The recently announced delay of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl has led IGN GamerMetrics to rethink its list of most anticipated videogames for the holiday season.
The Super Smash Bros. series has been a major success for Nintendo, with the most recent entry in the franchise, Super Smash Bros. Melee, standing as the best-selling GameCube title of all time with over 3.5 million units sold in the U.S. alone. Despite being less well known than the massive Mario and Zelda franchises, recent surveys by IGN Entertainment indicated that Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the most highly-anticipated unreleased videogame, ahead of titles including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Super Mario Galaxy.
The delay of Super Smash Bros. Brawl has led to a re-analysis of data taken from IGN GamerMetrics’ Gamer Panel, resulting in a list of ten games the company believes will see significant sales boosts as a result. The list is made up of games that showed overlapping affinity with Super Smash Bros. Brawl in gamer surveys, and that will be released between October 15 and the end of the year.
- 1. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) – 82% overlap
- 2. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (Wii) – 54%
- 3. Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Wii) – 51%
- 4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (X360) – 48%
- 5. Assassin’s Creed (X360) – 42%
- 6. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Wii) – 41%
- 7. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Wii) – 40%
- 8. Soulcalibur Legends (Wii) – 40%
- 9. Mass Effect (X360) – 36%
- 10. Trauma Center: New Blood (Wii) – 35%
While the Super Smash Bros. Brawl delay will have a significant impact on these titles, according to IGN GamerMetrics, the impact on Wii hardware sales is expected to be “marginal at best,” as the Super Smash Bros. audience is largely an enthusiast crowd, most of whom already own a Wii. Furthermore, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has previously stated that Nintendo will not be able to meet Christmas demand for the console, a situation unlikely to be affected by a change in software releases.
