy]

700 people and the game had that many issues? What is wrong with people?

[Retro Deckades]

The problem was probably that the team was too big. The word "unmanageable" comes to mind.

[broodwars]

The problem was probably that the team was too big. The word "unmanageable" comes to mind.

I think the greater issue is that the game just plain sucked, and no amount of people added to the project was going to fix that when the game wasn't appreciably improved from its predecessor.

[azeke]

De Blob 1 (Wii exclusive) -- success
De Blob 2 (multiplatform) -- studio shattering failure

Wii uDraw -- major success
Multiplatform uDraw -- publisher destroying failure

Sonic Colours (Wii exclusive) -- major success
Sonic Generation (everything under the sun BUT the Wii) -- respectable numbers but less than Colours

Hmmmm, i wonder what this all means...

[noname2200]

De Blob 1 (Wii exclusive) -- success
De Blob 2 (multiplatform) -- studio shattering failure

Wii uDraw -- major success
Multiplatform uDraw -- publisher destroying failure

Sonic Colours (Wii exclusive) -- major success
Sonic Generation (everything under the sun BUT the Wii) -- respectable numbers but less than Colours

Hmmmm, i wonder what this all means...

That Wii games don't deserve sequels.

[ShyGuy]

If a Nintendo exclusive is successful, it goes multiplatform or its sequel does. It never sells well on Sony or Microsoft

If a Microsoft/Sony exclusive is successful, Nintendo never gets a port or the sequel.

[noname2200]

Spinoffs are Good Enough for Nintendo platforms.

[ShyGuy]

Lousy spinoffs like Castlevania fighting games and Dead Space rail shooters!

I look forward to the GTA tower defense game on the eshop.

[NWR_insanolord]

If a Nintendo exclusive is successful, it goes multiplatform or its sequel does. It never sells well on Sony or Microsoft

If a Microsoft/Sony exclusive is successful, Nintendo never gets a port or the sequel.

The Wii got exclusives because it was almost impossible to port games from the other consoles to it. Sony and Microsoft don't get exclusives unless they're first party or moneyhats, and in both cases it's pretty self-explanatory why Nintendo doesn't get the sequels.

[noname2200]

If a Nintendo exclusive is successful, it goes multiplatform or its sequel does. It never sells well on Sony or Microsoft

If a Microsoft/Sony exclusive is successful, Nintendo never gets a port or the sequel.

The Wii got exclusives because it was almost impossible to port games from the other consoles to it. Sony and Microsoft don't get exclusives unless they're first party or moneyhats, and in both cases it's pretty self-explanatory why Nintendo doesn't get the sequels.

It might just be that we read it quite differently, but that doesn't really rebut ShyGuy's point: if anything, it seems to support it. The expense and hassle of porting a Wii game to the HD systems was too much to bother with for most successful 360/PS3 games, but the reverse was apparently untrue.

Admittedly, this "analysis" hinges on my reading "Microsoft/Sony exclusive" as meaning "not-on-Wii game." I could well be wrong there, and appeal to the source for a definitive ruling!

[NWR_insanolord]

I wasn't arguing against him as much as explaining why that was the case. If he was using the term in that context, my first sentence still stands. The Wii would have gotten most of those games if it had been economically viable to port them to it. The Wii got exclusives instead of ports because it didn't really take anymore work than porting would, and they were more likely to sell than watered down versions of what you could get elsewhere. Ports went the other way because it was exponentially easier to do.

[SixthAngel]

De Blob 1 (Wii exclusive) -- success
De Blob 2 (multiplatform) -- studio shattering failure

Wii uDraw -- major success
Multiplatform uDraw -- publisher destroying failure

Sonic Colours (Wii exclusive) -- major success
Sonic Generation (everything under the sun BUT the Wii) -- respectable numbers but less than Colours

Hmmmm, i wonder what this all means...

Wii had a great audience for these types of games but publishers only seemed to notice the audience the wii didn't have outside of a choice few. They blew more money and time moving them to hd while simultaneously destroying their Wii hype and unique Wii features.

[ShyGuy]

Ports and sequels the other way weren't economically either.

[NWR_insanolord]

Ports and sequels the other way weren't economically either.

They were much, much less resource-intensive to make. They may not have been successful that often, but there was a lot less risk in trying.

[noname2200]

Ports and sequels the other way weren't economically either.

They were much, much less resource-intensive to make.

How do you figure?

[BranDonk Kong]

Because the framework has already been built.

[noname2200]

I'll confess to my technical ignorance, so I'm not sure why that shouldn't cut both ways.

[NWR_insanolord]

It's a lot easier to port up than to port down. It's a lot easier to make something run on hardware with more power and resources than it was designed for than to adapt it to working with less. In addition to that, there are certain technical things like the Wii just couldn't do, and had to be worked around.

This is why I'm more confident in support for the Wii U than I was for the Wii. The Wii U is built with standards in mind, as opposed to the proprietary graphics tech the Wii used. Also, stuff like game engines are a lot more scalable now than they were in the past, largely due to the rise of mobile devices. Even if Orbis and Durango are as much more powerful than the Wii U than PS3 and 360 were over the Wii (which I don't think they will be), it should be a lot easier to port things down to the Wii U because of the much more developer-friendly way Nintendo designed it.

[noname2200]

Fair points all around.