Sales Hit or Miss Game of the Day - MadWorld
by Clayton Hainline, posted on 09 December 2009 / 3,532 Views
Sales Hit or Miss
MadWorld
Article Description: Hit or Miss is my attempt to expand the games that are examined in the “Sales of the Day” series, as the other articles lend themselves more towards talking about games with high sales. In the Hit or Miss articles we’ll be looking at the sales of moderate performing titles, comparing the game to other titles with similar characteristics as well as look at any quotes or information from the game’s publisher/developer on the sales of the game.
| Madworld | Europe | Americas | Japan | Total |
| Sales (millions) | 0.13 | 0.22 | N/A | 0.35 |
Description: MadWorld was released in March of this year in North America as well as Europe/Others, with lots of anticipation from Wii gamers looking for something more violent than the console’s typical offerings. The game got off to a decent start selling ~65,000 in its first week. However; after seven weeks the game was already below the 10,000 a week mark. Since then it has continued to have low but steady weekly sales, with the total now standing at 350,000. Is that 350,000 enough to satisfy Sega/Platinum games, or did they expect more after the game received some critical praise (~83 average on gamerankings.com) and the effort they spent marketing the game (the “Death Watch” commentators trailers and TV spots)? Continue reading to find out what we decided.
Note: The game has not yet released in Japan.
To get a better idea about what the sales expectations were for the game, let’s look at some games that have a few similar characteristics. Starting with how games rated M by the ESRB have performed on the Wii.
In this chart you can see that there has been a few successful M rated games on the Wii (especially considering how few M rated games there are on the platform), with four games selling over 1 million copies. All four of those titles are entries in established franchises, with Resident Evil and Call of Duty being two of the biggest franchises in gaming currently. After those four titles there is a big drop off to under 500,000 in sales, where the game No More Heroes takes the fifth spot with 0.47 million which makes it the most successful M rated new intellectual property on the Wii. In this comparison MadWorld has performed around what could be expected. With sales for the game still coming in it could eventually rival No More Heroes for the top selling M rated new IP on Wii which is a notable accomplishment.
One of the most important aspects when setting sales expectations is how other games in the genre have performed. MadWorld being an action game lumped into the subgenre of Beat ’em ups or Brawlers is an interesting choice. This type of game was popular in the late 80s and early 90s in arcades and on 8-bit consoles with games like Double Dragon and Streets of Rage leading the way. However; the popularity of the genre has certainly faded over the years and less games in the genre are released. Sales of brawlers that have been released recently have been a bit of a mixed bag.
Activision’s Marvel Ultimate Alliance was able to achieve its impressive 4 million total due to the use of popular Marvel Comic’s characters, co-operative gameplay, as well as being bundled with the Xbox 360 system for awhile. The other very successful title in that chart, Devil May Cry 4, was the first entry in the franchise on current generation systems, after Capcom established the popularity of the franchise last generation on the Playstation 2. If Sega/Platinum Games expected higher sales for MadWorld it was most likely based on the success of the Devil May Cry franchise and hoping they would be able to replicate that success with MadWorld. However; MadWorld has performed similarly or better than several other recent Brawlers including Viewtiful Joe, Spyborgs and the previously mentioned No More Heroes.
The final comparison I’m going to make is to other games developed by Clover/Platinum Games.
*Numbers from IGN and edge online, were used to come up with totals for Viewtiful Joe series and Okami respectively.
Note: The Wii port of Okami was not done by Clover/Platinum Games and is not included in the sales.
The list could almost be used as another “Brawlers” chart, as four out of the five games the studio has developed fall into that classification (the exception being Okami). From the chart it is clear that the studio has not been able to come up with a blockbuster game yet (although Bayonetta has potential), with MadWorld’s sales already being higher than several of their previously developed games. Despite the fact that Clover/Platinum Games titles typically receive critical praise they have not been able to catch on with the general public, most likely due to the unique art style their games have utilized.
Using the three comparisons presented MadWorld seems like it should have performed around or maybe even slightly above expectations, considering the M rating, the genre of the game, as well as the developer’s sales history. But what has the publisher said about the game’s performance?
In June Gary Dunn, Managing Director of European development for Sega had this to say to GamesIndustry.biz regarding MadWorld’s sales.
You have to push boundaries and explore. I think whilst MadWorld commercially didn’t sell what we were expecting I wouldn’t say it’s game over for mature Wii titles from Sega. We’re taking a look at the resources we have now. We’ve got money to invest in development, we’re just considering where to invest it next.
In a more recent interview (also with GamesIndustry), Managing Director of Sega UK, was slightly more positive saying that MadWorld had “sold well enough to position SEGA as a company that's prepared to invest in high quality, new IP [intellectual property].” While that quote is hardly a ringing endorsement for MadWorld’s sales, it does prove that at the very least the game did not drastically underperform expectations.
With the game yet to be released in Japan (although the game is being published by Spike in the region) and the continued sales at a reduced price point, it is possible that the game climbs its way over the 500,000 mark, which would be impressive. Although considering retailers such as Amazon are selling the game for as low as $11.99 the vast majority the game’s total revenue has already been earned.
Verdict: Based on the comparisons as well as quotes from people at Sega, it is safe to classify MadWorld as a modest hit, which has probably netted the company a slight profit, although they may be disappointed the game didn’t turn out to be their version of Devil May Cry.
Those are my thoughts on MadWorld, here is what the VGChartz community thinks.
Munkeh111 - “The thing is, mature games on the Wii are generally going to have a smaller audience, and you can see from that list, it is major franchises that are doing well. As for will it make them money... it is doubtful, but it won't be a gigantic flop.”
Zucas – “Really, this was a miss for Sega and Platinum games. Although 350,000 in actual sales (maybe a good 400k-500k in shipments) is good enough to make a profit, but they missed opportunity to establish a franchise on the platform like No More Heroes. They hype was maybe there but not widespread. A marketing campaign existed but not on the levels of a franchise with much confidence behind it.”
Jarrod- “MadWorld's problem was that it was a pretty niche game with pretty big expectations. Seems like typical Clover/Platinum (Viewtiful Joe, Okami, God Hand, Infinite Space, Bayonetta). The game likely did better on Wii than it would have elsewhere (PS3, 360, PS2, PSP) if only due to standing out.”
Thanks to Soriku and noname2200 for providing the links to the quotes from Sega.
Thanks for reading the first edition of Sales Hit or Miss, if you missed the thread be sure to leave a comment letting us know your opinion on MadWorld’s sales performance. Afterwards, be sure to head over and vote for the 10 best retro franchises to help create a top 100 list, which is going to become part of the Retro Sales series.
Most recent "Sales of the Day" articles System Mover, Change in Sales, Sales Battle, Retro Sales, Look at Those Legs.
