During my usual internet click through for the latest and greatest information on gaming, I ran across the latest NPD numbers… GTAIV this, PS3 that, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then, I noticed the top ten Wii games sold last month. As I perused the list, one gigantic sore thumb stuck out at me: Boom Blox in only 9th place? Even worse than that, were the games that sold more units than Boom Blox, a game that I believe is one of the best, if not THE best reason to own a Wii.
Checkout the top ten and more ridiculousness, after the jump.
Ok, lets start off with the Wii top ten for May:
1. Mario Kart
2. Wii Fit
3. Wii Play w/ Remote
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
6. We Ski
7. Game Party
8. Super Mario Galaxy
9. Boom Blox
10. Carnival Games
Most would say that the list above appears to be a pretty good list, right? I mean, Super Mario Galaxy, WiiFit, SSBB and Mario Kart are all generally know to be better than average games. Here’s the problem: they’re all first party titles. They’re all made by Nintendo. Third party games are getting killed on the platform.
The NPD numbers for Boom Blox indicate that for May, Wii owners bought only 60,000 copies of the game. For a system with an estimated install base of about 10 million users in the U.S., that’s an attach rate of .06. (Gamedaily). That’s a paltry amount for a great family game that should appeal to everybody. This game should be a million seller, but it won’t get there, assuring an early demise for a game that should have been a great franchise for EA and all but assured Wii gamers that creative minds like Steven Spielberg would continue to make games for the platform.
Why didn’t Boom Blox sell? Who knows. Bad advertising? Not enough advertising? Lack of support from Nintendo? Lack of sophistication of the Wii install base? In the end, it’s a real disappointment to this Wii owner and it should be a disappointment to all Wii gamers.
When crap like WiiPlay, Carnival Games and Game Party (which received a 3.2 from IGN) are all on the top ten list, and two of them are ahead of Boom Blox, one of the, if not THE best game for the Wii, it’s easy to see why real gamers hate on the Wii.
Here’s to ten more years of Zelda and Mario rehashes… I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
Source: Academy of Arts and Science
Loosely-Related:
For those that missed it, here’s our Wii Fat parody from last week in all its poorly lip-synched glory.
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36 responses so far ↓
1 SWSilentkiller // Jun 17, 2008 at 11:28 am
My god how do games like Carnival games sell yet Boom Blox doesn’t. Carnival games is crap and Boom Blox is amazing. This just makes me sick.
2 D mighty oak 3 // Jun 17, 2008 at 11:33 am
Most Wii gamers are not old enough to stand up on their own and thats why crap games are selling so good they just don’t know better.As for Boom BloX I just think that the game was not marketed right and should have been targeted at the young people that own Wiis.I have a Wii and the main reason i dodn’t get it is because i am saving for more interesting 360 games and most older people who have a Wii also have a 360 or ps3 so they are most likely doing the same.
3 Havok Saunders // Jun 17, 2008 at 11:33 am
@ Lono
I thought about checking out Boom Blox after your glowing review. However, I heard multiplayer is the best aspect of the game and I don’t have anyone to play with locally. That’s why I never bought it. But I completely agree with you. It’s sad to see most third party titles languish on the Wii.
4 Infn3on // Jun 17, 2008 at 11:46 am
After Nintendo’s big FU to PAL gamers today I wonder why I still bother with their consoles.
The blocked the use of Freeloaders in a system update released today, screwing us foreigners the use out of games that we have paid for. The fact that we have to either wait months for games to make it over here or import sucks too. Now we just have the option to wait
On the subject of Boom Blox, not released here till September
5 Infn3on // Jun 17, 2008 at 11:49 am
Ignore my last sentance, American’s using backwards dates has confused me. It actually came out the 9th of May. Just goes to show how well advertised it was over here.
6 lwelyk // Jun 17, 2008 at 11:52 am
Well stop and think, how many good third party titles are there? I hear Boom Blox is great, but I’m not paying $50 for it. And look at the box art, no one is going to just pick that up in the store on a whim. There have been some ads, but every one I’ve seen doesn’t really do the game justice. “Casual Hardcores” IE hardcore gamers who don’t go around reading blogs all the time won’t pick it up because of the title, box art, and the commercials don’t really show what the game is really about. Hardcores, well maybe they’re picking it up, but I don’t want to pay $50 and I’m sure a lot of people are with me on that. Plus the boxart and title just seem shovelwarey if you don’t know any better. It’s cutesy name and boxwork is sitting right next to Carnival Games with it’s cutesy name and artwork, only Carnival Games is cheaper. Soccer Mom A is going to pick up Carnival Games. Plus, new IPs don’t sell as well on ALL platforms. But yeah, I think it is a shame it’s not selling, but I wasn’t expecting it too.
Back to third party in general, they don’t sell because most are crap. Zack and Wiki was brilliant, but it’s an adventure game, and those sadly aren’t that prominent anymore. The Trauma Center games are good, but those are very niche. Okami is a great game, but they never advertised it, and it’s not exactly something everybody is going to pick up. Guitar Hero III is selling, mostly because it has brand name recognition. Aside from that, everything else good is really just first or second party. And that’s the third parties’ faults. They don’t try for the most part. Most I’ve played have been crap. They release shovelware and call it a day.
If third parties put in the effort, we could have some great games, and a few do, but not many. I wish more would, and the upcoming game The Conduit seems like it may. I think if devs actually tried we could have something here. But for now my Wii sits there and every few months I play it like crazy. But until that game or two comes out, nothing much.
7 Thunder // Jun 17, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Sorry but I have 2 disagree with you on this having never played boom box I cant say that it is great or not great but I had a wii when they came out and loved wii play and wii sports not 2 mention the only reason I ever even got a wii was for the mario games. After having the wii a few months or so I sold it on ebay to make a profit got a xbox 360 and upgraded my computer for more hardcore gaming imho the wii is more of a family gaming system then a hardcore gaming rig.
8 Ryan // Jun 17, 2008 at 12:23 pm
THANK YOU! It feels so good to know that someone else feels my pain about Wii titles. I am fricken mystified why Boom Blox didn’t even hit 100k copies sold.
9 Destyn // Jun 17, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Bad advertising. Until you mentioned it Lono, I had heard nothing about the game - I’m glad you did mention it though because it’s very very good
10 Finch // Jun 17, 2008 at 12:35 pm
i dunt see what the big deal is. I bought my Wii for Smash bros Brawl / Zelda / Mario Galaxy. After that, Metroid / Wii Sports were just icing on the cake.
I dunt expect anything from 3rd parties because people that that making silly games with the motion sensor is awesome. I dont really enjoy those games, nor do i enjoy puzzle games.
Hence why this is a solid 5 game system for hardcore gamers like us. Theres a reason the silly games sell because the casual crowd just buys anything they think will be fun. This is why they continue to put out crap movie based games because people see a movie, enjoy it, then buy the game thinking it will be cool.
You just gotta accept the Wii isnt for our crowd, its fun to play when your drunk and have 4 Wii motes or mario kart wheels. Other than that it aint much. This is why i bought a PS3 and a Wii and still continue to game on my PC.
Just wait for Pikmin 3 and the new Animal Crossing, or Kid Icarus if it comes…
11 lwelyk // Jun 17, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Pikmin 3… I would love that.
12 John [Cain141] // Jun 17, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Until third party games sell better the wii will continue to produce low budget shovel ware…
13 arctic yesterday // Jun 17, 2008 at 1:46 pm
“Until third party games sell better the wii will continue to produce low budget shovel ware…”
This is classic “chicken and the egg”.
Because, until third parties stop with the budget shovelware, their games won’t sell well. It’s pretty simple.
14 skarloss // Jun 17, 2008 at 1:59 pm
well, considering the amount of crappy software available EVERYWHERE, how can you blame me or any other consumer to spend their hard earned moolah on crappy, half-assed games like they always shoved onto nintendo systems?? why would I trust them now? Dont get me wrong, I plan on buying the BB but I had to get Mario Kart(sucks on 1p but I have nephews and nieces and that changes EVERYTHING on that game) and I also wanted to get blast works… see? good games find a way to sell.
15 HMENTALH // Jun 17, 2008 at 4:05 pm
The Wii or not the Wii…
Guys imagine a game like Boom Blox on the PS3 or the 360 with an install base of a bunch of people who cant even afford buying games cause they already spent all their cash on hog of a console they only use to play games…
Hey Blue Ray PS3 I think you are the best utility junk out there… If I wanted a Blue Ray player… If ever… darn it… I’d buy one advanced level two… not a PS3…
by the way PS3 games do have the graphics… but simply to say it this way… a simple plumber and his brother will continue to take you guys out no matter what you throw at them… Oh…
So sad to see cashy boys with big deal consoles getting beat and being wuzzies about it.
Sorry loosers
16 Segafanman // Jun 17, 2008 at 4:09 pm
After Nintendo?s big FU to PAL gamers today I wonder why I still bother with their consoles.
The blocked the use of Freeloaders in a system update released today, screwing us foreigners the use out of games that we have paid for. The fact that we have to either wait months for games to make it over here or import sucks too. Now we just have the option to wait
Maybe because freeloaders are illegial. And if you wan’t to play games right away BUY AN AMERICAN or JAPAN system or just find something else to keep you occupied.games arent everything, usless you seriously have no social or REAL life at all then i feel sorry for you but if you DO have a life than you can wait acouple months for a game to arrive their not THAT important that you have to buy something that isn’t even legal. personally i find it funny that you freeloaders/hackers got screwed it goes to show you that what you’re doing isn’t right.I know most of you will just proceed to do what you have been doing despite not “getting it” the first time. You should have expected this to happen it’s like downloading movies illegally the studio will do something about it. same with illegial emmulation
17 Someone who thinks // Jun 17, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Let me understand: It’s good that “Mario Galaxy” sells, yet the thought of more games like it causes nausea.
Third parties are getting “killed,” but “Carnival Games” and those like it, which for third parties are a boon, should be demonized (as if many of you have actually played them).
Casual games = bad, yet anyone who buys “Boom Blox,” very much in the category, is a hero.
As someone who enjoys gaming dating back to “Pong,” I reject your representing of its varied consumer base as some group of “gamers” who hate. Try to refrain from doing this in the future.
18 Erik // Jun 17, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I don’t think you understand the purchasing habits of the casual gamer. They tend to buy things in a much larger time span than “hardcore” gamers. Although Boom Blox did not sell well in the first month this could be a game, much like Wii Play and Carnival Games that could be a top ten seller for months (maybe even years). The point is casual games are not meant for early adopters and thus the sales tend to take longer.
19 irish boy90 // Jun 17, 2008 at 5:40 pm
i know why wii play is there.
CRAP game but comes with a wiimote. (only reason i got it)
haven’t gotten boom blocks yet, its on my mental list. Got mario cart instead. I don’t regret it Mario cart was way better than I was expecting.
20 Brett // Jun 17, 2008 at 8:13 pm
The only reason that WiiPlay continues to do well is its pairing with the Wiimote. The game itself is crap.
As far as te others go:
Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Fit and Super Mario Galaxy are all fun.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is not my thing
We Ski and Boom Blox both look fun. I plan on picking these up when they drop in price.
Game Party looks pretty bad.
Carnival Games might be okay, may rent it or pick it up cheaply used.
21 Truceuno // Jun 17, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I had SOOOOO much enthusiasm for the Wii when it was released I thought “Man the devs will have a renaissance of creativity just like the DS I cant WAIT!!!” Then wham the same old Nintendo reared its ugly head gestapo secrecy sub-par port-overs and the occasional under the radar classic i.e. “No More Heroes” which is tragically a bargain basement game. I have always supported Nintendo for its maverick approach, it shows integrity but man its looking more and more like stupidity by the day. They need to be more in-tune with the 3-rd party developers and we all know thats never going to happen… so I’m just waiting for the day Nintendo meets its maker like Sega (bright side is their R&D teams can man-handle the market much better than Sega and they can definitely kick the crap out of any other peripheral manufacturer in terms of quality) truly only time will tell…
22 paulmess7 // Jun 17, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I have had a Wii for about a month and I used it 4 times…
I want to buy super mario bros on the Wii show thought!!! ahh the memories….
23 paulmess7 // Jun 17, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Uh sorry let me fix that bad spelling.
I want to buy Super Mario Bros on the Wii shop though!!! Ah, the memories….
24 mazer // Jun 17, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Well,
Hopefully we get some better 3rd party games. But, us gamers have to get everyone to buy the good 3rd party games to set an example for the others. IF YOUR GAME IS GOOD, WE WILL BUY IT!
And nintendo needs to 1up themselves in the advertising department, games would be so much more popular if they were advertised properly..
I know what I can do, Find a way into Nintendo’s advertising facililty and take it over. Maybe then we can get some decent games out.
25 Stu // Jun 17, 2008 at 10:02 pm
EA have admitted that their demographic for the game are 12 year old boys so they haven’t marketed the game at all. They ignore the fact that this game has universal appeal. It’s also a relatively budget title and is getting sold at full price. It has such a low profile that most game stores only have it as a special order item. Hardly surprising that it doesn’t sell when hardly anyone knows it even exists. The poor sales are entirely the fault of EA, they never even gave it a chance.
26 Aielyn // Jun 17, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Am I the only one who noticed the inconsistency, here?
This was the “April” top 10 for Wii, but Boom Blox didn’t release until May 9th - how can this be? I think there’s some foul play, here.
And the reason why Boom Blox isn’t selling well is that EA thought that having “Spielberg” on the box would make it sell itself - games don’t sell well without at least *some* advertising and hyping. And I’ll say this right now - had Boom Blox still had the head-tracking feature, it would have maintained a lot of hype, and likely would be over a million copies sold by now.
In the end, this game is too niche, just like No More Heroes and Zack & Wiki, to sell well without *significant* advertising. Anyone surprised by Boom Blox’s poor sales doesn’t know the industry well enough. And the same applies, in reverse, for Carnival Games and Game Party - both games are poor, but not even remotely niche. As such, it just takes people wanting another party game to actually buy them. Until quality games get the advertising and hype they deserve, these titles will remain the top-sellers amongst third parties.
And, might I say, Nintendo demonstrates my point quite clearly - they advertised all of their top-selling games extensively. The ones that didn’t sell well, weren’t advertised much at all. BWii and Fire Emblem are two great examples of this.
Oh, and Boom Blox has easily reached the 100,000 mark, now, and that’s just in America. Add in Japan and PAL, and I think we’ll see it reaching at least 500,000 by the end of the year.
It’s worth noting that Carnival Games sold less than double Boom Blox in its respective first four weeks. If this Boom blox has legs as long as Carnival Games, it can be expected to sell over 500,000 in America alone, and to break the million mark worldwide.
Indeed, here’s an interesting chart:
http://vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=America&game1=Game+Party+-+Wii®2=America&game2=Carnival+Games+-+Wii®3=America&game3=Boom+Blox+-+Wii&weeks=40
Based on that, Boom Blox is selling only slightly worse than Carnival Games, and *better* than Game Party. But please, don’t let intelligent thought get in the way of your rants.
27 Lono // Jun 18, 2008 at 12:18 am
@Aielyn: First off, that top ten list is from the May NPD numbers.
Second, even if we assume that Boom Blox sells as well as you predict, I hardly think that 500,000 units on the biggest thing out there right now, excluding the PS2, is a triumph…
Really, it’s a failure. For a Spielberg game, backed by EA, anything less than a platinum game, on the Wii, is a failure… AND that’s IF we buy into your smoke and mirrors prediction that Boom Blox has steady sales throughout the end of the year, which isn’t backed up by anything except your own pompous-ass prediction…
I mean, to call out that it’s “easily” sold 100,000 units when it barely surpassed 60,000 units during its LAUNCH month… That’s laughable, at best.
But please, don’t let intelligent thought get in your way of your paper thin comment…
28 Pablos102030 // Jun 18, 2008 at 12:21 am
@HMENTALH: You best be trolling. Seriously though, just turn in your internets now, you don’t deserve them.
29 Peguinfury // Jun 18, 2008 at 12:49 am
Third party games have been having a hard time on Nintendo consoles ever since the N64 (which is my favorite Nintendo console, mostly because of Rare). This isn’t that new, except that third party games didn’t have quite so hard on N64 or GC. I, being a “real” gamer, hate the Wii. Because there aren’t enough second or third games that are any good that don’t get murdered or aren’t party games or minigame collection or puzzle games.
30 Todd // Jun 18, 2008 at 1:26 am
To the haters:-
Yeh because the PS2 didnt havent shovelware hey guys? Of corse not what was i thinking. Obviously the most popular system is going to have the most crap. Remember the NES had like 700 games…were they all AAA titles, i doubt it. How much crap was on the ps1> alot. Nintendo and its wii didnt invent shovelware, its just always been there from day dot. Even crappy movie tie in games (E.T on the atari 2600).
Ninteno has always been about family entertainment…remember the original box of a NES….it had a kid playing it with his family….shock horror. So how can people say they have gone off nintendo when its always been about family entertainment to them.
31 J // Jun 18, 2008 at 5:51 am
Come on what about games like Re4/Okami(Its amazing why doesnt anyone BUY IT?),Zak and Wiki,Red Steel,No More Heros etc.
All excellent 3rd Party games.
Without advertising these days you won´t sell them.
mario and zelda all Ninty(even mario is known among non gamers) will always sell.
But who knows Okami apart from people “in the know?”.
Thats the problem!
Anyway apart from GTA4 why do i need a PS3?
No the Wii is GOOD-it just needs better 3rd party support.
Come Rockstar GIVE US GTA!
32 Ikaro // Jun 18, 2008 at 8:06 am
**************************************************************************************
Nintendo gamers only play Nintendo games.
Understand?
Because?
Because Nintendo games are all diferent of usual cliche games on another plataforms.
Its not comparable, is another thing.
I and my friends only buy nintendo games.
My dream is a Nintendo plataform without third partys games. We dont need EA or Ubisoft is all
crap.
Im not a fanboy! Nintendo fanboys dont exist!
**************************************************************************************
33 Finch // Jun 18, 2008 at 10:35 am
J: “Anyway apart from GTA4 why do i need a PS3?
”
Humm… Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance 2, Little Big Planet, Killzone 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Pixel Junk Monsters, Ratchet & Clank, Free Online System, Backwards compatibility, Blu-Ray…
Yea i dont see any other reasons
34 nubpower // Jun 18, 2008 at 6:52 pm
ikaro fanboys do exist and yes u are a fanboy lol all consoles have the + but wii is just the weak link in terms of software game informer did a scan to see the meta critic rating of all games on the wii the wii has 3% of 90 plus score while 70% scored 60 or lower hmmmm while 360 has over 20% 90 score or higher with the most games of all consoles with a total of 440 games while the wii has 255 games ps3 has 180 games but at least they have 15% 90 score rate so wii is for wii tards wii tards are men living in deniel becuase they have been fanboys their whole life and little kids who dont know any better and their parents went for the cheaper child freindly system go hide in a corner in the fetil positon sucking ur wii for a little bit and admint ur a fanboy ie i own all consoles for the sake of boomblox but its got dust on it ps3 is my most play cause of mgs4 but my goo ol 360 is my favrite because of software but the dam thing keeps dying o well still the best in terms of software and ps3 ppl plz stop hateing lono cause mgs4 is the only good title on the ps3 besides resictance
35 Ryan // Jun 29, 2008 at 9:52 am
Yeah so I’m a gamer, and I’d never by a Wii… why?
Well, when they start pumping PROPER games like Devil May Cry, Need for Speed, Tekken, Ninja Gaiden, CRYSiS, SOCOM, Prince of Persia, GTA , Grid, Mass Effect, etc etc etc, then I’ll consider the Wii.
I’d bet my left nut that IGN or Gamespot’s top ten list would demolish Wii’s top ten. Family oriented games made by Nintendo that give more boredom than anything would never appeal to real hardcore gamers. If I wanna hit a baseball or dance on my floor or play a guitar or even drive a go-kart as a plumber, I dont need to by an expensive Wii to do that. I cant go do the real thing like a normal person would.
If I was a 5 yr old who thinks a bob-headed character in a tennis game is more fun than Dante in Devil May Cry, then i’d give Wii a shot.
Other than that… If I wanna do hellishly fast supercar racing, 50-hit fighting combinations, and save the world from an onslaught of demons, all with scintillating special effects and gfx coupled with a killer storyline and characters… i’ll settle for a PS3/XBOX or my good old Nvidia SLI’ed PC.
For real kids and families, Wii is “da bomb”, for real gamers though who thrive on third-party, big-budget cutting edge games coming out one after the other, Wii simply sucks.
36 Sami // Jul 7, 2008 at 10:17 am
Uhh… is this article supposed to be sarcastic or something? I don’t get the humor.
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