Jools Watsham Highlights Low Chicken Wiggle Sales, Confirms Upcoming Discount

CW is a great game, and easily amongst the best on the eShop. Being on 3DS after the release of Switch is about it's only downfall. Hope this doesn't hurt future Switch development from Atooi.
Can't help but feel like another Mudds port might be a mistake though. I think everyone who wants that game owns it on multiple platforms by now. Probably better to plow ahead with Treasurenauts at this point.

I've been wondering what effect Switch has had on sales for games on Wii U and 3DS; it's a damn shame that what I suspected might be the case.

Man, thats sad news, I really wish Jools had better luck at these releases.

The eshop is pretty crowded with good side scrollers right now but it's pretty lame Nintendo didn't give the game much of a spotlight on the main page. The game looks fun but the price was bad for me. I'd probably get it for 5 bucks but not much more. My backlog is in the hundreds so even buying it I won't get around to it until at least 2018

I gave him a push to my dev network giving the game some promo time but I cant do much more being tied up marketing some mobile games right now.

It sucks but I think he is onto something. Still, doing what i can to help

I haven't touched my 3DS since getting my Switch, and while that might change now with Metroid, I don't think his assessment is too far off.

Is it not on the Switch? If not then why on earth didn't he make it for the new console? Of course everyone is going to be all over it.

There's no room for the 3ds anymore, like the look of chicken wiggle , hope it gets ported to switch.
With that being said I'll probably buy it on 3ds when it's discounted.

I would have loved this but I have moved on to the switch . This could do well if Ported to the swItch

Starting to notice a pattern here

Hope he brings it to Switch, then I'll definitely give it a go!

With the exception of Metroid in a couple weeks, I think I'm just about done buying games for my 3DS. I still play it here and there, but I have such a huge backlog on 3DS (and DS for that matter) that I don't really need anything new.

Feel for the guy. That's the danger of releasing into a mature, possibly fading, market. Massive install base, but the players have moved on...

Poor timing I think......if I remember right Mario Maker 3DS got announced right before he was going to announce this and then Switch happened. By all accounts, it's a great game but I'm a horrible handheld gamer and cant finish the games I have for my 3DS so he wont get a sale from me on this 1. Hopefully with a price reduction and some help from the eShop, he can get some sales.

Yes I'm not buying anything for 3ds or Wii u now adays regardless of first party, third or indie!
It's all about the switch!

Would buy on Switch for $9.99 or less. Only games I'd consider on 3DS are Metroid and Pokémon.

So basically what he's saying...
"Hey guys, sales for my game are really low right now so whatever you do, don't buy it right now."

Sorry my 3ds is retired and I am having a hard time getting metroid for it even. Just want games on switch now...

I would buy this for the Switch, I sold my 3DS.

@SmaMan uhh, he literally said in the post to not buy until next week because it's going on sale.

(As for me, the Euro platformer stylings of Jools and co. isn't really my cup of tea, so I'll be passing regardless.)

That said, the only 3DS game I care about at this point is Metroid is and, even then, a huge part of me really, really would have preferred it be moved to Switch, such that I'm hesitant to buy it on 3DS...the audience of core players has left the building.

A discount will tempt me, yes.

I'd be very surprised if it didn't sell a lot better on Switch. I hope he can make a port for it.

I'm not surprised. It was only on the front page for a week.

Any smaller publisher or developer who is developing a serious project needs to make the Switch ASAP.

I did buy it (USA). I completed all of the included levels (100%). Now I am playing the fan made levels. Great game!

Personally for me, I just don't think his games are very good period. That might have something to do with it

In addition it's also a late release 3ds downloadable game ( I mean the 3ds is 6+ years old at this point) with very little marketing from Jools himself. Not to mention that the 3ds eshop has been fairly dead over the last few months. I do agree somewhat that it would have been better if he had launched on the Switch but even then, I'm not entirely sure that his sales would be significantly better

Winner = Mutant Mudds with Level Creator for Switch
( and also mobile )

High price for an unknown indie game, dying system, little marketing and the title quite frankly is unappealing and makes it sound like a flappy bird knock off.

This was dead from the start regardless of the game's quality to be honest.

Ill be honest havent played 3ds in a while however with monster hunter stories out tomo that's about to change. The only reason i didnt pick up CW is felt to similar to mutant mudds...and am kinda over that sort 2D platforming at moment. My 3DS is saturated with em.

For me it was the price that put me off. It looks pretty fun and I love the premise of the star character being a birb, but it didn't look worth the price tag of $15. Give me a discount to about $8, and then I might bite...

Maybe the game isn't very good. Having said that I think it's overpriced and especially for old hardware nobody cares about anymore. I think I saw it was about $22 in launch day and I saw trailers and reviews and thought nah pass.

The only 3ds games I am waiting for now are Metroid, Mario and Luigi superstar saga remake, and maybe etrian odyssey v. I'm not loading in more eshop titles that money is going into switch games now.

I checked the e-shop on release date and in Canada the game is $21 or something crazy like that. I just couldn't justify it. I have a Switch but I still play my 3DS too, and I was really interested in CW but not for that kind of scratch.
The Canadian dollar is on the rise and yet the mark-up on games here remains high. It's very frustrating.

So 60 million 3DS owners stopped playing on their systems to only play games on 5 million Switch? That's a lot of Switch sharing going on. 😆

I'd believe people waiting for the Shovel Knight DLC before I'd blame it on Switch ownership, there just aren't that many out there, sorry.

Too bad it sold OK in the EU or he could have blamed it on Brexit. 😈

Let's wait and see how Metroid does before we declare the 3DS dead.

You should move on to the Switch too, Jools. Grass is way greener. I have over 200 games on my 3DS, including all of yours... but it hurts me to even think I'll fire it up to play Samus Returns... because I love the Switch so much. Its so much better.

i knew right from the start that he would be complaining about low sales again.

I must choose my words carefully.

Was waiting for this to go on sale. At $20 CAD, I wasn't ready to part with my hard earned cash on a game that appears to be quite similar to the previous Mutant Mudds in terms of aesthetics anyway. I know you can't judge a book by it's cover but nothing that I saw from this game tickled me pink enough to drop the money. But yes, I will gladly pick this one up on sale next week

@Kalmaro

You do realize that game development takes quite a while right? Also Nintendo switch development kits were released very late and to only a select few developers.

Yikes. Now I feel guilty for not having bought it (yet...?).
However, I'm European, so my purchase would have mattered even less.
Any price drop bringing the price below 10€ will inevitably make it a must-buy.

@Meaty-cheeky That just sounds like they should have waited.

I haven't played it, but I'm pretty sure the generic name "Chicken Wiggle" isn't helping matters. I don't doubt it's a good game, but it doesn't exactly send people running to the eshop to see what it is.

Honestly, it's the price point. I know i'm not the only one who was going to buy this until i saw it was more than $10 USD (and i'm the last person to ever complain about pricing on eShop titles).

I'll see what the sale price is, it sure isn't worth $20 CAD...

Honestly, for the unlimited reply value the game offers it's far of being overpriced. It's a shame that so many people feel that way... I mean, it offers what Mario Maker couldn't... for $14.99 and with a fresh approach. I don't know about the other games Jools made since I haven't played them, but this one is among the best Eshop games. I'm really surprised about the amount of options you have with the level creator and how easy and fun to use it is. To be honest I have more fun with this game than any Mario game available on the 3DS.

Jools- I haven't touched my 3DS in a year +
Swing over to Switch brother!

I can vouch for this game being really good.

Metroid WILL suffer the same fate, sadly.

I just don't use my 3ds anymore. I used to play 20 hours a month, according to the 3ds. Since the switch release I'm averaging 2 hours a month.

If Chicken Wiggle came out 2 years ago is have gotten it. I'll buy it now, once on sale, just to support the developer, who seems determined not to release Treasurenauts!

Not gonna lie, i dont use my 3DS nearly as often as i used to, since i got my Switch. And i even rarely buy new games for the 3DS, since i already got 40+ games to finish as it is. But just looking at the name Chicken Wiggle, i thought it was one of those shovelware Flappy-Bird clones or something, had no idea it was a Jools game. Depending on the price of the sale, i might actually buy it, no promises it will be played this year though.

It should get ported to Switch and 80's Overdrive too. I just can't play on 3DS anymore.

Huh, I was actually going to buy this today. Guess I'll wait. Looked like exactly my thing but it's been a busy few months at work and I really haven't played (or bought) much since RPG Maker in June.

As has been echoed several times, little marketing, odd name, wrong platform. I do respect Jools for telling on the fence people not to buy this week and wait for the discount. Cool stuff.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE I am interested in seeing which words you choose.

I still play my 3DS, but this game just doesn't interest me, whether it be the lack of coverage or not trying to sell me on the game/concept, it has not been on my radar at all. I do think he's right about indie lovers moving away from 3DS.

@rjejr I think you're being a little obtuse there. Yes, there are 60M 3DS, and 5M Switch, but there's more to it than that. The crowd that immediately jumped shipped to the Switch are the early adopter crowd that buys indie games day 1. They're also that same crowd of collectors that own half a dozen or more 3DS, meaning that those 60M systems represents significantly less actual users (I purchased 5 in the 3ds family, and have never touched any of the special edition ones...). What's left is the more casual folk, and a whole lot of children without credit cards...

"I think the indie audience has left the 3DS and moved onto Switch."

Man, that's going to trigger some people here.

(reads comments)
Yep, sure has.

@Sunnyleafs I'm not the only one :')

@Arngrim I was thinking the same thing, that my backlog for 3DS is big enough as it is and I'm just not interested in getting games for it anymore. I did a quick count, and I have about 20 eShop games and 15 full retail games that I still have yet to play at all. The Virtual Console and DS probably account for 20 more--and these are only the games I own and have never played. Throw in the games that I never got around to even buying but should (e. g. many Fire Emblem games; I've only recently come around to strategy games), or those that deserve to be replayed (Zelda), and I've got roughly 80 games sitting on my to-play list. I don't need new games for 3DS. Especially since I've got a shiny new system that I do need new games for.

I haven't moved onto the Switch. I don't even have a Switch. I don't want a Switch. That said, I still won't buy this game. I don't have much interest in it.

No idea if indie gamers have moved onto the Switch though. Although the 3DS has some good indies, the majority of the best indies are on the Vita. That's where all the indie gamers are, including me.

The initial price is too high. Unless it got 9s on various review sites, I doubt many will bite the bullet and buy a game with Retro graphics and looks like something that's 0.99 or freemium on their phones.

Yes, Many Nintendo fans are now trading up to its more superior handheld (Switch), but a game that fills a niche (like 80s Overdrive) should still find an audience on the 3DS if priced right.

And no matter how good Mutant Mudd is, the developer is still no Miyamoto or Suzuki, where the name command a premium. Still, will probably buy this once it gets on sale...

@techdude It actually got 9s and even a 10 in the sites that reviewed it. Considering that this game rivals a Mario game that doesn't let you to share or play other levels online and that has double the price, I think it's not as bad as people think. They compare it with oter indies that don't offer half the replay value this one has. Of course that's just my point of view though, but I really recommend it. I'm really surprised by how solid it is as a platformer and how deep and intuitive the leveal creator is.

I've already moved on to switch. I'll only be touching 3DS and WiiU only if I must. I don't understand why many people on here don't understand that and get mad at developers for not releasing games on the 3DS or Wii U. Just because you are still stuck in the past or can't afford a switch doesn't mean that developers should cater to you. All I know is that Switch is the new nintendo platform and that's where I expect all the games to be going forward. I'm not looking back and neither should you. If you like Nintendo and you like their games you need to get a Switch, simple as that. Don't want one? Don't expect special treatment. If it were up to me I'd cancel all the Remaining Wii U games and 3DS games and find a way to get them on switch. Just polish them up and make some adjustments but move on. The switch is the future of handheld and console gaming for Nintendo. If you don't get that by now, then you never will.

@Kalmaro He has been developing this game for quite a while now.
He couldn't have just "waited"

@Donutman I agree! I wish metroid was on the switch. I'm gonna hate going back to 3DS

It's a bit on the expensive side, so... Yeah.

No, we didn't. We just won't pay twice the price that game is worth.

@RoomB31 Have you been on Twitter in the past two months? It's gotten loads of coverage there from reviewers and regular gamers. But Twitter also isn't the be-all end-all for marketing, though Jools doesn't really like to venture out beyond that medium.

As for the game itself, it is an excellent platformer and the level editor offers an infinite amount of replayability, especially given the online sharing. I think the real problem is the price; it IS worth $15 for the amount of content that you get, but cheap millennials don't like to buy any non-AAA titles that cost more than one digit and many won't ever give those games the light of day, sadly.

@rushiosan Have you watched any videos of the game? Specifically, shared levels or the editor?

Game looks pretty cool and I've enjoyed RK's previous games so I don't doubt the quality. However, Jools has to consider that the $15 price tag is steep.

It really is a shame. Part of this is due to the way Nintendo is handling indie Switch development. There is a tighter lid on it and it's harder to get devkits compared to the 3DS. I can understand why, because they don't want the market flooded, but it is a shame.

The bottom line: Jools isn't very good at reading the market. People have been wanting Treasurenauts for ages, but it's nowhere to be found. People wanted a more fleshed out sequel to Mutant Mudds, so he makes an extra hard version. He mistakenly thought people wanted remasters of his DS games, which were good but were pretty niche to begin with. Can't really expect big sales there. Xeodrifter was good (two of my boys loved it) but short. Then comes Chicken Wiggle, which is really ambitious but is missing the essential ingredients. To pull off the "make and share" approach, you need a highly recognizable property or you need to wrap a great game around it. Mario Maker and Pushmo are two successful examples of this. Everyone wants to make Mario levels. Pushmo had so much great content you were inspired to make and share your own, but if you didn't want to there was still a great game at a great price. Chicken Wiggle has neither of these things.

@cyrus_zuo You are in the very large minority: 60MM against 5MM players.

@maceng That's systems, not players. We have 7 3ds systems in my house. It's a very different comparison than you are making. It's not 60 to 5 at all. What's more, sales are always focused around new consoles. The biggest spenders are the most likely to move. I have 40 3ds carts and 60+ downloaded games. I've bought 1 game on 3ds since switch came out and 10 on switch.
Nintendo's best customers have moved on, and there weren't really 60 million 3ds players to begin with, that's just how many have sold. I'll let the active players is less than half that, square enix might suggest it is less than that.

@The8BitLego Sure he could've. No one forced his schedule right? Once it became obvious that Nintendo had a new console coming up, he could have slowed down and perhaps sprung for a dev kit.

@Kalmaro Nintendo is making dev kits for Switch hard to get. A Hat in Time isn't coming to Switch because of that despite them wanting a dev kit.

I honestly think the title plays a part here. I was put off because it sounds like a mobile game; or at best one of those ten-a-penny eShop filler games. I only knew it was decent after hearing it mentioned on the Giant Bombcast.

@TheSpeedyMouse In a situation like that, I'd wait. Launching a game on a console right as a newer one is coming out is not easy, especially if the new console overshadows the one you are developing for.

If Nintendo really didn't show it on the main page at launch, that just tells me it's probably bad. Nintendo almost always shows a game on the main page of the eShop when it launches, the only times I've seen them not do that is with really cruddy shovel ware games.
And yeah, the game's name is unappealing.

@ALinkttPresent Many games that aren't popular but have been received well by both reviewers and buyers haven't been on the main page or have been for short periods. I'm baffled how you can relate the two, considering that there are logic explanations behind like having more popular games or franchises owned by Nintendo released the same date or close to it.

It's fine if you don't like it or care about it, really, however it's amazing how easy can discredit other's people work without any consideration. I mean, at least search for reviews or other people's opinions before expressing something as harsh as that, specially in terms of probabilities. Sure, other opinions won't make you like it but they would definitely make you clear that this game and many others that haven't had the spot light are far from being shovel ware. Also, mediocre games like Triforce Heroes and Mario and Sonic Olympic games have been on the spot light, so basing quality on such a thing is absurd.

@Indielink 3DS owners have gone cold turkey?

Sorry about that Jools, I never did get myself a 3DS.

I'd buy it on Switch.

That said, I think Mr Watsham needs to take a step back from the 8-bit aesthetic. It's getting played out- it's neat for a once in a while thing but when you have truckloads and truckloads of retro pixelated games... it loses its appeal.

And right now, he needs another Mutant Mudds. Not an actual Mutant Mudds, but another game as popular as Mutant Mudds. He needs another game to put him back on the map. A lot of devs develop one game that people like and then never really make another hit. He needs another hit. And not just a game that's barely good enough to be considered worth buying for 10 bucks. I mean a game that's incredible, that people absolutely have to buy because it looks so good. And to be honest, I don't think he's going to pull that off with the 8 bit style right now. Go for the Toki Tori 2 look... the Rive look... A little more modern. Or at the very least, if retro is all he wants to make, do something 16 bit. But most importantly, make it a classic...

I always felt so frustrated with Renegade Kid when they were still around. They were capable of making some stunning games with their FPS games on DS being notably amazing for the time. But once they hit it off with Mutant Mudds I feel like their track record got a bit splotchy. I always felt like their games were priced too high and they never got their games out in the European eshop fast enough for me to still care at that point.

With their numerous rereleases (Dementium and Moon did not hold up on 3DS when compared to Resident Evil Revelations especially with the piece meal uploads) and the dangling of Treasurenauts at the end of a stick whilst shoving out rather meagre titles like Xeodrifter just really just screamed of poor analysis of their market.

The people in Renegade Kid are no doubt great guys but they need to understand where the best direction is to go forward.

"I think the indie audience has left the 3DS and moved onto Switch"

Of course! The price was absolutely not a problem, that's why you are lowering it....oh wait a minute?!

Sadly for me it's the price that is the problem. I'm unaware if the game is long enough to warrant a €15 price tag. Sure there is the level editor but I don't see myself toying with that for long enough.

I get that this is a one-person company and that one person has to pay his bills but from a consumer point of view a €15 price tag is not very tempting. I will support Watsham by buying the game with the discount however.

While on the subject, I'm still wondering what happened to the other half of Renegade Kid. I'm still dissappointed about not getting Moon Chronicles or Dementium 2 Remastered here in Europe, mostly because back when Moon Chronicles was first announced I was debating buying the original game for the DS and decided not to after the news broke of the remake.

Thank you to those who offered support and/or valuable feedback. I really appreciate it. <3

Clarification for those who are "tired of hearing me complain about low sales." Communicating the fact that sales were low is not complaining IMO. I like to share the game's performance, just like when successful games share their high sales.

Moving all future efforts off 3DS and over to Switch and other platforms. A huge thanks to those in the Nintendo Life community who support my work. It means a great deal to hear your positive and constructive feedback. Cheers!

@Kilroy No, Twitter is not the be all end all, and it's only good for direct contact, not for learning about one specific game, so if that's the main source of marketing, there should be no surprises there.

I'm not sure why you are insinuating that "millennials are cheap" jab, but it's unnecessary. It's not about whether its worth the $15, for me it doesn't present itself well, and thus I have little interest in it as a whole. Since few people have shed light on it, there is little reason to seek it out, thus poor sales.

I'm not saying it's a bad game, just one with little marketing, little coverage and little word of mouth, with that little to stand on and its mildly generic presentation, it's not hard to see why it didn't sell super well.

@Kilroy Yes, and it still doesn't justify $15.

@daveh30 Yes, there aren't 60m 3DS owners, my family owns 3, but 4 people play on them. I'm sure lots of families have siblings sharing and parents sharing with their kids. Those sharers may not replace the guys who buy 5 or 6 different models, but there are some people sharing. So let's say 1/3 of people buy multiples and that there are only 40 million 3DS owners, not 60m, thats still 8x as many as Switch.

All the early adopter stuff doesn't really matter, you can't blame poor sales squarely on a new console, it's just a cop out. Zelda sold fairly well after the Switch released. There are 3DS games still selling. My guess is even if there was no Switch this game was never going to sell gangbusters. Too expensive, little marketing, download only. Switch is his convienent excuse.

In my opinion indie audience hasn't left 3DS, maybe marketing in American eShop was bad, but I noticed the game easily in Europe.

In my opinion this Chicken Wiggle just doesn't look as interesting as Mutant Mudds and Xeodrifter. The name is also in my honest opinion a bit terrible.

If this were instead Treasurenauts then I would've bought it. Also the price is way too high for a game like this that nobody except hardcore platform audience knows, especially since general public might recognize Renegade Kid but surely doesn't recognize Atooi as a name.

Not belonging to Jools anymore, but damn I am still heavily disappointed that Renegade Kid promised to release Moon Chronicles in Europe, but never did.