Sega: We Probably Won't Do More Mature Titles For The Wii

Nintendo Everything -

On the latest edition of the 4 Guys 1UP podcast, Constantine Hantzopoulos, a studio director over at SEGA, had much to say about the state of mature Wii games. Hantzopoulos discussed a number of topics, including sales of MadWorld, House of the Dead: Overkill, and The Conduit. But most importantly, he talked about the possibility of creating mature games for the Wii in the future. According to Hantzopoulos, after seeing the performance of SEGA’s mature titles and Dead Space Extraction, SEGA is now less likely to produce similar content for the platform.

 

“I have to say that it was a space that was open and we took a gamble on it. It’s like, ‘Wow, there’s no mature games on the Wii. Is there an audience out there?’ We did some research, it said there was an audience out there. I won’t comment about Nintendo, they did champion The Conduit as a ‘this is a Nintendo game.’ And, you know, I think they did okay by us. At the end of the day, I just think that you’re seeing kids are skewing much younger towards next-gen. And that’s what I saw out of Conduit. Because not a bad game, visually it’s appealing, right? AI wasn’t that great.

 

High Voltage’s first real effort as an indie developer, creating their own IP. And it was a good effort, right? And there’s always Conduit 2, right? …Anyone past 12 years old was playing 360 and PS3 shooters. And at that point, you can’t tell a 13 year-old, ‘But it’s on the Wii.’ Forget it, you know? That’s not what they see or hear. They’re not really interested in any techno-fetishist aspects of look how great it is on the Wii…And, you know, the effort that we put behind multiplayer on that game to basically get by friend codes and provide worldwide match-making and so on and so forth, I actually thought we dove too deep…

 

…Circling back to the whole mature Wii thing, again SEGA took a gamble, we put out some pretty decent content. I mean, House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld are great Wii games. They really are, especially House of the Dead: Overkill. That game is funny…Yes [it did better than MadWorld]. I mean they’re both doing okay and at the end of the day we’ll make our numbers, that’s good. Conduit’s done quite well for us. It’s been slow burn. That’s the other thing you find out about the Wii. It’s not necessarily first 3 weeks like most titles. And DS. It’s a longer burn, actually. So panicked at first, but it’s like okay.

 

But that begs the question, are we going to do more mature titles for the Wii? And it’s like, probably not. Look at Dead Space. We were stunned. That was my litmus test. Basically, it’s like, okay, you got EA, who can put all the marketing muscle behind this, an established franchise that scored quite well on 360 and PS3. They should be able to actually hit this out of the park, right? We get numbers, real numbers aside from NPD, and I’m like, ‘Woah.’”

funnily enough was listening to this last night, seems like they were clearly taken back by the total lack of sales of Dead Space and the knock on effect it will have on sales of mature titles on Wii.

Constantine Hantzopoulos studio were the ones that made Golden Axe 360/PS3 and Iron Man.

People always bang on about Dead Space not being marketed. Seeing as the guy highlights that EA had all their advertising clout to put behind it, you'd think he'd realise that they.... didn't.

On a side note, I think that marketing these "mature/ hardcore" titles shouldn't matter that much anyway. Surely these core gamers have their finger on the pulse and don't need advertising to tell them whats happening in the games industry.

This guy sounds like he's stoned.

I find this odd, since House Of the Dead has had increadible legs on it, people still buy the series on the Wii, just saw 2 days ago a couple who bought it.

Madworld isn't as big in sales compared to House of the Dead, but it's still done alright for what it really is.

and for Sega to compare a game that is not even theirs makes me more confused

Ugh, this is hard to read. I want 3rd party support on Wii so bad - I really want to play games like AC2 or MW2 on my little white box but instead have to own another system just to play these titles.

It's depressing :I

I agree with these posts on another site:

Third parties killed the Wii software market with shovelware. They treated hardcore gamers like shit, pushing them away even after successes like Red Steel, RE4, CoD World at War and Nintendo's hardcore games (Metroid, Brawl, Zelda). They gave the casual audience games that even they could see were crap. And now the market is bad for any kind of third party Wii game. The shelves are littered with $10-$20 budget games that third parties now have to compete with. And their reaction to this is to keep releasing awful, budget casual games, which only increases the damage. The Wii is living proof that third parties have no business sense and don't know how to sell a product to a wide customer base or to respect their customers.

The Wii is never going to see strong third party software. It hasn't happened now and it wont happen tomorrow, not this far into the gen. Publishers give both good and bad reasons. Some examples genuine, others horrible (see: Extraction).

 

But whatever. I've grown to accept that and instead focus on the more niche low-key games that are still top shit.

 

It will probably be a similar case next gen too. The only way to avoid it is for Nintendo to take a very aggressive and active stance in acquisition and marketing. Really dig their teeth into 3rd parties, buy some fucking exclusives, and makes sure the shit is promoted out of them. Then if sales a worthwhile publisher relations and titles will increase.

 

But they wont, because it's Nintendo, and it will be the same as it has been for awhile.

So what's new boys? We stand alone like always!

Ugh, this is hard to read. I want 3rd party support on Wii so bad - I really want to play games like AC2 or MW2 on my little white box but instead have to own another system just to play these titles.

 

It's depressing :I

Same here...I know deep down in my heart of hearts I am still a Nintendo fanboy so its depressing to have to own another console to be playing the latest cutting edge games.

He said they have pretty much hit their numbers now, slowly but surely....so why does this constitute a failure? And EA DIDN'T market Dead Space in any way shape of form... Winds me up!!

Nintendo should stop letting anyone make any old shit for the Wii because it is cluttering the market...the good games are getting lost!!

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

So he admits to SEGA's sales still going well but that they're put off by EA's sales for one game which people complained about since it was first announced?

This makes sense how exactly?

Interviews like these used to anger me back in the GC days. I remember Sega barely releasing Skies of Arcadia Legends but only because ''small children will love flying the ships!'' Fast forward to present day, i can understand why 3rd parties hesitate. Nintendo is and always will be synonymous with family and thats what sells on their platform. Not a bad thing....

Same here...I know deep down in my heart of hearts I am still a Nintendo fanboy so its depressing to have to own another console to be playing the latest cutting edge games.

Ive pretty much gotten Nintendo out of my system, other than the small Grinch-like space reserved for them in case they do something amazing with their next console. Better luck next time!

This guy sounds like he's stoned.

I haven't listened to this one yet.

But most nights when they do the podcast they drink and whatnot.

Quite relaxed.

yes because the likes of house of the dead and madworld were """"""mature"""""" in the first place.

this should come as no shock really, to be honest.

Who can blame them really?

lots of blood doesn't equal mature. In fact probably the opposite.

when will people learn.

Ouch. That's gotta hurt. A shame, really. HotD and Madworld are great games. The Conduit... Meh. Not awful, just not very good IMO. DS:E was great too. I like to play that more than the original DS, but that just may be me going crazy.

I understand it must be frustrating to be a 3rd Party developer on Wii. Unless you're taken under Nintendo's mantle, you're up against the Nintendo's franchises, a broadened demography, a kiddy image and a pain marketingwise. Nintendo should be more supportive when it comes to 3rd Party developers.

lots of blood doesn't equal mature. In fact probably the opposite.

 

when will people learn.

Very true. I love HotD and Madworld, but I wouldn't call them mature, but rather just bloody and sweary. There are very few games I'd define as mature, on any console.

On a sidenote, I was playing the demo of Bayonetta recently, when my girlfriend commented that it was a game made for frustrated nerds. Couldn't counter that one. Curses... I'm holding back on buying that one, simply because, although the gameplay is good and the action in unrelentless, it relies too much on sexual innuedo and violence. Just like Dead of Alive lost my interest around the time you could alter the wiggliness of them boobies. I don't need all my female protagonists to be bug-busted, half-naked and kinky, just like I don't need the male ones to be all bald spacemarines with big guns and trees for arms. Whatever happened to 'normal' (relatively speaking) people in games? Why does Bayonetta have to be so unsubtle? Yes, she's sexy. I can see that without the game constantly reminding me she's got big peepers and she's naked under that hair.

Despite all the sexual content, gracious violence and buckets of swearing, sometimes I just think: 'Oh developers, grow up already.". If we wanted that, we'd buy magazines. Cheaper, and easier to take to the porcelain throne.

The Wii doesn't need more mature games, it needs more good games.

The key thing with things like this is Developers/Publishers will make games based on what has sold before and what is likely to sell again. As we move further in to these consoles lifespans new markets become less and less likely to emerge, so things fall back on whats gone before. People now know what works commercially on the Wii and future releases are likely to fall back on these templates. It's just a shame they lend themselves so easily to crap shovelware.

I'd honestly like to see Nintendo help out with 3rd parties more. Whether they do a Microsoft and just buy out a handful of studios next gen or just help market the hell out of 3rd party releases, they really should do something to assist developers next time around.

Sega used to publish charming (but not kiddie) games like Landstalker, Skies of Arcadia and OutRun. Now I just think of them as "violence or Sonic".

Very true. I love HotD and Madworld, but I wouldn't call them mature, but rather just bloody and sweary. There are very few games I'd define as mature, on any console.

Exactly. I'm sure it's all caused by the American rating system. When they say "Mature" they obviously mean "Only suitable for mature people", but people take it to mean the game is mature (or that it makes you mature playing it!)

To me, maturity is closely linked to wisdom, so I'd say mature games I've played are Landstalker, Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks, because they've all made me think.

On a sidenote, I was playing the demo of Bayonetta recently, when my girlfriend commented that it was a game made for frustrated nerds. Couldn't counter that one.

This is the sad thing about games nowadays. I want to play the best, but I won't if it includes gratuitous violence. People kept saying how good Bayonetta was, but then I read some of things that were in it, and there's no way I'd play it. I just don't agree with it.

Despite all the sexual content, gracious violence and buckets of swearing, sometimes I just think: 'Oh developers, grow up already.". If we wanted that, we'd buy magazines. Cheaper, and easier to take to the porcelain throne.

LOL! Funny and true. Although that said, I've not seen much sexual content in games and I think there could be a lot more (in RPGs, for example). As long as you didn't buy the game for that and it wasn't vulgar, it likely wouldn't be gratuitous.

The Sega guy is right that the market for violent games is on other consoles. It's just a shame that that's considered the adult market.

I'd honestly like to see Nintendo help out with 3rd parties more. Whether they do a Microsoft and just buy out a handful of studios next gen or just help market the hell out of 3rd party releases, they really should do something to assist developers next time around.

In the gamecubes time they really did try this and were actually starting to listen t third parties. They made deals with capcom for the capcom 5 which eventually turned into 1 but this is it. They asked third parties to make games for them. Capcom made a few handheld zelda titles that were very successful, sega made f-zero gx, link appeared in soul calibur 2

Their problem was they ignored western parties, but this gen they haven't done anything like this. I remember them saying they wanted to use third parties instead of second party like this and personally I thought the plan made sense even if the games wern't ALWAYS brilliant.

Why hasn't this been done now that nintendo has plenty more money? Why not ask sega to make an f-zero now? I can't understand.

F-Zero GX cause the series to die with only 300,981 worldwide sales and Amusement Vision is force on making Yakuza games.

Nintendo are working with Capcom for Monster Hunter 3 Tri, S-E's Dragon Quest 9 and 10, made sport games with S-E and making games Temco also force Sega to have Sonic in Brawl in change for the rights to used Mario for Sonic & Mario for Sega.

And Myiamoto hated F-ZeroGX for whatever retarded reason.