Will Brawl fall to the Wii's casual focus?
An interesting opinion piece by JC Barnett popped up on GameSetWatch yesterday, which covered the familiar area of the general lack of success of "hardcore" games on the Wii, specifically in Japan. Barnett's prime example is No More Heroes, which, despite being hyped like crazy (and also despite being really awesome) totally bombed. A "punk rock game" from Suda 51 isn't really prime hit material, being somewhat niche by design, but Barnett uses this as an example of a game that doesn't fit with the Wii audience.
He then wonders out loud if Super Smash Bros. Brawl will actually sell as well as we all think it will. "It is hardcore, but it is popular hardcore. But is it a fit for the Wii audience? My guess is: not so much." He expects a fairly strong first month with a large drop-off, much like Super Mario Galaxy. In other words, it'll sell well, but not as well as a DS game about petting a dog.
We've heard a lot of talk about the Wii's casual-focused audience, but this is the first time somebody has questioned the sales potential of Smash Bros. It should be pretty interesting to see how the first month plays out in Japan.
