Capcom: "Gamers have abandoned the Wii"
Capcom believes that hardcore gamers have all but abandoned the Wii, though Nintendo says otherwise.
Antoine Seux, director general of Capcom France, gave a (French) interview with GameKult (via Spong) that saw him lamenting the poor performance of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles compared to the success of the very similar Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles a year or two previously.
"In absolute terms the figures aren't that bad, but we're not going to lie to ourselves, they're lower than we hoped," Seux said. "After three weeks, we're at a total of 16,000 copies sold. There's clearly a problem with this style of game on the Wii; gamers have obviously moved on to other things. And yet two years ago, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles was a great success on Wii. You can see that customers on this console have turned to much more mass-market stuff. It's disappointing."
Seux came right out and admitted that hardcore games are collapsing on the Wii and that even big-budget titles struggle to make an impression, pointing to Sega's Madworld as an example.
"What works massively well, and I'm relying on GfK figures here, are very, very mass-market games like Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and, to a lesser extent, Just Dance and the Rabbids. These titles are very strongly supported, above all, by huge advertising campaigns."
"Two years ago, there were still gamers on the Wii, Nintendo loyalists who have turned their backs on this console in favour of the next generation," he said. "[2009 was] the year of the emergence of the so-called next-generation machines. We feel that Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 took a firm foothold in the market. This isn't necessarily reflected in the sales figures, because the Wii still represents a major portion of sales, but the growth is on those two platforms.
"The DS is in decline for various reasons like market saturation and piracy. The PSP is dying for the same reasons. The Wii is very much a family console with relatively low attach rates. So for us at Capcom, the future is on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360."
Nintendo's Iwata Satoru meanwhile has said today that the Wii is recovering from a slowdown of sales that came late last year and that the future is bright for the console, again.
"I think it's now safe to say the Wii has recovered from slowdown," Iwata told Reuters. "I'm not sure if it's prudent to use words like revival and recovery lightly before making absolutely certain we can maintain this momentum. So, I steer clear of such words today."
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Discuss in the forums ReplyI was hoping for some fun games like Baldurs Gate or Zelda but the Wii seems saturated with cheap clones like you see in Tesco. "Job Island" wtf?
It reminds me of the early home console days when 90% of the games being shovelled were crap. Eventually gamers abandoned the consoles on mass, nearly killing Atari et al.
It is annoying having to lay out another £40 for new controllers everytime an interesting game comes along. I only have Wii Fit for the balance board and the nunchucks only come out for Super Smash Brawl.
Without the new controllers the games seem too pricey compared to PC and other consoles.
CAPCOM: "We would never admit that the Wii was never really targeted at mainstream casual gamers from the get go, and our marketing research was flawed, and we screwed up by focusing on making niche titles for a very small portion of the overall demographic. We blame the hardcore gamers who are totally at fault for abandoning a console targeted at the mainstream, and Nintendo for probably paying us large sums of money to make installments of our popular franchises for their console.
ps. it's totally not our fault, it's everyone else's."
same. I remember playing something similar on the n64. actually it wasnt similar, it was exactly the same. Mario should die.
So Capcom release a game and everyone likes it and buys it. They then release a "very similar" game "a year or two" later and wonder why everyone goes "pff, seen it before" and ignores it. For an encore, they go on to cite sales which were "lower than we hoped" in the middle of a recession on a mass-market console when it's owners "have turned to much more mass-market stuff.
Nintendo's old hardcore audience from the NES and SNES days are now all approaching (or past) our 30th birthdays, have serious jobs and less time for so-called "hardcore" gaming and are starting families of our own. Of course we're ignoring your games, Capcom, your products are irrelevant to us now!
But I'm not complaining, I bought a PC instead :D
The new ones with a decent set of controlers are just too expensive for what they offer.
I also use it a fair bit for iPlayer!
I think this highlights the gulf between what the developers and publishers are giving us and what we want. I think even the big, top companies have looked at the Wii's sales, thought they can make a quick buck, and simply don't put in the effort that they will for games on the other consoles, not just in terms of resources and hyper-turbo-super graphics but final quality. "It's only for the Wii, that'll do." In this very example Capcom have tossed out a game very similar to a previous one, counted on the wide user-base to guarantee sales and the audience has said "meh". Now they don't know how to respond and gain sales again.
There has traditionally been difficulty for third parties to sell as well on Nintendo consoles as Nintendo themselves. The reason is simple, the reason is quality and this generation the third parties seem to understand this less than ever. Of the games released in the last twelve months I can only see myself buying the Metroid Prime Trilogy and New Super Mario Brothers, once I get around to them.
'Gamers' do want games on the Wii, Monsieur Seux, we're starved of them, we just aren't buying what you're prepared to sell.
O and the other thing that annoyed me about the wii is that the ps2 was able to support dvds, ps3 blu-ray but the wii STILL doesnt do dvds. Shame on you!
I know its not that big a deal but its so much easier and less clutter.
Personally I like shooters like house of the dead. they work really well on the wii, other than that, the motion controller is just bollocks and some games are just rehashed turds. Nintendo just seem to push the nostalgia card too much IMO. just look at the latest mario game.....Its a snes re-release!! I was looking at 2nd hand gamecube games to get some life but the good ones are pushing the price of a new game!
Either way, xbox and PS3 have younger titles. Take little big planet, buzz, sing star, lips, viva pinata, lego titles. As those gamers get older they become more interested in the MGS, Halo and COD:MW. Add friends with a console or an older brother/sister and the fact the gaming isn't just for nerds and its not surprising that theres a mass movement from Wii => xbox, PS3 and to an extent PC
I own the 3 consoles, and my wii didnt have the chance to collect dust at all, even it has the same share of gaming time along with the ps3 and 360, games like madworld, little king story, muramasa the demon blade, de blob, punch out wii, no more heroes, tenchu wii, zack & wikki, HOTD Overkill, fire emblem Radiant, Batallion wars wii, the godfather, a boy and his blob, didnt let my wii collect any dust at all, heck i didnt even mention the most prolific first party nintendo games that are really time eaters, therefore i cannot understand why in the world of all that is sacred, some people tell that is not enough good games on wii and their wii is collecting dust, for me there are just two logical explanations possible, they dont know the existence of the before mentioned games, or they dont own a wii.
P.S and i didnt put this year long a great list of nintendo wii games coming, that are a lot and with great potential.
It comes down to
1)games look better on PS3 and Xbox360
2)More content for games on the 360 and PS3
3) arguably bigger/better online community
4)Wii remote doesn't work well for alot of games
5)Alot of wii games are over priced for what they are
While the wii does tap into younger gaming market and new/inexperienced gamers, it still cant hold a candle to the big boys. With 6 axis and netal even the wii's biggest selling gimmik is under attack.
Fundamentally yes it comes down to what you enjoy more. Consumers want to keep up with the Jones tho.
While Wii is fun I just found it becoming tedious after a few days. Sonic and mario at the olympics is a perfect example. How many different ways can you wave the remote around and copy past to every game. While game pads aren't the most exciting, they perform the job of controlling the console rather than acting like [one of] the main entertainment mechenism's.
Bowling is a game that worked well with the wii remote too and its easy to get immersed with it but 10 frames of bowling is hardly exciting after the 250th time. On top of that making an ass of yourself isn't that much fun when your the only one there to see it.
great games that played well: some are. Racing and on-rail shoots are amazing but how many ways you can wave a controller gets boring. COD and GTA will draw away gamers ultimatly. Its hooks like that mario has to compete with today. I still don't hear many gamers talk about how great the wii is online.
look ok graphics aren't a problem for me tho if something looks good it certainly helps sales.
fun So's the competition. Wile I look for opertunities to try and use the wii (wii fit, guitar hero on wii rather than the 360) not many people will do this. If it looks better on Xbox, why get it on wii? Arguabley Titles like COD, GTA, Halo, Gran Turismo, Forza, Oblivion, buzz, Lips all match or outright beat any comparaible title that comes out on wii.
np, thanks for sharing yours too. I understand what the wii was trying to achieve and it certainly did achieve it. I just wish they had the foresight to develop a netal-esk system. Maybe next gen they will build on that as its certainly an area that has the most potential. Experiencing everything is why I have all systems too, but for all those reasons, its the wii thats being squeezed out.
BTW +rep for helping me study lol ;)
Im at home studying for uni exams atm....or suppose to be.
It was played for 30mins on christmas day and has been totally ignored since then.
Total waste of money. Can't even use it to play DVD's.
btw, what's all the hype about natal? Waving hands in front of the TV will be fun for about 10mins before you realise that controller input is faster and more precise.
6 axis controller is practically DOA. The Wii enjoys success on paper whilst the consoles sit unused and unloved for most of the year. Natal will flop just as badly, once the air guitar games and aerobic fitness games are out people will just go on with normal controllers as if nothing ever happened.