OMG Nintendo

For those who have despaired over the lack of Mature-rated games on the Wii, take heart. Sega has not yet given up the fight and claims that they are profitable enough in the long run, to justify making more.

According to the MD of Sega’s European development team, Gary Dunn, the key may be due to the games selling better when their prices drop. When speaking of how the record-setting-for-curse-words House of the Dead: Overkill, was profitable for them, Gary explained:

"Whilst it had a rather sharp tail at full price, they do bubble away at a lower price point for a long time. You get your money back and a bit on full price, but over the years, if we do the final product return on investment, profits come from the lower price point."

Even when Mature-rated titles fail to meet sales expectations at all, such as with MadWorld, Dunn was still happy to take the risk. He also indicated that Sega is willing to take more in the future:

"You have to push boundaries and explore. I think whilst MadWorld commercially didn't sell what we were expecting I wouldn't say it's game over for mature Wii titles from Sega.

So are the keys for the success of Mature games on the Wii the willingness to experiment, combined with the patience to look at long-term sales? A lot of games are written off as failures if they do not sell at full-price in the first few weeks, but price drops exist for a reason. Perhaps, for the Wii audience, they need more time and a more affordable price, to decide giving an M-Rated game a try.