Wii "inhospitable platform for third-party publishers"
Poor Madden sales on Nintendo console evidence of difficulties for publishers, says analyst
The Wii is still a difficult format for third-party publishers looking for sales success, according to one analyst.
While three Wii games from Nintendo featured in the top ten best-selling games for August in the US, EA's Madden NFL 09 was the only third-party Wii title to do so, despite the Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 versions of the same game taking the top three positions.
"The Wii version of Madden 09 sold 79 per cent less units than the PS3 version and 87 per cent less units than the 360 version, despite a larger console installed base and an improved Metacritic rating," noted Doug Creutz of Cowen and Company.
"We continue to believe that the Wii is a relatively inhospitable platform for third-party publishers," he said.
Creutz also noted that no THQ titles made the top ten best-sellers in August for the third month running, Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard only saw single digit year-on-year growth, and Take-Two sales were down 53 per cent due to 2007' release of BioShock.