Lack of mature titles on the Wii no coincidence

By Michael by Jan 17th, '08 at 10:31pm CST

Matt Casamassina of IGN, ranting through his IGN blog, reveals a frightening concept: publishers are afraid mature rated games won’t sell on the Wii. Saying:

I’m on the phone with the president of a big development studio yesterday. His teams have created an original IP for Wii. It’s dark and scary. And while every publisher they’ve met up with has loved the premise and execution of the game, few of them want to touch it. Why? Nobody believes it will sell on Wii. Let me just drive that home. Publishers think it’s an amazing effort. But not for Wii.

The publishers are right though, whether slight coincidence, lack of AAA mature titles or just the wrong demographic, as a general rule: mature rated games do not sell on the Wii. Exceptions to that rule are only recognizable series such as Metroid and Resident Evil. But even Metroid Prime 3 has only sold about 500,000 copies. Sad news for hardcore Wii gamers.

SR388 Sanctuary
via Infendo

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Categories: General

About the Author: Michael

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  • http://sakiwrotewhat.com saki

    To be quite honest, the Wii [IMO] has been coined the family-friendly gaming system. Playing a “mature” game on this system is really weird. I did sort of play RE, which was fun, but during the summer when Manhunt was about to be released I couldn’t stand the idea of it being on the Wii.

    I don’t know whether this is a good thing for Nintendo, though their sales are up and it has broken a barrier to enter more homes, what does happen to hardcore gamers? Then again, most hardcore gamers are probably still dazzled by their HD systems right now. I enjoy all the systems no matter what, but M games on the Wii just doesn’t seem right to me and I’d pick playing the game on a different system over the Wii if I had the choice.

  • Michael

    The Wii offers such a unique level of immersion in games, that it seems unjust to limit what type of games should appear on it.

    Personally, I don’t care about playing games that contain a large amount of blood and gore, all that really matters to me is the experience. If the experience is fun, fascinating, exciting, or thrilling, I’m all for it.

    The potential of the Wiimote still excites me because aside from Wii Sports I don’t think any one title has captured the same level of immersion. I actually feel like I’m playing tennis, golf or bowling when I play Wii Sports. That is way more than I can say about any of the other games I’ve played. Great games, but not the same.

    I agree that the Wii is basically “the” family friendly system this generation. Whether it remains that way is Nintendo’s decision.

  • Billie

    Well seriously, there aren’t even that many Mature rated titles compared to casual titles so it’s unfair to compare sales data between the two. It’s like a cop who decides to profile while giving speeding tickets…..of course he will give more tickets to the type of driver he is profiling, but it doesn’t mean that this type of driver speeds more than the other.

    I also don’t give a damn about violence/blood/sex in games, but if a game that happens to be fun has these traits, why shouldn’t I get the chance to play it on the Wii? The Wii should be for everyone!

    @Saki
    Not to be a hater, but who cares what type of games come out on a system, and why does it matter to you that Manhunt is on the Wii? When a system is “coined” anything, it only limits the overall possibilities of the machine itself. Again, you presented your opinion maturely, but seriously dude your closemindedness regarding what system feels right to play a certain type of game is pretty weak…It’s this type of attitude that actually keeps the Wii’s genre growth stunted….

  • Michael

    at Billie: saki is actually not quite a “dude”…

  • Billie

    I use the term “dude” as a generalization for man or woman as opposed to using “dude” and “dudette”. Sorry for the misunderstanding =)

  • Michael

    Maybe it’s just me then, but I figure it’s always best to use non-gender specific words unless you can tell. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but it might offend some people. No worries.

  • Billie

    Yeah it’s understandable, but I figure The Tanooki is just a place to hang out and not having to worry about being formal..=)

  • matthew

    Dude, dude can be used to describe whatever you feel is a dude, dude.

  • http://sakiwrotewhat.com saki

    @ Billie: I didn’t mind the whole dude thing. To be quite honest, Manhunt was just the most prevalent example in my mind at the time. If I happen to enjoy the game play a lot more on the Wii then I would the 360 or PS3, then I’m going to play it. No questions asked. The same applies to games released on the other systems. If my way of thinking is, as you say “stunting” the growth of the system, I’m not the only one that thinks this way. It was like I said, my opinion.

    Though RE wasn’t as gory, I really did enjoy playing it on the Wii. I liked the use of the nunchuck and wiimote, it was an awesome experience. The same kind of judgment will be applied to any games that grab my interest. But I admit that the Wii for me has definitely been tainted with a “family friendly” bias.

    I must make it clear that I am not against violent games, to a certain degree they’re almost my favs. I get to vent a lot. =)

  • Billie

    Yeah dude, no problem, the funny thing is that I actually think that RE4 was more gory than Manhunt. From your previous post, it doesn’t make you seem like you are against violent games, but more or less it’s about the “bias”. Like I said before I’m not trying to hate, and are entitled to our opinions =P