THQ Talk Core and Casual for Wii

By Jorge Ba-oh 17.02.2010 10

THQ Talk Core and Casual for Wii on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Balancing games for different markets on the Wii can be tricky and with THQ, it won't be rule out core but will keep casual.

Speaking to IGN, the publisher's CEO Brian Farrell mentioned the Wii and how THQ aim to tackle Nintendo's format in the coming months, by not ruling out core games from key franchises entirely, but continuing to focus on family friendly entries.

As an example, with a game like Deadly Creatures - it did pretty well with critics and fans, but didn't do as well as THQ had hoped.

..I'm a huge fan of Nintendo personally, but that's just not where the audience is or the audience there is fairly limited.

The old guys like me and maybe you will still play the core stuff -- all the stuff we love about Nintendo on the Wii. But we don't branch out and play some of the core experiences on the Wii. If we do, we go HD and play on PS3 or 360.

I think that's the dynamic that's going on. There's nothing wrong with that. There's plenty of audience on the Wii. We've been concentrating more on our kids, family and casual stuff there and there is a viable business on the Wii for that stuff. It's just not the core experiences...

.... There are things that we can do. At E3, we'll be unveiling a few things around Wii that are some brand extensions and you go, "Okay, that makes sense on Wii." I can get that audience on the Wii.

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I'm still waiting for some company to actually back up their arguments with statistics for any of this.

If Re4 sales best on the Wii. (despite being a port)
If Okami beats its PS2 sales (without even being out in japan). (also despite being a port)
If Monster Hunter 3 is the best saleing yet of the franchise.
(Metroid and Zelda also sold very well in comparison to the cube games)


Where the hell does this attitude come from? Is it really based on..what...madworld? O_o
Deadly Creatures might have undersold...I dunno. It certainly wasnt exactly a big-brand name thats going too is it? Do they honestly expect that Deadly creatures would have got more sales on the PS3 :? seems doughtfull to me.


"The old guys like me and maybe you will still play the core stuff -- all the stuff we love about Nintendo on the Wii. But we don't branch out and play some of the core experiences on the Wii. "

Is this a miss-quote? I'm reading it a few times and it doesn't seem to make sense to me.
"we play the core stuff...but we dont branch out and play the core expirences"...hu :?


( Edited 17.02.2010 17:07 by Darkflame )

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I don't get where this mentality of third parties is coming from either. They say straight ports of third party games won't sell, yet how many have actually tried?

Their logic is extremely flawed. "Our really niche games, on-rail spinoffs, and poorly designed games don't sell well on Wii. That obviously means that the top-notch franchise games Wii owners are demanding won't sell well either." Uh, what????

As Darkflame pointed out, those who have brought top franchise games to Wii have been rewarded with high sales. Just look at RE4 (1.6 million sold, not including the 1.6mil GCN or 2.2mil PS2 already sold), Monster Hunter 3, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc.

THQ is just plain stupid to be judging the core audience of Wii based on a game where you play half the time as a giant spider. Seriously, how big of a market did you think there was for a game like that. Probably at least 50% of gamers have arachnophobia to begin with, so they're certainly not going to buy that game.

A real test would be if a third party released a game like Resident Evil 5 (which I would buy day one), Left 4 Dead, Assassin's Creed, or (insert your third party title of choice here). On-rails versions aren't what we want. We want the full game and I would guarantee that if such a game were released on Wii, then it would sell extremely well. Again, just look at Resident Evil 4 which sold at least as much as the GameCube version, if not better.

( Edited 18.02.2010 02:36 by Sonic_13 )

These companies are not being accurate with their judgment.

Yes, Wii Play and Wii Fit have sold over 20 million. Well Mario Kart is about to be there, if it's not already! That's not a casual game, you can't just pick it up and play.

It's also dumb to judge the Wii by ports and spin-offs. Oh, "Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles" did so much worse than "Resident Evil 5", so Wii doesn't have that audience.

If the 360 and PS3 had the spin-offs that Wii had AND the flagship games, which would sell better?

So they're basically confirming people would rather play "Resident Evil 5" than "Darkside Chronicles". The audience is there, they just don't want poor games.

"Do a Barrel Roll!"

Darkflame said:
I'm still waiting for some company to actually back up their arguments with statistics for any of this.

If Re4 sales best on the Wii. (despite being a port)
If Okami beats its PS2 sales (without even being out in japan). (also despite being a port)
If Monster Hunter 3 is the best saleing yet of the franchise.
(Metroid and Zelda also sold very well in comparison to the cube games)


Where the hell does this attitude come from? Is it really based on..what...madworld? O_o
Deadly Creatures might have undersold...I dunno. It certainly wasnt exactly a big-brand name thats going too is it? Do they honestly expect that Deadly creatures would have got more sales on the PS3 :? seems doughtfull to me.


"The old guys like me and maybe you will still play the core stuff -- all the stuff we love about Nintendo on the Wii. But we don't branch out and play some of the core experiences on the Wii. "

Is this a miss-quote? I'm reading it a few times and it doesn't seem to make sense to me.
"we play the core stuff...but we dont branch out and play the core expirences"...hu :?


The point is that making the kind of core game he is describing makes NO SENSE on the Wii. Can you really deny that? Are you going to tell me that Gears of War, Halo or any of those types of games would sell nearly as well on the Wii? I bet you a considerable number of people who bought RE4 / Okami were people who already owned it. If a game is not relying on motion control gimmick rubbish then the better graphics / online you get from the 360 / PS3 is obviously worth it. If you deny this you are even more ignorant than I thought.

Oh and you've just listed a bunch of ports/remakes as games that sold well. That sure bodes well for core games on the Wii.

You obviously have no idea how the gaming industry works, or maybe you should realise that you're not actually the "core" gamer you think you are. I mean, if you were you wouldn't be singing the Wii's praises when even people who used to be Nintendo fanboys (or still are a bit) like myself, Superlink and lots of other people have realised that it's basically a pile of junk. Oh and, maybe YOU want core games on the Wii, but maybe people don't want to develop for it? I can tell you from working at Lionhead (admittedly we're a Microsoft company) that very few people in the industry think of the Wii as anything more than an expensive dust collector.

Final point: If you want core games, go and buy a fucking 360. They're cheap now (cheaper than a Wii) and you won't have to beg for a dumbed down Wii version. Hurrah.

( Edited 18.02.2010 11:39 by knighty )

knighty said:
Final point: If you want core games, go and buy a fucking 360. They're cheap now (cheaper than a Wii) and you won't have to beg for a dumbed down Wii version. Hurrah.


No. I would like them on my system of choice. I'm not about to go spend hundreds of dollars just like that (plus they aren't cheaper than Wii). I want those games on Wii and there is nothing wrong in people wanting them for Wii.


om nom nom delicious fanboy tears in the form of down votes.


Tears, really? No one is shedding tears over what you wrote.



( Edited 18.02.2010 03:47 by Sonic_13 )

Willie (guest) 18.02.2010#6

Deadly Creatures was so crap. Bought for $26 AUS, and it still wasn't worth it. I took it back to eb within a week and got my money back

knighty said:
The point is that making the kind of core game he is describing makes NO SENSE on the Wii. Can you really deny that? Are you going to tell me that Gears of War, Halo or any of those types of games would sell nearly as well on the Wii?

It seems like you're missing the point. Maybe you're right that Gears of War and Halo wouldn't sell quite as well on the Wii, but they would have sold way better than Deadly Creatures. They're big name mainstream titles. His argument would have made more sense if THQ had made the "core" games for the Wii that they're claiming don't sell, but they didn't. You can't complain about failing at something you didn't try. They made a game that probably would have sold poorly anywhere else.

Actually some of these games that developers have been complaining about not selling well enough probably did better because they were on the Wii. Many games that might have totally flopped otherwise got a boost from the the claims that they offered the core experience Wii gamers have been missing out on. Those games wouldn't have even had that kind of hook in other markets.

Also, some people don't have the money to own 2 consoles. That's just the truth. Those people (myself included) have to pick one console. There's a reason why you won't see Nintendo exclusives on the other consoles, but there really is no reason for third parties not to give Wii gamers an experience that's similar to games on the other platforms. That's what upsets people. If you want Nintendo exclusives, you have to buy a Nintendo console. You shouldn't have to buy another console just to get decent third party offerings.

If you can't afford a 2nd console then that's tough luck, you have to put up with what you get (and I don't mean that rudely, bare with me here). I don't have a PS3 so I miss out on some things I want but that's tough for me, I'm not begging for PS3 games I want to come to the 360. Also, maybe GoW would sell better than deadly creatures but it would still sell worse than it would on the 360. And you can buy a 360 Elite for ��£160 at Sainsbury's

That's the price of 4 Wii full price games. Can you really not afford that for all the games you want?

If you want Nintendo exclusives, you have to buy a Nintendo console. You shouldn't have to buy another console just to get decent third party offerings.

So why is it fair 360/PS3 owners don't get Nintendo games? You're beign a complete hypocrite here. You can't demand everything for your console. If you want Nintendo games, buy a Wii, if you want other core games, buy a 360/PS3. Simple as that.

( Edited 18.02.2010 10:06 by knighty )

Smilie Look I'm not being hypocritical. I never said the Wii should have every game XBox and PS3 have. Every console is going to have its exclusives. Obviously it'd be stupid to complain about the lack of Halo on the Wii or the lack of Mario on the XBox 360.

However, I think it's reasonable to expect profitable multiplatform franchises to be available on Wii. That's all I was trying to say. I think it makes more sense to focus your efforts on making a strong game that's part of a profitable franchise than making a game that has little chance of selling well. If more third parties would give big name titles on Wii the attention they've given to new, niche market titles instead of making them crappy ports with poor controls or putting them on rails, they probably wouldn't be complaining about sales so much.

Also, even though technically I have the money, I wouldn't buy an XBox 360 just to play a few multiplatform titles. I'm on a budget, and I have priorities. I'm not begging for any games to come to the Wii. I just don't agree with the logic in this article.

trgdr777 said:
Smilie Look I'm not being hypocritical. I never said the Wii should have every game XBox and PS3 have. Every console is going to have its exclusives. Obviously it'd be stupid to complain about the lack of Halo on the Wii or the lack of Mario on the XBox 360.

However, I think it's reasonable to expect profitable multiplatform franchises to be available on Wii. That's all I was trying to say. I think it makes more sense to focus your efforts on making a strong game that's part of a profitable franchise than making a game that has little chance of selling well. If more third parties would give big name titles on Wii the attention they've given to new, niche market titles instead of making them crappy ports with poor controls or putting them on rails, they probably wouldn't be complaining about sales so much.

Also, even though technically I have the money, I wouldn't buy an XBox 360 just to play a few multiplatform titles. I'm on a budget, and I have priorities. I'm not begging for any games to come to the Wii. I just don't agree with the logic in this article.

Making a version for the 360/PS3 makes sense. Making a Wii game on top of that is basically a new game. What do you expect third parties to do?

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