You are seriously suggesting the sequel to one of the most acclaimed games of all time had lower sales not because it had much less advertising, not because it released at the same time as two of the most popular science fiction shooters ever, not because it wasn't bundled with the system, not because it was much less easy to get into than the first game, but because more than half the people who bought Metroid Prime secretly didn't like it.
Do you understand why that sounds ridiculous?
You are not looking at the sales and the evolution of the Metroid series from Prime onwards.
You point loses all its strength when you also take a look at Prime 3's sales, which was released years later in a console with a much stronger user base, simpler map design, easier navigation and with heavy emphasis on shooting mechanics, and still fell into the 1 million trend for the series. Again, that means that the 1 million sales are for the 1 million fans that buy each Metroid religiously, with few extra tens of thousands which account for the newcomers for each entry.
Metroid Prime sales were an anomaly because it looked appealing to people beyond the Metroid fanbase and, as you just said, it was bundled, but if the game really was that appealing, this should have had an effect on the sales of upcoming games. It was the first game that lots of people got for the console and despite being that good, it didn't grab that new audience for the sequels. Prime 2 and 3 sales are in the expected figures for the series, and the evolution of Metroid from 2004 to 2010 can be related to the efforts of making the series relevant again. I guess you are familiar with
the sales figures of the franchise, so there's little point in pointing out how consistent are the sales of the series and how they have decreasing as the existing fans grow older and does nothing to cater to new audiences.
Nintendo probably was amazed at Prime's sales and they went on to make a new one... only to see it didn't sell as good. They asked themselves, "why did the sales fell into the 1 million and something trend again?" and arrived to the conclusion that, apart from the usual fans, Prime sold among a new audience that got lost from Prime to Prime 2. Prime 3 incorporating more shooting sections and simpler maps is intentional because they wanted to appeal to the shooting audience that got interested in the original Prime in the first place. Then they released Hunters and now Federation Force. The message they got from Prime 2 and 3's decline in sales was clear.
If Nintendo went from releasing 5 main Metroids and two spin offs during 2002-2007, to nothing, it is because it isn't worth the effort anymore. If they really wanted to make Metroid they would have done it by now. They are currently testing waters with Federation Force and trying to open the market up a bit to the 3DS generation and seeing how it goes from there.
Pikmin is not a money-making franchise. The first two games had decent sales for Gamecube games (Again, Pikmin 2 sold about as much as Prime 2), and there's barely any merchandise.
The reason Pikmin 3 was made was because it was something Miyamoto and EAD wanted to make. There is nobody in Nintendo who wants to make a traditional or Prime-styled Metroid right now.
You don't have to print money to make profit from it. Pikmin won't sell millions, but they surely make profit taking into account how much resources they need. They are B-tier games in terms of resources and they are profitable and with reassuring consistent sales (Pikmin 3 with its niche status managed to broke the million goalpost in a 3-million user base console, so that's a feat). And yes, there is merchandise: plushies, CDs, and even short films.
Console Metroid titles have always been triple A games in terms of budget. They expect it to sell accordingly. Remember Reggie talking about how they wanted to make Metroid as popular as Mario and Zelda? The series needed that in order to survive and they couldn't achieve that with neither with Prime 3 or Other M, which were completely different titles in terms of design and experience.
Also, if Miyamoto wants to do it, why wouldn't Iwata let him? They guy has an eye for successful games and his games sell because he is the big name behind it. He is the most famous developer after all. Even his less acclaimed sales have been profitable.
I'm not really talking about making another Prime game, I actually would prefer they do not, but exploration and backtracking are the foundation of the whole series, no Metroid game that tries to put that aside is going to be successful.
I also would love a fresh start but that is certainly not what they are doing with Federation Force.
Well, it can be successful if they market it correctly. Other M could have been successful but the game was made for the wrong audience. It should have been a full reboot of shorts instead of a sequel to Super Metroid, but now the series has lost that train.
Yeah, Federation Force is not a fresh start, it's more of an appetizer.
