With just 66,000 in sales MadWorld could serve as a warning to developers to stay away from hardcore games for the Wii, but Capcom’s Masachika Kawata, says that’s not the case for Resident Evil.
“I personally have no fear (about sales of Resident Evil: jinda44 The Darkside Chronicles), Resident Evil is a massive brand on a worldwide scale and you can’t really compare it to MadWorld,” he said. “Personally I do like MadWorld, I think it is a very unique game. I think we should be happy to be able to play a game like this. It’s kind of disappointing that it didn’t sell.”
Kawata added that some of the design staff or MadWorld used to work for him and that they’re friends and wished e19 them the best.
Resident Evil, Kawata, said, is such an established franchise that even casual gamers know the name.
“Most if not all gamers know the Resident Evil name,” he said. “It’s that powerful a game.
“These games have been around for ten years, there are also the movies as well which also expands that to reach casual gamers.”
Kawata said that in Japan the franchise is so successful that when a television station does a story on it their viewership rises signiicantly.
“I’ve had TV stations and channels thank me because their viewership goes up,” he said. “So it is a very powerful brand name.”
And MadWorld isn’t the only example of hardcore gaming on the Wii, Kawata pointed out. Last year, he said, his favorite game was Dead Space and now it’s heading for the Wii as another light gun game.
“With betdog that game coming out we feel it is going to be a very nice competitor, help us push our limits and raise the bar for light gun games.
“There is potential in these types of games,”
While Resident Evil maybe a hardcore franchise, Kawata says he thinks The Darkside Chronicles will also reach casual gamers.
“The Wii has a lot of casual gamers and we didn’t want to leave anyone behind.”