Cosmonaut X said:
Do you not think there's some worth in the argument that these other systems have built a stronger audience for this particular series through regular releases of new titles, whereas this is only the Wii's second Musou title in three years, following on from the awful (and gameplay-changing) Katana?
Or do you think that that is a non-factor?
Oh it's certainly a factor. I don't believe for a moment that core games are not selling on the Wii because of some mystic vague "kiddie" factor. Let's face it, a console is a console. It's a piece of metal and plastic you buy to plug into your TV to play games on. The perception that the Wii is not for core gamers, which ultimately limits the releases it gets and in turn that hurts the sales of the releases it does get because there is no core gamer pool, is something which is determined by the software and not the hardware.
But that can't possibly be the only factor right? It's not like the PS3 had shitty sales for new Musou titles, and then sort of "built up" that audience over a few releases. It had it right out of the gate with Gundam Musou. It's not like the PS2 had to "bulid up" any audience either since Capcom's action games sold a ton right off the bat. So why then is the Wii unable to capture this audience as successfully?
I think the answer is a combination of several factors. First and foremost, the Wii still lives in the shadow of the Gamecube and the N64. It might be the market leader now, and Nintendo games are selling many millions, but still it is not a system core gamers take seriously. Many of the known franchises have released entries on other systems, and largely you can see that the core games are just simply not on the Wii. They might be trying to be on the Wii now, but it's a little too late.
A gamer who actually has a serious hobby of gaming, and is willing to spend 60 bucks or more on a game and buy more than 10 games a year, is not going to be swayed by the Wii's lower price or greater market penetration if the games he wants are on another system. He will simply get that system, and buy games on that, even if he also has a Wii.
For an action game fan who is 18-35 for example, it is unlikely that there are many games on the Wii which are very attractive, as compared to a PS3. It is possible he will not buy a Wii at all, but yet has a PS3. This demographic does not reflect the majority in the market now, which is why Nintendo is the market leader. But this demographic does reflect the sales of software targeted at this demographic.
So what I'm basically saying, is that it is not that a particular series requires constant releases to build a fanbase on the platform, but instead that the platform needs to attract fans of the genre in general. If the Wii has had a constant supply of 3D action games the begin with, I'm sure it would have done better. Same with JRPGs. Just look at Monster Hunter. It sold fine on the Wii because outside of the PSP, the genre does not really exist on any home consoles this generation yet. So when a big title of that genre comes along, fans will buy it. It's a bit late in the life cycle for publishers to try to attract core fans of certain genres to the Wii I'm afraid, and if they wanted to maximize user base + genre appeal they should have done it 2 years ago.