IndustryGamers recently sat down with Sega West President Mike Hayes and Sega of America VP of Marketing Sean Ratcliffe. Sega has been beating its "mature games on Wii" drum for a while now, pumping out titles like MadWorld and The Conduit. Although MadWorld was disappointing to Sega, the publisher considers The Conduit a success.
We went over much of what was already discussed here, but the bottom line is we wanted to find out if mature games are indeed profitable for Sega on the Wii. Or is the company simply pushing forward, believing that they can set the precedent on Nintendo's console?
Hayes argues that the overall installed base in the West is so large that even despite "huge" cross ownership with Xbox 360 and/or PS3, that there are enough hardcore gamers out there looking for mature experiences. "Obviously we're cutting down the potential [for big sales]. I certainly understand that argument, but I think the sheer mass and size of Wii is such that I think those niches do exist," Hayes commented to IndustryGamers. "So whereas a shooter clearly isn't a niche on a 360 or PS3, it's arguable that it's more of a niche on Wii, but I believe that niche is sizable enough to make money, which I think is the point."
He continued, "Do I think we're going to make millions and millions? Then the answer is 'no'... but can we profitably bring these games to the platform? Then the answer is 'yes.'"
We pressed Hayes on just how much Sega had invested in games like MadWorld and The Conduit and how profitable they've been based on the current sales, but all he would say is that the cost of development on Wii is of course much lower than the other high-end consoles and it's therefore easier to make money with titles that don't necessarily rack up massive sales.
IndustryGamers doubts the mature market on Wii is large enough for publishers to bother, and EA recently said that it's looking at Dead Space: Extraction as "a test" of that Wii market.
Also see: Sega Expecting to Announce Natal, Sony Motion Projects in Early 2010
3 Comments
September 6, 2009
Would've like to hear the budgets and profits for those games from Sega but their comment suggest they either didn't make a profit or just didn't know the information at the moment.
September 8, 2009
Words, words, words. I'd say the best example of confidence from Sega in core properties on Wii would be to fund some sequels to some of those titles he mentioned.
September 9, 2009
'Core' games for the Wii have to offer something different to other platforms. There is no point releasing 'Core' games that look and play better on other systems, or ape titles that do.
Pointer games and aiming games (especially rail shooters) make a lot of sense, fitting the Wii's multi-player base. Very few games nail motion controls right beyond this,