More Mature Wii Games from Sega Unlikely

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House of the Dead: Overkill
Having released a trio of so-called "mature" Wii games aimed at the during 2009, publisher Sega has now indicated that it's unlikely to bring any more "mature" titles to the platforms.

Though Sega previously pledged it would "still do mature games" despite disappointing sales, Sega of America studio director Constantine Hantzopoulos cast doubt on that commitment during the 4 Guys 1UP: 01/01/2010 podcast, pointing not just to the sales of its own titles, but those of Dead Space Extraction, an on-rails shooter published by rival EA.

Postulated Hantzopoulos: "That begs the question, are we going to do more mature titles for the Wii," answering his own inquiry with "and it's like, 'probably not.'"


MadWorld and The Conduit
"Look at Dead Space [on Wii]" Hantzopoulos explained, going by gamesindustry.biz. "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'."

Though Hantzopoulos points to "numbers aside from NPD," that particular firm reported sales of 9,000 for Dead Space Extraction's first month at US retail (October 09). And despite Hantzopoulos' faith in EA's" marketing muscle", EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich believes the tepid sales stemmed from a lack of marketing, explaining that "the success or failure of a Wii title usually correlates directly to marketing spend" and "Electronic Arts didn't market Dead Space Extraction as much as it does with other titles."

And while Sega's unlikely to bring us any more mature-oriented titles on the Wii, that doesn't mean the publisher considers its three "mature" games a wash.

Headstrong's on-rails shooter House of the Dead: Overkill (February 2009) and PlatinumGames' action game MadWorld (March 2009) were said to be "doing okay"--"at the end of the day we'll make our numbers," he specified-- while High Voltage's first-person shooter The Conduit (June 2009) was described as having "done quite well."

According to Hantzopoulos, sales of Wii and DS games are "a longer burn" than those of other platforms, which makes it hard to immediately label a particular title as a success or failure. "It's not necessarily first three weeks like most titles."

But what does this all mean? "At the end of the day, I just think that you're seeing kids are skewing much younger towards next-gen," Hantzopoulos concluded.

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 4, 2010 1:59 PM

    Maybe people are smart enough that they didn't want to play a fucking light gun game in 2009?

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      January 4, 2010 2:46 PM

      What does wanting or not wanting a light gun game have to do with being smart? I play xbox360, PS2, Wii and original NES. I still bust out duck hunt on occasion, it's simple and fun. Same as I still bust out Megaman 2, it' old but it's still fun. What, you don't ever watch movies more than 10 years old?

      You can say they are bad games, fine, but light gun arcade games are still out there in arcades, Time Crisis sold well on the PS2 even though it cost more than other games because you had to buy the light guns.

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      January 4, 2010 3:22 PM

      Isn't that surprising...

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      January 4, 2010 3:30 PM

      Lightgun games are amazing, one of my favorite genres.

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      January 4, 2010 4:28 PM

      I'm just saying that maybe he shouldn't blame it on the franchise and blame it on the game itself.

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        January 4, 2010 4:40 PM

        He isn't blaming the franchises, he is blaming the entire idea of mature games on Wii. Didn't you read it?

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          January 4, 2010 5:34 PM

          "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'."

          No, he's basically saying that an established franchise should sell well regardless of anything if it's a known franchise and has tons of marketing. The rest of the article was about mature games etc. but not that part.

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            January 4, 2010 5:43 PM

            Light gun games are fine.

            Rail shooters are baaaaad.

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            January 5, 2010 11:46 AM

            Wrong, you missed the point. He isn't blaming the frachise for the failure, he's blaming the lack of desire for mature games on the Wii. Dead space: extraction was his lithmus test for mature games on the wii, since he felt that if anything would do well, it would be the game that is part of an "established francise". He is was actually RELYING on the frachise even though, its seems obvious at this part, THERE IS A LACK OF FAITH THAT MATURE GAMES WILL SELL ON THE WII.

            Did I mention that the whole point of the article, the discussions in the article, and "lithmus" comment was about the viability of mature games on the Wii through the view from Sega.

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      January 5, 2010 12:57 AM

      Dude I wish they made a console that only played light gun games.

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      January 5, 2010 11:39 AM

      I only like light gun games in the arcade where you can use player 1 and player 2's guns akimbo at the same time (House of the Dead, Virtua Cop).

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