Wii Sales and Why the Hardcore Gamer is NOT being Ignored

[bamthedoc]

The Nintendo Wii has already surpassed 3 million sales in Japan. It's likely that it has already surpassed 3 million sales in the US; though, that figure hasn't been specifically reported yet. In Japan, there is already consideration to dub the Wii the #1 console, ahead of the PS2. This would mean the Wii would be recognized as selling more units than any other console to date (in Japan at least) in a years time. As a matter of fact, the Wii has almost caught up with, if not surpassed by now, the total worldwide sales of the X-Box 360. This all in less than a year! This monumental feat even I doubted would ever occur. Okay. I shouldn't say 'even' as, well, I thought that many units, with the X-Box 360 still selling strong, would be a two-year, even three-year, goal.

With that, I'll move onto what some anti-Nintendo fanboys (or plain silly people) have been stating consequences coming from Wii being the top seller. The argument is that, as a consequence of the Wii being the top seller, companies will focus less and less on hardcore games and start ignoring them. I have one thing to say to this. "Oh grow up!" The hardcore gamer makes up a rather minority part of the market, as the Wii and DS are proving. They have proven that there is untapped market out there, and companies are going to take advantage of this. Nintendo themselves aren't ignoring the hardcore gamer, so neither is any other developer.

Let's look at the futility and stupidity of the argument that 'hardcore' is going away or being ignored on the Wii. Every month traditional and hardcore games are being made on the Wii. Companies are testing and perfecting the method to make games for the Wii. At the same time, these same companies are making a quick buck on easy-to-cash-in casual titles. These titles cost less to develop and thus bank easier. With that out of the way, I'll move on to some basic economics.

As these companies make more bank off casual titles, they will keep developing them and make more and more bank. They set development studios aside for these games while keeping other studios for more traditional games. They make these huge big-budget games that, though take more sales to profit from, they still bank on these titles. In effect, the more diverse your portfolio of games...the more the company has to bank on.

What does this mean for games? You'll continue to see EA making playground games in different development studios while devoting larger budgets to Madden and FIFA. These companies are learning to diversify their portfolio, and they are also learning that the higher the quality the more there is to bank. There is a push towards making quality casual games (like Rayman Raving Rabids) and proving quality of hardcore games (like Red Steel). Speaking of Ubisoft, they've already appologized for the lackluster performance of Red Steel and have promised a much improved sequel (Wii exclusive of course).

What we see are companies improving on the formula and trying to make the most profit. If the casual market can be tapped, the traditional gamer should only feel rest-assured that these companies will have more money to spend on making big-budget games.