Says Director, “We Dove too Deep”
While some have championed Sega’s attempt to make the Nintendo Wii a more well-rounded console with more mature fare like MadWorld and The Conduit, it doesn’t look like the numbers quite add up for the trend to continue.
That may be the message to take out of further comments made by Sega’s Constantine Hantzopoulos in a recent 1Up podcast interview. We told you yesterday about another hint he gave toward Project Needlemouse being a download-only affair.
As transcribed by Nintendo Everything, Hantzopoulos says many times that Sega took a “gamble” with mature titles on the Wii, and that while sales expectations are or will be met, it will happen over a longer period, and not so immediately, as is the case with some other big name titles released to other consoles:
I have to say that it was a space that was open and we took a gamble on it. It’s like, ‘Wow, there’s no mature games on the Wii. Is there an audience out there?’ We did some research, it said there was an audience out there. I won’t comment about Nintendo, they did champion The Conduit as a ‘this is a Nintendo game.’ And, you know, I think they did okay by us. At the end of the day, I just think that you’re seeing kids are skewing much younger towards next-gen. And that’s what I saw out of Conduit. Because not a bad game, visually it’s appealing, right? AI wasn’t that great. High Voltage’s first real effort as an indie developer, creating their own IP. And it was a good effort, right? And there’s always Conduit 2, right? …Anyone past 12 years old was playing 360 and PS3 shooters. And at that point, you can’t tell a 13 year-old, ‘But it’s on the Wii.’ Forget it, you know? That’s not what they see or hear. They’re not really interested in any techno-fetishist aspects of look how great it is on the Wii…And, you know, the effort that we put behind multiplayer on that game to basically get by friend codes and provide worldwide match-making and so on and so forth, I actually thought we dove too deep…
…Circling back to the whole mature Wii thing, again SEGA took a gamble, we put out some pretty decent content. I mean, House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld are great Wii games. They really are, especially House of the Dead: Overkill. That game is funny…Yes [it did better than MadWorld]. I mean they’re both doing okay and at the end of the day we’ll make our numbers, that’s good. Conduit’s done quite well for us. It’s been slow burn. That’s the other thing you find out about the Wii. It’s not necessarily first 3 weeks like most titles. And DS. It’s a longer burn, actually. So panicked at first, but it’s like okay.
Still, Hantzopulous looks to EA’s release of Dead Space to Wii as a good sign that Sega may rethink its strategy:
But that begs the question, are we going to do more mature titles for the Wii? And it’s like, probably not. Look at Dead Space. We were stunned. That was my litmus test. Basically, it’s like, okay, you got EA, who can put all the marketing muscle behind this, an established franchise that scored quite well on 360 and PS3. They should be able to actually hit this out of the park, right? We get numbers, real numbers aside from NPD, and I’m like, ‘Woah.’
This, as another interview conducted with Sega of Japan’s Nayao Tsurumi revealed that the company wants to target the “core gamer,” but also acknowledged a need to focus on family and casual gaming. It is a fine line, but it’s never good when someone else internal and somewhat prominent dismisses the prospect.
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What the fuck is he talking about? There was almost no marketing for Dead Space. Marketing wasn’t the problem, House of the Dead and Tenchu are, now, next-to-no-name franchises. Nobody cares about them anymore. Madworld was a new IP, so of course thats gonna do poorly compared to Dead Space, an established franchise. But you know the REAL problem? That they let the mature game audience go alienated for so long, we go those what last year, 2008 maybe? Self fulfilling prophecy idiots, you and all of those other third party devs.
I’ve said it once and I’ve said it a million times, if you want a “mature” game to be prosperous and not just meet quota, you DON’T make it for the Wii. The majority of Wii owners are soccer moms, elderly couples and prepubescents. None of them give a shit that you’re able to impale someone’s head with a sign post.
What!? Okay, I allready knew this… But it’s still terrible! Mature titles for Wii is what SEGA does best these days. And I actually play the games! I don’t care if SEGA loses money on making them. I want my mature games! Capcom’s not enaugh! We need more SEGA POWER!
@Skai Cyan: I find that remark quite laughable considering that Sega gave the most ‘muture titles’ last yera to the wii (in fact some of the better ones too). You have Conduit, Madworld and House of the Dead. Nintendo give you a port of DS game and now there the Saviour and everyone should be like them. Actually thats the problem, most third devs are actually doing what Nintedodo.
GOOD!
The Wii audience doesn’t want “mature” games. They want first party Nintendo titles. Which is basically Platformers and Adventure games.
@Mike: You are so wrong! I and many others love these games! The majority of the audience maybe wants Nintendo, but there are many who wants MadWorld and Conduit.
Some, but not enough evidently. Maybe these third-party developers and partner publishers aren’t really giving SEGA the time of day these days compared to other games and franchises, like God of War and Call of Duty? You can’t get much more mature than that, even if the descriptor is an philosophical misnomer.
It’s like SEGA’s doing good, but just not quite good enough.
@Werehog: Damn straight, bro. The Wii should have all the advantages and equal rights as all consoles to entertain audiences of ALL AGES.
SEGA, why all the Nintendo hate? When you left the console business YOU’RE audience flocked over to Nintendo since they were your Big Bad to take down that conquered you due to bad business decisions in the late 90s (all of those scrapped Sonic games, Not marketing your stuff right, Playstation helped the fall of the Dreamcast as well) and Nintendo being all about entertaining everyone. I mean, come on! We need SOMEONE who’ll dare to actually make GAME games, and the mature titles have been exactly that.
And on another note, how’s about making something else besides a Sonic game? Put him on hiatus until you learn what makes him good and give other old franchises a good return to popularity. Vectorman, anyone? Ristar perchance? Oh, or how about a new Comix Zone? MAN, that would be totally radical!
*YOUR
Sorry, typo.
@DS We’re (or at least I am) talking about M rated games. Nintendo has made all of one mature rated game (to my knowledge) and that was a GCN game. Nintendo’s type of support is a diffent matter completely than what I’m talking about here.
@GREG THE CAT
A new Vectorman and Ristar would be nice.
I enjoy House of the Dead Overkill, I never laughed so much at a game before @.@
If mature titles for the Wii had come out near launch when the Wii was selling like crazy and EVERYONE had one, the mature titles would’ve done better, I think. But so many people who enjoyed the Wii for a year or two decided to sell it and move on to 360 or PS3. And when more mature titles came out on the Wii, alot of the more mature gamers already tossed the Wii aside and moved on.
Yes why make the Wii a versitile and make games that can acomidate all gamers lets just make fruity game and tons of shovelware!!!…..idiots