Official Wii U Thread

[Joust Williams]

Assassin's Creed 3 will pull 7.5 million lifetime. I have talked about the competing against perception when it comes to price. People's perception of what games should cost is going down (and budgets are going up).

There are just too many big budget games. This is total fact. My issue is that people who think 60 dollars is too much now are stupid because yes, it's a great deal. You used to have to buy a game like Kaboom for 40 dollars.

[Hero]

We had the same things in the 80s (cheap games on weak tech).

Those were cheap lcd black and white games where the weakness was inherently obvious and directly a result of the cost. Games on iPhone no longer look or feel weak compared to what a consumer wants. Again, that's evidenced by stuff like the popularity of Angry Birds. Ever see a Tiger game get multiple sequels, and branded merchandise slathered all over a Sears or JCPenny?

I know cheap entertainment has always been competing, but now more than ever the perceived gap of quality between hi/low prices is disappearing.

[Shin Johnpv]

Back when the Gamecube was new I didn't really want one, but I played Rogue Leader on a demo kiosk and thought, "I must have this!" I guess Nintendo doesn't want my money anymore.

I was pleasantly surprised by the gamepad, it's surprisingly comfortable and the d pad and buttons are a nice size. From the pics I thought they would be 3DS sized.

I don't know why some of them have Rayman as a playable demo and some of them have nothing. They really should have had a Nintendoland, NSMBU, Rayman Legends, and some other 3rd party demo on there and playable.

[Hero]

There are just too many big budget games. This is total fact. My issue is that people who think 60 dollars is too much now are stupid because yes, it's a great deal. You used to have to buy a game like Kaboom for 40 dollars.

I agree with both - there are too many big budget games, and $60 for a game in context isn't bad. What I keep hitting at is that my own personal habits (buying $60 games) isn't the public at large. Which is why used game sales is popular. Which is why many big budget games come out and fail (too much to make, not enough people buy it). There's an element of gamers out there who don't share the notion that $60 games is a deal and that they should pony up. To them, $60 is too much because part of that $60 could be used on other things, while they wait for a price drop or buy it used.

[Diff-chan]

When you couple that with alternative forms of entertainment, I don't see the solution to generating a mass run on gaming being more expensive hardware that leads to higher development costs. That means more expensive games and/or a higher need for a large volume of sales just to break even. It also means an even harder sales prospect to those who aren't us.

Games have always had competition with alternative forms of entertainment. Gaming has also become what it is on more expensive hardware and higher development costs. The videogame industry is something like six times larger than it in 1983.

We're the chumps and idiots though, those who will spend $500+ when a new box comes out just because.

No, it's because that box gives me what I want out of gaming. That doesn't make me a chump OR an idiot.

Compared to stuff with an even more mainstream audience though, 7.5 mil isn't shit. Yeah, an accomplishment for gamers games, but compared to the 2 billion downloads for Angry Birds (though that number is outdated - like last year?) it's still not that great. Fuck, compared to the 20 million of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, 7.5 mil is a number only important to gamers who think the only things that count are the things they care about.

7.5 million is also an exception, not a rule. Otherwise Assassin's Creed, Medal of Honor, Farcry, Sleeping Dogs, Dishonored, et al. would be crowing about these kind of numbers.

Actually 7.5 million copies is a huge number. BO2 has already generated a billion in revenue. Angry Birds is a pop-culture hit, no doubt about it. But in 2011, ALL of 2011, Rovio generated about $106 million in revenue. So BO2 has earned about 10 times more in 3 weeks than Rovio earned during all of 2011.

[Hero]

If you want to talk money, revenue only shows what a thing got. It doesn't factor the costs of making it and what the actual profit is. I'm willing to guess BO2 costs a lot more to develop, publish, distribute, maintain servers, etc. than Angry Birds does.

I think of us as chumps/idiots because how many times do we say "I'll buy this system even though I hate it/don't want anything for it right now" rather than wait for it be cheaper, or for the game we want to actually be available? If you get it because there's something on it, available that same day, that you want out of gaming, that's great. That's not the chump factor I'm thinking about.

[Joust Williams]

The pubs spend huge in order to hit one really big. MW made way more money than Angry Birds.

I don't think most of use do that. I kinda do and I know some other do, but that's far from the norm, even here

[Diff-chan]

I never say that. Maybe you're just talking about yourself. I buy a system when there is something I want for it.

Revenue is what matters. You need to spend money to make money. Yes yes you need to define a ROI and all tat but Ubi wouldn't have built a huge Assassins Creed infrastructure if they could make the same total profit by pumping out iPhone games.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Hey, how much does an out of contract iphone that you are going to replace in two years cost? More or less than the $400-$600 console that will be supported for the next 4-10 years?

[Brisco Bold]

I don't know why some of them have Rayman as a playable demo and some of them have nothing. They really should have had a Nintendoland, NSMBU, Rayman Legends, and some other 3rd party demo on there and playable.

A Future Shop in downtown Toronto has a Wii U with no game, just videos. The Best Buy across the street has a Wii U with Rayman. These stores have the same parent company.

The entire selling point of this system is interactivity.