Electronic Arts Less Than Happy With Wii Sales

dead space copies 9000 sold; sad..
Oh the crying baby fits EA.

John Riccitiello is certainly right. But the biggest problem is lack of advertisement for third party games, or at least in Holland. I didn't even know that Dead Space: Extraction came out until I saw it in stores (haven't bought it yet due to lack of money). Same with other third party (hardcore) Wii titels, there is hardly any tv commercials. I only have seen a MadWorld trailer, but that came on so late because of the graphic nature that I doubt anyone else have seen it. Otherwise there is a lot of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros., Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus en such dominating the tv. Same with DS titles. Loads of Layton, Brain Trainer and New Super Mario Bros. Little to none of the rest of the DS games.

There's no reason these third-party companies can't get the word out on their games. They just choose not to in many cases and we all know that Nintendo spares little expense when it comes to advertising. I could understand some of the smaller third-party companies having trouble funding advertising, but certainly not EA.

That funny. I'm less than happy with Electronic Arts' Wii games.

Sorry to hear about the job losses, but isn't that a normal practice with some game companies? They complete their projects and then let the team(s) go?
I know 15,000 is too huge of a number for a practice like that, but all that based on low Wii sales? Hmm...

Also, didn't EA acquire Playfish for 300 million dollars? Hmm...

3 tips @ EA (aka Electronic Arts)
1) include "on line" mode in FPS title for wii (as CoD by example)
2) WE DON'T NEED "ON RAIL" FPS MORE!
3) grab your money!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H-kTyVJZkM

Spot on Corbie. There was absolutely NO marketing for DS:Extraction, whatsoever. Thinking about it, I never see EA games being plugged. Advertising equals increased sales, it's basic stuff really.

all of EA's Wii games are inferior versions of their 360/PS3 counterparts - maybe that's part of the problem

How long's Dead Space been out in the US? It was end of last month in the UK and no one had a chance to buy it! I wish these companies would stop looking at first-month-sales. It's bloody stupid, and if that means they drop publicity after the first month, then it's their own fault.

@gii:
1) MOH:Heroes 2 had 32-player online if I remember correctly.
2) Dead Space is one of the most highly reviewed games on the Wii, so dismissing it based on "genre" is just bloody stupid.
3) Let's not make things personal -- Sean

It doesn't help when The consumers don't buy games either. For what it's worth I don't like "on rails" games even if they get a score of a 10. Even if everyone and their mother recommends it to me, I personally don't like them and i will not spend my hard earned cash on a game i wont play and do not like. If they wanted money from me they are going to have to try harder than that. What i find funny is i just bought Dragon Age Origins so no matter what i still support EA in some sort of way.I think they should release better games for the Wii just plain and simple.

Also have you guys ever played the original Dead Space? If you had then it is really a scale down. I don't care how good it was,compared to the original it's a laugh.

@odd69: You've contradicted yourself by saying on-rails games don't interest you, then proceeding to make a bold statement that "compared to the original it's a laugh". Since you're in no position to compare the two, I don't think it's wise to make such statements.

Also, you seem to think it was EA's decision to make it on-rails, rather than the design team. If something is forced, it usually doesn't turn out very well. Yet this is very highly reviewed (everywhere) and they clearly put a tonne of effort into it since it's frequently claimed to have the best graphics on the Wii of any game.

I'm not saying you should buy it of course if you're not into on-rails titles. But you seem to have made the decision for everyone else not to buy it at the same time.

It was stated here before but 3rd parties really should spend some cash to advertising if they can afford it and EA sure could. I mean advertising via TV commercials. Only a very tiny percentage of Wii consumers search the web for information about new and upcoming Wii titles or notices some flash banners. I believe that majority doesn't even have a clue about any other Wii titles than Wii Sports or Wii Fit (for example).

I bought the DS:Extraction and it was absolutely great experience but I had checked a lot's of user comments and gameplay videos before purchasing the game.

Edit: I have played the original Dead Space and still or because of that liked DS:Extraction very much.

Consumers don't trust EA. That's bottom line. EA have spent too many years ripping off gamers with there yearly updates of all their sports franchises with minimal improvements.

I'm in a position to say what i want because I've played both too (rented ds extraction)and like i mentioned before it's a scale down, it may be bias a little because i'm not a on rails fan, i agree but it's my opinion take it how you want to.

To echo a lot of comments EA's biggest problems seem to stem from initially treating the Wii to scaled-down ports rather than ground-up new titles. They've been correcting that of late and I'm very happy to have Boom Blox Bash Party and Dead Space: Extraction on my shelf and am seriously eyeing-up Need for Speed: Nitro.

Now that they're upping the quality they really need to invest some advertising money to let people know the games are there. I see stuff on Gametrailers, but I seriously doubt a significant percentage of the Wii-owning public views that site -- certainly not enough to turn around EA's figures (even Nintendo could learn from this with new IPs like Disaster Day of Crisis and ExciteBots both getting the shaft marketing-wise). Put some money into real marketing and you just might redeem those initial figures -- it's not too late!

I don't think the sales ended at 9,000 copies. And if I understood right, the figure represents only the sales for September.

See VGChartz

http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=31932&region=All

To be fair EA's games are generally pretty good on the Wii. I don't get their yearly update games though.Those are rip-offs, let's be honest.

The answer is what everyone has been saying. Advertise! TV commercials would be one. Take out a print at in the Target or Walmart circular for Black Friday. It's one thing when a smaller dev would complain, but EA advertises the crap out of it's yearly sports updates, and I bet they sell just fine. Now, just take that lesson and apply it...

Also most hardcore games on the Wii get mediocre reviews. Why should I buy a game like the Conduit that was really hyped, but then turned out to be generic with broken online when I could wait for NSMB Wii, which will probably be excellent for what it is? You want to get the real "hardcorez" buying your games on Wii, it also helps not to just churn out crappy port of hardcorezonlinefps # 234928509847350 with crap graphics and online. Many people have both consoles and will play it on the better console. Those that don't may feel turned off by the fact that it is a crappy port.

Build a good game ground up for Wii and advertise it, and I bet all your problems will be solved.

Why would anyone buy Dead Space Extraction when they have a PS3 or Xbox360 and can enjoy the original game which isn't on rails and is a proper adventure? And why would Wii only platform owners want to buy a spin-off from game that made it's mark on Xbox 360 ans PS3?
I wonder if EA thought about this before making Dead Space Extraction...

I despise multiplatform development, and it brings a smile to my face whenever that strategy fails. I only want a game if it was designed from the ground up for the specific hardware I own; I don't see the Wii as just another console like the others that should be approached in the same way. I thought EA had started to figure this out, for they at least upped the ante with Motion Plus in some recent sports titles.

1500 jobs??

Damn those...

too bad there arent any GOOD third party wii games out there. seriously, make cruddy games for the xbox360 and not the wii. everyone already thinks the wii sucks without amatuer third parties.

@Luigi-La-Bouncy

Dude maybe because Dead Space:Extraction is actually a prequel to the original Dead Space; it's not a spin-off. You should get your facts straight.

EA has done it to themselves. They need to quit crying foul and come up with a marketing strategy. Gamers that come to sites like this are going to know of there releases or people like me that read about a dozen video game sites but a big audience on the Wii is soccer moms and I hate to use the word casuals but if they do not see it on the tube they more than likely will not now it exists. I have purchased a lot of EA games over the years but they keep telling people what they want in a game instead of making games people that own a Wii want. As I already said they did it to themselves.

Maybe the third parties should actually TRY TO MARKET AND ADVERTISE THEIR adorable GAMES?! Nintendo sells their stuff BECAUSE THEY flosswaffling MARKET IT. And EA is praising the world about something that was their own fault? How pitiful can they get, Our Beloved Lord and Savior.

Poor EA... But I've never really understood how they can survive... I find most of their games to be 6/10, or seldom 8/10. Pretty mediocre, in other words. Oh well, I guess most people don't care about ratings...

WHAT!?

9000!?

Most third parties don't have the money to advertise. Companies try, I see it all the time, and big companies like EA do seem to try, but it still doesn't seem to work.

Is Nintendo to blame? Absolutely. They have more than enough ability to help companies promote games, they have special mediums to do so (Nintendo channel, Nintendo store) but they rarely use those. The Nintendo Channel yes, but since they don't promote it itself how many people actually look at that channel?

I also blame Nintendo for the volatile market they've created. Their blue ocean strategy has brought in SO many consumers that probably have only bought 1-3 games, Nintendo games. These people don't look for game ads or even more game. They are content with Sports and Resort.

I knew from the beginning that Nintendo's strat to get non-games would sell systems, but bite them in the rear.
Real gamers probably have more than one systems and get the "core" games on that.

I honestly don't know if Nintendo can fix it this generation. Their lack of effort to make games to attract the core gamers (ones that buy multiple games) is just killing hope for good third party games.

WHAT!?

9000!?

What!? Exactly nine thousand!? EXACTLY NINE THOUSAND!? EXACTLY... NINE... THOUSAND...!?

Everyone also seems to not notice the trend on pricing. Lets face it, the Wii comes off as cheap, and everyone sees this. So when a game comes out at full this gen pricing, say 49 dollars, no matter how good the game is, most people tend to wait till it drops to 29.

Why this is? I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the graphics, or it's just the users, but I see "I'll wait till it's 20 bucks" ALL the time.

@diego: So why don't they make commercials on big networks like other publishers?

I think (in my freedom of thinking) that, first of all, EA has built a reputation for themselves with all their yearly updates. I also think that it's rare to find a truly good "on-rails" game, I think they're mostly too repetitive.

So when I found out that EA was making an "on rails" version of Dead Space, it smelled to me like "yeah, let's capitalize Dead Space on Wii with a game that's easier and quicker to develop". It made me dismiss the game entirely.

Now that I see you ppl speaking so good of it, I might give it a try. But I think that if third-parties want to compete with Nintendo's own, they should really spend the time and money, both in development and marketing. Nintendo's games aren't just our favorites, they're actually great to play as well.

And, IMHO, I think that if we have to point an "on-rails" game as EA's best effort in 2009, something must be very wrong with them.

"@diego: So why don't they make commercials on big networks like other publishers?"

Because the Wiis userbase is so fragmented unless you carpet bomb media, who knows if you're hitting your target market.
The age range for the Wii is like 5-54. You know how hard that is to target with media? It's next to impossible unless you buy ALL ad space.

@Hardy83
I don't believe that the mass market strategy is a negative thing.

My sister is the very definition of a mass market gamer and she owns Wii Fit, Wii Sports Resort and EA's Grand Slam Tennis. She got all of those games within a week of getting her Wii which wasn't that long ago.

My Brother is in a similar "group" of gamers. He is an older gamer who played games in the 8-bit era but "grew up". His and his family's Wii library includes (among others) Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii (My Niece), Animal Crossing, Guitar Hero World Tour and The Sims 2:something (his wife loves The Sims). He also owned a PS2 but aside from buying the Eyetoy for my niece he only ever rented horror/survival games and used it as a DVD player.

These mass market gamers buy more games and a larger variety of games than you think. I think the current attach rate (games per system) for the Wii is about 5 which is higher than the attach rate for the PS3... and if I remember correctly about 50% of games are third party which isn't a lot but... we are talking about Nintendo games.

I dont know what EA say but in Greece the wii is the first console in market place ,and the dead space sold very well here.

Hey EA, maybe if you made more great original games (like Boom Blox) instead of spoon-feeding Wii owners extremely watered down versions of games from other systems (like Dead Space), then maybe, just maybe, your games might sell well! (Like Boom Blox)

I'm one of those 9000, by the way. Extraction was a good buy for some creepy shooting in the run-up to Halloween. It's nothing like other rail shooters I've played, with much more of a survival horror feel due to the need to careful manage your ammo (which is never all that plentiful) and your different weapons (you can carry 4 at a time, and it's very important to make the right strategic decisions as to which to keep, when to save one for a future battle, etc).

"Real gamers", "hardcore", etc. Such nonsense.

There was plenty of advertising for this game. EA is the only one at fault here. Taking a series that had ONE game a console system had and throwing it to another expecting it to do gangbuster? Really?

What's funny is, they first come out and blame the "hardcore" gamers, saying that they didn't show enough support. Bad move, on several accounts. Now, they're trying to pass the buck to Nintendo? EA, you hyped a game that fell flat on it's face and didn't think this whole thing through - just accept it and move on now.

@Hardy: I was thinking the same thing about pricing. I didn't think of it only being Wii though.
I'm the same. I hardly ever fork out the money for a full priced game. I want my moneys worth. These companies must be doing better on the other systems right? Probably one reason is because there's not so many casuals. Plus games like DS:E may be seen as inferior because they think its a port. Also Some may be turned off by rail shooter or think that you can't get your moneys worth at 40-50 dollars. If I had a Ps3 or 360, there usual price of almost $60 would make me want to wait on price drops for alot of them. It's funny if that doesn't effect most others who own them.
Also, does anyone think that wiiware and/or VC might affecting these at all?
I think the thing with Nintendo is alot of people figue they can trust the quality of their game and what you get for it. Thats probably one reason why they do so well over the 3rd party.

Edit: I just thought of a reason that makes sense. Maybeit's because of the amount of low priced games we have. Like the shovelware for one. Also How many games have come out at 30- 40 dollars? People probably are less likely to spend 50 on a game because of this.(how much did DS:E cost when it was first out? ohe reason anyway.

Yet again, publishers look only at first month (or not even a full month) sales. Hasn't it become fairly obvious by now that Wii titles don't sell as much up front but usually have a longer sales tail? They can still sell enough copies if their publishers only hold their horses before stabbing the hand that typed the game's code.

9,000?!
Yet dozens of spectacular mini-game collections that took a month to develop with sell 20 times that on the Wi with even less exposure. Sad.

So let me get this straight:

If EA games sell is because they are genious(EA Active)

But if they don't sell is because Wii users R stoopid...(Dead Space extryaaawn zzzzzzz...)

Oh really EA? You are blaming us because nobody bought your boring interactive animated movie in the dead space world? really?

Well then you deserve to fail. And hard.

I really had confidence in them. But no. They just show to be as idiotic and narrowminded as the rest of the companies.

@Hardy - No offense buy you have no glorious idea of what are you talking about. Al you spiited is nothing but hardcore nonsense about how Nintendo left gaming or other crap.

So now Nintendo musy be the babysitter of this elitist companies? If you are serious then you live in an alternate reality because nobody does that! Is ridiculous and lacks logic! Why Nintendo must do the third parties job?! do you want them to make their games too?!

The mass market is hard to sell yes, but that's because they don't accept any bells and whistles. All those "crappy" games you guys mention sell because they are doing something that the expanded audience likes and the 3d prties ignore. Has anyone of you ever cared to analyze that?

And again, if is true that only Nintendo games on the wii then explain the disapointing sells of Fire emblem, wario land, mario sluggers and to some extent Wii music? Also if is true has anyone cared to ask why whithout falling in the "wii users are stupid" mantra?

@diego_pmc: I warrant they did advertise Dead Space Extraction online (which I wish people would stop slating out of hand because it's very much more than "just another lightgun game"), but the problem is that you're doomed to fail on the Wii if you're depending upon "informed" gamers (how about that instead of "core?") for sales because they're a minority of Wii owners.

You really need to go beyond word of mouth and online advertising to have a hope in hell of getting good numbers. Dead Space Extraction could have been pitched at people who like sci-fi/horror films for the cinematic presentation. Instead they just figured people who knew what Dead Space already was would flock to it; that was a mistake, though from sales numbers on VG Chartz (I love being in the region with the largest population which is just lumped in with "Other") it's not a complete bust.

@buffalobob

lol clearly missed my point, but you amused me so it's ok.

9000? only that? well maybe here in argentina it "legally" sold 2 copies

I really liked fifa09 on wii. Best soccer game ive played in years. I wouldnt really touch any of the other games they have produced.

Nintendo gamers are tired of being burned by third parties. When you're talking Nintendo...third party equals "hit-or-miss". And hits are rare. RARE.

@Ian: Like what you did there with Rare.

But EA are idiots. Maybe they should try harder.

@Hardy - No I didn't

"Is Nintendo to blame? Absolutely. They have more than enough ability to help companies promote games," That's not their job

"I also blame Nintendo for the volatile market they've created. Their blue ocean strategy has brought in SO many consumers that probably have only bought 1-3 games, Nintendo games. These people don't look for game ads or even more game. They are content with Sports and Resort." - That's nothing but hardcore mentality based on prejudice. You are just making opinions not facts. And what's wrong with more consumers. we need them

The age range for the Wii is like 5-54. You know how hard that is to target with media? It's next to impossible unless you buy ALL ad space. - you gotta be kidding me

3d parties misses are 3d parties falls. Don't blame Nintendo customers. 3d parties must do their job or leave gaming at all.

hahaha go make a good game if you want to be success in this "casual graphic limited" console
EA should learn from nintendo, they can make a beautiful looking metroid, and what EA have done? they should try harder before they cry..
come here cry baby, come to mama, drink some milk from mama, EA...

make a online game i could play with anyone that is not call of duty or medal of honor why???? because i don't like games u die fast like i loveeee halo you know not realistic and i have medal of honor for the 360 airborne which i also loveeee very much but i still support by buying like sims 2 castaways [i like Sims] ea playground [loveeee dodge ball and car one ] ea active [god awful ] also im getting madden 09 for christmas [yup 09] so i supported

It's really hard to say why some games succeed on the Wii and others don't. It's even a mystery to Nintendo why hardcore games aren't selling on the system (there was a story about that a while back). Honestly, though, I think most Wii owners are looking for games that the family can play together--if not literally, then at least in the sense that the family can be together while one person is playing the game.

Having three daughters, I know that's what I'm often looking for.

It's hard to find quality family-friendly fare on the other consoles (there are notable exceptions, of course), whereas most of Nintendo's franchises appeal to the entire family. Unfortunately, most third-parties make dumbed-down games or minigames to try to appeal to families, rather than copying Nintendo's strategy of making family-friendly games of high quality. Nintendo itself is most likely to fail when they make a game of dubious quality (Wario Land: Shake It was a decent rental, but honestly I kept thinking about the higher-quality 2D platformers I could be playing on Virtual Console) or can't figure out how to market a game (Wii Music).

EA Sports Active showed exactly what could happen when you make a quality family experience and market it well. I think there is room for M-rated titles on the Wii, but they need to be marketed correctly and have very good save systems--I'm playing the Resident Evil remake right now (hence my avatar) and love it, but I can only play it when my 3-year-old is asleep or out of the house. And I need to be able to save quickly if she wakes up or comes home--something I can't do with that particular game, unfortunately.

I just thought I'd drop in to comment on game length, since some people assume rail-shooters are short: IGN's Modern Warfare 2 reviews states the single-player portion would take about 4.5 hours... and yes, you can't compare with deadspace on that front, but wasn't MoH:H2 at least 6-7 hours?
I don't expect a major studio's game to be less than 10 hours no matter how many multiplayer modes it boasts.

OK, tv advertising is a big part of it. Lack of it will kill a huge chunk of sales from sheep who's parents will buy anything.

The other part is what someone else here said: something about blue ocean or something. It's kinda true; It's weird how many people I know my age got a Wii and NEVER play video games but they have sports/resort/fit and maybe trucks or Galaxy. Thats it. They don't know about anything else (including WW and VC) because theres no commercials for it, and if they care enough about games they have an xbox or PS3 too. Some of these games are pretty good, even for Wii, but they need to actually be a little cheaper. Wii 3rd pty devs need to embrace it's "cheaper alternative" image if they want to sell more even at a smaller profit margin. I'd quickly shell out for any of those great 3rd party games at 30-40 bucks, and so would every other ignorant average consumer, otherwise they won't even consider it.

People just don't have the money right now. I'm a huge N- fanboy but I'm hurting financially so I heavily research every rare full purchase I get. Groceries and bills come first even for a fan. For everyone else games don't even come close (without lots of advertising and a great intro price).
They can't see why the big selling titles are the cheap ones, or the heavily advertised Nintendo ones? Put two and two together EA!

It would help their cause to make a game I'd actually want to buy to begin with.

Also, it's not just TV advertising (over in Australia anyway, advertising on TV for any video game is rare), plasting posters all over your K-Marts, your EBs, your GAMEs etc is where most companies get their publicity from. And over here it's all Microsoft and Nintendo, and a little bit of Sony. I haven't noticed any physical media advertising many of EA's games.

Maybe with better software they would earn more if they gave us good software we would buy it but we have enough on rail shooter on wii and games like need for speed is only crap on wii with lot of screen frezes, bad configuration etc.

If a monster like EA is sending this message, any other third party game development company will not miss it: "forget about the Wii, it is not worth to put money on it".

I think the only problem with DS: E is the fact that no "hardcore" gamer is willing to spend 50.00 for a very short ON-RAIL SHOOTER. I felt the same way with House of the Dead: Overkill; the fact it was real short (and too much cussing) made that 50.00 price tag way too rich for my taste. At best, it was worth the rental.

That is what I think was the problem with DS:E, or that people rather get RE: DSC.

Hey EA--Try to advertise your friggin' games!! Nobody knows they exist, outside of the internet forum crowd.

Dead Space Extraction actually got quite a bit of advertising... online at least. I swear every other advertisement that played during a show on Hulu through all of September and October was for Extraction.

I gotta agree though... no matter the quality, $50 seems way too pricey for a rail shooter. And I like rail shooters.

I Hate EA for start and besides most third party games especially EA's game suck anyway, besides Nintendo only SEGA, Konami, Capcom, Namco Bandai and Square Enix seem to deliver on what i want.

Advertising is such a simplistic solution - merely upping the advertising budget for a title will achieve nothing.

The Wii is, quite simply, not positioned as a gaming console. It's a toy for people with a casual interest in social gameplay. In that regard, no "proper" game is going to sell as well on the Wii as the other two consoles because, simply put, the install base of Wii gamers (ie people who choose a Wii for the same reason that they would an Xbox or PS3) is comparitively tiny.

Advertising isn't going to fix that.

I'm tired of ppl complaining about this whole "on-rails" nonsense as reason for the game not selling. The ppl on the net are the minority when it comes to sells of Wii projects.

A REAL reason why a game like that (aside from demographic maybe) didn't do well it's first month is because not a lot of potential consumers know about it yet.

The "it didn't sell 'cause it's on-rails" nonsense has got to stop. If EA Active didn't sell we'd all say that it's because we're not excergame fans but that's not the case.

On-rails games have had a ton of success on the Wii platform for so many of us not to like them (GS, HOTD 2&3, RE:UC etc.).

As for sells for other products. It seems like EA doesn't realize what makes their own games (Tiger Woods, GST, BB) successful and that seems to be the fact that the motion in those titles make since and games like MySims have a nifty hook.

I guess that's why I'm scratching my head as to why the Wii (not just us) audience has not embraced DS:E. It is a great all access experience with neat remote gimmicks and fun with the lights out.

I remember seeing commercials for Tiger Woods with Wii Motion Plus, and commercials for EA Sports Active. I am a big fan of Tiger Woods, Grand Slam Tennis and Rock Band 2, all EA games. I like Madden 09, but Madden 10 didn't seem good enough to spend 50 bucks on, maybe I'll get it next year when it is cheaper.

EA has a terrible reputation of buying up little gems of intellectual property from upstarts so nobody else can have them, then butcher and mutilate the original concept game until it becomes nothing more than mass-produced garbage. They have shady practices at best, and the "yearly updates" of sports games are getting really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really.... old.

I would be happy if EA went bankrupt; at least then it would give other third parties a shot at selling more genuine titles...

In the case of Dead Space: Extraction there was no advertisement for it. The original Dead Space had lods of adverts on Sky Sports and Bravo but for Extraction there was no marketing what so ever. You can't expect to an onrail shooter with no advertisment match the sales of a multi-platform third person adventure which had loads of exposure. When you look at EA Active, I saw plenty of commercials for that and look what happened, it sold really well. Don't these people use their heads????

Taffy, please take the time to do some reading before you post. I already explained it has nothing to do with advertising.

EA Active sold well because it fits with the non-gamer niche that the Wii appeals to. Dead Space: Extraction failed because it's not the kind of game Wii owners buy. A $5 billion marketing budget wouldn't help it sell better.

Here's some suggestion EA Sports if you want a better reputation with the Nintendo Wii fans:

1. Don't blame you're failing on Nintendo. Whining to Nintendo about it don't fix strawberries.

2. Make games that we want. Most of your games are considered good, but most of them are games we could care less about.

3. Adversite the game: You do realize if you don't adversite, it will bomb. Start doing that for god sake!

@Hardy83: Nintendo deserves absolutely nothing of the blame. They didn't make the game and does an excellent job of adversiting their games. That's why games sell so well when it comes to them.

sighs There's a reason marketing and business is something people spend a lot of money and energy on doing degrees and becoming qualified.

It's not simple. It's certainly not as simple as you people are all making it out to be. Simply throwing money at making ads won't achieve anything.

You guys should consider doing some proper education before making the insane assumptions you are in the previous 70-odd posts.

I'd agree with the EA complaints usually, but this year, EA has done quite a really good job on the Wii. Grand Slam Tennis, NFS:Nitro, Boom Blox, Tiger Woods and Dead Space are all games where a lot of effort has been put in it (I didnt play some of these games yet, but all of them made a good impression on me).

Even with the talk that ads aren't everything, having a TV spot here and there doesn't hurt. It's also all in how you advertise. DS:E for example was marketed as a game for fans of Dead Space while other potential buyers are like, what's a Dead Space? While true game junkies scoff at it being a rail shooter.

While ads aren't everything, I'd hate to think of how COD:WAW and RE:UC, or even games with small sells anyway like Conduit, would've done without them.

Lastly, for goodness sake buffalobob, if everyone had your game mentality, then well, I guess good 3rd party games don't deserve to sell. With Nintendo owners a games is always to much of something (too kiddy, too violent, too much swearing, too little violence, not kiddy enough etc.)

EA, if your listening, don't let the poor sells deter you. Continue your fantastic golf brand and bountiful casual games and continue to up the quality. You have some good games out there and continue to experiment. Find out what works, what doesn't, listen to feedback, and continue your focus on great new properties.

Meh. That's they're fault they aren't selling enough. That baby suits them nicely.

Stop whining, EA. It's not our fault that your light-gun shooter, DS: Extraction isn't as good as Time Crisis, House of the Dead & other light gun shooter series.

@ brandonbwii - Marketing in general (TV ads are just a small part of an overall marketing campaign, and becoming more insignificant by the day) is important in the promotion of a game, but all the marketing in the world won't help when the target audience in miniscule.

And the target audience for Wii games (not casual play toys) is tiny, tiny, tiny.

Well, until someone does an actual study of video games marketing and what does and doesn't work I'm not convinced that EA or other 3rd parties (or even Nintendo with new IP) are effectively marketing them. An internet poster with a business degree isn't going to change my mind -- unless you've got a term paper to show me on the subject.

Anecdotally there have been too many times when I've mentioned how good a title was only to have a response of "I didn't realise that was out yet" from someone with an actual interest -- anyone who doesn't follow online media definitely won't have a clue about many of these games.

I'm sure most people who aren't really into gaming would have to see the game on the shelf, be bothered to pick it up and read the back of the box before having a clue. How many titles are going to sell on the back of that alone?

Never let it be said the "Wii non-gamer" stereotype doesn't actually exist. I have some friends who have a Wii and Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Mario Kart Wii, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Wii Fit, DDR Mario Mix (which I brought to their attention; they didn't even know the Wii could play GCN games until I told them), and Dancing With the Stars (they bought that one before I met them). Okay, so that's not really all THAT many games, and all but one are first-party. They don't play very often and are in no rush to buy even MORE games. People like this DO exist.

From my experience at GameStop, there definitely aren't very many informed Wii gamers out there. A surprising number of them don't even know that NSMBW is about to release until I tell them! Expecting there to be a rush on DS:E is just dumb. Really, I don't think that game is on the right platform to do well, and I hope it DOES get a PS3 port (with the upcoming motion controller) so it can reach its target audience better.

Advertise.
Advertise.
Advertise.
and maybe release a few more games that can't be compared to a superior version of itself.

Jesus H Christ, what did they expect!?
The majority of people who wanted this game would have bought it already on 360/PS3. And the majority of those who didn't aren't necessarily going to be wowed by a rail shooter conversion.
IF YOU THINK OF WII OWNERS AS 2ND CLASS, THAT'S WHAT YOUR SALES WILL BE

I am so so sick of these whiney publishers...
They have a platform with tech the same as what they used all last gen, if not with extra horse power.
Keep in mind last generation gave us games like Resident Evil 4, Eternal Darkness, F-Zero GX...
They now have online to work with and several different control inputs for fresh ideas.
Yet it is painfully clear that they don't care about the Wii or the games they're making outside of the money it gets them.
In my eyes, if you're not putting 100% into your product, in terms of what it can do then it deserves to fail.

@ WaltzElf

no "proper" game is going to sell as well on the Wii as the other two consoles because, simply put, the install base of Wii gamers (ie people who choose a Wii for the same reason that they would an Xbox or PS3) is comparitively tiny

What PS360 fanboy esq stereo typing comment - it IS about advertising and quality, when EA make good Wii games (unlike DS: E imo) they do sell quite well.

I would have bought a proper Wii Dead Space much sooner than a HD-Ready Dead Space, with last gen controls. It would have been critical hit on a Wii.

To play devils advocate... Madworld was advertised pretty substantially and it was a flop. Advertising doesn't seem to do the trick either, at least it sure didn't for Madworld.

@Crunc: Madworld was, let's face it, a very niche type of game and probably scared off the general public with it's art direction. No amount of advertising could help that IMO.

"@Crunc: Madworld was, let's face it, a very niche type of game and probably scared off the general public with it's art direction. No amount of advertising could help that IMO."

Which didn't have 2 player, which every bravler should have.

@ Sean (83): So, rather than listen to me, you'd sooner side with the opinion of the guys who don't have business degrees and don't work in the industry?

riiiiiight.

In addition to my degree, I am a business journalist full time, and I've written on the games industry often enough. Have I done a study specifically on marketing in video games? No. But I'll bet my house that I'm closer to the truth than the "TV Ads will fix everything!1!!" crew.

@ gameaddict247: This has nothing to do with being a fanboy. The only console I own is a Wii. It also has nothing to do with the quality of a game, since bad games do often sell well, with the correct positioning, on the correct console.

@WaltzElf: Then you're in an excellent position to do the research and write the article!

I'm sure TV ads won't fix everything, but that doesn't mean that many 3rd party games aren't woefully under-marketed.

It's worth repeating that Madworld got a lot of tv ad time (I remember seeing many adverts), but was a niche title and whilst it didn't sell big don't forget SEGA's CEO didn't moan about it in public if it didn't do the numbers they expected (which they never said it didn't).

EA is putting more effort into their Wii games than any other publisher. They have a right to cry about this pitiful fanbase.