Sega's over-the-top rail shooter House Of The Dead: Overkill has managed to sell a modest 45k copies across America in the month of February, according to market research firm NPD Group. NPD analyst Anita Frazier states that Overkill, which saw release on February 10, sat at around the 50th spot on the list of the month's 100 biggest selling SKUs.
On the one hand, the game could prove to be somewhat of a slow-burner in turns of sales, much like the previously-released House Of The Dead 2&3 Return which has sold close to a million copies thus far. On the other hand, Overkill is a game marketed and designed to cater specifically to the millions of Wii owners clamouring for a challenging, adult-oriented game with high production values, so why have people been so reluctant to invest? Could the profane nature of the game be turning people off? Are gamers in 2009 simply unwilling to pay full retail price for a lightgun game? Perhaps these sales figures just go to prove what so many have said for so long: quality third-party titles just won't sell on Wii. At this point it's hard to know for sure, but I'll tell you one thing: it sure as hell isn't my fault. I pre-ordered my copy on day one. How about the rest of you?
On a more positive note, early reports indicate that Sega's black-and-white gorefest MadWorld has sold upwards of 50k units in its first week of release, so Sega's hardcore-oriented release schedule may yet prove successful.
Nintendo Life is planning to provide a regular series of round-table articles discussing current and long-standing topics within the Nintendo fraternity, so if you have any specific comments in regards to the general state of third-party software on Nintendo consoles, why not let us know?
[source edge-online.com]
Comments 6
That's criminal, this is my favourite game on the Wii at the moment. It's even managing to suck precious time away from my Resident Evil 5 sessions on the 360!
Go and buy it NOW everyone!!!
Yeah its interesting, personally I don't think Overkill will appeal that well to the US market, similar to the way they didn't really take to the Grindhouse movie(s) it follows. Hopefully this isn't a sign of 3rd party sales for Wii, it's a great game and should be snapped up!
Grindhouse rocked!
Marketing, Marketing, Marketing. That's what I personally blame.
NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
'Nuff said.
There have been several articles/reports that have discussed WIi software sales. Many Wii games have seen much slower sales lives. It's far more common for 360/PS3 players to all jump on a new game at release. This drives a title up the charts for a few weeks, then they generally drop completely off. Wii games tend to be more of a slow burn in many cases. They don't jump of the shelf on release day, but sell slow & steady for months on end.
Let's see where Overkill is in terms of numbers in 6-12 months. HOTD 2/3 has apparently done close to a million & did so over a long time period.
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