Writing for G4TV, Patrick Klepek looks at recent signs and sentiments that Nintendo systems are a graveyard for games aimed at adult audiences. The signs come from less than stellar performance on Wii and DS for what were thought to be highly-anticipated M-rated titles.
Klepek points to EA’s Dead Space: Extraction and Sega’s MadWorld. Both Wii games were expected to do well and built a lot of buzz, but didn’t meet sales expectations. Even Rockstar’s Teflon franchise Grand Theft Auto got dinged on Nintendo. The highly touted DS exclusive GTA: Chinatown Wars very quickly became non-exclusive after release, migrating over to Sony PSP and iPhone.
Publisher sentiments about mature content for Nintendo s audience might be summed up by how much M-rated fare is out there. ESRB data shows 36 M-rated titles for Wii compared to 168 for Xbox 360 and 126 for PS3. Klepek wonders if it s not an issue of adult content versus violent fare, with the games that haven’t done well falling into the latter category. He asks what if Nintendo has an audience ready for adult content that’s not necessarily rated M just for violence.
Read more at G4TV The Feed.
