What is curious to me is not the downward arc of the Wii. It is the upward trend of the Xbox 360. That system has been out a year longer than the Wii, but is selling more year-to-year.
I wonder how many people are buying second/replacement systems. In other words, what we don't know is how many people are existing customers and how many are new customers. And are a lot of people buying a second, different system?
Also, it is interesting in the attach rate stories which came out last month, the low Wii numbers got the headlines, but the Xbox and PS3 numbers were also in the 2s.
The economy in many areas of the world has been less than robust for the last couple of years. That has the entire industry in a funk.
Finally, everyone yells at Nintendo when there are no games for the Wii. But third-parties have not supported Nintendo consoles well the last three generations ... so there is plenty of fault to go around. (Maybe that is why so many are going out of business).
As for the topic, a Wii HD won't do it. What I expect is 2011 to be the milk out year ... a February-March price drop to $150 with some more games that people want to buy. Then sometime in early 2012, the announcement of a new Nintendo console for that holiday season will come. Of course, none of us will never get to play it since the Mayan calendar shows the world will end that year.
Mike from Morgantown
 I am Mario.I like to jump around, and would lead a fairly serene and aimless existence if it weren't for my friends always getting into trouble. I love to help out, even when it puts me at risk. I seem to make friends with people who just can't stay out of trouble. Wii Friend Code: 1624 6601 1126 1492 NNID: Mike_INTV |
