Selling videogames: Install-base and knowing your audience

A lot of videogame-companies want to sell their games on the biggest install-base, and that is logical, but it's not necessarily the best way to go about things.

Having a game available in the launch-window is also very lucrative. Recently, word came out that many independent videogames sold best on Nintendo Switch, including Wonder Boy. Even though people who own a Nintendo Switch probably have other platforms on which to buy games, they chose to purchase these independent videogames on Nintendo Switch to further justify their purchases of this 300-dollar system.

Tales of Symphonia sold 953,000 copies worldwide on Gamecube, while the PlayStation 2 port sold only 486,000. Granted, the PlayStation 2 port came later, but the install-base of PlayStation 2 was much higher. Knowing the audience of a platform is very important. Nintendo-fans were starving for a good RPG on Gamecube. PlayStation 2 owners already had a bunch of quality RPGs, but Gamecube-only owners didn't have much to choose from. Filling that RPG-void in Gamecube's library was a big factor in the game's success.

Project Cars would have sold like gangbusters on Wii U. Historically, Nintendo-systems have never had a realistic car-simulator like Gran Turismo or Forza. Project Cars wouldn't have been exclusive to Wii U, but it would have been a great void-filler in the car-simulation genre nonetheless.

TheBitBlock also once said something that made sense. Capcom ignored Nintendo Switch when releasing their Disney Afternoon Collection, but it didn't make sense because Nintendo-gamers are used to playing platformers and it certainly would have fit in well in the library. The games were also originally on NES, so it makes further sense.

Whether a game satisfies the desire to justify the purchase of a new system, fills a void in the system's library, or fits a system's audience and existing library, care must be taken in selecting platforms to develop or port for. It is not simply about selecting the platform with the biggest install-base.

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