Sports games showing signs of life on the Wii
December 28, 2007 by pastapadre
The Wii has been a juggernaut since launch. No one would be able to argue otherwise in the area of hardware sales. It has been out over a year and is still very difficult to find in stores. It sold nearly a million units in November and that is with the supply constrained.
However outside of a handful of first party titles, sales of games for the Wii have been somewhat disappointing. This is especially the case for third party titles which seem to go largely ignored by the user base. The Xbox 360 continues to sell more software every month than the Wii and PS3 combined.
This tends to be attributed to the casual crowd that the Wii attracts. Wii Sports, which comes packed in with the console, is the face of gaming on the system. Pretty much every conversation, story, video, or commercial about the Wii has it mentioned or shown. Some people have gone as far as to say that other games aren’t purchased as gamers have been so satisfied with the Wii Sports experience. Or they lose interest in the console once that initial excitement wears off. However the Nintendo crowd definitely has proven they’ll be there to support first party titles.
The casual crowd and success of Wii Sports has led to the thought that the Wii is primarily a mini-game console. Even in games such as Madden it has become a focus and selling point. In Madden 08 there were 22 mini-games included.
Obviously the more hardcore sports gamers have moved on to the 360 or PS3, or they still reside on the PS2. It seems unlikely that fans of these games would look to the Wii for the best experience. Yet there is still a crowd there that can be targeted as seen with EA’s addition of Family Play to their Wii titles. Knowing that the Wii has such a family-centric base they’ve taken the approach of attempting to attract them to their games by offering the option of using ultra-simplistic controls.
Following the launch of Madden 08 the initial sales breakdown on each console showed the disparity clearly. The Wii sold only 57,000 copies the first week. Maybe the most concerning thing about that was it represented an increase of less than 5,000 over the 07 launch. This despite nine months of strong Wii sales. In comparison that amounts to only 7% of what the 360 version sold, and 28% of what the PS3 version sold. It even just barely outsold the original Xbox version. Certainly expectations would’ve been higher considering the circumstances.
However things are looking a little brighter now. The breakdown below shows the percent of total sales to date that the opening week represented.
360: 59%
PS2: 42%
PS3: 35%
Wii: 16%
It would be expected that the 360, PS3, and PS2 versions would have a large percent of their overall sales from the first week with a game like Madden. Fans of the game rush out and get it on the first day and sales generally just trickle in after that. However with the Wii you see that it has been steady throughout.
Whether that can transfer over to other titles, or if it is simply due to the Madden name, remains to be seen. There have been a few other games with moderate success such as The BIGS and Tiger Woods. However others such as FIFA and NBA Live have been met with little interest.
What is it about The BIGS and Tiger Woods that have led to success? In the case of The BIGS the arcade style action was appealing. With Tiger the Wii controls are easy to understand. People have played Wii Golf so they have that familiarity. But with games such as FIFA and Live the controls don’t match up quite as well. In FIFA you’re swinging your arm for a kicking action in a game. That just doesn’t make much sense on the surface or feel as natural.
The next games to make the jump to the Wii are MLB 2K8 and 2K’s Prizefighter. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare. As it is right now it would be tough to justify taking a game such as EA’s NHL series to the Wii. Until sales show that that the Wii players will purchase sports games it is understandable that they wouldn’t bother with anything but the games that appeal the most to the mainstream. NCAA Football 09 will likely make its way to the Wii which should be a good test of how much support there is overall.
The longterm viability of the Wii is still a major question mark in the sports gaming area. The numbers from Madden 08 seem to be encouraging however it must be considered that Madden is in a league of its own when it comes to overall sales and name recognition. Until the sales go up the development of these games will take a backseat to the versions on the other consoles.
I’ve had madden 08 for wii since the third week it was released and the lack of online players was disappointing…that is, until after Christmas. Now there is always a game waiting for me.
HEAVEN.
When will they learn, You cannot beat Bill Gates… The last update on Xbox 360 brought DIVX into the fold… Its a wrap. Download movies that come out tuesday in HD, TV shows from the big networks, Online play and Text (MSN Messenger) to people you play against or know… IPTV coming soon to the 360… Music in MP3 while you play or whatever, USB support to your HD or Ipod, DAMN! Why wouldnt you cop a 360?
I dont know anyone w/ the Wii, because I am a adult…
Shoe
Nothing beats 360 and the XBOX Live experience. It’s just too much fun, too addictive, and the games look downright beautiful. I don’t care much for the Wii. The Wii Sports games were fun for about 30 minutes, and they’re fun enough for get-togethers with friends, but other than that, it has no staying power over the big consoles.
If the Wii is “your thing,” more power to you. I’ll just sit on my thrown with my 360 and enjoy life. Call of Duty 4 is the Game of the Year.
Our Wii was very popular on Christmas Eve at our party for family and friends. We put it out with Wii Sports because the game lends itself to letting a large number of players have a chance in a small amount of time.
Since the party, two families went out and purchased a system, and other families have been searching for their own console. I would say if this is the case across the world, Nintendo has struck a gold mine!
Pasta - Interesting you bring up the possibility of NCAA 09 coming to the Wii. A member on our site asked if that was a possibility just last week.
As popular as the Wii is, you’d think it would make a lot of sense. However, I looked at sales numbers for Madden on the Wii, and according to vgchartz.com (who knows how reliable they are) 07 sold 420,000 while 08 has sold 320,000 copies. If those numbers are accurate, I’d find it hard to believe NCAA would get a go on the Wii this year. However, I hope I am wrong on that.
cdj wrote:
I think there are some interesting factors comparing 07 to 08 that makes it hard to say how much it should have grown. 07 launched with the console and not much else was out at the time. Yet it did come out later in the middle of the football season because it had to wait for the launch. The pace that 08 is going though it should surpass it. But I would think that most people would’ve expected higher numbers considering how many more Wiis are out there now compared to back then.
Since we don’t have details on how much the development of them cost its tough to say. If it is pretty simple, taking the current gen game from the PS2/Xbox, adding motion control aspects, and some mini-games, then maybe the costs are under control enough that the number of copies sold would be sufficient. And how much would it cost to go from one year to the next? There won’t be any huge technological advances. It would be like the last few years have been on the PS2/Xbox. Once they’ve got it set it would probably be just minor tweaks and some additions to help sell the new version.
I think they’re also looking to build there. EA has been the company that has given probably the most third party support to the Wii thus far. So while maybe they wouldn’t get the big sales now, by getting ahead of things they could achieve that a few years down the road if things shift.
Very good points, Pasta. I hope you’re right. A Wii version of NCAA could be a lot of fun IMO - might have to buy my first Wii game, if it happens.
A friend of mine, who rarely plays video games, bought one for his Dad on Father’s Day and for the about the first week the family could not get enough of it now it sits in their living room collecting dust.
The reason things are not working out is the other developers are not using the Wii to their advantage. Put Wii sports on any of the other consoles without the use of the controller, and nobody would play it. The control is the innovation and whats drive people to play it. I think that is the reason other games have failed as they do not take advantage of the controller and innovate the gameplay. Wii sports II is what I am waiting for myself.
I think once a developer really takes their time and is creative with the Wii controls, it will be reflected in the sales. Take a look at what Konami is doing with Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 with the Wii. The controls actually open up the game to be more free flowing.
Madden’s sales may have suffered due to several bugs and omissions in the 08 title. A number of people were frustrated by Madden 08’s lack of create-a-player/team/etc (which was in 07) coupled with several bugs in the game. Perhaps this word of mouth weakened initial sales?
An NCAA title would be a blast on the Wii. Running the option and faking a pitch with the Wii remote could be fun. Imagine holding B while “pitching” with the remote to fake the pitch but if you release B, you pitch it. Stuff like that could be fun. But EA will need to include create-a-school and the various other options present in the PS2/Xbox version. The casuals (and hardcore) love that stuff.
Papernut wrote:
The Wii controller is so much fun that I have no interest in playing games that dont use the motion sensing exclusively. Wii sports is a great foundation for other titles to start from. Games like NCAA are too complicated to use the motion sensing.
when I had an xbox I thought I was never gonna play ncaa 09 because xboxs are goin’ outta style. So Im glad you mentioned ncaa 09 being on the Wii because I got one for christmas.
plus motion would be so fun. like throwing, pitching like on options, big hits and other stuff. Maybe like a telestrator. Now that would be cool.
I think ncaa 09 NEEEEEEEEEEEDS to be on the Wii.
I thought that it was confirmed that ncaa 09 was for the Wii.
http://www.gamestop.com/produc.....Fid=230244
Gamestop is now accepting preorders for ncaa on wii.
It’s unfair to compare the sales for Madden NFL 08 on the Wii with those for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 because the Wii version EA developed was so awful, and word quickly spread about it. It was clearly released without finishing the testing phase. In my years of playing videogames, I have never played a worse, more glitch-filled game in my entire life. There are dozens and dozens of major glitches that make some game modes almost unplayable and others extremely frustrating.
Here’s a list of some of the more major glitches:
http://forums.ea.com/mboards/t.....;tstart=15
Hopefully, EA gets its act together and actually puts the same amount of effort toward NCAA Football 09 and Madden NFL 09 on the Wii as they do toward the other systems. If they do, the Wii sales will be strong. But Wii owners are not going to shell out $50 for a game just because it has the Madden name on it.
The Wii’s controls are perfect for football sim games, but when third-party software doesn’t utilize the controls correctly, the result can be a horrible frustrating game.