If you thought MadWorld's sales would dampen Sega's support for the Wii, you might be surprised at what Sega's president, Mike Hayes, has to say. In an interview with Wired, he stated that Wii owners can look forward to more (similar) games from Sega. He also talks about The Conduit's sales and what they think of it.

Despite disappointing sales of hard-core Wii titles like MadWorld and The Conduit, Sega remains committed to creating mature videogames for the casual console.

“You’ll see more games in that genre coming from us,” said Sega President and COO Mike Hayes (pictured) at a Tuesday press event here.

Aside from reaffirming the company’s plan to crank out bloody Wii games, Sega demonstrated its lineup of upcoming titles and showed that it was aiming for both hard-core and casual gamers. Sega showed spy-themed RPG Alpha Protocol, sci-fi shooter Alien vs. Predator and recently delayed actioner Bayonetta, which will let gamers play a shape-shifting witch.

On the casual side, there was the sequel to best-selling Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games; Step & Roll, a new Balance Board-focused Super Monkey Ball title; and exercise game Daisy Fuentes Pilates.

Wired.com spoke with Hayes and Sega Vice President of Marketing Sean Ratcliffe about Bayonetta’s delay, the importance of “mommy bloggers,” surviving the economic downturn and creating titles that will appeal to Western gamers.

The full Q&A is below.

Wired.com: MadWorld was a widely praised title, but sales were disappointing. Why do you think that is? Do you think that “core” games just don’t sell on the Wii?

Mike Hayes: It’s difficult because it was a critically acclaimed title; it was extreme but good. The thing that we’re saying is, Sega would be extremely arrogant to have a title that didn’t do as well as we thought on a platform and then say, “Those kind of games don’t sell on that platform.” I think if you take our slew of more mature games — House of the Dead Overkill did really well in Europe, and for some reason even though it’s a big (intellectual property) it did less well in North America. So that’s kind of like a win and a miss that’s kind of come out neutral.

MadWorld sales were very disappointing, but was that to do with the platform? Was it that people didn’t like the art style? Or that people didn’t like the way the game played through? It could be many things, which we’re obviously researching.

McClubbin via wired.com »