Nintendo Doesn't Know Why Hardcore Games Aren't Selling on the Wii

The Nintendo Wii is a hugely successful console, but not because it appeals to every gamer out there, but because it mostly attracts people who haven't been introduced to gaming. That is why a lot of the titles made for it are designed with the “casual” market in mind, meaning that they are easy to pick up, entertain a wide variety of people, but don't really have the stopping power of titles like Gears of War or Halo.

But when hardcore games are launched on the Wii, like MadWorld or The Conduit, they still don't manage to sell as much as, for example, Wii Fit or Mario Kart Wii. Asked why such high-quality titles usually go unnoticed by gamers, Nintendo's Denise Kaigler said that we needed to keep in mind the different sales curve that Wii titles enjoyed.

“You know, I don't know. It's hard to say. It could be titles have the same type of sales curve that a lot of Nintendo titles have. A lot of Nintendo titles don't follow that traditional sales curve where they launch big and then that's it. Our titles have a long tail. They build in popularity, and this could be the case with MadWorld and The Conduit. I've played both. I'm not a core gamer, and I found that they were challenging and fun.”

If you compare titles like MadWorld, which sold 66,000 copies in its first month, or The Conduit, which sold 72,000 copies from June 23 to the end of the month, to the likes of Prototype, which managed to be the best-selling game of June, with almost 600,000 units, things aren't very favorable for the Wii games. Hopefully, in the long run, such quality and entertaining titles will eventually grow to be successful on the Wii and their owners will realize that even if they don't have a Nintendo badge on them, they can be very entertaining.