Nintendo: "We aren't competing with Sony or Microsoft"

[Shanobi]

BTFeather55 said:

Shanobi said:

BTFeather55 said:
Wii Sports Resort will be the first real test of whether or not the Wii is a fad. I wonder what the Wii is bigger than Jesus folks will say if it fails to reach 10,000,000 as a standalone title.

 

Based on what?

 

First, yes that game will be huge. Second, according to you we can just ignore sales of games like MarioKart Wii, which is trouncing GTA4 on two platforms, and Wii Fit, not to mention games like Zelda which has sold over 5 million units.

 

So what do you base that assesment on? I think it's great that you still cling to some shred of hope that it's still a "fad". Really, it's cute!

     I base it on the fact that there really isn't much of a reason to suspect that the demographic that Nintendo was trying to reach really buys that many new games.  Wii Sports has only sold as many copies as it has because it ids bundled with the Wii.  That is really the only thing that accounts for its sales.  It is not  great game by any stretch of the imagination, so that has nothing to do with its sales.  You don't see Wii Music listed as one of the top five best selling games each week do you?  The sales of Mario Kart Wii indicate that it was probably a game that appealed to Nintendo's core fans that have Wii's and it was probably bought by some of the new kids for their grandkids or something.  On the other hand, the stats that you bring up for Zelda are actually indicative of the fact that the new demographic doesn't buy that many games.  It is a substantially better game than either Mario Kart Wii -- a Game Rankings score in the low 80's, and Wii Sports a Game Rankings score less than 80, while Zelda has a Game Rankings score of 95 but has sold significantly less than Mario Kart Wii and Wii Sports, and Zelda:  TP has alsi sold less than Zelda on other recent Nintendo consoles.  And Mario Galaxy follows a similar pattern to Twilight Princess -- highest rated game on the Wii with sales that are significantly lower than games with significantly lower critical acceptance.

     If Wii Sports Resort doesn't sale gang busters it will begin to show the chinks in the Wii's armor as Animal Crossing and Wii Music have been doing. 

 

So if a game isn't in the top 5, then people aren't buying it?

Wii Music's 2.21 million sales mean absolutely nothing, because it's not in the top 5. I suppose that Mario Kart DS's astronomical sales mean nothing, because it's garnered them hanging out in the teens for the last few years. (I haven't seen the Wii version in the top 5 but for maybe once or twice, and look what it's done to the best selling HD titles that got to be in the top 5.)

Zelda:
NES 6.51m, 4.38m (Zelda II)
SNES 4.61
N64 7.60m (Ocarina) 3.36m (Majoras)
Gamecube 4.55m (Wind Waker)
Wii 5.10m (Twilight Princess) And still counting.


Metroid
NES 2.73m
SNES 1.42m
Gamecube 2.83m (mp1), 1.29m (mp2)
Wii 1.49m, so far.

Mario
NES 40.24m, 7.46m (2), 17.28m (3)
SNES 20.61m
N64 11.89m
Gamecube 6.28m
Wii 7.92m, so far.

Mariokart

SNES 8.76m
N64 9.87m
Gamecube 6.96m
Wii 14.01m, so far.

 

(*Edit)  Animal Crossing

Gamecube  2.98m

Wii 2.19m, and only what, 2 months after its release?

 

Chinks in the armor? Please.

 

So look at Zelda. It's still selling, and doing about what Zelda does in sales. It's a hardcore game, and selling to it's core audience.

 

"Critical acceptance" means nothing. Especially to these new gamers you keep referring to. Do you think they come to websites and read reviews for games? Or do you think they go over to their friends homes, play something like Carnival Games, and then go out and buy it for themselves?

Based on your own arguement, I can assess that these new gamers ARE buying games. Just not the ones you want to dictate to them.

And Wii Music is going to keep selling for a long, long time. So will all those other "(non)-critically accepted" games you refer to. And the core games continue to sell equally to, or better than many of their past incarnations.

 

(*Edit)- Also, if the new gamers aren't buying these games, again, how did Sonic and Mario at the olympics hit 6,648,997 units sold? Animal Crossing Wii is still in the top 10 worldwide (7th),  and all of the music games across all platforms are now being dominated by the Wii. 

So I see two things: 1) Core gamers are buying the core franchises at equal to, or higher than, the past numbers. 2) New Wii owners are buying TONS of games you don't like.