"Question: do you think that having cheaper product in the form of a players choice title will cannibalize new product?"
No. Revenge looks like a really good title-much better than the original. As I see it, most of the wrestling fans have already purchased WCW vs. NWO. They will also buy Revenge. The consumers who will buy at the reduced price point are less likely, I believe, to buy Revenge, at least initially. Therefore, I don't expect any cannibalization between the 2 products. The main reason THQ wanted to push Revenge to Q4 is to make the marketing clearer (they didn't want the old game promoted while the new game appeared on shelves, because it could limit sales of the old game). This strategy is questionable, but it stands. The more important question to ask is whether the 2 N64 titles for Q4 will cannibalize each other. Revenge has received significantly more press than has Nitro 64, so THQ might be wise to ship Nitro during the last week of December, so that they hit the shelves in early January. This would allow Revenge to have 3 months without any WCW competition. Hopefully, the gamers who will buy Revenge will also buy Nitro. But I think that the extent to which this happens is related to the proximity of their release dates.
From what I've seen, WCW/NWO Revenge looks like it could be THQ's biggest game yet. Unless Nitro is a surprise, I don't think it will be a major hit. Still, THQ wants to flood the market with WCW titles before their license expires. It should be very interesting to see how this all unfolds.
Todd |
