Shocked at how badly DEAD SPACE EXTACTION did!

[DracIsBack]

I was looking forward to Dead Space Extraction on the Wii. While I know that hardcore games from 3rd parties struggle on the Wii, I was really surprised at how badly Dead Space Extraction did. If VGChartz are to be believe, the game has barely sold 80,000 copies worldwide since release! Both MadWorld and The Conduit received attention for "selling poorly" yet but of those have sold over 300,000 copies. Yes, they've been out longer, but they also sold better initially and sustained themselves longer.

 

Totally surprised that Dead Space did this badly! It's almost like there was no marketing whatsoever behind it.

 

Hoping Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles does well. My gut says that between the brand and the Wii track record (RE4 Wii and Umbrella Chronicles were million sellers) has a shot at higher success.

[+remowilliams]

Damn. That's a shame if its that low, but I sort of expected it not to do well. It's a great game, but a completely different experience for those who've played and loved Dead Space (i.e. not most Wii owners), and it's intense, violent and graphic (i.e. not for most Wii 'casual' owners).

[Rev]

well,it is a on-rails shooter....but still,it has the dead space name on it and it received pretty good reviews.

[vdub_bobby]

It's almost like there was no marketing whatsoever behind it.

Bingo.

 

From what I've read, EA didn't market this almost at all:

“Electronic Arts didn’t market Dead Space Extraction as much as it does with other titles. And the success or failure of a Wii title usually correlates directly to marketing spend. If Electronic Arts spent little on marketing, I am sure the sell through was no surprise to them. So I do not believe sell through was a disappointment to EA.”

Also from that article...

EA said previously that the performance of Extraction would influence the company's decision to create mature-content games for Wii in the future, and Divnich implied that the publisher’s decision not to heavily market the title may have been based on the poor performance of other mature-rated Wii games released while Extraction was still in development.

 

“Most games have a 12 to 24 month development schedule and over a year ago the industry was under the assumption that mature-rated games could succeed on the Wii. Unfortunately, as we progressed and witnessed the sales results from games such as MadWorld, it became pretty clear the market size for games with mature-content was extremely small, much smaller than any other home platform.

 

EDIT: From VGChartz.com, here are the sales numbers for M-rated Wii games:

 

Resident Evil 4 - 1.63M

COD: WAW - 1.31M

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles - 1.3M

The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return - 1.1M

No More Heroes - 450K

The House of the Dead: Overkill - 420K

CSI: Hard Evidence - 370K

MadWorld - 340K

Manhunt 2 - 250K

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop - 180K

Alone in the Dark - 140K

The Godfather: Blackhand Edition - 130K

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon - 130K

Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil - 120K

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent - 110K

Scarface: The World is Yours - 100K

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins - 100K

Dead Space Extraction - 80K

Brothers in Arms Double Time - 80K

Far Cry: Vengeance - 70K

ObsCure: The Aftermath - 70K

Target: Terror - 50K

Cursed Mountain - 50K

Escape from Bug Island - 40K

Driver: Parallel Lines - 10K

CSI: Deadly Intent - 10K

 

Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers - VGchartz doesn't have numbers.

Edited November 15, 2009 by vdub_bobby

[Cybergoth]

EA has a track record of dumping almost 70 shit games onto the Wii, how was any potential customer supposed to believe that this one saw at least a little effort put into it? Besides, it is just another lightgun shooter, again not a real game...

[moycon]

how was any potential customer supposed to believe that this one saw at least a little effort put into it?

 

Especially since the majority of Wii owners (Millions and millions of consumers) could care less about video games and are perfectly happy with their Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Fit. The reason why the Wii has double the potential sales but doesn't actually move double the software (and actually moves less on major releases)is because the majority of Wii owners aren't gamers.

Edited November 15, 2009 by moycon

[Cybergoth]

how was any potential customer supposed to believe that this one saw at least a little effort put into it?

Especially since the majority of Wii owners (Millions and millions of consumers) could care less about video games and are perfectly happy with their Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Fit.

 

This may explain lower overall sales of hardcore games, but it doesn't explain the gap in sales between CoD5 and DSE.

[DracIsBack]

Especially since the majority of Wii owners (Millions and millions of consumers) could care less about video games and are perfectly happy with their Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Fit.

 

Point taken, though I'm not quite sure it's that bad. The attach rate for Wii games is higher than three titles. :-) And there certainly are outliers. While Dead Space sold under 100K, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil Umbrella, Call of Duty: World At War, Red Steel and House Of The Dead 2&3 don't strike me as "wii fit" type games and all were million sellers on the platform. It also has 75 million selling games. If it was only "casual games" that play two or three titles, Nintendo themselves wouldn't be selling games outside of that genre. Certainly a shit load of traditional Nintendo titles have moved on that system.

 

I think there certainly is the issue of a lot of non-gamers are on the system. I also think there's some self-fulfilling prophecy on the system (it won't sell so don't invest; we'd didn't invest so it didn't sell) happening on the system. And many people haven't figured out how to crack that market.

[BydoEmpire]

I don't see how anyone is shocked Dead Space sold poorly. It's a light gun game in 2009, with virtually no brand behind it. At least House of the Dead and RE:Umbrella Chronicles have long-standing, highly regarded franchises to lean on (and HotD Wii was a discount title). Same for Mad World. It's a freaking black and white brawler. Those games went out of style with the 16 bit era, and having it black and white - regardless whether or not you think it's cool- further alienates a lot of consumers. It's shocking to me that these games got green lit, not that they sold poorly. That's completely expected. If any publisher is shocked at their sales they need to do a little more research into the video game industry.

 

Especially since the majority of Wii owners (Millions and millions of consumers) could care less about video games and are perfectly happy with their Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Fit.

That's one of the great misconceptions about the Wii. While there are many millions of Wii owners like that, it is not a majority. The attach rate for Wii was only overtaken by PS3 this last year - it's very close, around 6. One of the problems for "core" games on Wii is that a significant number of those gamers who have a Wii also play games on 360, ps3 and PC, and unless the Wii version is very special it's hard to compete.

 

Don't get me wrong, I loved Dead Space: Extraction. I thought they did a fantastic job, but it's not at all a surprise the game bombed at retail.

Edited November 15, 2009 by BydoEmpire

[Mendon]

EA isn't doing much promotion and advertising for mature Wii titles at all. I saw very, very little promotion for Extraction and have seen **NONE** for Reflex.

 

 

Mendon

Edited November 15, 2009 by Mendon

[DracIsBack]

I don't see how anyone is shocked Dead Space sold poorly. It's a light gun game in 2009, with virtually no brand behind it. At least House of the Dead and RE:Umbrella Chronicles have long-standing, highly regarded franchises to lean on (and HotD Wii was a discount title). Same for Mad World. It's a freaking black and white brawler. Those games went out of style with the 16 bit era, and having it black and white - regardless whether or not you think it's cool- further alienates a lot of consumers. It's shocking to me that these games got green lit, not that they sold poorly. That's completely expected. If any publisher is shocked at their sales they need to do a little more research into the video game industry.

 

Re-read what I said. Like others, I had concerns that it would not move. However, I'm shocked that it did as badly as it did. Even the titles without "names" (like the Conduit and Mad World) sold substantially better. I mean, Dead Space Extraction didn't just 'disappoint', it splatted on the the pavement. Even against other "disappointing" standards, it failed miserably. And this was despite good reviews.

 

It leads me to believe that they didn't even try to promote it.

 

The House Of The Dead comment is interesting. As a budget title, it takes less at retail per unit than the others but it also moved a lot more too.

Edited November 15, 2009 by DracIsBack

[MCHufnagel]

 

 

Re-read what I said. Like others, I had concerns that it would not move. However, I'm shocked that it did as badly as it did. Even the titles without "names" (like the Conduit and Mad World) sold substantially better. I mean, Dead Space Extraction didn't just 'disappoint', it splatted on the the pavement. Even against other "disappointing" standards, it failed miserably. And this was despite good reviews.

 

It leads me to believe that they didn't even try to promote it.

 

The House Of The Dead comment is interesting. As a budget title, it takes less at retail per unit than the others but it also moved a lot more too.

 

The self-fulfilling prophecy stuff is real for the Wii. Not many "real gamers" buy Wii's because it "doesn't have hardcore titles". And M-rated games have lower sales on the Wii because it doesn't have as many owners interested in M-rated titles as the PS3/X360. This is just my experience regarding the Wii. Of all the people I know with kids, three families bought Wii's for their daughters while only one family bought one for their son. PS3/X360 consoles were all bought for sons. While a friend of mine who is a casual gamer bought a Wii to game on and a PS3 to play Blu-Rays. I know this isn't an accurate sampling, but I do think this is a problem when selling M-rated games on the Wii.

 

While I don't watch much tv, I did see ads for both Conduit and Mad World and none for Dead Space Extraction. That tells me that yes, EA didn't do a very good job marketing this game. I just don't get it. Why make a game you really don't want to sell? Are the development costs on the Wii so low that a company can brag that a franchise is on every console and hand-held?

[Cybergoth]

Firefighter moved 100K already and it's neither a known brand nor has it been advertized anywhere. It didn't even get top tier reviews.

 

It is a complete game at a very good price though.

[BydoEmpire]

You need to do something to get consumers to part with their $50. $20 and $30 titles are much easier to push as a whim purchase, which I think accounts for the sales of a lot of the shovelware.

 

Re-read what I said. Like others, I had concerns that it would not move. However, I'm shocked that it did as badly as it did.

You'll have to look at DS:E after the stock has been exhausted. It's only been a month, and the price has been high. When you see it discounted I bet it will move a few copies and hit 100k or more. Certainly not good numbers, but if you're comparing MadWorld and The Conduit you need to give DS:E a little more time.

[Gregory DG]

Wii will always be a Nintendo machine. If the game ain't by Nintendo, it don't sell. I bet New Super Mario Bros. sells through the roof.

[DracIsBack]

Wii will always be a Nintendo machine. If the game ain't by Nintendo, it don't sell. I bet New Super Mario Bros. sells through the roof.

 

So Nintendo made all of those 75 million sellers on the system themselves?

 

Point taken that they dominate but other non-Nintendo titles have sold.

[vdub_bobby]

Wii will always be a Nintendo machine. If the game ain't by Nintendo, it don't sell. I bet New Super Mario Bros. sells through the roof.

NSMBW will sell tons, I am sure - but there are plenty of non-Nintendo games that have sold well.

 

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock sold 4M+

Carnival Games sold 3.5M

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga sold almost 3M

EA Sports Active sold 2M+

Game Party sold 2M+

Sonic and the Secret Rings sold 2M+

Ubisoft released 3 (!) Rayman Raving Rabbids games and each has sold over 1.5M, all of which outsold Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition sold 1.5M+

 

Below that, there are ~30 games that sold between 1M and 1.5M; only 3 of them are Nintendo titles.

[moycon]

Point taken, though I'm not quite sure it's that bad.

 

Nah I was being sarcastic when I typed that. Still, with over 20 million+ more consoles in consumers living rooms you'd think they would have more million sellers than they do. When you look at the sheer amount of kiddie shovel ware parents blindly pick up for $20, the fact the Wii has an attachment rate of 6 is no surprise. To me this doesn't mean the majority of Wii owners could give a crap about video games, might just mean the majority of wii owners know a cheap way to keep a kid quiet for the weekend. This would certainly explain all the crap titles and the low sales of decent games.

Edited November 16, 2009 by moycon

[Jess Ragan]

EA has a track record of dumping almost 70 shit games onto the Wii, how was any potential customer supposed to believe that this one saw at least a little effort put into it? Besides, it is just another lightgun shooter, again not a real game...

 

Don't do that. Just... don't. A light gun shooter is as much a real game as any other, even if it's short and simple. They can nevertheless be a lot of fun if you're just looking for a thrill ride and don't want to wade through endless option and stat screens. Sometimes I think today's video games have gotten TOO long and drawn out for their own good.

[Cybergoth]

EA has a track record of dumping almost 70 shit games onto the Wii, how was any potential customer supposed to believe that this one saw at least a little effort put into it? Besides, it is just another lightgun shooter, again not a real game...

Don't do that. Just... don't. A light gun shooter is as much a real game as any other, even if it's short and simple. They can nevertheless be a lot of fun if you're just looking for a thrill ride and don't want to wade through endless option and stat screens. Sometimes I think today's video games have gotten TOO long and drawn out for their own good.

 

I don't deny that there is a niche market for them

[BydoEmpire]

FYI, DS:Extraction will be $24.99 at TRU for Black Friday.

 

http://gamerdeals.net/blogs/weekday-deals/archive/2009/11/15/toysrus-black-friday-ad-leaked.aspx

[Atari Master]

FYI, DS:Extraction will be $24.99 at TRU for Black Friday.

 

http://gamerdeals.net/blogs/weekday-deals/archive/2009/11/15/toysrus-black-friday-ad-leaked.aspx

 

I think the problem is that it's another rail shooter. I remember when it was announced that the Wii was getting a Dead Space game everyone was pretty hyped (accept for a few people who only like HD games). Then, not long after, once it was announced that it was a rail shooter, there was a huge shit storm. People are tired of half assed efforts, and want real games. Also keep in mind that EA tried to sell this game at $50 with no advertising.

 

Considering Resident Evil 4 did 1.5 million on the Wii, I'd be willing to bet that if Dead Space Extraction was a third person game like the original, it would have done a LOT better. I know I'd have bought it.