MadWorld sells 66K in March, Sega oddly pleased

by David Hinkle on Apr 17th 2009 11:50AM

Call us crazy, but we always thought that the idea behind making games was to sell tons of copies. Not so for Sega, as it seems weirdly satisfied with MadWorld's lackluster sales, based on comments to Gamasutra. Debuting early in March, Platinum Games' over-the-top brawler managed to move 66,000 copies, despite generally positive reviews.

Sega's other M-rated title on Wii, House of the Dead: Overkill, also managed to have a sub-par debut, selling 45,000 copies during February. What does this say for The Conduit, the third of Sega's big games for Wii? Could Sega's gamble on the mature audience of Wii gamers been a poor move? All signs are pointing to "yes" right about now ... but Sega seems to disagree!

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Tags: house-of-the-dead, house-of-the-dead-overkill, madworld, Nintendo, platinum-games, sega, Wii

Reader Comments (155)

A niche M-rated title on the Wii sold over two-thirds of what one of the most well-known M-rated properties in existence (GTA: CW) managed to sell on the DS?

Not bad.

Either way you look at it neither of those titles did very well. If this doesn't prove that the Wii is not the system for M rated games I don't know what does. I think we can all admit this would of sold much more copies on 360/PS3.

Here's my point:

If the publisher is pleased with said amount of sales for their game, then why does anything else in the world, Joystiq naysayers being the most, matter??

That's a valid point, hopefully this ends up making Sega money over the long run. It seems like most publishers are more content with high up front sales numbers in the first couple months compared to okay sales numbers over an extended period of time.

@ Cody : Totally. Not every game is going to sell millions of copies, and publishers are aware of this. If they consider it a success, that's the most important thing, as it should encourage them to put more effort into similar games for the system.

@Cody: It matters because you can't believe what publishers say.

Imagine if Sega said 'Sales of HotD and MadWorld were severely disappointing and are really going to put a dent in our financial resources. Our Wii policy is in tatters, several unannounced games that have already had significant investment are now in doubt, and apart from Mario and Sonic, we'll have to do a complete rethink of what we're doing on the platform from now on.'

What do you think that'd do to their share price?

I don't think the situation's that bad by any means, and perhaps it's even true that these numbers are in line with their expectations - but regardless, you can't necessarily believe what company PR says.

It would have sold worse on the 360 because this game was designed for limited processing power and motion controls.

People make these comments too much without knowing the facts.

Correction: the point is not to sell as many copies as possible as to make profit on any copy is sold minimun!

I'm interested in picking both games up but I just don't feel like dusting off my wii.

So, basically, you want to play these games but then you wouldn't be able to bitch that the Wii doesn't have any games? Because you know what stupid-ass "dust" thing isn't supposed to be literal, right?

Actually for most users the dust thing is quite literal. I fired up my Wii for the first time in about 9 months to play some Mario Kart and wiped a huge amount of dust off it. I was scared it was going to get in the drive and ruin it, it was a lot of dust.

Unless you are obsessive about dusting it off every day (as most gamers aren't), the Wii collects dust even you use it regularly. Just like any other console.

Come to think of it, do game consoles generate static when they're turned on? I think it probably collects more dust when it's on.

So yes, the dust thing is literal, but it doesn't specifically apply to consoles that remain off for extended periods of time.

LOL A DUSTY WII COMMENT HOW FUNNY AND HILARIOUSLY AMUSING!

Yeesh. Thanks, Paviel. I was also about to point out what a complete assclown CTC is being, but you were rather polite.

Actually, I was being quite literal.

Now, if I can remember where I stashed my Wii

Wow, I'm sorry you're too immature to have an actual discussion Markez, maybe you should have your mom do your typing for you. Do you own anything other than a Wii? If not, you don't belong in this discussion. I'm sure anyone else on here that owns a Wii along with another console will agree that their Wii gets the least amount of playtime. I take my 360 everywhere with me, maybe that's why the dust never settles.

Actually CTC, and i'm not saying this just to disagree with you, i DO own all 3 systems, and the Wii gets the most of my playing time. Why? Not because it looks the best on my 42" Bravia, but because I get the most amount of ENJOYMENT out of it. It's pure fun. I feel like a kid on the original NES again or some shit, I don't know. Whether it's the Mario Paint-esqe tunes on the Shop Channel, or the F-Zero inspired tracks on the New Channel's slideshow, or the Sim City SNES tones on the Weather Channel or the downright fun to play games with the Wii Remote ala disc and Wiiware and nostalgic-inducing Virtual Console, my PS3 gets second billing, and the 360 hasn't been turned on by me this year.

I'm glad you enjoy your Wii, but I think you can agree you're in the minority when it comes to playing your Wii more than your other consoles. I enjoy mine, but not nearly as much as my other consoles. The only reason it was turned on last night was because a friend saw Mario Kart and she hadn't played the Wii version yet. Hopefully it gets some more use once I pick up MadWorld, but I'm not really sure when I'll pick that up as I still have Fable 2 and Gears 2 to play through. Markez seems to think that I enjoy seeing it turned off for vast amounts of time, this isn't true though. I would be happy to use my $250 purchase more often, I bought it to use it.

Actually my Wii sits beside my TV in the same position all the time, so whether it is play or not, it still gathers dust. You also have to be quite untidy to not dust a room at least once every 2 months, so your Wii should have the same amount of dust as other smooth surfaces in your room.

Telling anybody whether they belong in a conversation or not on an internet blog is hilarious as well. I also own a 360, which gets the majority of my playing time. Automatically assuming a multiple console owner always plays the Wii less, also hilarious. Anyone making a dusty Wii comment these days is being an asshat, isn't any way around that, sorry.

Bringing up my mom, however, and saying you bring your 360 'everywhere' just makes me want to stoop lower and ask if you still do sleepovers with your grade school buddies, or trade baseball cards.

I'm sorry for being a jackass, I really am, but dusty console comments are beyond asinine. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm sorry for being a jackass.

Eat my dusty Wii bitches.

Yes, I said that the majority of multiple console owners play their Wii less and you just helped prove my point by saying you play your 360 more. You seem to think that I love the fact that my Wii rarely gets time and that I'm happy I spent $250 on something I rarely turn on. That's where your wrong, I would love to turn on my Wii daily and have a fun time with it. And lastly, yes I do take my 360 everywhere. I take it on vacation, I take it on business trips, I even take it upstairs to my bedroom. My Wii hasn't moved since I bought it on launch day.

That's where I'm wrong? I didn't come remotely close to suggesting, or saying this at all "You seem to think that I love the fact that my Wii rarely gets time and that I'm happy I spent $250 on something I rarely turn on."

My Wii time is tied with 360 but thats because I haven't been able to buy any new Wii games since christmas but my brother has gotten 360 games. If I had the 20 or so Wii games I still want (not even including virtual console or wiiware) I would certainly play it the most.

Time out, I got to get lunch ;)

Patience, young Skywalker. These games will have legs. I wouldn't be surprised to look back in a year or two and see close to if not a million sold, at least for Madworld. That's a game where advertising couldn't really sell the concept, but word of mouth will help.

Meanwhile, one should expect The Conduit to do significantly better. It's rated T, it's the first major 3rd Party FPS the Wii has had since Red Steel (which sucked, and was before everyone and their mom owned the thing), and it has a more succinct story. Those are three things that make it infinitely more marketable.

I'm not expecting it to do well at all, because if you're into those types of games, I'm betting you already own a 360 or a Playstation. If I only owned a Wii, then sure I'd pick it up, but I have no desire to purchase the game, because I can already pay numerous types of these games on my 360 and PS3.

Honestly I wish 3rd parties would just continue to push unique games like Zak and Wikki, or de Blob. Or games like Dead Space which just looks flat out amazing, and something I'm not going to get on 360.

Just remember Wii has sold more consoles then 360 and PS3, due to the grandmas and soccer moms of the world. Not due to the Call of Gears of Halo Zone folks out there. The market for hardcore games on Wii, just doesn't exist at the levels it does on the other two systems. I love each of my systems equally, and play them all about equally, and I like the Wii precisely because it isn't a hardcore shooter machine.

To sum it up, I don't expect it to sell a bunch. Not knocking on the quality of game or anything else, but I'm just guessing it doesn't sell all that well.

"I'm not expecting it to do well at all, because if you're into those types of games, I'm betting you already own a 360 or a Playstation"

Yep because it's totally impossible for someone to have a ps3 or 360 and also either own a Wii or be interested in a Wii game.

@Vegeta

I think his point stems from the fact that The Conduit's main selling point seems to be it's great graphics, and the fact that it's a real FPS made for the Wii. These selling points aren't really that big if you have one of the HD consoles or even a decent gaming PC. And the majority for people who own JUST a Wii probably won't give a crap.

"I'm not expecting it to do well at all, because if you're into those types of games, I'm betting you already own a 360 or a Playstation."

I didn't realize the PS360 had so many black and white beat em ups.

Wait!!!

Nevermind!!

Huh...I don't remember this being classified as a "Black & White Beat em' Up".

@ Alex Sohn

You may be right, but I can imagine there being a fairly large group of Wii owners whose parents bought the system for them or their family (I'm thinking middle/high schoolers) who are looking for a game their parents won't flip over if they get (as opposed to Madworld).

I also think PS360 owners may be more inclined to buy Conduit on its merits as a FPS. The Wii SHOULD BE the perfect FPS console, with hugely more accurate aim than dual analog (a setup I've never enjoyed). If they get the Conduit's controls down, and it feels like a unique experience, it'll sell to PS360 owners who have a Wii.

Uh, I'm pretty sure The Conduit is rated T.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is too.

ChunderMan and Cian are correct, The Conduit is rated T.

Other developers should be following Sega's lead on this. I didn't play HotD, but MadWorld was the first game I bought for my Wii since Mario Galaxy nearly a year ago. And I am very interested in the Conduit as well. I purchased my Wii to play the flagship titles and since Nintendo has somewhat let me down in that sense, I'm glad Sega is there to pick up the slack.

Eh, maybe they'll have something at E3. Iwata said they were going to do something big, so I am cautiously optimistic.

i plan on buying conduit, but madworlds 'sylized' graphics are hard to look at imo

I actually enjoyed Red steel, It wasn't awesome, but definitely fun to beat.

I have a feeling the conduit will get reviews around 8 or so and it won't break 1 million.

In the wii universe the games that sell like crazy are either nintendo or casual games. that's gotta suck for 3rd party developers......

Also, take 66k for a March 10 release and spread it out over a full 30-day month, and you wind up with about 100k sold. Not bad at all.

Though yes, I know I do sound like a Wii apologist. I'll defend the system's merits to the bone, but I obviously wish these sales numbers were higher.

They are on a crazy buzz after mario and sonic at the olympics sold 5 million copies. Anything small is still allllriight.

I'm still amazed that game has sold up to 7 million at this point.

that sux. maybe they will release it on the other consoles with better graphics to make up their money. hopefully

THese sales imho amount to the hardcore gamers that own a Wii, love it and want all good games for it. The more "casual" or "diverse" players that own multiple platforms have been turned off by the Wii for months and months now and spend their money some place else. I bought Madworld (though I'm still waiting for the shipment to arrive from a less censored country). I will buy Conduit simply because it's an ambitious project with a symbolic character.

If I wasn't waiting for the next Wii only Zelda I'd probably have sold my waggle box by now too. Spend 500€ on software and most of sucked. That ain't good news for an avid gamer like me. Only thing that keeps me from doing that is that I don't have the 1200 buckaroos lying around it would cost me to switch to an HD setup.

I wasnt interested in Mad World or House of The Dead: Overkill... but I have really been looking forward to The Conduit. I already pre-ordered 4 copies (one for self, 2 for friends, and one for my sister).... I am sure it is gonna sell really well.

If everyone in America preorders like you do, I'd say so!

=) I feel like it is really up to the core players on the Wii to make this title happen. I assumed Mad World and HoTD would have lackluster sales, since those are kinda niche games...really over the top for the Wii crowd. But I see no reason why The Conduit should fail.

The only possible reason is if they don't start doing some marketing. Sure, the internets are ablaze with info on The Conduit, so gamers know all about it.... but the more casual players that don't troll Joystiq, GoNintendo, IGN, etc know little to nothing about it. I was glad to see a full page ad for it in the latest Nintendo Power... but some commercials, and some nice in-store marketing will help big time. Also, hopefully the stores wont get the release date all screwed up (like they did with Rock Band 2 Wii) and thus not feature the game in their ads in the paper, etc...

Only 4? Gamestop ordered 1 million for their bargain bins ;)

jk I'm actually looking forward to it. lol

I'll buy this game for $25

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MadWorld sells 66K in March, Sega oddly pleased

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