Sales projections for Nintendo’s winter “smash hit” title Wii Music, fell short of intended data expected to be as great as Wii Fit’s first month (650,000+). October yielded a meager 60,000 copies in the United States since Wii Music’s launch. Nintendo vice president of marketing, Cammie Dunaway expressed the company’s reaction to the incoming numbers…
“We’re predicting that it’s going to be an evergreen title. And if you look at titles like ”˜Brain Age,’ it’s about the same as what ”˜Brain Age’ did during it’s first few weeks and went on to sell 2.5 million copies. ”˜Wii Fit’ certainly had a larger launch than that. But I think that people are starting to understand ”˜Wii Music.’”…
…“People have a box in their head of what music genre games are all about,” Dunaway said. “And we’re doing something that is a complete departure from that. As people start to experience that and tell other people about it, I have no doubt that ”˜Wii Music’ is going to be a long-selling, top-selling game for us.”…
Nintendo, there comes a point when trying to “change” the way a genre is played should be left alone. Sometimes there is no need for a massive “Miyamoto-effect”. Innovation in how we play and think games worked great for general gaming (Wii Sports) and active gaming (Wii Fit), but the music-rhythm genre isn’t at a point where we need a massive revolution. RockBand and Guitar Hero might be cementing a music-rhythm cliché, but we aren’t quite to that point of “just another music game”.
I honestly don’t see Wii Music becoming a sales staple in the “Wii line” unlike other titles. Yes, granny and little Jimmy will move some units this Christmas, but can this really hold up to be the next “Brain Age” in sales? What do you think? Comment below