The NPD report for February came out last Thursday, and if the industry keeps up this pace, I may have to issue a teary, self-depricating apology for my New Year’s rant about release scheduling. The first quarter of the year has always been pin-drop quiet, even during some of the industry’s best years. It gave gamers, retailers, and developers a much needed breath after the holidays. This year? Not so much.
On a recent visit to GameStop, I had to choose from perennial favorite MLB The Show, the long-awaited Peggle: Dual Shot, the better than expected GTA: Chinatown Wars, and Street Fighter IV. Of course, Resident Evil 5 just dropped, and Gears 2, Little Big Planet and the rock-out-with-your-plastic-axes-out games continue to get killer DLC on an a regular basis. It’s unlikely that such a bountiful first quarter was 100% intentional. Holiday release schedules get ambitious, marketing budgets get slashed, and before you know it, a locked-in holiday blockbuster gets shuffled into the following year.
However, I’m willing to give Capcom the benefit of the doubt with Street Fighter IV. All along, they’ve been favoring a hardcore gamer audience in marketing this title, with a steady flow of info from their Capcom-Unity blog and Twitter feed. And their down ‘n dirty “Fight Club” event was just about the only pre-launch promotion this year that I really, really wished I had worked on. At the end of the day, this title exists for that hardcore, multi-system owning gamer that purchases over a dozen games a year. Capcom was refreshingly unapologetic about it, and I’m glad to see they were rewarded for it. 
Nintendo juggernauts like Wii Fit, Wii Play, and the Mario Kart titles will (very deservedly) continue to consume the best-seller list month in and month out, because there’s a new casual gamer born every minute. I hope third parties continue to use different parts of the year and inspired, innovative promo to show their biggest fans how much they still care.
