By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Train wreck on 13 January 2012
Edit Thread
happydolphin said:
Train wreck said:

Nintendo's cash cow has always been and will always be its mobile division. The majority of its profits is earned from there, so throwing up a chart with "Wii launch" when there are multiple drivers of profit growth for Nintendo is disingenuous. That said I have always been critical of Nintendo and alot of their hot starts and the Wii had just that, a hot start. I personally felt people were buying Wii's for the wrong reason, more of a profit motivator (i.e. I could buy a system that has chronic shortages and resell it at a higher value) than for a actual video game system. Once the novelty of the rarity of the system wore off and it had to sell by the merits of its game, that when the break happen and Nintendo has never been able to recover. Sure their first party titles were selling gangbusters but that crowded out 3rd parties who never had the opportunity to achieve the level of success on the Wii platform. Nintendo had the #1 device in the living room and lost that battle of the living room and is finishing up this generation on a horrific note. That wont translate well for the WiiU.

Though I agree with most of this, there are lots of points that are ambiguous.

First of all, on a general look at Nintendo's vg history post NES, Nintendo has always had the issue of stealing the limelight from 3rd parties. It's not a novel issue. That's one thing cleared up.

In terms of profit/revenue, Nintendo has always had high returns off its software. The hardware that really helped Nintendo was its portable hardware, for that you're right. But in general its revenue came from software. Think of the profits made on a 40$ game where 30$ are cashed in by Nintendo, then it sells in the 10s, 20s of millions! Then multiply that by a number of blockbusters. Here they were for the Wii:

http://www.vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&publisher=&console=Wii&genre=&minSales=0&results=50&sort=Total

Here they are for the DS:

http://www.vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php?name=&publisher=&console=DS&genre=&minSales=0&results=50&sort=Total

If I see clearly, the Wii beat the DS on the software front this gen. So, in terms of the greater portion of profit (software), the home console actually beat the portable console this gen. So your point about "Nintendo's cash cow has always been and will always be its mobile division." didn't hold true this gen. As for previous gens yeah it did hold true. But the Wii's software performance is the reason for the boost in the graph our buddy brought up. Now you'll counter-argument with the software bundles, but that only accounts for a MAXIMUM 95million software units bundled over 418Million total sold (top 30). It still beats DS's 309Mil units of software. (Top 30s) Add to this that the console games have a higher markup and margin, and the point is really driven home.

As for Nintendo being a "burst" or "hot start" company, it wasn't always the case. The Game Boy lasted many many years, and the Game Boy color helped keep it alive. The NES was a 10-year console. Granted the strategy was, regrettably, different for the Wii. But it's not a Nintendo habit per se, if you know what I mean. To your advantage, I agree that Nintendo did a bad job at handling the lifeline of the Wii. The remodel sucked, and the new models for xbox and ps this gen really helped boost HW sales for both platforms. But then again, the attach ratio for HD consoles is lower YoY (not 100% sure), so can this really be considered total success on the HD side in all judgement?

Lastly, the Wii never lost the battle for the living room, since many people still watch Netflix on the Wii (guilty as charged), and some will still turn it on to play their games (guilty again). All in all I can't agree with the general sentiment of your post, but I do agree with sporadic points you make here and there.

I'm saying that the Wii lost the battle of the living room even thought they are the top selling system.  You are saying that the wii never lost the battle of the living room in that people use Netflix and play games still.  I'm saying that using Netflix to determine that is mute because I believe the company wont be around in two years and its experience is not unique.  Now you are saying Netflix is irrelevant?