Pachter Explains Why Hardcore Games Flop on the Wii

"It seems to me that a 'true' hardcore gamer has a Wii to play Nintendo first party titles, and a 360 or PS3 to play everything else. Of course, some true hard core gamers can't afford multiple consoles, but my guess is that the majority of these own a 360 or PS3, since the number of third party and first party 'great' games available vastly exceeds the number of first party, great games on the Wii." - Michael Pachter

[bgrundman]

There is no market for those games on the console... end of story.

[N4GAddict]

There is but they just buy hardcore Nintendo games.

[Bobbykotickrulesz]

lol what's the point of an explanation, Pachter you idiot?

It's simple. Hardcore games fail because hardcore gamers don't play the effing console. HYUCK HYUCK AND THEN I HAD SEX WITH MA SISTUR

[spankipants]

I see a PC vs Console debate brewing... =P

[HolyOrangeCows]

Wii's userbase just doesn't appreciate those types of games.

And those who were hoping the Wii would get them gave up waiting years ago.

[AssassinHD]

http://www.examiner.com/exa...

It seems to me that SEGA was pleased with the Yakuza 3 sales in the west. What point were you trying to make?

Edit: Crap I clicked the wrong reply button.

[Mahr]

"It seems to me that SEGA was pleased with the Yakuza 3 sales in the west"

Yes, let's look at that PR quote for a moment.

"the initial sales were really positive"

Do you notice that the key word there is 'initial'? Just like the key word in this next link is 'first'?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

"The first set of data for Mad World is very encouraging"

So, like I said, Sega is used to disappointment.

[Anon7349]

Yeah, because....

-No More Heroes

-Metroid Prime 3

-Zelda TP

-Monster Hunter Tri

-Mad World

all flopped, oh wait... they didn't.

Patcher is retarded, there isn't much else to say about this. Bad games like the conduit are just generic shooters, the reason why generic shooters and rail shooters don't sell well on the wii is because these "hardcore games" already exist on other console and on the PC, but they're better.

[pustulio]

LOL all of those games suck.

[ReservoirDog316]

Well they didn't exactly sell like they should've with the install base being so ridiculously big.

It just comes down to most people who play core games (at least a good percentage) like having achievements/trophies and good multiplayer with good graphics. Without that, most just skip over those wii games.

And most people do just skip over those hardcore wii games.

[joeyda]

Pretty sure MadWorld didn't pull in the sales Sega wanted.

[Mahr]

"Pretty sure MadWorld didn't pull in the sales Sega wanted."

Sega's used to disappointment. Look at what happened when they tried to bring Yakuza 3 to the West.

[Lich120]

Most of those games aren't what one would consider "hardcore". Don't get me wrong, I played (and really liked) all of them but Monster Hunter.

Also, Mad Worlds sales were not that high and it was a shame. I think if it would have appeared on 360/PS3 it would have seen better numbers.

[Mini Mario]

"Well they didn't exactly sell like they should've with the install base being so ridiculously big."

So all the AAA games on the ps2 had over 100 million sales? The ps2 have 120 million or so consoles out there so does that mean every game sells over 100 million.

On a side note if the ps2 had so many hardware sales why didnt they carry on to the ps3. Since the ps2 only have hardcore gamers. *Cough*

[Shendow]

They didn't flop, they bomb, Zelda fail on the Wii, it was much better on the Gamecube then the Wii and Metroid Prime pretty much hasn't change much.

No More Heroes did ok but the 2nd one didn't do to well and now it is coming to PS3 and 360 (Talk about failing on the Wii).

[ReservoirDog316]

Yeah I understand your point and of course the PS2 didn't sell big cause of Jak and Daxter or Kingdom Hearts or MGS2 or MGS3. It sold because of the DVD player, Gran Turismo and casual games. But still, every developer on the Wii that pushes the console to its limits in creativity and power felt disappointed when they don't sell like they should've (I hear nothing but good from Red Steel 2 and that didn't sell well either).

It's nothing against the console but a lot of people skip games that aren't called Mario or Zelda.

[Lou-Cipher]

Most hardcore gamers dont like motion controls.

Hardcore gamers dont play 15 minutes at a time like casual gamers do, they play for hours at a time. (I personally logged over 27 hours of Mass Effect 2 in one sitting)so how on earth am I supposed to play video games standing up for longer than an hour or two?

God of War/Halo/Gran Turismo/World of Warcraft would be called casual games too, if you had to stand up while playing. There is no such thing as a hardcore game that only uses motion control. That is why hardcore games fail on the Wii.(if there was any)

Hardcore gamers look at video games the same way they look at twinkies. They aren't supposed to be a healthy form of exercise, they are supposed to be delicious.

[gta2800]

I don't need an explanation from Patcher to figure that out. I wish I could glue Patchers mouth shut. My ass hole has spewed better shit than the shit this retard spews out of his mouth.

[AEtherbane]

I buy hardcore Wii games because after all, they are still really awesome (as long as they aren't on-rails), but he makes a point, my attention typically focuses the hardcore games on the 360 and ps3 rather than hardcore on the wii. Sure i bought conduit and played it a bunch, but it doesn't compare to how much i played MWF2 or something. Then again, i give just as much attention to Nintendo titles like Metroid: other M and Zelda as i would to any 360 and PS3 title.

[N4GAddict]

Wii gamers need to buy Muramasa

[joeyda]

Shit yes. That game was gorgeous, engaging and addictive.

God, what a great game.

[SinnedNogara]

Didn't anyone mention that Call of Duty and Resident Evil games sell well on Wii? Conduit sold well, they're making a sequel.

MadWorld didn't sell well because it's black and white, short, repetitive, no replay value, and because there is a guy with a chainsaw on the cover (red box art would have helped it greatly). House of the Dead Overkill didn't sell, but House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return sold about 900,000, close ot 1 million.

[saint_john_paul_ii]

welcome to next gen, were games such as Red Dead Redemption needed to sell 4 million copies to break even and succeed. So yes...

[cayal]

There is a difference between XBOX/PS3 and Wii developments.

[Mini Mario]

"welcome to next gen, were games such as Red Dead Redemption needed to sell 4 million copies to break even and succeed. So yes... "

On the HD twins, yes. Not so much on the wii.

[Trroy]

Using the most expensive game ever made, as an example of how much the typical game needs to profit, is called "spin".

RDR cost 5x as much as the typical HD crossplat. If it needs 4M to break even, wouldn't that mean the typical HD crossplat needs 800K?

[VTHockey411]

Call of Duty: World at War and Modern Warfare 2: Reflex Wii both sold less than a million copies on the Wii. Resident Evil 4 was just over 1 million.

Considering the Wii has a HUGE North American userbase of roughly 34 million, 1 million is not much of a success. The fact is, a game like MW2 sells 7 or 8 million on the Xbox 360 and barely 1 million on the Wii, which has a bigger userbase, which means it should have bigger sales to be a true success.

[Convas]

... I stop caring after seeing the "Pachter Explains" bit.

[Whoooop]

What he should explain is how he got his job in the first place...

[qface64]

im still trying to figure what his job is exactly
who is paying him and why?

[dizzleK]

why do things besides shooters seemingly flop on other consoles? why are seemingly very few people playing the good stuff period, no matter what console they own?

[Memo-Xen x3100]

Patcher needs to explain why he's just figured this shit out now.

[ozstar]

Pachter knows F*** ALL about anything and you know it.
He is trying to distract everyone from the fact that none of his predictions EVER work out. eg. RDR will fail, NO. Theres no audience for Heavy Rain, NO. Wii HD, NO. If this guy honestly worked in an area of finance, where this kind of opinion was literally affecting billion dollar invesment decisions, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED YEARS AGO.

btw, Overkill has sold 500k already. COD Series has been a million seller on Wii for the last 3 or 4 titles in a row. Modern Warfare Wii has hit 1 MILLION already.
Saying Goldeneye Wii won't be a success is not suprising, it is a 13 year old game.

Long story short - Pachters predictions are worth nothing. This kind of news is simply troll bait, and it just serves to destroy any marketing/popular support for games like Monster Hunter 3 (which btw is a phenomenal game in case you're too ignorant to realise).

[Meryl]

they only kept pachter so we could all laugh at him every time his predictions fail, next one up to fail natal selling millions, mwhaha this will be fun

[stephmhishot]

The Wii is a novelty item, it really is a toy. I understand that, yes, there are hardcore games on the system like Galaxy 1/2, Metroid, Mad World etc, but, in a way Nintendo kind of screwed themselves. They accomplished their goal of getting Grandma and Grandpa to buy their system, but at the end of the day, do Grams and Gramps really have any interest in any games besides the bundled Wii Sports?

[Nugundam0079]

Im 23 so--and I own a wii and I play it more so than my 360 and PS3 your wrong sir there ARE hardcore gamers on the wii.

[stephmhishot]

Not saying there aren't hardcore gamers on the Wii (I said that there are yes, hardcore games on the Wii), but there are a great deal of Wii owners who are elderly, a fact you can't deny. Seriously man, do you really think Edna and George are dying to play Monster Hunter?

[stephmhishot]

If you're gonna disagree, you might as well give an opposing argument.

[Mini Mario]

"They accomplished their goal of getting Grandma and Grandpa to buy their system"

O yeh and i wonder what the percentage of Grandma's buying a wii is. Im sure you would know since u talk the talk...o wait you have no facts or proof...just making up your own "statistics" again.

BTW Grandma's could be starting from 40 - 50 years old (that's not even that old). Dont u think it will get to the stage where grandma's and grandpa's will be gamers too. (u know u will get old one day).

If people become grandparents at 40...thats a big audience 40 - 100 years old. I bet you many 40 year old grandparents own a ps3 or wii.

However i dont have a pie chart so we will never really know. Just a good guess.

"Wii owners who are elderly, a fact you can't deny"

It's funny how you say "fact"...show me your facts please...

[kraze07]

If the Wii was in HD and these hardcore games didn't use motion control they'd probably do much better sales wise, but even so they are still great games the way they are now.

[matey]

Hardcore games dont exist,All decent games on wii sell by the bucket load MH3 has sold 2.1 million worldwide still doing good numbers MP3 sold very well,COD games get near the 2 million,RE4/UC/DC have sold 3 million,Just dance 3.5 million,Tigerwoods 2010 1.1 million,Madworld 400,000,HOTD OVERKILL 750,000,RED STEEL 2 450,000,Even the bad sellers sell quite a lot so patcher stop talking rubbish,Wii games that are good games sell well into the millions full stop and with wii costing 5 times less to develop for this means fairing better in comparison to 360 getting same numbers,Always before E3 patcher starts his assault on NINTENDO who will be stealing the show this year for sure.

[Gr81]

Yes, Lets listen to Pacman to explain to us first what a 'hardcore' game is and second why these supposed 'hardcore' games don't sell on Wii...BTW didn't he recently say he gave up on Wii HD although he'd been parroting for one since 06? Isn't this the same jackass who predicted Wii would sell 17m consoles total in 2005?

I guess this guy is only valid when he talks shit about the Wii and Nintendo, but let him say something about the PS3 and the lack of sales or unfavorable opinion about Sony and watch how ridiculous this guy becomes again.

[Darkkeria]

no hardcore game works on the because the graphics suck.

Why does anyone care what Pachter thinks anyway?

[Rashonality]

the wii is for causal people that's do not know anything about gaming

Nintendo realized they can't compete with the big two (we all saw the failure of GC and N64) and we all know that Sony dominated the gaming industry for the past two generations
even the xbox with HALO 2 at his side considered a fail and it's still more successful than the GC so yeah....Nintendo can't go hardcore.

that's why they Adopted the FUN philosophy....

[digitaledge]

Nintendo has ALWAYS been about FUN. They've been around for over 100 years creating games for families, and games that are fun. It's not something the JUST adopted.

[HarryM]

.. Patcher is one guy. He doesn't deserve the media attention especially since he gets everything wrong..

[Memo-Xen x3100]

Children are not old enough to play most hardcore games. Looks like MG2 has the Wii defense force rallied up and stronger than ever according to some of the comments in here. Rest assured kiddies the Wii is still and always will be lame.

[digitaledge]

I disagree, because if you listen to the voice chat on COD games etc, MOST of them are immature little kids. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but COD games are considered hardcore, aren't they?

[jagstatboy]

well, I own a Wii for first-party titles and for my kids to play. But even they have been playing the PS3 more cuz of LBP.

I tried playing some 3rd-party wii stuff like The Conduit but thought to myself, why am I wasting time on this non-HD hard to control no trophy shooter when I could be playing a FPS on the PS3 that is 100 times better?

[stewie32887]

I actually think he kind of got it. For the major genre's I find it rather pointless to play a Wii game when I can generally count on their HD counterparts to be better. The only hardcore game I've really found worth it in terms of the Wii was Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and even then, that is about as niche as it gets.

[djfullshred]

Good thing we have "experts" like Patcher explaining the very obvious to everyone. Wii has appealed to the family demographic since day one, and that is how it has been marketed. Thus that is what the game makers develop for that platform. It makes no business sense to try to reverse that course rather than keep milking the family game market for every drop it can squeeze. Game makers are going to invest where they think they can make money, and the next GTA is not going to make any money on Wii.