Retro City Rampage dev appeals to Wii pirates for help achieving sales threshold

[McHaggis]

VBlank Entertainment, the developer of Retro City Rampage, has reached out to fans of the game to help achieve the required sales threshold on the Wii Shop before the two year deadline. The game has been generally well received by critics and players alike, and is available on PC/Steam and across all major platforms of the previous generation.

The game is currently 750 units away in the United States and 850 units away in Europe from reaching the dreaded sales threshold for WiiWare titles. If the threshold isn't reached within the first 2 years of publishing, the developer doesn't see a penny. Here's what VBlank Entertainment's Brian Provinciano said about it on Facebook:

Thanks everyone for the support and making Retro City Rampage such a huge success!

Unfortunately, the WiiWare version hasn't done so well. While I knew the odds of releasing on this platform were stacked against me, it was a labor of love and I did it to keep my word, and for the fans. The challenge though, is that it hasn't made a cent in revenue yet, due to the WiiWare sales threshold. WiiWare games must sell a minimum number of units for the developer to be paid, and sadly, too few gamers buy WiiWare games.

The last part of his post is a special appeal to pirates. If you downloaded a .wad instead of buying it, consider putting in a purchase now to help the guy out:

Especially if you downloaded a .wad and enjoyed the game, please consider buying a copy on WiiWare. Remember, you can grab it on both the Wii and Wii U (in Wii mode) via the Wii Shopping Channel.

Thanks!

I didn't buy it (nor did I pirate it), but I'm going to take a serious look at it and maybe chip in to help if I can. Apparently, the WiiWare version is the lowest price of the console releases, so it might just be worth a look.

Via Facebook

UPDATE 7/7/14
Please see THIS post for a direct response to GBAtemp from RCR developer, Brian Provinciano.

 

[Foxi4]

Yes, I'm sure the whole 3-4% of users with modded systems (or rather, systems confirmed to be running Homebrew Channel) are at fault here, and not at all the fact that Wii users simply weren't interested in a game like this. For the love of God, even Call of Duty isn't doing so well on Nintendo platforms and that's a big budget game.

 

[pokefloote]

I don't think he meant to blame them, he was just asking them to throw in some cash if they happened to pirate it and enjoy the game. But yeah, 3-4% isn't a lot and only a tiny fraction of them will even notice this story. x)

 

[DiscostewSM]

Well, the game was initially announced first for WiiWare back in 2010 (and possibly exclusive?), but then it ended up releasing on all other consoles (and PC) last gen first. This is why expecting good sales for a version that gets released on a platform months to years after other versions is flawed logic.

 

[Foxi4]

I don't think he meant to blame them, he was just asking them to throw in some cash if they happened to pirate it and enjoy the game. But yeah, 3-4% isn't a lot and only a tiny fraction of them will even notice this story. x)

That's not my point, my point is that they're singling a particular group of users out, making it seem as if it's their fault - it isn't. The Wii sold well over a 100 million units, if the game didn't sell well on the platform then either the Wii is a 100-million-units-selling dust collector (which it sadly is in many cases) or it didn't appeal to the target audience.

I can't blame the developers, it'd be terrible if they didn't get to see any profit from their hard work on an admittedly good game, I'm just afraid that Wii and WiiWare is sort of a thing of the past now that the system is falling into the realm of obscurity. But hey, maybe if he appeals to Wii and Wii U users, the game will sell those few extra copies needed - I'll keep my fingers crossed for them. Perhaps a sale would be in order?

 

[Walker D]

Yes, I'm sure the whole 3-4% of users with modded systems (or rather, systems confirmed to be running Homebrew Channel) are at fault here, and not at all the fact that Wii users simply weren't interested in a game like this.

While I totally agree, I find it interesting that he somewhat considers the homebrew/piracy community for the wii relevant.. ..even though it's small..

this guy is a very good programmer (he almost made magic to fit his code so the Nes version would work).

 

[Foxi4]

While I totally agree, I find it interesting that he somewhat considers the homebrew/piracy community for the wii relevant.. ..even though it's small..

this guy is a very good programmer (he almost made magic to fit his code so the Nes version would work).

To be fair, he himself began with homebrew if I recall correctly - I'd wager he knows the ropes, that's why it's easier for him to address "pirates".

 

[Clarky]

It is a fair request really, if you pirated it and enjoyed it why not chuck some money his way. I really enjoyed the game myself on the 3DS

 

[Taleweaver]

I bought it on steam. Truth be told, I cannot even remember if I illegally downloaded it on the wii or not. It isn't bad in any case, but...I just sort of forgot about it somewhere in the game.

Gotta say it is a weird policy, though. The eshop hardly has any decent titles, so nobody's paying attention to it. And with a treshold to reach if you want to see any revenue, I'm actually surprised some third party games ARE ported to the eshop.

 

[emigre]

All this does is illustrate Nintendo's retarded digital policies on the Wii.

Shame the gaem is super average at best.

 

[Foxi4]

It is a fair request really, if you pirated it and enjoyed it why not chuck some money his way. I really enjoyed the game myself on the 3DS

I suppose it is fair to expect people who downloaded the game and enjoyed it to actually buy it, especially since it's cheap - I just don't think that singling pirates out will amount to much when they're really an irrelevant minority.

 

[Celice]

Well, the game was initially announced first for WiiWare back in 2010 (and possibly exclusive?), but then it ended up releasing on all other consoles (and PC) last gen first. This is why expecting good sales for a version that gets released on a platform months to years after other versions is flawed logic.

It actually began in at least 2003 as Grand Theftendo, an NES homebrew In used to follow it back in middle school.

 

[McHaggis]

That's not my point, my point is that they're singling a particular group of users out, making it seem as if it's their fault - it isn't. The Wii sold well over a 100 million units, if the game didn't sell well on the platform then either the Wii is a 100-million-units-selling dust collector (which it sadly is in many cases) or it didn't appeal to the target audience.

I don't think it's as much playing the blame game as it is a last ditch effort to appeal to that group of people's good side.

3% of 100 million is 30k (of which I think is probably a bit of a low estimate), with only 1,600 people (~5%) of that group being needed to reach the requisite targets. The title may have been misleading, as the appeal was aimed at all Wii and Wii U owners, but "especially" if you pirated the game and enjoyed it. Asking people to share it and encourage others to buy it might help it achieve the goal, but it's not unreasonable to ask those who have already played it without purchasing it to help out too.

 

[Foxi4]

I don't think it's as much playing the blame game as it is a last ditch effort to appeal to that group of people's good side.

3% of 100 million is 30k (of which I think is probably a bit of a low estimate), with only 1,600 people (~5%) of that group being needed to reach the requisite targets. The title may have been misleading, as the appeal was aimed at all Wii and Wii U owners, but "especially" if you pirated the game and enjoyed it. Asking people to share it and encourage others to buy it might help it achieve the goal, but it's not unreasonable to ask those who have already played it without purchasing it to help out too.

I suppose you're right, now that I think about it. I don't think the intention was to put blame on the pirates, most of the message seems like a general appeal. I just found it odd that he'd specifically mention users who downloaded the .wad.

 

[Walker D]

I just don't think that singling pirates out will amount to much when they're really an irrelevant minority.

In this case, I agree, but I don't think the pirates are in so small amounts as people usually tends to quantify..
As a example, as far as I know South America (and I think I know it a bit) almost 90% of wiis here are modded to play pirated games. Wiis are sold already softmoded since ever on almost all game stores (besides the big ones obviously)... and even when people get a clean one out of a big store, they go to a small game store for a "unlock". The wiis without pirated games are the big exception.

I don't know how everybody calls this a big irrelevant minority, but it doesn't seems small to me..

This certainly don't affect Wiiware though (that's why I agree with you on this case) because the majority that I pointed out don't know how to softmod or deal with wads. They dumb down the process buying the softmod. So they only affect Wii games that would be out in DVDs

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

3% of 100 million is 30k (of which I think is probably a bit of a low estimate), with only 1,600 people (~5%) of that group being needed to reach the requisite targets.

3% of 100 million is 3 million. That's like fourth grade math. Assuming I didn't screw up my own math here: 1600/3000000 is 0.0005333333, meaning if we estimate that Wii pirates really do make up about three percent of Wii owners, you could take one percent of them, tell them to buy the game, and hit the sales target if only five and one-third percent of that one percent bought the game. So yeah, appealing to pirates as a group isn't a bad idea at all. I have the PS3/Vita versions thanks to PS+ and I'd gladly buy the Wii version if I had even $10 in disposable cash at the moment.

 

[Foxi4]

3% of 100 million is 3 million. That's like fourth grade math. Assuming I didn't screw up my own math here: 1600/3000000 is 0.0005333333, meaning if we estimate that Wii pirates really do make up about three percent of Wii owners, you could take one percent of them, tell them to buy the game, and hit the sales target if only five and one-third percent of that one percent bought the game. So yeah, appealing to pirates as a group isn't a bad idea at all. I have the PS3/Vita versions thanks to PS+ and I'd gladly buy the Wii version if I had even $10 in disposable cash at the moment.

You're a little hasty there - you're assuming that all Homebrew Channel users are pirates which is not really the case. You are correct in your calculations though, the last time Team Twiizers posted about unique installations, they mentioned 3.1 million unique online installations.

 

[XDel]

That is strange, before I learned how to back up my purchased WADs and transfer them to my Wii U, I was searching for a pirated copy of this game and couldn't find one ANYWHERE! With that in mind, I don't see how piracy has been effecting it's sales, though I certainly hope that it reaches it's goal and I have no regrets having bought it.

 

[Clydefrosch]

how many sales does a game need before someone gets paid on wii?

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

You're a little hasty there - you're assuming that all Homebrew Channel users are pirates which is not really the case.

Right, which is why I prefaced that with 'if we estimate'. Obviously it's not the case, and some (realistically small, probably under 10%) portion of HC's userbase doesn't pirate Wii games or perhaps any games at all. On the flipside, HC isn't necessarily a prerequisite for piracy, although the process is usually tedious enough otherwise that it probably doesn't account for half of the non-pirate HC users.

The point is, even if you said half of the Homebrew Channel's users don't pirate, it's not as if the amount of pirates on the Wii are a small group at all, and appealing to them is a legitimate strategy as far as the sales requirements of this game are concerned.