Suda 51: Only casual Nintendo games selling on Wii
Suda 51's No More Heroes was reviewed very well, but just didn't do so great financially in Japan. In an interview with CVG, he suggests that it's indicative of a larger trend about the Wii audience: that they only really go for games published by Nintendo. "Whilst the sales weren't as high as I hoped, other titles for Wii aren't selling so well either. Only Nintendo titles are doing well."
He also said that the Wii audience is focused on casual gaming rather than the longer, narrative games that he tends to make. "Actually I was very surprised about the reality about Wii, because before I was making this game, I wasn't expecting that Wii would be a console targeted only for non-gamers. I expected more games for hardcore gamers. The reality is different to what I expected."
Yes, there may be some grape-souring effect at work here, but Wii software sales would certainly seem to bear Suda's claims out. Of course, we've seen this happening since the beginning of the Wii's lifecycle. The Wii is, by and large, the Wii Sports machine for the general public, with Wii Play occasionally swapped in (because why not try out the game that you bought along with that second controller?). The more devoted Wii fans are also buying Super Mario Galaxy, of course, but not much else.
We just feel bad for poor Suda. He's made what seems to be a brilliant game, and probably his most accessible yet, but the Japanese audience didn't notice because it doesn't have the word "Wii" in the title or the Nintendo logo on the front of the box.
