Is MadWorld Performing Poorly at Retail?

Kris Erickson • Mar 30, 2009 • Comments ()

From the start there was something unusual about Platinum Games' new Wii project, MadWorld. The ultraviolent black-and-white action title just seemed out of place on Nintendo's family friendly Wii system. Sure, the developers wanted to make a splash and turn some heads by releasing an unusually violent game on a machine dominated by casual party games. But did their bold move actually translate into sales? Early signs show that no, it did not. This week's UK software sales charts show MadWorld appearing way down at #8, with more traditional Nintendo fare like Mario Kart and even House of the Dead: Overkill beating it in sales. On the overall sales charts (which combine numbers across all platforms), Madworld is way down at #34, suggesting that it is not selling well enough to be considered a hit.

Is MadWorld just a victim of poor marketing strategy, is it a bad game, or was it simply misplaced on the Nintendo machine? Clearly the critics liked the game -- it has an average Metacritic score of 83, putting it solidly in the potential hit category. We think that the fatal combination of lack of advertising and novelty have conspired to make this game a dud on the Nintendo Wii.

The good news is that Platinum Games still has a potential hit on their hands. All they need to do is port the title over to the Xbox 360 and PS3 (it can even be sold as a digital download) and they will easily find thousands of hardcore gamers willing to part with their money.

Developers of so-called "hardcore" games take note: the Wii is a little bit like Russia during perestroika -- you probably want to start small and slowly ease the masses toward a new game genre, before hitting them over the head with too much blood and gore all at once.