Excitebots has slow sales start in April

by Justin McElroy { May 15th 2009 at 10:00AM }

Someone call Benjamin Jahveri, Excitebots is in rough shape. During the 10 days the racer was available in April, it managed to move just 13,000 copies, according to the NPD. To give some perspective, more mature Wii titles MadWorld and House of the Dead: Overkill were able to move 66,000 and 45,000 units respectively in their first 20 days.

This is purely just our observation, but did the hype machine seem a little weak for Excitebots? We can't recall seeing much in the way of marketing for the game, but honestly ... we don't get out much.

Tags: excitebots, excitetruck, monster-games

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

il_duce620 @ May 15th 2009 10:44AM

I certainly never saw commercials or ads for it...but then again, I usually skip TV commercials...

It's a shame, 'cause nearly every person I heard talking about it on podcasts said it was actually a pretty decent game that did some interesting things. It isn't my cup o' tea, personally, but I'd like to see it do better!

DarkeSword @ May 15th 2009 10:48AM

I didn't even know it was out. D:

Sisyphus @ May 15th 2009 11:04AM

I've purchased but I hadn't planned on playing it until this weekend.

Hardy @ May 15th 2009 12:50PM

Great... It'll sell like crap because Nintendo didn't market this game AT ALL, except on the Nintendo Channel on the Wii, then state that hardcore games aren't selling well and go work on Wii Music 2, now with more public domain music.

....

8-bit.artist @ May 15th 2009 3:03PM

this is not a hardcore game.

Bowser Rogozhin: Princess Nyah DF; Abigail Williams Slayer @ May 15th 2009 12:51PM

This game deserevd no hype, it deserved nothing. Nintendo shouldn't be wasting resources on non-events such as this. It just devalues the entire idea of Nintendo.

Insight (Fatass Defense Force) @ May 15th 2009 4:14PM

I agree with Bowser. Why does this game deserve any hype? It's a fun little game, in little bursts, and even after a few of these bursts it just stops being fun. The online multiplayer gets boring a lot faster than I thought it would, the track selection is even more limited than Excite Truck's, and while the mid-race minigames are kind of funny, they too just get lame after a while.

It was a pretty cheap and incredibly blatant cash in. How this kind of thing can be supported, I don't know.

Insight (Fatass Defense Force) @ May 17th 2009 9:25PM

Yeeeeah, downvote me. Don't, you know, bother to tell me how I'm wrong.

Oh, that's right, I have an opinion that contrasts that of the fanboys over here. Logic doesn't mean shit, so long as there's a downvote button that can act in place of a reply.

tkAshur @ May 15th 2009 1:32PM

I didn't even know about this game until I saw it on club nintendo for pre buy survey. Made me wonder if nintendo is doing 3rd party games for coins, but then I realized it was nintendo made...and I got really confused. The screenshots looks just like excitetruck...but with robots. Alot of Nintendos games should NOT start at 50$, especially with incredibly minimal information on it.

chibilaharl @ May 15th 2009 1:37PM

i work at Gamecrazy and their was 0 hype for this, no memo, no marketing besides a single dvd cover, nothing...

PS: how do i change my image?

Robert @ May 15th 2009 7:03PM

Not 100% positive, but I think you click on it.

Robert @ May 15th 2009 7:05PM

I think you click on it.

Insight (Fatass Defense Force) @ May 15th 2009 4:11PM

They probably made back all their money after the first 1,000 copies anyway. Yeah, an exaggeration, but anyone who's played it can tell that it was a cheap cash in regardless of the fun factor (and the game only stays fun for the first handful of hours).

People here wonder why folks are beginning to despise Newtendo... it's shit like this, yo. I'd have been very happy with an F-Zero sequel, but they'd rather work on stuff like this.

Eh. At the very least, it shows that Nintendo isn't afraid to release games that might not hit the million mark (I was worried about that considering their recent direction) meaning we might actually get those games we've been asking for.

Insight (Fatass Defense Force) @ May 17th 2009 9:27PM

Sorry I didn't unconditionally praise the game, guys. After all, SO MUCH EFFORT went into its development, and it REALLY SHOWS. But what would I know, I HAVEN'T OWNED THE GAME OR ANYTHING

/sarcasm

Dustin @ May 18th 2009 12:40AM

If you're this upset about being downvoted, you may need to take a little break from the internet.

Insight (Fatass Defense Force) @ May 18th 2009 12:04PM

It's not so much that I'm being downvoted that gets me peeved, it's that lately, in every discussion I've had on this website, I've simply met either retards who can't piece together an argument of worth and have to resort to ad hominem bs to make it seem as though they have a point, or folks who are simply compelled due to fanboyism to disagree and downvote.

I come here for discussion, and that's hardly ever what I get anymore. It sucks yo.

EdgeOne @ May 15th 2009 4:52PM

I was kind of excited for it, but after watching the videos it looks more like a crazy expansion pack for Excite Truck than a stand alone title - I got the "been there, done that" feeling.

With EA Tiger Woods 10, Tennis, and Nintendo Wii Sports 2, (all supporting Wii motion plus) out in June I think there are better ways to spend my Wii money.

That said, if you didn't pick up Excite Truck I would recommend this game as it has more to offer than the first, which was quite enjoyable to play.
(yes, I realize I just recommended a game I don't have so now I'm one of those guys)

SegaPleaseMakePanzerDragoonWii! @ May 15th 2009 5:33PM

Well, I know at least 500,000 people who had planned on purchasing this game in week one, but then promptly changed their minds after reading Mr. Hinkle's less than glowing review and instead went out and bought portable frolf goals in order to practice their frisbee golf skills in anticipation of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. Ahh, behold the mighty power of Joystiq!

Feba @ May 15th 2009 6:46PM

honestly, it doesn't have much appeal. People who want a wacky racer will go for Mario Kart. People who want big thrills will probably prefer (and/or already have) ExciteTruck; which is slightly less absurd and is probably much cheaper by now.

I agree that they could probably have made an F-Zero game without much more effort and had much more success.

milan @ May 15th 2009 6:59PM

This game is amazing and the Hink's review was shortsighted, he needed more time with the game. However, seeing as the game is really 'out there' I'm not surprised it sold poorly.. superficially, it looks looks completely moronic, but to me, translates to eXcitebots being a AAA wii title.

if anybody here is playing this awesome gem of a game, add my excitebots FC: 4855 2862 2337

Robert @ May 15th 2009 7:07PM

First comment didn't post until I submitted the second one (thought it was IE's fault it wasn't posting so I switched to firefox). Anyway, yep - you click on it and then click 'Edit Picture'

kid_ic @ May 15th 2009 7:23PM

I got it with the TRU sale of buy one, get one $20 off. Great game! And I had to see it to believe it, b/c still images of the funky trucks/robots initially left me uniterested.

The funny thing is that this whole "announce a game shortly before it's release date, and then not hype it using any maisntream marketing" thing is not new for nintendo. They've done it with a lot of their games this generation -- "casual" or "core." Fire Emblem & Batallion Wars II first, then the 2D Wario World & Mario Superstars Baseball last summer, and now Excite Truck and the recent Play on Wii games (allthough those are different beast).

It's a big change from the way they showed games 1 to 2 E3's ahead and then actually marketed said games in the N4/GCN era. They are still marketing, just not every game that you'd expect gets a heavy push. I do expect Excitebots will garner decent lifetime sales, profit, and a cult fanbase, regardless.

Sisyphus @ May 15th 2009 11:29PM

I've been interested in getting Excite Truck for a while, but it's nearly impossible to find for less than it's original price. And I'm not paying $50 for a launch game 2 years later. I found a copy on clearance the other day, but since Excitebots is only $40 new, why bother with the older game for about the same price.

Secre @ May 16th 2009 10:52AM

About 75% (Note: not a real estimate) of the people who bought a Wii are in it for the casual novelty crowd. Of the 25% left, only a certain number of people would be interested in a certain game. Since the casual crowd rarely buy new games, that makes the factor of people who are gonna buy games pretty low. Stating that, it makes sense that these sales aren't exactly slow, it's an average number that should be expected for a system that makes its home to people who want a novelty item that will gather dust in their closet.