News
What happened to Viva Pinata?
April 30th, in the year of
our Lord 2013, Cordova, TN. There are questions I
really have no answers to. There are questions that sit on my
brain for weeks. There are questions that keep me awake at
night. One of those questions is - What happened to Viva Pinata?
Can someone out there please tell me what went wrong? This video
game franchise that was on the Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, and
Personal Computer also had its own television show series. Yet
with all of this exposure and success in terms of sales it was
turned off like a light switch. Families that enjoyed Viva
Pinata were being given nothing new to play. Viva Pinata has
been quietly retired. Which brings me back to – Why?
Sales did diminish from the first game (Viva Pinata) to the
second game (Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise). The party game
version (Viva Pinata Party Animals) was not that successful.
Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise on the Nintendo DS showed an uptick
in sales for the franchise. Did THQ market it different than
Microsoft Game Studios? Did the television show help in terms of
sales? I wish I knew the answers to these questions. As far as I
can tell Viva Pinata was immensely successful over a short term,
and then died off very quickly. Was there too many games for the
franchise in a short period of time?
Was there a reason families quickly jumped on board the Viva
Pinata gardening concept, and then just as quickly left it? Viva
Pinata had everything going for it to become as popular as
Pokemon. It didn't happen, and I am left to wonder why. Building
the garden, and attracting Pinata animals was fun. Watching
their little breeding dance to get more of the same Pinata
animal was cool. Stopping predators from eating your Pinata
animals was exciting. All of the diversity of game play, and
things that you could do with your park was amazing. Yet it
shriveled up and died. I wish I knew why. I miss the Viva Pinata
franchise, and hope it returns some day soon.
- Paul Bury
- Family Friendly Gaming