Now, I could be way off-base with this, and I'm prepared to eat crow should I be wrong.
That said, though, from a marketing standpoint, this decision would make the most sense.
Consider a few key factors:
1) Mewtwo was the most prominent of the cut characters, being unique in his moveset.
2) As we've found, there were references to him in Brawl, meaning they had intended, at some point, to get him in.
3) He's the one that would generate the most hype (sorry, Roy/Dr.Mario/Pichu fans, they just weren't distinctive enough).
4) For the most part, consumers have attention spans closely resembling goldfish.
Add all these together, and, while I'm clearly not in marketing, I'd hope this would be common sense enough to figure out that the way to ensure the most people buy the game at (3DS) launch, is to wait 'til about two weeks before, and then drop your biggest piece of news. The intended effect is to make sure the hype is at its peak right as the game is preparing for first sales.
Let's face it: if they revealed Mewtwo at E3, and Smash 3DS doesn't come until August, that's six weeks for that hype to die down, and hype levels generally translate to first day and week sales figures. They have us devotees already, but 6 weeks is a long time for the more casual players, and they'll likely forget about it by the time release rolls around.
That said, though, from a marketing standpoint, this decision would make the most sense.
Consider a few key factors:
1) Mewtwo was the most prominent of the cut characters, being unique in his moveset.
2) As we've found, there were references to him in Brawl, meaning they had intended, at some point, to get him in.
3) He's the one that would generate the most hype (sorry, Roy/Dr.Mario/Pichu fans, they just weren't distinctive enough).
4) For the most part, consumers have attention spans closely resembling goldfish.
Add all these together, and, while I'm clearly not in marketing, I'd hope this would be common sense enough to figure out that the way to ensure the most people buy the game at (3DS) launch, is to wait 'til about two weeks before, and then drop your biggest piece of news. The intended effect is to make sure the hype is at its peak right as the game is preparing for first sales.
Let's face it: if they revealed Mewtwo at E3, and Smash 3DS doesn't come until August, that's six weeks for that hype to die down, and hype levels generally translate to first day and week sales figures. They have us devotees already, but 6 weeks is a long time for the more casual players, and they'll likely forget about it by the time release rolls around.
