Despite some recent struggles in trying to penetrate the “hardcore” Wii market, SEGA says they’re not ready to give up on the segment just yet.
Two of their recent titles, House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld, didn’t do all that well at retail, but SEGA has said that the former game was profitable at retail, thanks to the long legs of the game.
“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,” Gary Dunn told Gamesindustry.biz.
Dunn was similar positive about MadWorld, saying that it was worth the risk publishing the title.
“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. We’re taking a look at the resources we have now. We’ve got money to invest in development, we’re just considering where to invest it next.”
SEGA’s latest venture into the hardcore space was The Conduit, which currently has no available sales data.


