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Media Create Sales: Week 34, 2013 (Aug 19 - Aug 25)

Cancel a game this far in development? Are you fucking stupid?

First off, don't insult me. Secondly, it's happened many times before.


No, I don't think so. Bayonetta was a million seller, after all, and a title which found an audience. And it's a 2014 title. Bayonetta 2 will be finished and will be shipped.

The real problem is what will happen after Bayonetta 2, after it'll have sold half of what the first did.

I agree that it's much more likely that Bayonetta 2 will continue in production, but the shockingly low sales of TW101 may prompt Nintendo to look at their relationship with Platinum and decide that Platinum's type of games "don't fit the Nintendo demographic."

That's what I meant by "very real chance." When a game in your partnership bombs SO badly that it underperforms even the lowest expectations, nothing is off the table anymore.

Before, Bayonetta 2 was a guaranteed thing. Now? Yeah it'll most likely still happen, but Nintendo may get cold feet and back out early in pursuit of greater opportunity costs.
 

AniHawk

Member
Of course, looking back, I really get the feeling they simply weren't ready to release the Wii U. And they should have held it until they were really ready. There's really no way they're going to get a 3DS revival with this system.

given how features weren't ready, how shit the os was, and how the advertising was seemingly fashioned into some sort of stick at the last minute, i agree. they could have even done the unusual thing and launched it in september worldwide. it would have had some crummy 2013 games, but it would have had rayman legends, zombi u, scribblenauts, nsmb, game & wario, pikmin 3, and the wonderful 101 at launch or ready to come out/be spread out in the immediate months. so far it seems sony isn't launching the ps4 this year, so they would have at least had the shot for some momentum in japan.

but all that's hindsight, i suppose. if i had known all the problems behind the scenes, i would have maybe delayed the project a little longer.
 
Not very realistic. That's about as likely as Nintendo cancelling their entire WiiU lineup and shifting to a new platform for 2015.

Isn't Bayo2 quite far in development?

They will probably spend 2 dollars in another Nintendo Direct 1 month before the game goes to sale, release it and then forget about it.
 
That would destroy any all third party relations Nintendo has. It's suicide. Wii U needs to survive this gen, Nintendo does not went to enter another console cycle with worst third party relations than it started this one with. Might as well leave the console business all together. Regardless how the wii u sales Nintendo needs to at least make sure some third parties are reasonably ok in developing for their system.

They don't have any. There is nothing left to destroy. The few that still throw Nintendo a bone will be gone by years end most likely.

The WiiU is done for. It's a failed system financially. To keep it alive is nonsense. And by now I really think Nintendo should leave the console business and focus on handheld. They are done for in the console sector, thanks to their own hubris.
 

Kid Ying

Member
Also, for people saying that doing better tha madworld is a consolation, madworld wasnt released by sega, but spike. With no marketing at all, months and months after the release in the west, shipments in the size of ants and a cero z to boot.

Its not a good comparison. Madworld was released as what it was. A very niche piece of software. Nintendo tried with W101. Tried and failed.
 

KrazyDude

Banned
Such a shame with Wonderful 101, i am playing it right now and i never Play those kinds of games. I am just constantly smiling at the ridiculus and funny Story and i am starting to get the fighting System.

But Overall it seems that everything Drops really heavily across Hardware and Software, especially Vita with an almost 50% Drop. Worst week this year for everyone?
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Yet, when people take a quick glance, they think it is like Pikmin. That doesn't help those that already have Pikmin3.
That would be like saying Kirby and Mario are similar games just because they are side-scrollers where you jump on platforms.
 
2mdnV4l.jpg


As expected.

He just looks so sad

it's like he knew
 

AniHawk

Member
No way man, people just can't appreciate new IPs!

(Pay no attention to The Last of Us behind the curtain).

nintendo kinda needs to get with the times about how the machine works. interviews, magazine covers, commercials, ellen page.

although to be fair their walled city internet-only approach is probably weirdly ahead of its time, especially for them. it would probably make a lot more sense in about 10 years.
 

Cosmozone

Member
This is just so sad and infuriating. One of the best action games in recent memory doesn't get the sales it deserves. There seems to only mainstream now in the market. Some of it goes to shooters, some of it goes to Mario and other established franchises, but nothing goes to where the quality and variety is. Is hardcore gaming dead? Like, really? :-(

The only positive thing as that this is the first time, I've seen an obvious troll being banned.
 

Bruno MB

Member
Talking about Wii U software sales, I can't even make a list of 10 games that have sold 20.000 units during this year.
 

DaBoss

Member
That would be like saying Kirby and Mario are similar games just because they are side-scrollers where you jump on platforms.

Read through some TW101 threads here. Read the OT for TW101. It wouldn't said many times that TW101 is not like Pikmin if some people didn't think that. And no, that example is not similar at all.
 

prwxv3

Member
Nintendo never really treated the game well in the first place. It was announced on a post E3 show on GT when they could have easily showed it off in the press conference.
 
.... Ok I'll bite, what does Miyamoto have anything to do with this situation?


I don't doubt for a second that Miyamoto supported the decision to change Kayima's original vision of the game and forced him to give it a kiddy unappealing artstyle.


The style alone had to have a negative impact on sales.
 
He said there wasn't 1st party support, there has been a game a month, that's all I'm saying. What are the types they need? Release a Mario Kart a month? Wario doesn't sell, but Pikmin could be a decent seller and NSLU is an expansion to Wii U's highest selling game, I see no problem with these releases. In the coming months, we'll have Mario, Zelda and DKC, 3 of their biggest IPs, I see no major problem with these choices. In fact, they're safe choices.
The problem with those choices is that all of them (except for zelda, but it is a remake and not a fresh entry) belong to the same genre, that is currently represented by New Super Mario Bros. U.
I think that regarding long terms sales, Pikmin 3 will have a higher impact than those.

Pikmin 3, Bayonetta 2, Wonderful 101, X, Mario Kart... those are the kind of games the system needs the most because they build up catalogue in genres that are currently lacking any sort of representation. Of course, any of them could bomb badly (as we've seen with Wonderful 101) but that's how things currently are.
 

darkwing

Member
This is just so sad and infuriating. One of the best action games in recent memory doesn't get the sales it deserves. There seems to only mainstream now in the market. Some of it goes to shooters, some of it goes to Mario and other established franchises, but nothing goes to where the quality and variety is. Is hardcore gaming dead? Like, really? :-(

there are plenty of new IPs that are doing good
 
Wow.... that's.... wow

I played the demo of the game a few days. It just wasn't appealing to me, and it seems a lot of other people thought so too.
 

allan-bh

Member
No way Bayonetta 2 will be canceled, but sales probably will be disappointing and Nintendo-Platinum partneship will end there.
 

QaaQer

Member
There are plenty of complex game that sell a lot better than W101. I fail to believe that it is complexity that cause the lack of appeal on the title.

I agree. I believe that it is mostly to do with art style + graphics not fitting with the gameplay. It looks like a kids game on last gen hardware, yet it is supposed to have fairly deep gameplay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fyacoz6dRo

http://nintendoenthusiast.com/nintendo_news/check-out-the-wonderful-101-japanese-tv-spots/22406/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl_xUBaVUfA

I mean, who exactly is that supposed to appeal to?
 

duckroll

Member
Before, Bayonetta 2 was a guaranteed thing. Now? Yeah it'll most likely still happen, but Nintendo may get cold feet and back out early in pursuit of greater opportunity costs.

I don't think there are many (any?) options which present Nintendo greater opportunity for that cost though. Nintendo is providing money and supervision for games like Bayonetta 2. These are resources they have an abundance of. They're not lacking in that aspect at all.

The things working against Nintendo in getting more games out on the WiiU is a lack of willing partners, their own internal development taking a longer time than expected, and a total absence of any momentum for the platform. These are things they cannot simply buy their way out of easily. If they could, they can definitely afford it.

It Nintendo feels that they can cancel Bayonetta 2, lose an upcoming WiiU title which actually has interest from the press, and take the remainder of the money they would have spent on it to fund something which will have better results, then maaaybe they would consider it. But that something else doesn't exist. There aren't better options Nintendo can explore right now using money alone. If there are, they would be exploring them right now in addition to funding Bayonetta 2. They have quite a lot of money. :p
 

NeonZ

Member
Right which is why something like fe x smt which had barely started development seems very likely canned if something doesnt change

Why would Nintendo cancel Wii U games? If they start canceling Wii U games, with the lack of 3rd party titles, they might as well abandon the system officially. They wouldn't be able to replace games that are in production with anything timely. FE x SMT was announced back in January. Even if they only really started serious development by that time, it'd still mean just throwing away resources now.

Besides, I don't see how that's comparable at all. FE is a established Nintendo franchise, and the last one increased the series' popularity. Meanwhile, SMT has had several portable entries for Nintendo systems in the recent past, at least. It's completely different from a new IP like W101, or games that have never landed in Nintendo's systems before.
 

Nibel

Member
Nintendo never really treated the game well in the first place. It was announced on a post E3 show on GT when they could have easily showed it off in the press conference.

Probably shat in their pants because Platinum killed them on their own console with their effort
 

fek

Member
Considering Famitsu says Conception sell-through is at least 40% for both versions, wouldn't shipment numbers be 63k at most? That sounds more reasonable.
 

SmokyDave

Member
nintendo kinda needs to get with the times about how the machine works. interviews, magazine covers, commercials, ellen page.

although to be fair their walled city internet-only approach is probably weirdly ahead of its time, especially for them. it would probably make a lot more sense in about 10 years.
Yeah, it's strange that they're so internet-focused for marketing and community stuff, yet so backwards in other online areas.
 
Nintendo never really treated the game well in the first place. It was announced on a post E3 show on GT when they could have easily showed it off in the press conference.

Yeah. Theyve actually given Bayonetta much more exposure already.

Not sure why they funded this and then just let it die. Or maybe they really believe in their dumb hiding tactics. Fuck em, this game deserved much better.
 
Maybe Nintendo will now start to actually advertise their games and not just broadcast a Nintendo Direct, that only those who are going to buy the game anyway will watch, a few days before release.
 

jcm

Member
DragonSworne, pls. :lol
He' deserves plenty of blame but if anything, Iwata should go "Yamauchi" on his Board and retire them instead. He's needs to surround himself with ideas from Young Members on the Board and not the old bunch of gits he has now.

He did. Most of the board actually work for him now. I'm not sure where this idea that a bunch of old guys are pushing Iwata to manage Nintendo badly came from, but it's inaccurate. Here are the current members of the board:

President (Representative Director)
Satoru Iwata

Senior Managing Directors (Representative Directors)
Genyo Takeda
Shigeru Miyamoto

Managing Director
Tatsumi Kimishima

Directors
Kaoru Takemura
Shigeyuki Takahashi
Satoshi Yamato
Susumu Tanaka
Shinya Takahashi
Hirokazu Shinshi

Auditors
Minoru Ueda
Ken Toyoda
 

Hex

Banned
I'm just grinning from ear to ear right now.

What a great week for vindication.

NintendoGAF will be no where to be found in this thread, rofl.

Glad to see the tactical team never rests.
This type of thing is asinine, it is never a good thing for a good game to "bomb" or get lost in the shuffle. No good comes from it.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
I'm honestly feeling pretty speechless. Remember those days when I referred to a "sub 20k bomba"? Never though we'd be looking at a SUB 10K NUCLEAR-BOMBA.

Three things are clear to me:
- The WiiU is a dead and, to be honest, cancerous system if you aren't Nintendo first party and making sequels to old AND strong Nintendo IP.
- Platinum games are the antithesis to what the typical Nintendo platform buyer wants. This and MadWorld are Platinum's lowest performers when positioning wise they should have achieved a lot more.
- Bayonetta 2 is going to be a horrible thing to watch sales wise considering it was Platinum's ONLY well performing new IP. If there was a way Inaba and co could pay Nintendo back the money they've taken and port the thing, they absolutely should. I'm not sure a company can survive this many nuclear bombas and it not dramatically effect their future prospects for work and what retailers will be prepared to pick up.

Oh and welcome to the Clover Fan experience, newbies. Its a bit like heroin.
 

QaaQer

Member
Also Kamiya said it's there most expansive game yet, financially it's a failure of Mount Everest size. Good thing it was Nintendo funded, or I'm wrong?

That is the general wisdom on gaf, but nobody here knows the details of the contract. Or at least nobody here who is not under an NDA knows the contract terms.

I would be surprised though if Platinum does not take some-kind of financial hit from this, even if it is the loss of needed bonuses like with Obsidian and New Vegas.
 

Coolwhip

Banned
Let's list what could be the reasons this game bombed:

1. TW101 is released on a strugling platform
2. New IP
3. Colourful, but not aimed at young kids
4. The game is hard
5. Lack of promotion
6. Gimmick controls
7. Japanese artstyle
8. Mobile gaming (gotto add it right)
9. Not aimed at CoD crowd

It's probably a combination of it all though.
 

Nibel

Member
Yeah, it's strange that they're so internet-focused for marketing and community stuff, yet so backwards in other online areas.

The people who do the online marketing stuff are probably bunch of young people who get by the times

The people who are in charge of the online infrastructure of their gaming ecosystem are the exact opposite
 
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