Sega makes an even worse prediction

by JC Fletcher { Oct 22nd 2007 at 10:30AM }

If you were to look up 'hubris' in a dictionary, you'd probably see a picture of Sega executives high-fiving each other at a Ferrari dealership, confident in their estimates of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games' success. Or you'd see some words that tell you what 'hubris' means. It depends on which edition of which dictionary you're looking at.

First it was Sega of Japan corporate director Masanao Maeda predicting 4 million copies sold. Now Sega's UK product manager, Phil Lamb, is forecasting big success for the title: "This will be a leading title at Christmas. We have fully set our sights on it being the number one Wii title but are confident that this title has the potential to also achieve the top slot in the All Formats chart too."

There's only one way this game is going to outsell Super Mario Galaxy, and we doubt that Sega is willing to swallow their pride and accept the help.

[Via NeoGAF]

Tags: mario-and-sonic, olympics, sales, sega

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Shadow31 @ Oct 22nd 2007 10:39AM

What the heck are they thinking? No, there's no way this will be better than Galaxy; in fact, even if Galaxy somehow sucked and this was somehow decent, games such as Umbrella Chronicles and NiGHTS will still own it. And the fact remains Galaxy will own. No, Ryan Drummond can't even save the game at this point, IMO, the Mario sports games have been going downhill, and throwing Sonic in the game won't do anything. I see this as being a collection of minigames. Too overdone on the Wii.

vidGuy @ Oct 22nd 2007 10:55AM

Yeah, this is going to be trash. If you want the first game with Mario and Sonic to sell well, you can't make it be a series of crappy waggle minigames. The way I see it, the first game to feature Mario vs Sonic is SSBB.

saylorsgang @ Oct 22nd 2007 11:58AM

I am very weary about buying this game, it looks to me like Mario Party 9, with Sonic thrown in

Croove55 @ Oct 22nd 2007 11:15AM

HAY SEGA, GUESS WHAT?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8lcynChvdCs
(apologies to Smith and Hepting of Slackerz)

Jeremy @ Oct 22nd 2007 11:53AM

Sega is full of themselves lately. I can easily think of a hand full of games that will outsell this game over the holidays and not even mention SMG. I don't even know a person that is even willing to give this game a rent much less buying it.

Jumbo @ Oct 22nd 2007 11:56AM

I'd rent it

Shadow31 @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:01PM

I must correct you, #6. Mario Party 9 with Sonic, a third of the minigames, and no boards.

Renting it is one thing, paying for the full game is illogical, though.

BrandonIT @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:01PM

I'm interested in this game but I have to admit I'll probably rent it first just to verify it's as fun as it looks for multi-player. But this may be fun to replace Wii Sports as the new party game, especially with Mii integration.

troy @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:02PM

Wow, you are all closed minded. Sure, these statements are arrogant and probably not helpful, but the way Sega is going to start blitz marketing this title soon they need to make those kind of statements, or feel that way: because that is their goal. It would be lame and likely for it not to turn out the way they expect, but if that's what they are trying for then they will be better off actually trying their fullest. But do any of you even -know- anything about this game? Remember the Leipzig Games Convention? Remember what title shocked everybody by being voted best game of the year, beating out Galaxy? It was THIS ONE. That spoke volumes to me because none of those journalists expected to vote that way. It is basically the sequel to Wii Sports in many ways, and Sega seem to look at it that way, and it is going to do better than you guys think. Maybe not 4 million, top of All Format Charts better even though it definitely has the potential to sell 4 million by the end of the Olympic games in like ten months and will be a lot more appealing to those 67% of folks in Japan or whatnot who supposedly don't play their Wii's than games we would like more like RE:UC and others. I mean, I think Mario is the 'shiznizz' and Galaxy looks much more fun than M64 even to me but I am just saying: the rejection of this game here seems pretty mindless to me and there is a difference between 'Olympic Games' and mini-games. This is one Wii game where lots of events with different uses of the controller isn't a standard collection of minigame, because its representative of what the Olympics are like.

troy @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:04PM

Ok, that took me so long to write that some not closed minded folk wrote in the interim. So, to rephrase, those of you who strike me as closeminded are, in fact, the ones I am labeling as closeminded! Determine amongst yourselves if you be so or not.

Shadow31 @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:23PM

Talk about a rant, haha. But really, I mean, first of all, after the first couple weeks, I got bored with Wii Sports. Novel idea, no depth. And I am not condemning this game, just stating my expectations are quite low for it.

First of all, Sonic Team has consistently been delivering less than stellar titles for the past few years, at least. Besides Sonic Rush, last decent Sonic game I've played was... the Sonic Adventure games, and those hardly lived up to the Genesis Sonic I knew and loved. Sonic and the Secret Rings... Sonic should hardly be on "rails" of any sort. Shadow the Hedgehog slandered my favorite ultimate lifeform, Sonic Riders was by far the worst boarding game I've ever played, and please, please, please don't even get me started with Sonic Heroes. So already, I'm starting out with a negative look at any upcoming Sonic Team games.

That aside, fine, I'll look at it as an olympic game and not minigames. ...and I basically see it exactly the same. What is an Olympic game other than a bunch of events (hence, minigames) strewn together into one compilation? I mean, I've never played an Olympic game that kept my interest past the first 10 minutes. Yes, I will admit, my opinion may be biased; I don't enjoy participating in sports, watching sports, or playing sports.

"Different uses of the controller", at this point, at least to me, seem gimicky. Wii Sports did that, and I got bored. Same with Super Monkey Ball, Sonic, and even Wii Play, though Tanks in that was reason enough to play it over a lot. Only one that did it successfully IMO is WarioWare because they kept the pace fast. Every good Wii game doesn't try to use the controller too much, just enough to replicate some movements while still allowing you to use the buttons that were put on the controller for a reason.

Lastly, I value the opinion of a bunch of journalists only slightly more than that of Sonic Team. A majority vote doesn't make it right.

Phew, I answered a rant with another rant. Basically, I am getting at that yes, this Wii game could be decent, but I am not being close-minded and, in fact, have reasons to back my opinion that it most likely won't. I haven't seen a video of gameplay that caught my interest enough to watch to the end, unlike Galaxy and Brawl. Yes, it could be worth a rent, I would not go that far in my accusations, but in the end, I have my doubts it'll keep a hardcore gamer's interest too long before Galaxy comes along.

Max Headroom @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:48PM

What a brutal thread! Though I wasn't interested in the game at first, I talked to someone who got to play it. She told me it was the reason she finally ended up buying a Wii. So I figure it must have something good going for it. I think we should wait and see the final product before judging it. Who knows? It might be the Halo killer! Hehe

Hirsbrunner @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:58PM

The Halo killer was Killzone, remember? :-)

It sounds like Sega hired some of Sony's PR people to me.

But hey, I'll reserve judgement until after renting this title.

CoryB @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:59PM

There is a big unknown about the game that could influence how many units it will sell -- price. If the game comes in at a low enough point it will move units in a big way regardless of the quality. If they price it close to a players choice Gamecube price a lot of the "will rent it" people will likely change to "i'll buy it for that price".

It could also be a smart move if they stick demos for other games on the same disc. So basically you are being the Sega equalivent of WiiPlay with some demos. Could be an excellent move considering this title has a decent name recognition right now.

Wiseguy @ Oct 22nd 2007 1:01PM

Will this game suck? I'm guessing yes.

Will this game outsell Galaxy?

I think so.

Why? Because it has the whole "Wii Sports/Mario Party" vibe going for it, which casual gamers (and anyone under the age of 8) will eat up.

Besides, how are the average holiday shopper supposed to know that Galaxy will be a trillion times better?

"Why get this Mario game when I can get Mario AND Sonic?" See what I'm driving at?

The delay of Super Smash Bros to February is the best thing to happen for SEGA in years. No wonder they are seeing dollar signs.

ssuk @ Oct 22nd 2007 1:12PM

Wiseguy: You DO remember that SEGA gets free advertising of one, if not more of their characters (Assist trophies may be of other Sonic characters) from Brawl. So they win both ways.

Hirsbrunner @ Oct 22nd 2007 1:24PM

The delay of Super Smash Bros to February..."

According to Toys R Us' ad insert of the Sunday paper, they're still getting SSBB on 12/04. They must've not gotten the memo.

Sonic_13 @ Oct 22nd 2007 2:47PM

I think their predictions are a little crazy. I have no doubt that the game will pass 1 million - but to claim it will outsell Super Mario Galaxy???

That is just not going to happen. I wonder if they would've still said that even if Super Smash Bros. was still coming out...

B1gC72 @ Oct 22nd 2007 2:50PM

4 million is an understatement, this game will sell well over 7 million in the first week of sales. it has so much to offer! this is exactly what Wii owners want since this is the type of game that is selling so well on the Wii right now. it's ingenious SEGA! make a Wii waggle mini-game collection and throw Mario on it. SEGA will make so much money off this game that they will be able to afford to buy a midget prostitute for every one of their employees to keep in their closets at home and bring out whenever they feel like working on their pimp hand or sticking a carrot in something. if only i was so lucky to be a SEGA employee.

(after a long fight, drowns in the mountainous piles of sarcasm)

Wiseguy @ Oct 22nd 2007 3:42PM

@ssuK:

I agree that Sonic in Brawl is good for all parties, but if Brawl were still coming this year it would have surely canibalized sales for Mario & Sonic: at the Olympics.

Without that competiton, they get to rule the holiday season AND look forward to Sonic actually starring in a good game in the new year.

Can you say "win-win"?

FX-1 @ Oct 22nd 2007 4:59PM

The game looks interesting. There's no way in heck I'll buy it but I'll definately rent it. It can't suck that bad; it should provide $8 worth of entertainment.

Archibold @ Oct 22nd 2007 6:36PM

I'm getting sick of reading Sega's cockiness. I think the game looks rubbish and I'm sure many others feel the same. I would probably have a better outlook of the title had Sega not consistantly overestimated it this entire time. It just angers me that in the midst of their recent (or... not so recent?) failures, that Sega would be so sure of themselves just because they have Nintendo to lean on for this one. That said, at least it's not Nintendo bragging about the sales of this title.

D. @ Oct 22nd 2007 7:18PM

I'm a Sonic fanatic and there's no way that even I will buy this game. It looks like they just threw it together. I'd be surprised if it sold well at all. The only reason I'm not disgusted with SEGA right about now is because Sonic is in Brawl. And even still, that's not even a SEGA title.