Nintendo: Metroid Other Ms sales, how do they work?

Nintendo perplexed at sales performance of Metroid: Other M

While Metroid: Other M has mostly been received positively, fanboy quibbles aside, it hasnt sold that well. Speaking especially about the US sales, Nintendo America President Reggie Fils-Aime has come out saying in a interview that the sales of the game were much less than anticipated and they cant get come to a conclusion on why. "We believe that [Metroid: Other M] could be, should be a million unit title. Were not going to get there, not through the holiday. And we are doing a lot of thinking as to why. Because its a great game. The consumer reaction because of the quality has been strong. Were doing a lot of thinking about why we didnt get there." Reggie also commented on the game saying he thought the marketing and advertising was strong but it still has only sold about half a million copies.

One idea floated to Reggie that could explain (in part) the low sales was that perhaps that the game strayed too far away from that people expect from a Metroid title. "First off, [I have] nothing but the greatest respect for the development team. Mr. Sakamoto [co-creator of Metoid] did a wonderful job. His partnership with us in promoting the game was stellar. Team Ninja [is] absolutely fabulous. Im not going to sit here and criticise a style of the game, but have I read the same feedback that said, broadly, that the portrayal of Samus felt different than how the player in the past had internalized the character? Ive heard and read the same feedback. Do I think its warranted or not? Im not quite sure yet… I dont yet believe that that is the driving factor to the performance of the game."

Could the problems with Metroid: Other M be the different approach of the game? What about a deeper problem with the Wii and the userbase it has. Perhap Samus isnt a well known star.