Is There A Future For Mature Games On Wii?

75 Comments Posted October 29, 2009 - By Patrick Klepek

Is There A Future For Mature Games On Wii?

There are more than 50 million Wii systems worldwide. The social nature of the platform means the number of eyeballs in front of those 50 million Wiis on a daily basis is actually much bigger. Logically, the audience for a wide range of games and interactive experiences should be rather big, but based on the evidence so far, either that's not true -- or publishers have been hedging the wrong bets. No one has conclusively proved the case for (or against) the viability of mature games on Wii, but 2009 was a litmus test on a number of fronts, including the DS. The results aren't encouraging.

Even though games like Wii Sports kicked off the latest Nintendo phenomenon, once the industry realized the Wii was more than a fad, publishers started looking for ways to take advantage of this huge audience, many of them new to games, some of them hardcore gamers who simply picked up the latest piece of Nintendo hardware in search of the new Mario and Zelda. And though the Wii is often viewed as a machine for the folks to gather around and play together at parties and family gatherings, when the kids go to bed, couldn't there be another use for it?

Cue MadWorld. Cue House of the Dead: Overkill. Cue Dead Space: Extraction, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Manhunt 2...

Is There A Future For Mature Games On Wii?

That's just a sampling of the 36 Mature-rated video games aimed at the Wii audience, according to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board database. Some, such as Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, haven't even been released yet. Compare that to 168 Mature-rated games listed for Xbox 360, or 126 mature-rated games for PlayStation 3, and it's clear where the majority of the industry's grown-up releases end up. But publishers remain intent to trying to make it work on Wii.

Earlier this year, a substantial amount of pre-release hype and critical acclaim followed the most hopeful attempt: Platinum Games and Sega's hyper-violent action game MadWorld. Japanese developer Platinum Games was founded by former Capcom designers Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya. The theory went like this: with that kind of gaming pedigree, hardcore gamers would flock to MadWorld, and its over-the-top violence and Sin City-esque art style would attract Wii owners looking for something different. That theory didn't hold, and MadWorld failed to make a splash.

Even Sega doesn't know exactly what went wrong.

"It’s difficult because it was a critically acclaimed title; it was extreme but good," said Sega of America president Mike Hayes in an interview with Wired. "The thing that we’re saying is, Sega would be extremely arrogant to have a title that didn’t do as well as we thought on a platform and then say, 'Those kinds of games don’t sell on that platform.' I think if you take our slew of more mature games -- House of the Dead Overkill did really well in Europe, and for some reason even though it’s a big (intellectual property) it did less well in North America. So that’s kind of like a win and a miss that’s kind of come out neutral. MadWorld sales were very disappointing, but was that to do with the platform? Was it that people didn’t like the art style? Or that people didn’t like the way the game played through? It could be many things, which we’re obviously researching."

Despite that lack of response, Sega says more mature-aimed Wii games are coming from them. Based on MadWorld and The House of the Dead: Overkill, it's not clear why, unless it's simply too late to move development to another platform. There is a pattern to several of the mature-themed games on Wii: on-rail, light-gun spin-offs of existing franchises. Dead Space, House of the Dead and Resident Evil all went down this route. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles bucked trends and was both a critical and commercial success. Resident Evil, however, was already an established franchise on Nintendo platforms -- Dead Space and House of the Dead were not.

The power and pitfalls of branding has long proven an issue for Wii releases, even Nintendo's first-party efforts. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was a massive hit for the Wii, while the nostalgia-laden Punch-Out!! barely made a blip.

Is There A Future For Mature Games On Wii?

Publishers have faced similar difficulties on the DS, as well. Nintendo touted Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars as a massive exclusive for the DS at E3 2008. Just before Chinatown Wars was released, industry analysts were expecting Rockstar Games' portable effort to sell upwards of 500,000 copies in its first month. NPD Group numbers told a different story: only 89,000 copies. And unlike other evergreen DS games -- most of them from Nintendo -- Chinatown Wars never returned to the charts.

"I think strategically, [Chinatown Wars] is a very important game because it helps send the message that great M-rated content can come to the platform and will find a home," said Steve Singer, VP of licensing and manager of third-party relations for Nintendo of America, in an interview with MTV Multiplayer after the sales numbers for Chinatown Wars were released.

Rockstar's decision to quickly port Chinatown Wars to PSP and iPhone suggests otherwise.

"Are we supposed to be disappointed with sales numbers of publishers who've tried, or sad that this is all they can come up with?"

It's possible the industry's looking at it the wrong way. What is mature? One of Dictionary.com's relevant results for the word mature is "intended for or restricted to adults, esp. by reason of explicit sexual content or the inclusion of violence or obscene language: mature movies." In that sense, publishers have been hitting the mark. Resident Evil, Dead Space, MadWorld -- these are all games with violence and/or obscene language. But what if Wii owners are really just adults who wanted to be treated as such? Interactive experiences aimed at adults aren't required to incorporate dismembering limbs and tossing grenades. They can (and it's certainly a facet of games that isn't going away), but perhaps the adult experiences offered up so far by video game publishers for Wii has toed the party line and, as a result, been passed by with a cynical eye. The sales numbers help support that theory, as traditionally violent games continue to sell just fine on other platforms. Maybe the Wii audience has altogether different expectations.

There's no clear answer. Certainly, the games industry doesn't have one yet. But the usual formulas aren't working. It still stands to reason mature -- perhaps a better word is "adult" -- games can work on the Wii, but so far, no one's managed to make anything more compelling than Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit and Wii Sports Resort. Are we supposed to be disappointed with the sales numbers of publishers who've tried for more, or sad that this is all they can come up with?

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Tags: Videogames, Wii

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Krypton

The majority of Wii owners are kids, so i would have to say no. That is why all those mature games on Nintendo platforms sell horribly. The market isn't there. Not to mention the shoddy graphics and the wii-mote.

Any serious gamer is going to either play mature games on either Xbox 360, PS3 or PC. None of these serious gamers is going to get a Wii just to play a certain mature game.

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:17 AM | Reply | Report

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6 Replies
osubluejacket

I tend to agree. I'd be interested in seeing the marketing and purchase demographics for the Wii. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most Wii owners are parents with young children. The gamers who enjoy "Mature" games, are more likely to own the systems that cater towards them (360 & PS3), and use the Wii for the Nintendo titles that they may have grown up with (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.).

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:25 AM | Reply | Report

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babyscottback

I think with the recent price drops, the games already established, and the online communities, Wii cannot contend with the 360 and PS3. The other systems are affordable now, and the Wii pumps out nothing but fitness and pet handling games. No real gamer is going to go pick up a Wii, no one I know that owns one plays it more than an hour a week. They need to go back to their roots and try again.

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:27 AM | Reply | Report

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RRODisBack

The sales of COD WAW and Mad World says NO. Are there any of other mature games on the Wii.

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:34 AM | Reply | Report

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9 Replies
IBloodstormI

I agree with Krypton mostly.

Most house holds with Wii's have children, and those children are the ones playing the Wii. A parent, gamer or not, wont buy these mature rated games for the console they bought their kids to play, even if they are interested in the game itself because they don't wan't their kids exposed to it.

I still think the Wii is nothing but a fad. I've not met one person that has told me they play their Wii on a regular basis excluding Wii sports with company. Most people I know with Wii's haven't bought a single game for their Wii.

I've seen games for the Wii that I found interesting but all I had to say was "to bad they wasted their effort putting it on the Wii." I'm not interested in playing my games with a wand or playing games with inferior graphics that are at the level of games from 6 years ago.

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:38 AM | Reply | Report

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Dregg

The problem with the Mature titles is that they aren't AAA titles. They may be good, but not good enough.

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:47 AM | Reply | Report

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6 Replies
Ecliptic

"Maybe the Wii audience has altogether different expectations."

That line paticularly caught my eye. When you look at that list of mature games for the Wii. Most of them are lightgun shooters. Which was a genre that outside of the arcades has not been very popular. And one that just so happens to work well on the Wii.

And as for Madworld, the only reason i picked it up is because is saw it in the Target bargin bin for $7.98. A black and white game simply did not look all too appealing.

These are only contributing factors i think to why these types of games do not sell well on Nintendo platforms. I think the main reason as a whole is because the Wii is not marketed to the same people that are busy playing Gears of War. Instead its being marketed mainly as a family/kid/fitness friendly system. Which is a sharp contrast to throwing someone in a meat grinder in madworld.

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:49 AM | Reply | Report

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Tman88

I think Mature games could work on the Wii. Sure some Mature games haven't gottne the best sales but that doesn't mean they were bad games. I have some Mature games for the Wii and I enjoy playing them just fine. Maybe running more advertisements on the games could help but at the same time be informative about how the game should be played and how it works. Like the Call of Duty: WaW commercial that showed the use of the Wii Zapper, that's something people could get into. I'd say what could improve sales is pretty much just to have more straight-forward marketing of the game and it'll attract older Wii players and yes they do exist, not every Wii player is a kid. So that's really what could be done.

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:55 AM | Reply | Report

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LarcenousLaugh

Is there any where else to go with it? I don't know. Nintendo painted themselves into a corner with their design decision. Short term, customer number wise, Nintendo's bet paid off, they have wiis everywhere. Long term, entertainment wise, I think they sold themselves short with both the type of system they created, as well as the "wealth" of utter garbage they have allowed to be published.

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:57 AM | Reply | Report

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Not_FAT

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Posted: October 29, 2009 7:58 AM | Reply | Report

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2 Replies
mulligan79

I do think that it is true that most nintendo wii's are baught primarily for a younger audience, but when my family was looking into a new system I was forced into a wii. I liked the idea of the motion control and I still do. It makes games like Tiger Woods Golf way more enjoyable, especially when I am stuck in the house durring the nothern winters.
I think that some of the FPS games need some improvement. I think that they lack the content that some of the previous titles that I have played on the PS2 had. I guess for me I am waiting until Final Fantasy The Crystal Bearers comes out to make my decision. It better not be stripped a stripped down version or I am going to be very disapointed. If it sucks I think that their might be an upgrade in my future.

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:03 AM | Reply | Report

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topgamer101

Nintendo is doing things differently. The problem is they forgot to give all the developers the memo to say "Hey, we are going to focus on diverse groups of people rather than your typical gamer." Because of that, the developers try to make games in the old ways and they don't always do well.

I'm very excited for the new Silent Hill game that's coming out. I'm getting it for my Wii and will enjoy it, but the platform has taken on many new gamers that don't look to the same games as we do and it causes a disconnect with most developers trying to decide what to make on the console.

As far as adult games are concerned, I think more games like Heavy Rain, with that level of maturity in the story line, might be more suited to try on a Wii console. the problem is that too is a very different idea than what most games are about and I doubt many developers would be willing to take that risk.

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:10 AM | Reply | Report

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AgainstIgnorance

The Wii was built on two premises: Sell the most units possible, and make it gimmicky. Nintendo has succeeded. They've sold tens of millions of units, and it's a poor gaming platform. The inclusion of Miis, poor motion control, and party games galore make it so we can't take the damn thing seriously.

But Nintendo has done a great job marketing to kids and families. And perhaps that's where the system belongs. But because of all the gimmicks and family friendly titles, there's really no appeal for any mature gamers. Gaming started with joysticks and buttons. Now the Wii is trying to pass some ok motion control as the next big thing. I really don't want to stand in my living room and try to play Halo by acting it out. For one I'd probably fall over my coffee table, but I really can't just take myself seriously. Sure I don't take myself seriously playing most games, but standing up and trying to act things out is just annoying, especially with shotty motion controls. Not to mention the graphics look worse than the PS2. But all these things are non-issues for parents and kids, who just want a fun game without thought. If pretending to milk a cow's udder is your idea of fun, you'd probably buy a Wii. But please don't ask us to take you seriously.

Gaming is evolving, we can't argue with that. But for me, the Wii seems to take two steps forward, and five steps back to wait up for the younger generation. We aren't going to improve gaming through regression.

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:11 AM | Reply | Report

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Whiteaura1

I know this is off topic.. but i just got this email today.. and you tell me if its bull or not

Gamestop is trying to stock up on their used games inventory (of course for holidays so they can make ass loads of money) but this is just a few examples of what they are paying for games that were only just released not to long ago..

Granted, they are giving a bonus 5 dollars.. if you have the email and the coupon

What gamestop is buying used for :: +$5 What Gamestop probably will resell at::
360 Halo 3: ODST (2disc) 28.00 +5 55.99
360 Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 23.25 +5 55.99
360 NBA 2K10 23.25 +5 55.99
360 Need for Speed: Shift 19.00 +5 49.99
360 NHL 2010 19.00 +5 49.99
360 Dirt 2 16.25 +5 49.99
360 NBA Live 2010 14.25 +5 49.99

I never liked gamestop.. lol.. how does this make you feel?

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:28 AM | Reply | Report

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guitarded77

No the Wii can t get the mature audience. I purchased MadWorld and even with the over the top violence and interesting art design, it is just a gimmick game that is not fun or interesting. I don t doubt the possibility that decent games can be made for the Wii, but with limited graphic and storage capabilities, I don t see how it could compete with the realistic graphics and textures that the PS3 and 360 can get. Also, most adult players don t want to dance around the house like a tool after a long day at work, and motion controls in the end really limit the developers. Games like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Sing Star and Buzz Quiz have proven successful because they keep the gimmick within the game, but the Wii demands that the user keep the gimmick going by integrating it with the hardware. I own all 3 consoles and the Wii gets no playtime around my house.

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:36 AM | Reply | Report

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mikefryloc

I think the biggest problem with mature games on the wii is that developers have been trying to overcompensate due to the lack of mature titles. Look at Madworld fountains of blood everywhere. I think the platform needs some moderately mature games not over the top blood fountains. Don't get me wrong I love No more Heroes and had motion plus been out from day one Red Steel may have been a huge success. The key to it, I belive is moderation just barely enough mature content to warrant the sticker.

The other part of this is it needs to be an exclusive designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the Wii's hardware; ports just aren't going to do it. We have barely touched the surface of Wii motion plus not many games are taking advantage of that and to me that's sad because Wii sports resort does some really cool things with motion plus. I honestly feel that there is room for hardcore mature games on the Wii. We just haven't had the right development team work on it. You can't just take a cookie cutter mature game, slap it on the Wii, and expect it to work. It needs to be a different thought process all together.

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:39 AM | Reply | Report

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savedr

It's super amusing to me how obvious it is that every single Wii detractor here doesn't own the system, and hasn't played it more than once. "Standing up & acting things out" isn't necessary to play the Wii, any more than those stupid Game Lounger chairs are necessary to play PS3/360 games. It's just something kids & people who don't know any better do.

When I play Wii games (like Twilight Princess), I do it sitting back on a couch. The motion controls just don't get in the way of the experience, and serve only to enhance it. Honestly the only reason I haven't bought nearly every M-rated Wii game out now is that I don't usually buy Wii games, and I really don't buy games at $49.99.

Nearly 100% of my Wii game purchases are old Virtual Console games, stuff like Secret of Mana, Mario RPG and Legend of the Mystical Ninja. In fact I bought the Wii specifically for VC games. I'm 28 years old.

tl;dr Haters gonna hate, but there's no reason any game can't do well on the Wii console. It's just going to have to be accompanied by the kind of marketing blitz that can get over the fact that the ignorant public perceives the Wii as a family console.

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:39 AM | Reply | Report

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4 Replies
Blue_Vortex

the problem is that most of the mature audience that owns wiis won't buy these great games. It's the fault of the gamers themselves, cause in truth they have a wii and they could have bought these games yet even they just want to buy only party games (I'm basing this off of friends who own both a 360 and wii)
Honestly gamers need to stop complaining about Nintendo not having any games, cause in truth they do, now actually buy them!

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:40 AM | Reply | Report

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3 Replies
Rawlph

I would be one of those adults that would like to be treated as such. I don't like excessive violence, gore, and bad language. I like games that are challenging, fun and give you a sense of accomplishment when you are done. I'm really hoping New Super Mario Bros Wii is challenging. I'm interested in Silent Hill, since you don't have to shoot things. But I would never buy MadWorld; gore and swearing are not my thing.

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:41 AM | Reply | Report

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Blunty51

Stop making niche titles and rail shooters and then you may have an argument. Madworld was short and repetitive. Their best shot in the dark was No More Heroes, for which I'm told is Suda51's highest selling game ever.
Make friggin quality titles and you'll eventually get back a Wii owner's trust.

Posted: October 29, 2009 8:43 AM | Reply | Report

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