Reggie Clarifies: There is No "Magic Number."
One million copies sold to make a profit sounds ridiculous? It is!
Earlier it was noted that in order for a Wii title to actually make a profit, one million copies of that title must be sold, and as many were quick to point out, that number just didn't seem right.
Well, according to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, it isn't. Reggie says "the fact is, there's no single magic number that defines profitability for a game," and "it's all based on the level of investment, based on the price point, and so it's unfortunate that I was misquoted in that article."
The article Reggie is referring to is from a March 29 New York Times piece entitled "Video Game Makers Challenged by the Next Wave of Media."
[via blog.wired.com]
#1
Damo said:
Regardless of this, I still think that Wii developers are facing an uphill struggle to make a profit on the machine. There's just so much competition and it's obvious that not every game released for the console is going to find an audience. Look at titles like Sega's Nights - it's being sold for as little as £10 in many shops now, you can't honestly say that turned a profit?
#2
Sean_Aaron said:
I think the logical studio response should be to reduce budgets and reconsider churning out "safe" product which is bland and unappealing.
If they're going to take a chance on new IP, it should be because it's fresh and interesting and they should back it all the way. There's no point in producing a new title if no one will know anything about it!
#3
Chunky_Droid said:
Thanks for clarifying that Reggie.
goes back to play Cubivore, believing he's the only one who owns it
#4
Tragickingdom said:
looks like shovelware will take over the world. The beginning of the end for good games?
#5
KDR_11k said:
Yeah, that makes more sense.
#6
marktheshark said:
@Damo
Do you think you can tell me what the typical budget of a Wii Game is except for shovelware of course.
#7
Hardy83 said:
I'm hoping that the shovel ware spills over to the WIIware DLC so the companies can save money, and actual games be saved for companies with a budget and want to make quality games, like Sega, Nintendo, EA, etc etc.
With the new 4.0 system, I'm hoping Nintendo will raise the size limit of games in the future.