Budget Wii games sell big in the UK?

By Spencer . October 1, 2007 . 11:20am

I’m reading this news with a grain of salt because some of Data Design’s PS2 shovelware are apparently sold out in the UK.

‘Ninjabread Man, Anubis II, Billy Wizard and Rock n Roll Adventure’ were released to a receptive trade last Friday, with 2 of the titles already sold out within 3 days of release.

You might remember some of these games being notoriously generic. Billy the Wizard goes a step further and it even tries to piggyback off the success of Harry Potter. Data Design never mentioned how many units they shipped, so it’s hazy on just how many games they sold. But one thing is for sure, people are buying these games. Could this be attributed to the lack of Wii software in Europe? Are parents picking these up because they’re cheap? Or are these actually any good? You decide!

TAGS: Wii

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Pichi

Has to be the parents and that demographic for the most part. Then again, I know license games sell well, but cheap rip-offs?

JeremyR

Price, I think. Look at some of the PS2 software games, games sold cheap at Walmart have sold almost a million copies, despite having a low media profile.

For instance, DT Racer. I hadn't even heard of it, until I saw "DT Racer Refueled" on an upcoming PSP release list. Then I googled it, and found it was a from a Korean company, and they said they had sold 750,000 copies of it at Walmart alone (900,000 world wide).

The companies that made PS2 shovelware are now also making them for the Wii. While I know there is both PSN and XBLA for the other consoles, to allow cheaper games, not everyone has their consoles hooked up to the 'net (or even broadband). Cheap disc games in discount stores is a big niche that I think the Wii will be exploiting. Also probably extend the PS2's life, because we will see games for both consoles.

Velcro

Not in the game store i work in, i think i can account for 3 copies being sold, one each of anubis 2, ninjabread man and rock n roll adventure.

The europe wii games arent that empty, we just got fifa 08 on friday and aload to come this friday. so there is no reason these will be sold.

Ryu Kazama

Personally I believe it's to do with price and lack of Wii titles. Strictly from my own experience, I have 2 Wii games - Mario Strikers (got boring fast) and Zelda. I've yet to find any other game for the console to interest me (other than Trauma Centre which I'll get later). Not a football fan (unless it's PES, then I'll play it), racing game wise if it's not Initial D or GT or the like, I don't play it. In general there just isn't all that much out that I care about. In a way I actually regret buying a Wii so soon. It's barely been used. I'm only using it now to play Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 (yes, I know EX2 is upon us).

lostinblue

hell, if even this... erm... thing... sells out why don't they invest for real in high budget games?

ChrisUlt

Because their cheap. A Harry Potter racing rip-off being good? That's just crap.

Daniel Primed

I saw these titles at work on the weekend, haven't sold any yet. I'll have to keep a tab on it.

Actually I rearranged the shelves fo games, so I put these titles in their place.