| robzo100 said:
I don't see any reason why Wii can't do what the PS2 has done/is doing once the generation goes away. If the Wii is 99 bucks by the time the next gen comes then it can still be a hot seller for ppl not willing to dish out big bucks for the next gen machines. |
This is really key, and what will ultimately determine if Wii ever passes PS2. Nintendo's past precedent also makes it hard to gauge how they'll handle the Wii wind down too... N64 and GC were basically just dropped, arguably even some months before their successors released. On the other hand, both NES and SNES had 1st party strong support several years out from their successor systems launching, and both even got smaller/cheaper system redesigns and renewed advertising campaigns to go with them. You'd think with Wii's record breaking success, they'd go for the NES/SNES model, but then that's something they haven't really been shown as capable of or even interested in recently. Their handheld/portable record is all over the map too, and too often influenced by other factors to really draw a good parallel (VB's implosion, Pokemon reviving GB and bringing a "2nd cycle", GBA delayed due to GBC's success, DS rushed to meet PSP head on, etc).
I think the other aspect is how Wii's handled in the smaller markets outside JP/US/UK/FR/DE/etc. I know recently Nintendo's made a major commitment in Korea (which has sort of payed off, at least relative to Sony/MS) and they put a lot of promotional and localization dollars into various other smaller markets to great success (Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, etc). Following the Portugal takeover, the next "target" is supposedly Brazil, which could be a major growth sector. I'm also curious to see if Nintendo ever plans to enter other potentially major markets directly, like Russia, Mexico or India. And if iQue ever figures out how to launch Wii in China.
