That's the thing, Nintendo wants this to be a bigger franchise (hence why it's getting an Amiibo line before the likes Zelda or Pokémon outside of Smash). I guarantee you that we'll see a playable Inkling in Smash eventually.
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Do we expect Splatoon to be the next major Nintendo I.P.?
- Thread starter Majestad
- Start date
Malitik Sabu
Banned
Well the first Conduit sold pretty well and so did the first Red Steel, though it could be that it was still early in the Wii's lifecycle, and launch hype along with lack of hardcore games inflated those sales. But they still sold well.
Nintendojitsu
Banned
Bookmarked
I'm still firmly on the "slow-burn to success" train. Nintendo isn't gonna let this flop. They're treating Splatoon like Marvel treated the Guardians & now the Inhumans. They're doing everything in their power to make Splatoon stick. However, like I said earlier, Rome wasn't built in a day, so their plans to make Splatoon one of their mainstay IPs will be a long-term one. Refer to Pikmin as an IP that caught on after a long period of time. As I've stated numerous times, that's what I expect for Splatoon.
For the record, I've pre-ordered the Amiibos & will pre-order the game soon.
Nintendo wants this game to eventually be the Mario Kart of shooters. It'll be well above Earthbound.
It will do well enough... for a wiiu game. but it's highly unlikely it will even dethrone something like donkey kong country or kirby as a medium nintendo IP let alone a Major one.
Now if the wiiu was in better shape my thoughts might be a little more positive... but even if the wiiu was selling like the wii I don't think my answer would change.
Now if the wiiu was in better shape my thoughts might be a little more positive... but even if the wiiu was selling like the wii I don't think my answer would change.
If Nintendo continues to market it properly like they have been, then yeah I can see it doing 1m WW.
Or at least that's what I thought originally, but with all the dumb "we want to make the online hard to use" announcements I'm having my doubts. =\
It's not gonna bomb hard though, especially not at W101 levels. Anyone expecting it to do that badly should question if they also expected amiibos to fail.
Or at least that's what I thought originally, but with all the dumb "we want to make the online hard to use" announcements I'm having my doubts. =\
It's not gonna bomb hard though, especially not at W101 levels. Anyone expecting it to do that badly should question if they also expected amiibos to fail.
Beelzebufo
Banned
Even Mario Kart doesn't have the same amount of cult fans as Earthbound!
It won't reach that level of cultiness (quantifiably of course), it won't reach Earthbound either. Earthbound is empirically the "cult" videogame.
And I mean this isn't completely fair or related, but Nintendo also wanted the Wii U to sell
I don't know if Nintendo can even have another big IP with that dual hardcore/casual appeal. Wii _____ was their last big IP saleswise, but didn't have the hardcore cred.
Xenoblade Chronicles X and Splatoon do seem different though. Unlike W101 or Battalion Wars, they seem to be trying to make both of these happen.
Xenoblade Chronicles X and Splatoon do seem different though. Unlike W101 or Battalion Wars, they seem to be trying to make both of these happen.
GustyGardens
Banned
Considering the amount of marketing they've been doing with this game for most of the year, I'd say that they have big plans for Splatoon. I can't imagine them considering this to be their next big IP, because it takes time to develop that kind of brand. Splatoon isn't pulling Mario numbers on its first go. I definitely think it'll perform and review nicely and I think the public will respond positively to it. I can see it turning into a B-Tier franchise, one that they pull out every other generation or so, like F-Zero and Star Fox.
JaseMath
Member
That's not going to happen. Mario Kart has the appeal of the Nintendo family of characters and pick up & play mechanics. Splatoon has squid girls or whateverthefuck...and it's a shooter.
The irony being that if Splatoon and W101 had Nintendo characters in them (which was considered for both), there would be continued cries of "mario milking". Damned either way.
NinjamicWZ
Banned
Nintendo continuing on with the property probably depends as much on whether they'll think there's something fresh and worthwhile they can do with it a 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc time around, likely on another platform.
The thing is that the shooting genre has been way more popular than racing for a long time. I don't know how well Splatoon will fly with those who own a Wii U and get their shooting fix elsewhere but those people who own a Wii U and have the gall to say shooters suck I'm betting will end up sounding like hypocrites. Some of them will pick up this game and realize how deliriously fun a game like this can be and will get other people in their circle of friends to pick up the game.
Still that's a minority of a minority. The success of this game will largely depend on those who already play FPS games on other platforms and still have that console. It will also depend on how far Nintendo goes in controlling streams or uploads of their game since that does matter in getting attention beyond your existing fan base.
Nintendojitsu
Banned
It certainly deserves to. Casuals need not apply but they are welcome to if they're open to something new and exciting to play.
Would bet my Wii U along all my Wii U games it will.
CaviarMeths
Member
It's going to be an evergreen title, I think. 300k first week and a slow burn to 1 million by the end of the generation. All things considered, I would call that a success. Certainly grounds for sequels.
Then they should add a true local multiplayer mode.
Give War A Chance
Member
I'm with you on the slow-burn to success part possibly, but the bolded? Lmao. No. No, they aren't. I know a lot of gamers that don't even know this game is a thing. How would they? I couldn't get away from Guardians... almost literally everywhere I turned... TV, billboards, magazines, even a few radio spots... Guardians was everywhere. Splatoon? No way.
I haven't seen a single commercial, or an ad. I think it depends on what people determine to be a "flop," honestly. I don't expect this game to sell extremely well though. I'm on the edge of buying it, waiting on the Direct.
Ivan Amiibo
Banned
I wouldn't know it exists if it weren't for neogaf. If I just saw it randomly, I'd assume it's something for kids like Skylander, tbh.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Unless the reviews are horrible, it's going to be the best selling new IP of this generation so far, excluding Bloodborne.
Edit - I take that back. I forgot about Driveclub and a number of new third party IP (like Destiny lol....no way Splatoon matches that!). I'll revise my prediction and say that the game will end up selling at least one million units, unless, again, it doesn't review well.
If the game reviews well? Yes. It'll take awhile for it to reach that number though.
You think it'll sell over 1 million copies? Since didn't Knack also sell over a million copies.
It had to cut the framerate in half for 2 players, forget 4.
shadowsdarknes
Member
Destiny? Watch Dogs?
Splatoon will not outsell those games for what they did on PS4/XB1.
I meant more of Nintendo slowly building up Splatoon over a period of time before it hopefully blows up huge in a few years. I didn't mean exactly like Marvel's marketing gods, though I probably should have been more clear (my apologies for that).
OrbitalBeard
Member
Yeah, read my edit. There are a number of games I completely forgot about. I was thinking more along the line of first-party new IP. I wasn't even taking third party into account, which is why I completely spaced Destiny.
CrazedProfessional
Member
It will have medium success and its cult like status already will fuel a sequel which will lead to further growth.
In other words, the non-violent and cosmetic style make it somewhat of a potential TPS Animal Crossing,
In other words, the non-violent and cosmetic style make it somewhat of a potential TPS Animal Crossing,
I hope so as well. I'm not expecting anything record-breaking, but I'm sure it'll at least be a modest success by Wii U standards. From there it'll set up a sequel on the next console which will hopefully be bigger.
What I meant was local multiplayer is what made MK a success. Splatoon not having it, for whatever reason, is going to be a detriment to it achieving MK like success (among other factors like the Wii U's userbase).
JaseMath
Member
Right, but I think shooters are more popular amongst core gamers. Casual players–people like my mom and dad or wife–play games like MK for their no-nonsense mechanics and their universal appeal. Shooters demand a little more from their players and, unfortunately, I think that'll turn away most casuals. I'm not saying Splatoon is complicated (it's probably not), but I think the overall opinion would be that shooters are like ______, and Splatoon, while cute, is also like _____.
The Horror the horror
Banned
Nintendo is incapable of creating and maintaining new mega-IPs, for the possible exception of Wii Sports. Wii Fit? Dead. Nintendogs/cats? Dead. Brain Age? Dead. They reserve their AAA efforts and resources on old mascots, then they wonder why those are the only games that sell.
Splatoon doesn't even have a good local co-op feature. 1vs1? WTF. Nintendo is suffering from some sort of identity crisis this generation. On one hand, they want to resurrect the local/family multiplayer experience, but on the other hand they're pushing new IPs that don't bring such experiences to households.
Splatoon doesn't even have a good local co-op feature. 1vs1? WTF. Nintendo is suffering from some sort of identity crisis this generation. On one hand, they want to resurrect the local/family multiplayer experience, but on the other hand they're pushing new IPs that don't bring such experiences to households.
Shooters are already casual in the sense that they are very easy to pick up and figure out how they work. You have to play a lot of games to really get into anything remotely complicated like Arma or Planetside.
Of course the problem with shooters is that the barrier comes from experience players trouncing younger players. EAD is lowering the bar of accessibility a lot by having games hinge on just covering as much of the map as possible. In the end I feel it will be a very big disappointment if people who shied away from shooters simply don't get how amazingly fun they can be now that they are given an option to not worry about competing with other players on offense and defense. In this game you can be entirely defensive and even the cat and mouse experience of escaping kills is part of the thrill that makes this genre successful on other platforms.
Still I feel that is only a minority of Wii U owners. I have a hard time believing the majority of Wii U owners don't play on other platforms and as a result already play shooters. I just hope their cynicism about what they believe are mandatory features doesn't blind them to the fact there certain qualities about shooting games that we have a much harder time expressing like Time to kill and fluidity of movement and aiming are even more important at making a game personally fun before you start concerning yourself about getting friends interested in playing the game. Who cares about voice chat if the core game is hum drum. The best games are designed with solid fundamentals and a dev team like EAD taking a crack at this genre makes it all the more interesting to see how far they can refine the mechanics.
biglittleps
Member
Then they forgot Mario in Splatoon.
It's a new franchise on a struggling system by Nintendo's "B" team of relatively young talent. The game doesn't have some ungodly development budget or marketing campaign.
In order for it to "bomb," Splatoon would have to lose money hand over fist, or you'd have to have very unrealistically high expectations for it in the first place. This is a bomb, that's a bomb... man, talk about a word that is totally overused here.
Better question is whether or not it can become a breakout hit, which is unlikely. A nice little mid-tier game to diversify the line-up is all I'd expect. Even if it does that and more though, there will be people calling it a bomb because it didn't sell millions...
In order for it to "bomb," Splatoon would have to lose money hand over fist, or you'd have to have very unrealistically high expectations for it in the first place. This is a bomb, that's a bomb... man, talk about a word that is totally overused here.
Better question is whether or not it can become a breakout hit, which is unlikely. A nice little mid-tier game to diversify the line-up is all I'd expect. Even if it does that and more though, there will be people calling it a bomb because it didn't sell millions...
I don't think Nintendo expects Splatoon to instantly reach that status, but that this will be the start of Splatoon's rise to popularity. The way I see it, it'd go like this...
- Make sure Splatoon is good (obviously)
- Advertise the game however they can (Amiibos, Directs, Nintendo Minutes, Ads in Stores, etc.)
- Support Splatoon with DLC over the course of a year
- Make sure the Inklings are added to Smash as playable characters (will likely happen at some point, either now via DLC or in the base roster of Smash 5, it's more of a when than an if)
- Make & release Splatoon 2 for the next console that would hopefully be more popular than the Wii U
The developers almost did, but then they decided that they wanted to make the game more unique.
openrob
Member
Or maybe they are creating a variety of experiences, and you keep expecting them to make the same types of games, even though they have always had a variety of IPs with many different styles?
SuperLeviathan
Member
Getting to one million will be really tough. We all know that Japan isn't going to touch this game, so America and Europe are really going to have to buy it in droves. This will be the first time Amiibos have been used to sell a non-established franchise too.
Nintendo is obviously expecting this to be a monster hit and move hardware, hence the amiibo and DLC support and (such as it is) increased marketing push. If it sells 700k and virtually no consoles, I'd consider that to be a pretty big disappointment.
Nintendo is obviously expecting this to be a monster hit and move hardware, hence the amiibo and DLC support and (such as it is) increased marketing push. If it sells 700k and virtually no consoles, I'd consider that to be a pretty big disappointment.
My only concern about Splatoon's sales is the small Wii U userbase. Kid Icarus Uprising was, at its core, a third person shooter (half of it on rails) with an online deathmatch mode and it hit 1M. That's quite an impressive reincarnation. Pit is by no means a major character though he had some exposure in Smash.
Splatoon seems to have something W101 doesn't have and that is the trademark accessibility of Nintendo gameplay and economical game mechanics. Their games are usually easy to grokk but they can entertain you for hours. It remains to be seen whether Splatoon will be addictive (I'll give it the benefit of any doubt) but it's certainly easy to understand the game's concepts.
I think it slots into the Wii U's library perfectly and I have a gut feeling that it will be successful. The only thing keeping me from being totally confident is that I don't understand software sales on Nintendo hardware that's selling as slowly as the Wii U. It doesn't seem like a kind environnment for franchises that lack brand recognition. Splatoon will be an interesting test case.
Splatoon seems to have something W101 doesn't have and that is the trademark accessibility of Nintendo gameplay and economical game mechanics. Their games are usually easy to grokk but they can entertain you for hours. It remains to be seen whether Splatoon will be addictive (I'll give it the benefit of any doubt) but it's certainly easy to understand the game's concepts.
I think it slots into the Wii U's library perfectly and I have a gut feeling that it will be successful. The only thing keeping me from being totally confident is that I don't understand software sales on Nintendo hardware that's selling as slowly as the Wii U. It doesn't seem like a kind environnment for franchises that lack brand recognition. Splatoon will be an interesting test case.
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