So this might be a bit of a stretch, but the highly respected Wired pontificates that sales on Nintendo’s Virtual Console aren’t as good as they should be. Some 3.3 million games have been sold on the VC since its launch, which is actually up from 1.5 million back in January. The problem, Virginia, is that sales haven’t grown fast enough. With the Wii still damn near impossible to find (remember, though, Nintendo just did a mea culpa and will increase production), you would think that games on Virtual Console would be selling like hot cakes.
Not being an owner of the Wii (for numerous reasons, mind you), I really don’t know how awesome or lame the Virtual Console is. For those of you who dabble in the dark arts of Wii, is there a reason for you not snapping up game after game? It’s doesn’t look like there’s too many Wii-proper games out there anyway, save for Super Paper Mario.
Iwata: Virtual Console Sales Slowing Down [Wired Blogs via Next Generation]
Not enough people are interested in paying for games they can get for free and emulate on almost anything. Including the Wii. If original titles were created for the virtual console they would sell faster. It wouldnt take many man hours to develop fun, simple, 8-16 bit games.
Im sure sales will pick up eventually, what matters for now is that the console is doing well.
This is not at all surprising. Most people are not looking to replay the same tired games from yesteryear. This is not to say that it’s not fun to play some of these, but how many people would really play Zelda again because it was released on the Wii. Microsoft has the right approach here in that they’ve created a platform and deployment mechanism for smaller game publishers. Some of the titles that have been released on Live have been well worth it.
I’m not playing VC games because (a) I never had a Nintendo system prior to the GameCube, so I have no fond memories of those old games to entice me to part with cash; (b) I’m too busy playing actual made-for-the-Wii games; and (c) the one game I would buy (Conker’s Bad Fur Day) isn’t available on the VC.
I don’t beleive that the availability of emulators are the true cause behind the lack of VC sales. Perhaps I was never as diehard as other console players, but a lot of the titles they have released have been nothing short of crap. I enjoy the convenience of having Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64, Zelda, Super Mario World, Kirby’s Adventure, Sonic, and even Street Fighter II all ready to play on my Wii, but these are the few titles I’ve considered worthy of downloading. Even if many of the other games released were free, I probably wouldn’t download them anyway.
If they lowered the point prices by 75% they would do much better. I don’T know why they need to be so greedy.