Despite the poor sales of House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld, Sega still has plenty of publishing love set aside for mature games on the Nintendo Wii.
House of the Dead: Overkill only sold 45,000 copies in its first month. MadWorld sold 66,000. The numbers paint a dismal picture, but as Sega's MD of European Development Gary Dunn explained to GamesIndustry.biz, the first month is but a few strikes in the overall profitability painting.
"House of the Dead: Overkill was a profitable title for us...Whilst it had a rather sharp tail at full price, they do bubble away at a lower price point for a long time. You get your money back and a bit on full price, but over the years, if we do the final product return on investment, profits come from the lower price point."
His response to MadWorld sales is a bit less chipper, but nonetheless hopeful.
You have to push boundaries and explore. I think whilst MadWorld commercially didn't sell what we were expecting I wouldn't say it's game over for mature Wii titles from Sega.
I don't know. If I were Sega I'd be developing a bit of a complex by now. They create Sonic-themed drek we claim we don't want and it sells in droves, while games like MadWorld that we seem to enjoy barely make a drop in the bucket. What exactly is it we want from Sega?
Sega: It's not game over for mature Wii titles [GamesIndustry.biz]