Have you ever wondered why those horrible Wii games sell so well like Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games? Well, the straight, flat answer is that the game has Mario and Sonic in it. It's the sad truth, but as long as Nintendo brings out titles with those types of legends then they'll do more than fine. Another example would be Carnival Games. Consumers like the fact of the basic structure and how it looks familiar and they buy it.

On that same token, that same consumer sees No More Heroes or Okami and says, “The title is not familiar, the game looks complicated, and I don’t know what an Okami is.”

Does this imply that publishers and developers should be “dumbing” down their games to appeal to the mass audience? Of course not, but understand that like any new consumer base, there's an initial learning curve before they are more discerning about how they spend their money on games.

Synergized via gamasutra.com »