I would’ve liked that too, but it’s clearly not happening at this point, unfortunately, so you may as well download them now if you actually want them. =P
I’ve seen a lot of Nintendo fans have this same excuse for not buying those games, though, which is a bummer… Wonder how many of those people have actually gone back and got the games digitally by now with no physical version in sight.
Perhaps I might as well, though, [motion]gestures to the pile of games I acquired before obtaining a Switch[/motion].
Which I guess presents another portion of the equation to this thread's premise: sometimes people might be interested in and want to support something, but have to choose between it and other options, especially those that might also be generally overlooked, at least until they might come back to whichever option they couldn't choose at the time. All things are not in a vaccuum.
And if one of those is physical and likely to become more difficult to find, whilst the other is digital and likely to remain available as such, that could present another dimension as well.
Clearly, there are still those megahits that garner the largest proportions of support; choosing amongst different smaller, overlooked titles isn't going to apply to everyone or every instance, but a lot of people interested in one of these smaller titles are also going to be interested in others.
Some concern should obviously be directed toward what numbers are required for the continued support of a given series or style of game and whether that be reasonable for a particular circumstance, and those decisions can't be thrown entirely on the customer base.
And this ties somewhat to the conversation regarding
Metroid and sales, wherein I tend to agree with
Clix in that, while I personally think
Metroid deserves to sell better, I'm not about to get up in arms that it's not among the highest-selling series. More people just have other things they want to buy or spend their time on, and that's okay. I primarily want it to do well enough, and going further is a well-deserved bonus.
But I don't necessarily expect it'll be considered something not niche. And it doesn't necessarily have to be. But the expectations do need to be reasonable for that situation.
Now, it does seem to me the series could stand to focus on its core elements and build around that identity, so as to cultivate a consistent fan base that is at least large enough for it to continue as what it is -- by which I don't mean make the same thing over and over, but be cognizant of the series identity so that new concepts just fit, even if they superficially seem a departure.
I'll point to
Dark Souls again really quickly because it's an easy example, in that everything about it screams niche, but it leaned into the elements that make it what it is, and it's absolutely been a success. You have to know what you're trying to do, and chasing the absolute most sales at the expense of all else is seldom the answer.
And I guess that also loops back to the discussion of what and how much is reasonable to say needs to change for the series to gain ground, but that has to come from a place of genuine consideration, something deeper than a glance at broad genre.