Sega considering more mature Wii titles, says Overkill was 'profitable'

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 30th 2009 at 4:15PM }

We loved the mother[expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] out of Sega's recent mature pair of Wii titles, House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld -- unfortunately, the same can't be said for the game purchasing population of the world. The two games' sales were far from stellar, but Sega isn't ready to give up on developing family unfriendly titles for Nintendo's home console.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sega MD of European development, Gary Dunn, explained that the company's outlook on its two grown-up outings is far from grim -- he even claimed that "House of the Dead: Overkill was a profitable title." He went on to explain, "Whilst MadWorld commercially didn't sell what we were expecting I wouldn't say it's game over for mature Wii titles from Sega." Hopefully the company's persistence will be rewarded, if only to ensure a few dozen sequels to Overkill. (Overkill 2: Superfluous Murder, Overkill 3: The Overkillinest, etc.)

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

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jun 30th 2009 4:19PM

damn, first Justin posts an article about a tip I sent in a few minutes before, now Griffin posts an article about a tip I was gonna send in

I think the McElroy clan has it out for me

Rob @ Jun 30th 2009 4:19PM

Well, they seem positive.

Shagittarius @ Jun 30th 2009 4:25PM

"Where are the feasts we were promised?
Where is the wine? The New Wine (dying on the vine)."

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jun 30th 2009 4:25PM

also Griffin, you may be laughing over the subtitles you've come up with now, but we'll see whos laughing when they announce Overkill 2: The Redeadening

tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 30th 2009 4:26PM

I'm calling BS on them being happy about those low sales. Even if they make a little bit of profit off of these, they're always going to sit around asking themselves what if we released on 360/ps3/pc instead for a bigger boost in sales.

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jun 30th 2009 4:29PM

yeah, Im sure MadWorld would've done even better going up against Killzone 2, Resident Evil 5, and Street Fighter 4 directly instead of peripherally

WREturns @ Jun 30th 2009 4:31PM

C'mon, tmac, these guys wouldn't be happy no matter what the sales were. Of course they're not happy about low sales. But you have to be kidding if you think that an on-rails shooter would do phenomenal on the 360 or PS3. You might have a point with MadWorld.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 30th 2009 4:31PM

Releasing on both systems yeah it would have done much better. Like Mr Khan showed below it's only at 230k to date, which is awful.

ArchiGamer @ Jun 30th 2009 4:32PM

House of the Dead maybe, but MadWorld would be plagued with button combos on either system.

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jun 30th 2009 4:37PM

again, you're saying that if they went up against games with bigger advertising budgets and more hype, they would've done better

also, Bionic Commando says "I can haz hardcore sale nowz?"

Storm Eagle @ Jun 30th 2009 4:41PM

Archigamer, MadWorld could have had a lot more polish and a lot more depth on the 360 or Wii. The camera wouldn't constantly have to be up your ass the entire game, Jack could have a lot more varied attacks....he could probably jump.....and well, the game would be a lot smoother. I loved MadWorld, but mostly for it's over the top action and in game commentary.

Storm Eagle @ Jun 30th 2009 4:44PM

EDIT: 360 or PS3*

WREturns @ Jun 30th 2009 4:49PM

The problem with Wii controls is that there is no second analog. The IR sensor acting like one is stupid. The next Wii should have two analogs and two IR pointers. Doesn't anyone else want their gun to move independent of their head? I do.

ArchiGamer @ Jun 30th 2009 4:52PM

@ Storm

True, but it will still be just another brawler competing with other brawlers. And it just feel nice to move the Wiimote in a direction and see my enemies cut in half. :)

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jun 30th 2009 4:54PM

@Storm

you know, the same could be said with the preface "If MadWorld had more development time"

but overall I agree, MadWorld is pretty flawed game. But its hard to notice them when Im giggling like a schoolgirl after shoving a stop sign through a guys head then throwing a tire on him then throwing him in front of a train.

WREturns @ Jun 30th 2009 4:59PM

Also, if your pointer doesn't indicate where you're looking, melee attacks don't mess up your orientation.

Roto13 @ Jun 30th 2009 5:00PM

"Even if they make a little bit of profit off of these, they're always going to sit around asking themselves what if we released on 360/ps3/pc instead for a bigger boost in sales."

I thought you said you were going to stop saying stupid shit.

"MadWorld could have had a lot more polish and a lot more depth on the 360 or Wii. The camera wouldn't constantly have to be up your ass the entire game, Jack could have a lot more varied attacks....he could probably jump.....and well, the game would be a lot smoother."

... Do you think the Wii can't handle cameras and jumping and more moves? (Hint: Jack CAN jump in MadWorld.)

tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 30th 2009 5:02PM

Yes...saying that they'll contemplate putting their games on other systems because of their last one only selling 200k worldwide in 4 1/2 months is clearly stupid. I apologize for insulting your intelligence.

samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Jun 30th 2009 5:04PM

"Derp de derp derp derp de derpderp."

HAHAHAHAHA!

"Archigamer, MadWorld could have had a lot more polish and a lot more depth on the 360 or Wii. The camera wouldn't constantly have to be up your ass the entire game, Jack could have a lot more varied attacks....he could probably jump.....and well, the game would be a lot smoother. I loved MadWorld, but mostly for it's over the top action and in game commentary."

1) Err...you CAN jump in MadWorld. Press Z.

2) Polish would mean a higher budget, which in turn would require a large ROI. Try all you want, but there's just no way to keep a ultimately niche game like MadWorld in line with a budget on PS360. Even if we assume it would have sold more on PS360 (it would not have), you're probably looking at selling around 200,000 copies of the game to at least break even (assuming the Wii version did not break even with the first month 66,000 copies sold).

3) It's silly to say MadWorld couldn't have had more depth a a PS360 game. God Hand has 10 times the depth of MadWorld and you could easily translate that control scheme to the Wii.

4) Wii detractors/PS360 fans are saying they will not buy The Conduit because they can get a better experience with Halo 3 or Killzone 2.
What makes you think they wouldn't look at MadWorld and say they can't get a better experience with DMC4 or Ninja Gaiden 2?

Storm Eagle @ Jun 30th 2009 4:26PM

Hmmm...

I don't know about you guys but I could use another Vectorman or Last Bronx.

Mr Khan @ Jun 30th 2009 4:28PM

They tried reviving Vectorman back in the PS2 days, but the public felt it was a clear attempt to bank on the success of Halo and Metroid Prime, because their re-imagining was scarily similar to both those titles

Heavytoka @ Jun 30th 2009 4:29PM

A new Vectorman would be great

Storm Eagle @ Jun 30th 2009 4:31PM

@Khan I remember that. Those bastards wanted to turn it into a an FPS. They need to do the series it's true justice if they are to bring it back. I doubt it though....

Maybe a new Cool Spot then? or Zoop! That shit was carazy.....

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jun 30th 2009 4:39PM

Id say Gunstar Heroes or Dynamite Headdy but Treasure is a little busy at the moment

Nigeria @ Jun 30th 2009 4:47PM

I'd say Gunstar Heroes as well, but Treasure have already Gunstar Heroes GBA which is, like, perfect - aside from the lack of mulitplayer.

Mr Khan @ Jun 30th 2009 4:27PM

As if first-month sales are the only sales they can make money on.

MadWorld: 230,000 to date
Overkill: 310,000 to date.

Definitely profitable for Overkill. Not sure about MadWorld, a lot of it didn't indicate high production values, but some of it did.

ArchiGamer @ Jun 30th 2009 4:48PM

One of the problems, if you want to call it that, of MadWorld was the fact that it was a niche title developed by a developer used to doing niche games, e.g. Clover and Okami. Its no secret that Okami was not a commercial success, and it was a really niche title with heavy Japanese elements that most people would be turned off by. Now I'm not saying MadWorld is any better than Okami, but some the elements that made them not as a commercial success are the same:

-Both are niche title appealing to a niche crowd
-Both share an aesthetic that may not appeal to all
-Clover was fairly unknown, and Platinum is new
-Elements such as characters and story may not appeal to others

Still with comparing a games commercial success, I rather look at the quality of the game and how fun it was for me, and that's why I love MadWorld and Okami. And I at least know some of you can at least say the same.

The Baron @ Jun 30th 2009 4:28PM

I think quality means more than the fact that they're mature.

Mr. Fister @ Jun 30th 2009 4:54PM

Luckily, both Overkill and MadWorld were considered good games by most of the people and critics who played them.

But I get what you're trying to say. It doesn't matter what rating the content has, so long as it's enjoyable. There's no point in having loads of violent games if none of them are any good.

Jack Hollow @ Jun 30th 2009 4:42PM

Maybe they should mash up their older audience targeted titles. The MadWorld Conduit: Overkill XTREME!

I liked both Overkill and MadWorld. Two fun games to play. Good to see SEGA not letting low sales figures dissuade them from continuing them to release mature centric titles. Just don't turn into Activision and release 34 House of the Dead games every year. Other than that, keep up the fine work SEGA.

Nigeria @ Jun 30th 2009 4:45PM

More rail shooters are always welcome in my house. The Grindhouse was wicked awesome, but I wonder what's happening with HOTD:EX? That game looked so colourful and nice.

Madworld was rather good. Though, I can't see myself playing that ever again. Time has withered away at my tolerance for beat em ups, I think.

WREturns @ Jun 30th 2009 4:52PM

Dude, I'm with you on the whole beat-'em-up thing. I haven't enjoyed one since Final Fight when I was 12 or so.

Ravnos @ Jun 30th 2009 6:15PM

@WREturns: If you have an original XBox, a PS2, or a PSP, get The Warriors. It's as good a beat-em-up experience as there's been in the past 10 years. It doesn't work with the 360's BC, though, so you'll need either an old XBox or a version for one of the other consoles. It even has a retro-style beat-em-up in-game (Armies of the Night) that basically plays like Double Dragon.

Markez @ Jun 30th 2009 6:54PM

The only one I can think that I've really had fun with in ages was Castle Crashers, but ONLY when I was playing local multiplayer. Kinda bored me playing it alone. Game seemed to have an odd grab bag of cheevos as well...

Dave @ Jun 30th 2009 4:54PM

Now if only a lot more other companies considered mature-rated titles for the Wii.

sony boy @ Jun 30th 2009 4:56PM

it seems like sega is the only brave company that try's to do something good on the wii

Matthew @ Jun 30th 2009 4:58PM

I'm a big fan of House of the Dead: Overkill and Madworld; they're probably the two Wii titles I play the most. That said, I support any increase in the amount of mature titles on the Wii; perhaps an influx of maturity into the games' themes will also increase the maturity with which designers approach the meaning behind using these gesture-based controls to begin with.

I've posted a little about this on my blog; welcome any comments
http://www.gameinmind.com/game-in-mind/2009/06/gesture-as-meaning-or-gesture-as-artifice.html