Remember, Nintendo titles also tend to have better legs and not be as front loaded as other games. We should remember this when looking at lifetime sales.
Unlike many other franchises, a game like Mario Kart will only see one version in a console generation, so it is a game that can sell solidly for 3-4 years (look at Kart and Smash Bros sales for the GC). So while they might not start out strong, they will tend to have good sales for years and not face cannibalization of sales by newer versions.
I think that sales of Mario Galaxy over the next 4-6 months will either prove or disprove this hypothesis.
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Remember, Nintendo titles also tend to have better legs and not be as front loaded as other games. We should remember this when looking at lifetime sales.
Unlike many other franchises, a game like Mario Kart will only see one version in a console generation, so it is a game that can sell solidly for 3-4 years (look at Kart and Smash Bros sales for the GC). So while they might not start out strong, they will tend to have good sales for years and not face cannibalization of sales by newer versions.
I think that sales of Mario Galaxy over the next 4-6 months will either prove or disprove this hypothesis.