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UK Charts: Resi 5 Flies, MadWorld Flops
Capcom's Resident Evil 5 has managed to hold firm at the top of the UK all format charts during a successful second week since release.
Yet Sega’s MadWorld, according to data provided by GfK ChartTrack, has barely made a dent in the top 40, limping in at number 34.
MadWorld’s disappointing turnout could be explained by the title being released on the sixth day into Chart-Track’s Sun-Sat week, yet by comparison three of the last four UK number ones had also been released on a Friday.
Worse still for Sega, five games sit above MadWorld on the Wii’s full-price chart. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games sits in fifth on the Wii chart this week, behind Mario Kart Wii, Mario Power Tennis, Sonic and the Black Knight and, of course, Wii Fit.
Wii Fit, however, was the only exclusive Wii title that entered the all-format top ten. A 9 percent sales dip sees the title hold second, while that small loss sees it gain ground on Resident Evil 5, which itself sees sales slide by 52 percent.
Prior to getting knocked off the top spot by Street Fighter IV, Wii Fit was just two successful weeks away from becoming Nintendo’s all-time longest serving UK number one. Since the release of Street Fighter IV back in mid-February, the title has seen Killzone 2, Halo Wars and Empire Total War jump above it.
Yet as the weeks progressed, Wii Fit’s evergreen appeal saw it slowly inch its way back up the charts, quietly passing the big-hitters as they fell from a PR-surged rush to the top. In early March the game was fourth; a week later, third. As Resident Evil 5 launched, Nintendo’s balance-board-bundled title rose above its peers to second.
During that time Resident Evil 5 was outselling Wii Fit by 5-1. Today that gap has narrowed to 2.7-1.
Not only does Wii Fit’s reluctance to fall down the charts demonstrate the game’s own long-term appeal, it also highlights again how lucrative an extended audience can be.
On the week of Mother’s Day, three DS titles entered the UK top ten. Continued advertising campaigns saw Professor Layton climb up one place to third, while the original Brain Training sees a 117 percent sales spike, taking the title from 21st to eighth.
That other DS title, Rockstar’s GTA Chinatown Wars, manages to sit above the three-year-old Brain Training by entering the UK charts at sixth, but whether it has met Rockstar’s own expectations is another story entirely. Chart-Track reports that Chinatown Wars' debut week has only seen half the sales of the previous handheld GTA title; Vice City Stories for the PSP.
Both Chinatown Wars and MadWorld place perspective on the Nintendo's dichotomised audience, as both core-targeted titles have likely underperformed their respective publisher’s internal estimates. Both can, of course, still yield a profit.
The highest new entry this week is THQ’s heavily-advertised WWE Legends of Wrestlemania, which sits at fourth with sales split evenly across PS3 and Xbox 360. In fifth is Tom Clancy’s HAWX, while Street Fighter IV sales climb 48 percent due to a retailer promotion, taking the title up from thirteenth to seventh.
FIFA 09 and World At War remain glued together. Both titles climbed two places each last week, after both falling one place each the week prior. And still with EA’s soccer sim edging just above Activision’s shooter, this week both games drop three places to ninth and tenth.
Killzone 2, Empire Total War and Halo Wars all fall out of the top ten.
UK All Format top ten for the week ended March 21 according to GfK Chart-Track:
1. Resident Evil 5
2. Wii Fit
3. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
4. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania
5. Tom Clancy HAWX
6. GTA: Chinatown Wars
7. Street Fighter 4
8. Brain Training
9. FIFA 09
10. Call of Duty World at War
Last week
UK 2009 chart history
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I agree with the notion that RE5 has really hurt Mad World sales. I own both Wii and 360 and I am still working my way through RE5. Mad World has piqued my interest, and I might pick it up if it continues to generate positive buzz, but there is no way it can compete with RE5 - all hardcore Wii gamers have diversified and picked up either a PS3 or 360 by now.
How can RE5 hurt Mad World sales when it's on a different platform and is not even available for Wii? RE5's producer even admitted that the Wii cannot handle even RE5's title screen. I think what hurt Mad World was its lack of proper marketing and its experimental "Sin City" graphical styling which for many people, looked like a novelty; intriguing but not worth a $40-50 investment.
Your last sentence answers your question;
".......intriguing but not worth a $40-50 investment"
A lot of people 18 or above, the market Madworld is aimed at, will probably not have a Wii as their sole console. I would imagine there's a strong likelyhood that the most people in that scenario are children who have received one as a present with most in the 18+ bracket opting for a 360 or PS3 for their sole console choice.
If that's the case and you are an adult with two or more systems and you have to make a choice using your hard earned cash between Madworld on the Wii or Resi on the 360/PS3 then I imagine it's going to be on the tried and tested mega hyped Resi than the newbie on the scene that's currently playing on what has been lambasted (unfairly) as a kiddie only console.
Am I the only one who sees this as decidedly bad news? I don't have a Wii, and the main reason being that there's never been enough game prospects to interest me, as I couldn't give a damn about mini-game collections and all the other sorts of nonsense the Wii seems to encourage from various lazy dev teams looking to make a quick buck.
MadWorld was an incredibly refreshing take on what could be done with the Wii, more importantly from a company that is not Nintendo, and so I had hopes it would do well, if only to show to other devs that other types of game can be profitable on the Wii. It's a shame then that it hasn't done too well (though I doubt any of that has anything to do with Resident Evil 5). Hopefully it's more successful in other territories.
Also, how the devil is the Wii Fit still selling so well? I've had a go and it's a decidedly 'meh' experience that is really rather expensive.
The only people who I can imagine buying Wii Fit are overweight, unhealthy individuals who are bored of the local gym's treadmill.... What? There's millions of them, you say? ... gosh
Congratulations you just explained the market for the game, but you didn't explain why it's still selling in big numbers week after week, which was my original question. But you know, don't let actual discussion get in the way of a chance for you to be patronising.
See I get the market for the product, but that would see a big sales surge and then sales would die down. Evidently word of mouth must be stronger than I would have though (given most people I know who have tried it also describe the experience as decidedly average). The only thing I can think is this is down to further throttling of supply from Nintendo to inflate demand, something they've done with a lot of their hardware recently and a practise that makes me less and less of a fan of how they're doing business.
Wii Fit is still selling in big numbers week after week because it's sales hasn't plateaued yet. Believe it or not, there's still millions of fat, unhealthy slobs out there who hasn't bought Wii Fit yet.
How was Madworld ever going to punch that high on the charts when it was up against Resi 5?
Two mature games released at roughly the same time on a platform that has had the lean share of 18+ games was always going to generate a conflict for those adults in a position to make a purchase.
Given the high amount of promotion (The local Game stores have been advertising Resi on wipe boards outside the shops while Madworld was relegated to a promotional box at the back of the shop) Resi has had I'm not surprised that Sega will feel Capcom's fist on their jaw *pow*
It's kinda like when the new X-files film was released at the same time as the Dark Knight, way to put a nail in the coffin. Oh, and before I'm told that the X-files film was rubbish; I haven't seen it, but I did go to see the Dark Knight... which is kinda my point.
MadWorld + PS3 + XBOX360 = WIN
MadWorld + Wii = LOSE
It'd be better off on the other two consoles. Big mistake I think. Devs need to realise that the market for these kinds of games on the Wii just isn't lucrative. I think we're going to see a big shift of focus back to PS3/360 over the next year or so.
Sorry, I meant Sega, not Capcom. My bad.
But its a bit peculiar why Sega chose the Wii as a platform for Madworld. The stylized violence will have a harder time finding an audience with the Wii since a large part of the console's user base are non-traditional gamers (err...older folks?) who will be less-receptive to these kind of "unorthodox" games.
Incidentally the French film "Renaissance" used a similar bold, black and white 3D animation treatment and the effect was absolutely incredible. I think you should check it out. Unfortunately, I think the film tanked, too.
That's the one with Daniel Craig's voice isn't it? Not suprised that tanked, it was a bit too arty for it's own good. Great if you could stomache the visuals though.
Yes, Daniel Craig's voice was used for the main character. And it wasn't too bad... for a French film.
Had no idea it was french until you mentioned it. Not a patch on delicatessen though, think that's still my all time french favourite.
Interesting. Bad news for Wii-owners expecting more 'mature' games in the future, though. Personally, the game looked incredibly boring to me. I'd really be interested in why it didn't sell; because, technically, it appeals directly to the traditional gamer demographic. But maybe that's the problem.
**
How did No More Heroes do on the Wii? I imagine Madworld appeals to the same crowd.
400k at last count. Bombed in Japan. Did modest numbers in US and Europe despite no marketing. Suda was happy with the numbers. It was his best selling game ever. Sequel on the way.
I guess this really does mean that either a) the "hardcore"/traditional gamer has already sold their Wii before this game was released or b) the "hardcore"/traditional gamers' Wii are so covered in dust they forgot they even had one.
Also, Even if I had a Wii, I probably wouldn't have bought the game. Not my cup of tea. The Conduit looks sweet and it will be a must have for me.
Did any of you guys see advertisements for Mad World? It didn't seem to get much marketing.
Seen a few, still see more for wii sports though.
Sorry, did any one expect anything more from Madworld?
Learn Sega, you need Rockstar style controversy to sell units of this stuff.
@Brian: Aye, this should hopefully put to rest the ever-present hope that there is an untapped hardcore market on the Wii. Not only does the extreme violence work against it, most folks seem to prefer rendering styles they are comfortable with. The Black/White/Red treatment may scream "auteur" instead of "entertainment" to them.
This is a game that would probably be better served as a digital delivery, where it could lie in wait for a viral outbreak and try for an low-to-high sales curve, instead of low-to-zero.
Maybe when the game is cheaper and teenagers can afford it with their own coin, there will be a revival...
Since when did MadWorld become the litmus test is what I wanna know - given quite a few Mature-rated games have already sold well on Wii.
Perhaps we should all wait until we have a little more to go on then 2 days worth of sales figures from 1 single market before we pass judgement on this title, Hmmmmmm?
I'd say Mario is more of a hardcore title than Madworld, I don't get this use of the word hardcore, does it just make it hardcore because it's ultra violent?
Some people use it to mean violence
Though I figure it's more 'proper' use is... well for me it's a game more reminiscent of 8/16bit gameplay where it could get pretty difficult and there may be a learning curve to grasp.
I think hardcore is another word for traditional gamer, a gamer of old. Maybe a person who plays games with a difficulty that's relatively high. If you can beat mario 64/mario sunshine/Mario Galaxy I think you're pretty hardcore. I don't think hardcore relates to the games gore level more than it does the games difficulty/complexity/gameplay style/narrative. Just my thoughts on the subject.
And I agree totally, I think too many people think violence=hardcore. I've seen your Xbox achievements Nick, that's frikking hardcore, from what I've seen of Madworld it looks pretty lightweight, and not really the type of game that I'd expect to appeal to hardcore nintendo fans, I'd rather spend the money downloading some classics.
Basically you can be a hardcore gamer only playing tetris, if you played it enough and to a high standard, all a game needs to appeal to a hardcore audience is a bit of depth and a decent challenge, not blood 'n' guts or 30 different guns. I can't understand why people are placing all this emphasis on mature games appearing for the wii, most fps are male teenage wet dreams that you only play through single player once, I think gamers are beginning to grow out of them/ get bored of them now.
Haha, thanks. I have had a 360 since launch so I've had plenty of time to build my gamerscore. Although, my playtime as of late has suffered due to my 5 month old taking up all my time (not to mention the wife and other two kids). I'll be all over Fallout tonight though (new DLC today) and GH: Metallica on Sunday. You should shoot me a friend invite.
On topic though, I agree there's a wide variety of games that are "hardcore". A game can be the most cutesy game and offer extreme difficulty. There's this puzzler on XBLA (think it's called RooGoo) where you drop shapes through these platforms but you have to rotate the platforms to fit the shape of the pieces and after 10-15 levels it gets extremely difficult (I had to throw the towel in) and that game is super kiddie LOOKING.
Already on your list (tycalibre1), expecting my first in the summer so I'll be in the same boat soon!
I've been hammering quite a lot of a XBLA game called Zuma, similar thing; simple concept, annoyingly addictive, and gets pretty damn hard! I think many younger gamers miss out on some of the best gaming experiences by dismissing those types of games, most people in my generation cut their teeth on tetris and marioland on the gameboy, so we get the added bonus of a wave of nostalgia off the simpler stuff!
Gotcha.
I have Zuma as well fun game. I have the sequel (I think it's a "spritual" sequel though as the name is different) but I haven't played it yet (got it with my arcade unit I picked up recently). Zuma is tough though, I get too mad. I think I have like 1 achievment in Zuma. I suck at it lol.
Saying MadWorld flopped in UK is like saying Killzone 2 flopped in the US.
I don't think #34 is anything to get too excited about. We'll have to see if it picks up steam, or goes the way of LBP and disappears from the charts a few weeks after being released.
The point was that it had only two days to sell - Friday and Saturday. MadWorld was released on Friday and ELSPA GfK-ChartTrack weeks end on Saturday.
Not to mention, Wii games don't tend to be front-loaded, meaning it's far too early to be considered a flop in the UK based on two days' sales.
While I agree, 2 days isn't much, i think pre-orders and people "running and getting the hot new title the day it's released" make up a fair amount of buyers, when it comes to a hotly anticipated title. While you may have a point and the word "flop" maybe a little harsh, i think disappointing might be a better word. this certainly isn't a response Sega would be happy with. We'll have to see how it performs in other markets to get a true sense of the games appeal.
Its a new franchise. New franchises rarely have the "running and getting the hot new title the day it's released" effect that established franchises have.
A better test would be to see its total first 3 month sales at least. Last I checed, both Mirrors Edge and Dead Space are doing quite well for having sucky first month sales figures.
New franchises rarely have the "running and getting the hot new title the day it's released"
Unless, of course, they've been hyped and marketed to kingdom come.......which I doubt this falls under that catagory.
I don't see why anyone would release a serious game on the Wii at all, outside of Nintendo. This chart is indicative of what people want. If you want to program a game that lets you count how many steps you have made by running on a board, you probably have a 10 million seller on the Wii and a dozen seller on the other two consoles. If you want a game about killing people with chainsaws, you will sell dozens on the Wii and hundreds of thousands on the other two consoles.
Thus endeth the lesson.
Brian
www.brianwoods.com
What do you mean by serious, violent?
FFS Capcom, port the blasted game over to 360/PS3. How the hell can you expect to win over WiiFit?
>>How the hell can you expect to win over WiiFit??
Mad World- fit pad edition : )
lmao, nice one.