Capcom: Less Wii After Darkside Chronicles Sells Only 16k

French Director General says the audience for hardcore games has left the building.

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Capcom: Less Wii After Darkside Chronicles Sells Only 16k
Looks like everyone's New Year Resolution is to avoid the Wii. The Director General of Capcom France, Antoine Seux, has suggested that the opportunity for 'hardcore' games has dried up following disappointing sales of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. This comes as Seux announces that the company will be focusing more on PS3 and Xbox 360 development.

In a lengthy and revealing interview with French website Gamekult (via our wonky translator), Seux states that development on “the Wii was very difficult, with an oversupply [of games] and a gamer market that has radically changed. [So-called “gamer's games”] are selling less and less on the console, [be it] MadWorld or Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop or House of the Dead: Overkill.”

Capcom's recent on-rails shooter, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, sold a total of only 16,000 units after three weeks on sale by 23rd December 2009. In contrast Seux notes that Resident Evil 4 sold 140,000 units back at its release in June 2007. The problem, he suggests, is the change in audience. “One feels that there is a problem very clear on this style of game on the Wii, where gamers have obviously moved on. Resident Evil 4 on Wii worked well, but [it was released] when the market had nothing!”

“The customer of [the Wii] has turned into something [of a] much broader audience. It is a disappointment,” says Seux, who feels that the only chance to get a game noticed on the platform is to support it with “massive advertising campaigns” such as Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

It's a surprising statement from one of the most loyal supporters of the Wii. Just a few years ago Capcom had gone so far as to switch development of its long-awaited Monster Hunter Tri from PlayStation 3 to Nintendo's platform, while titles such as Zack and Wiki and the Okami remake failed to grab as many gamers as the company would have hoped. Darkside Chronicles' lack of sales is a stark contrast to the success of its predecessor, The Umbrella Chronicles.

“This is the year of the emergence of so-called 'new console generation',” Seux concludes, referring to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. “The Wii is still an important part of sales, but growth is on both [Sony and Microsoft's] platforms. The Wii console is very much a family commitment... for us, Capcom, the future is the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.”

Seux's interview follows comments from Sega America's Constantine Hantzopoulos on a price cut for Nintendo's console, whilst in the same podcast declaring an end to developing 'hardcore games' like MadWorld and House of the Dead on the platform. Michael Pachter today went on record to predict a sales slump for the Wii in 2010.

What do you think? Is the Wii on the out and out? Is there more 'hardcore' life left in it? Speak out in the comments section.

Comments

Showing the 20 most recent comments. Read all 38.
John L 6 Jan 2010 08:59
19/38
MadWorld was very very boring.

House of the Dead was a joke.

The Umbrella Chronicles was fun for a couple hours... but who beat it and actually felt like giving Darkside Chronicles a chance?


Capcom can go.
alex c 6 Jan 2010 11:39
20/38
its dead and soy already won in many peoples eyes. the majority of peoples eyes, the onyl people now, without a playstation, are just waiting till there xbox gold card runs out, then they will 'jump in' to the free PSN, and not bother paying anoter 40 dolars.

im wondering how many used and broken xboxs are ling around in gamestops back rooms.
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Jeff 6 Jan 2010 12:22
21/38
Hello? There isn't any person out there that like games on rails. There are 16,000 people that didn't know the game was on rails when they purchased it. Quit being lazy and make something worthwhile.
Joji 6 Jan 2010 13:03
22/38
I agree that Capcom, should have used the RE4 engine and made another 3rd person action game, in that mould for Wii, especially since RE4 went down well on Wii. I wanted EA to do the same with Dead Space too, and let Wii owners get a good enough product, than a quick arcade style rails shooter, but sure, they made their beds and should lay in them. No arguement there. I still think at the end of the day, they will still say they tried and failed. Some might think it even an excuse to bail on Wii development

I've seen and heard a lot about Silent Hill Shattered Memories, and its sounds cool, and if I had I Wii, I'd certainly invest in it (will be hunting a PSP copy instead). Like I said in my last post, those that put in the effort can reap the rewards on Wii, but its still an uphill battle many aren't prepared to take seriously, that's the choice of some, not all. I expect this is why SH:SM is also on PSP and PS2, to ease the costs, had Konami otherwise opted for Climax to make it exclusive for Wii. This is a smart move IMO, so if the Wii sales are still low, the other ports can pick up the slack. I really hope it does well for Konami and Climax, who both need a good hit.

Okay, I missed the 'sales in France' bit, so I feel no shame or fear, in falling on my sword there. Such sales of this title, still reflect as failure in the eyes of the developer, though. Agree, disagree, that's up to you.

The downward slide of Wii is not far off though, because by and large, Nintendo can't be supported by casual alone who buy fewer games, and they know this, as much as they might deny it. While they might be praising sales, they'll never admit when things are actually going wrong, such is the corporate business mentality. And if it does a PS2 style long tail, I care not, as it will do so with less developers courting it.

Come what may.
Jon 6 Jan 2010 15:16
23/38
Wii has no achievments or trophies. I know it sounds rediculous, but to hardcore gamers, it essentially signals "why would I spend time playing a game I don't even get credit for."

Call me insane, but it's on more than a few minds.
Charles 6 Jan 2010 16:18
24/38
Did the "opportunity for 'hardcore' games" ever exist on Wii? I don't think so


Um, Metroid Prime 3? People will buy hardcore games, it's just Nintendo is the only publisher who will fully commit to promoting them. They also don't cut corners with an "it's only the Wii" attitude. I make my case here.
Bandit King 6 Jan 2010 17:17
25/38
Nintendo made it this way, they got too swept up in their own hype machine and are now left with a console that once again only they will support. The problem this time is that the games they support their console with are not good enough, Nintendo fans need more then Mario and Zelda and I dont think Wii Fit and Wii Music are quite what they were expecting. As for Capcom good for them I would hate to see any of the big publishers dig a hole in their budgets while trying to capitalize on the Wii's lage but very fickle user base. The big money is in the established 360 and the ever increasing PS3, which I feel is where the most new games sales and growth will come from.
Liam 6 Jan 2010 18:43
26/38
Give us something that isn't a 4-5 hour long on-rails shooter and we'd buy it.
Pi**ed off Wii gamer 6 Jan 2010 20:34
27/38
Let me just say that while the comments above stating that sales for RE:DC were indeed disappointing,they in no way shape or form mean a damn thing in regards to the hardcore audience on the Wii. Hey Capcom marketing genuises, do you know why this game hasn't sold s*it on the Wii, because the core audience you are referencing aren't like the dumb casuals who u believe is the wii's only audience. We were fed a bunch of crap that RE:UC was a test to see if we could handle a REAL RE game, but I guess nearly 2 million sold isn't enough is it. The truth is that Wii core gamers aren't as desperate as you may think and buy whatever crap you feed us, ahem...on-rails shooters. We were screwed out of RE5 and there was no way in hell that we were going to be satisfied with another RE:UC rehash. I played RE:DC and yes the graphics engine looked superb and next to dead space it was the best rail shooter I have ever played. But guess what Capcom, Wii owners don't like to be told what we like, and just because you think we like something...rail shooters, doesn't mean that we do. The problem here is that Wii gamers wanted a real RE game, not some piece of crap, cheap rail shooter that you thought you could make a quick profit on. Do you know why Nintendo does so well on it's own systems, it's because the actually LISTEN to what their fans want. Oh and by the way the sales of Madworld and House of the Dead do not count because those are niche games that would not have sold much better on the HD counterparts, RE on the other hand is a guaranteed brand that is almost always a sales success. RANT OVER!!!
Joji 6 Jan 2010 23:13
28/38
To expect Capcom, to have created RE5 on Wii, would have been asking a lot, because game dev tech moves on a lot in in a few years, let alone talented staff. Because Wii is so cut down in its spec and has no hard drive, all the things that RE5 take advantage of would have been a struggle to do, no matter how much they were wanted.

The shift in game dev tech and techniques, IMO, is why many do not want to work on 9 year old Wii tech. Can't really blame them, to be honest. I've played some awesome games on my 360, that wouldn't have been possible on Wii. I like many other gamers etc, wish Nintendo could produce a system like 360 or PS3, and I still hope that next time they will.

Do you know why Nintendo does so well on it's own systems, it's because the actually LISTEN to what their fans want. Oh and by the way the sales of Madworld and House of the Dead do not count because those are niche games that would not have sold much better on the HD counterparts, RE on the other hand is a guaranteed brand that is almost always a sales success. RANT OVER!!!


No, Nintendo does well, because their games are well designed and a lot of damn fun. On a system with their name on it, its hard to beat their brand, content and marketing of their games. Its their well moulded ads that sold Wii and DS to the non gaming masses. Other devs will try, but overall can only afford to do so much, and indeed not all will try hard enough.

If Nintendo had listened to their fans, the Wii, as the horribly spec mess it is, wouldn't exist (note, nothing wrong with the controls, mind, when used properly). 512mb indeed, that's not even funny these days.

If Nintendo had listened, Wii would have had a hard drive from early on, like gamers and devs alike wanted, to allow demo and such better content. Now, while some claim demos don't help sell games, IMO, that is complete crap. Nintendo have never had demo discs or online demos across the board (though strangely tried on DSi), on any of their home consoles, and as a result, is it any wonder its Nintendo games that sell most, since they don't need the demos, but other 2nd/3rd parties clearly do, yet still don't have them. Again, with such options not there to support their efforts, is it any wonder they don't stick around on Wii? Not really. As for the 32gb SD card option, unfortunately it came far too late, again with no ad push, are we really surprised? Notice no one speaks of it anymore.

All this fell on deaf ears, so the love I once had for Nintendo is buried, by them, not me. Only their waking and smelling the roses will change that.



Derp 7 Jan 2010 01:50
29/38
Joji, you don't know what you're talking about, and you're aware of that much as you only respond to one or two posts and one or two lines they said with your illogical nonsense. You have nothing to say against most of the facts people pointed out in this thread, like how many games that are claimed Wii bombs have very similar situations on PlayStation 2, or how games that flopped on PS2 performed better on Wii, or how the genres they make on Wii are 100% on the other platforms because they know most people don't want them yet it's all they offer Wii then whine they don't sell like it was so unexpected. What's unexpected is that people fell for their test game crap and bought the first, not that the 2nd is a bomb.

And the guy you replied to didn't mean he wanted a RE5 port, ports obviously don't work so well for Wii, but over 1 million sales for a port every fan had played already and more sales for a spin off should still warrant a mainline game for Wii which would perform a lot better for sure as spin offs are, well, spin offs. See the Outbreak sales on PS2 for example, the first sold good the second flopped, just like the Chronicles games. That didn't suddenly mean PS2 was bad for mature games or whatever you and CAPCOM's frenchie want to sprout. People don't want more than 1 RE spin off. Something like Code Veronica 2 if not RE5/6 type game should and could be done on Wii.

It wouldn't sell 5 million perhaps (though that is up to CAPCOM's effective marketing again) but it also has lower dev costs which would make up for that and provide a lot of profit from a Wii game. This gen dev costs increased way too much and companies are leaking money left and right even with successes on HD platforms, while their bombs hurt them badly and we've had many studios close down from that. On Wii the costs are more or less the same as last gen for a game that has just the same value and quality but with Wii graphics instead of the extra detail the more powerful systems allow. With an upgraded RE4 engine that has better lighting and some higher res textures since the Wii is more powerful with more ram it would look and play sweet while keeping costs down.

Instead of doing that they take the low costs one step further and put out outsourced crap from small companies or their in house 3rd and 4th rate teams, and then wonder why people don't respond to that consistently. Gotta spend money to make money, you already need to spend much less on Wii so don't try to exploit it further because it eventually backfires as it did with DSC. MHTri is a good effort and the Japanese audience responded excellently, making it the highest selling home console monster hunter game and the highest selling third party home console game across ALL home console platforms up until FFXIII's release, plus the monthly fees they pay there on top and the eventual G release with extra expansion content that will sell similarly. More games of that caliber would have the same response, and if they were franchises that appeal worldwidely instead of just Japan like RE then they would sell great everywhere.

But hey if CAPCOM doesn't like more money whatever, keep it up with the crappy low budget outsourced projects then. The Wii may not have many AAA titles outside Nintendo but it makes up for it with the good niche titles offered from smaller companies like Muramasa, No More Heroes and Little King's Story. I have my PC for the AAA multiplatform titles anyway which are usually far superior to the HD console versions, yet they keep getting more and more stale so I play them less and less and even end up playing indie games more than them on PC and such games as I mentioned on Wii. Feel free to not do that but it aint anyone's loss but yourself's pal, so don't go around thinking you did such a great thing to come here and claim how you don't play Wii anymore and how you hate Nintendo for abandoning your self centered ass. They didn't abandon anybody and I'm no fanboy as it's my first Nintendo console since the SNES because it's the one worth owning over others for once thanks to being so different with such a diverse library and if you don't see it then it's your lacking taste to blame, not any company downfall.
Joji 7 Jan 2010 04:16
30/38
Well, you are entitled to your opinion. I made mine, agree or disagree with it. This is what a forum is for.
Joji 7 Jan 2010 05:44
31/38
I've owned all of Nintendo's previous consoles, infact I still have all of them, so I think I have a very good idea of measuring the bizarre Nintendo mindset over the years. I was there for the N64 years, when third parties also bailed for similar reasons. Any good game I got was a godsend, but thank god I had a PS1 at the same time, because I would have missed a hell of a lot of games, created on PS1, because that how devs wanted it. Games on a cd medium, without Nintendo draconian bs. Devs bailing from Nintendo is why PS1 was such a good place to be.

Hell, I even remember Square leaving the N64 for Playstation development instead. Their reason? N64 wasn't good enough for what they wanted FFVII to be. Back then, as an N64 owner, this broke my heart after sweet SNES years. With hindsight though, I now totally understand why Square did what they did. Those vids of N64 FFVII dev code a distant foggy memory, and rightly so. If something isn't good enough for you, there's no shame in saying so, and voting with your feet. GC, I was also there to witness, and while I had much joy with it, there was much fail from Nintendo again.

Devs voting off of developing for Wii, whatever their reasons, are just another repeated story in Nintendo's book of fail over many years, and they still haven't learned their lesson. As far as I'm concerned, until they do, I'll abstain from Wii, and pick up a cheap on at the end of its cycle. NSMB will be just as good then, as my DS SMB is now.

I've personally given up waiting for Nintendo to create a console like PS3 or 360, which is why I've not purchased a Wii yet. As cool and innovative as it is, its also a big disappointment in my eyes (except for the controls). Had they done this, many gamers wouldn't be burying their Wii away at home, in dusty boxes and such..

Its all about freedom of choice, so feel free to disagree with the choices of others, be they myself, Capcom or whoever. Like I said before, kudos to those that bother with Wii, whether large or small developer. Some will see it as a bonus and reap what they sow..
Old Gregg 7 Jan 2010 06:05
32/38
The sales are down because railshooters died out nearly 10 years ago. Shame on Capcom for trying to make a quick buck off of RE fans and I'm glad it backfired on them. I will say Umbrella Chronicles was pretty fun the first time through and brought back some memories but it got real old, real fast because it's a railshooter. There's only so much you can do with track games like railshooters and this is why they were generally abandoned over a decade ago in favour of 1st/3rd person shooter games.

I can't believe the heads of these companies don't listen to the gamers. No wonder they're all being run into the ground and everybody is buying everybody else out. It's simple, if you want money then you give the customers what they want. And what do we want? We want a remake of Resident Evil 2/3 similar to the fashions of the Gamecube remake of the original but with RE4/5 controls. Do you have any idea how much that would sell? Also, it'd be nice to strafe in future RE titles, the controls are still far too robotic and have little evolved since the beginning. If you do this, I guarantee Capcom will make a crapload of money and make a lot of customers happy in addition to gaining some new ones.
Justin 7 Jan 2010 16:42
33/38
I am pretty disappointed with Capcom for making such a statement. I thoroughly enjoy playing the Capcom games I have for the PS2 and Wii. I am also a HUGE fan of the Resident Evil series of games. Granted I have not purchased many of the Capcom games that I want to get that are on my "wish list" (ex. Madworld, many RE games, etc.). But I also look forward to future releases from them (more RE, Monster Hunter 3. etc.). But this is pretty much all I have to say to Capcom (that is if they are actually listening to their customers) DO NOT IGNORE Wii GAMERS! There is a huge audience on the Wii to develop games for...Please don't forget us!
OptimusP 7 Jan 2010 19:06
34/38
Joji wrote:

Its all about freedom of choice, so feel free to disagree with the choices of others, be they myself, Capcom or whoever. Like I said before, kudos to those that bother with Wii, whether large or small developer. Some will see it as a bonus and reap what they sow..


I like how you're being such a hypocrite right now. First you were all like, briefly summarized "Nintendo will fail, you will see, because blablabla.... and these will happen, everyone bail out!!". So you were talking about facts, not opinions. Then a whole lot people proved you wrong with actual facts and then you start pulling this "oh it is all opinions, agree or disagree" bejeezes thing. Bah, sickening.

So you suck at predicting....anything...at least you're a good pseudo-hardcore gamer who glorified the past and thinks his high-market demands will turn around any company if they just hired you...it's fun, but it gets old after the third time.

Nintendo actually did listen to their fans, to all former fans of gaming and gave them the Wii. The Wii has revived many forms of gaming while the PS360 are killing them by the bucketload (JRPG's, platformers, arcade shooters and so forth) because some elitists bastards (e.g. you) can't have their games without HDD-support, 16 texture samples and whatnot.
Nintendo can't survive on the casual? Sure they can, the casual is the base, not you, not the "hardcore", that is so for every medium, you lose the casual, you slowly die as an industry. How do you lose the casual (and in some extent also the hardcore)? By not making enough interesting content...and Nintendo even admitted to not having done that with their Wii-sales drop. Didn't blame it on the economy or gamers "not getting" their games, they blamed it on themselves. And you called them out for being arrogant when they admitted their faults.

Joji 8 Jan 2010 02:02
35/38
Lol. Optimus you are funny. Sound like you are getting a bit angry over there...lol. Chill.

Like I said, I have my own view on things, made up by my mind as a long time gamer, who's purchased previous Nintendo consoles, but also as a gamer that watched this industry's goings on for years, and the facts as I know them, not just from present news but also past actions. Feel free to disagree, but I have my view and its not going to change.

I see, so because I hear you out while accepting your possible disagreement, you think that's rubbish. Lol. Whatever, I won't lose any sleep if you don't believe what i say, because you don't know me from Adam. I know my own mind, its up to you to guess it if you need to.

In truth, I held out a lot of hope for Wii. Its rise to acceptance was cool enough and good for the industry. I don't want Nintendo to leave the industry anymore than the next guy. Things change though, and so did I after longer thinking. For developers its difficult to paint a Rembrandt on an old post it note, and maybe that's what it feels like developing on Wii. Lack of freedom because this s**ts old, and once you are done, there's a high chance of your work being ignored in bad sales. If you want a better answer, ask a developer or game designer etc for one.

To update this post, Capcom have now lamely U-turned french guys statement, with something kissing Nintendo's ass a bit. How poor.
Derp 8 Jan 2010 13:15
36/38
There's no u-turn, people already said a random French guy doesn't dictate CAPCOM Japan's direction (which is the only one that matters frankly, as only they develop games) but you'd rather not believe that so now you get a confirmation from CAPCOM you're all butthurt over it. The correcting statement isn't poor, what was poor was the initial statement, hence the correction. That French guy was merely covering his ass in a sensational manner to appease you and whoever else falls for the same currently "in" to say bullshit that have been proved wrong with facts time and time again as explained even in this very thread. CAPCOM France was created just two years ago with the sole goal to increase sales of CAPCOM games in that territory. The French guy clearly failed to do that with certain titles and merely covered his ass by blaming factors out of his control, like the platform the games were on. OF COURSE the real CAPCOM wouldn't stand for that s**t, that's not poor form, it's a correction. Also, what the guy above your post said.
Derp 8 Jan 2010 17:20
37/38
Adding to my last post, I'm certainly not implying we'll see CAPCOM do better received Wii games, but at least they have the sense (that some users around here don't) to know their demise wasn't the age rating. That's a step in the right direction at least. If only they'll finally realise people just don't want niche genres, and that is why they're niche in the first place on ALL platforms, so the Wii can't be expected to sell them better just because it has a different controller that makes them more fun.
OptimusP 8 Jan 2010 18:52
38/38
Joji wrote:
Lol. Optimus you are funny. Sound like you are getting a bit angry over there...lol. Chill.

Well, sorry for that, it only looked angry though, I wasn't really angry...maybe had a bad day, discussing the market merit of art with an art-teacher can be very frustrating.

Joji wrote:
Like I said, I have my own view on things, made up by my mind as a long time gamer, who's purchased previous Nintendo consoles, but also as a gamer that watched this industry's goings on for years, and the facts as I know them, not just from present news but also past actions. Feel free to disagree, but I have my view and its not going to change.

So why does your view seem to perceive that you completely ignore whats happening in 60-75% in the game-industry(which isn't your fault, the general gaming press misses out on that much), even when those missing facts are presented. It perceives like you again ignore them. So it seems that your view is more based on believe in a preconception and not on critical thinking where you change the view when presented with adequate counter-evidence. Now off course, I can't counter-evidence your feelings towards the Wii, but don't say "the hardcore has left the Wii" because all kind of hardcore type gamers are still on it, just not the typical male 15-30 year old one.

Joji wrote:
In truth, I held out a lot of hope for Wii. Its rise to acceptance was cool enough and good for the industry. I don't want Nintendo to leave the industry anymore than the next guy. Things change though, and so did I after longer thinking. For developers its difficult to paint a Rembrandt on an old post it note, and maybe that's what it feels like developing on Wii. Lack of freedom because this s**ts old, and once you are done, there's a high chance of your work being ignored in bad sales. If you want a better answer, ask a developer or game designer etc for one.

Actually...I did, I talked to the head of Larian Studio's (developers of Divinity II most recent) and some teachers at my game-design course who also work as developers and I had some talks with them and the general feeling was that PS360 development feels incredibly stuck in rust and both devices are too much like PC's (both on the good and bad sides of user-friendliness) to breakthrough in the mass-market.
The Larian guy said that PS360 development is all about big titles supported with big names and with big budgets. He really wants to make a RTS but doesn't because of the huge risk. But he doesn't want to do Wii Development because it is even more uncharted land.

So, in fact we have a situation with fires on both side. Developers don't like PS360 development because it means doing the same s**t over and over again with a huge financial risk. And they don't like Wii-development because they can't figure out the Wii-public which also makes it a huge risk. So in the end they take the more "familiar" feeling risk. So it's Rembrandt doing the same painting over and over again with some different faces slapped on it or Rembrandt with some paper and a pencil. The marketeer will off course choose option number one, the actual artist number two.

Joji wrote:
To update this post, Capcom have now lamely U-turned french guys statement, with something kissing Nintendo's ass a bit. How poor.

Capcom is a company with shareholders...shareholders can get pissy if your company suddenly pisses on the platforms that makes 25-33% of its revenue.
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