By Kris Graft
Following the release of August U.S. software sales data, Doug Creutz, an analyst with Cowen and Company, said Friday that the Nintendo Wii isn't exactly the best venue for non-Nintendo publishers.
"We continue to believe that the Wii is a relatively inhospitable platform for third-party publishers," Creutz said, citing relatively weak sales of Madden 09 on Wii.
NPD Group said Thursday that the Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 versions of Madden 09 captured the top three spots on the sales U.S. sales charts by units. However, the Wii version, supposedly targeted towards a wider audience, ranked ninth, with just 116,000 sold versus the Xbox 360's 1 million.
"The Wii version of Madden 09 sold 79 percent less units than the PS3 version and 87 percent less units than the 360 version, despite a larger console installed base and an improved Metacritic rating," Creutz said.
But third-party Wii games haven't been completely absent from the NPD charts. Guitar Hero III, Rock Band and Lego Indiana Jones have performed respectably on the platform in recent months.
And despite Creutz' concerns, third-party publisher support for Wii isn't lacking, according to major specialty retailer GameStop.
Tony Bartel, EVP of merchandise and marketing at GameStop, told Edge recently, “What we’re seeing ... is an exponential increase in the number of games coming to Wii over last year.
"I think last year, publishers were waiting to see if it would hold on and now everyone’s convinced. Now everyone’s jumping in.”
