Has the Wii become one of the biggest disappointments in gaming?

[Ail]

Scoobes said:

Ail said:

I think that is actually up for debate.

The profits were more concentrated this gen but I don't think they were any less...

For first party Nintendo + Sony + Microsoft together did better in term of profits than last gen...( Nintendo did a lot better, Microsoft did a lot better, Sony did a lot worse).

Activision broke every record for profits and operating margin this gen for third parties ( which means they stole a lot of profits from other companies). That includes a 1 billion$ profit in 2011...

When all is said and done Take Two will probably do better this gen than last gen ( if GTA5 releases this fiscal year as they are planning).

EA did a lot worse..

Ubisoft did a little worse but in the same ballpark than last gen.

THQ did a lot worse.

Bethesda probably did a lot better ( hard to say by how much  as we don't get detailed numbers as they are owned by ZeniMax).

One would think Epic Games did a lot better ( between unreal royalties and Gear I think it's a given).

Bungie did a tonn better.

Valve did better ( they had few releases last gen on HD consoles but some good hits this gen with the orange box, portal and  portal 2).

Most smaller studios did worse.

Most Japanese studios did a lot worse ( exception might be Konami, hard to say as their video games results are merged with slot machines results and the slot machine business has been steadilly failing). Capcom I believe did decent. Square Enix was a lot worse...

 

I haven't computed the exact number but I think in 2011 Activision did more profit than all the others 3rd parties combined. That is the reality right now. Last gen those profits were more shared. And Activision might have been more involved in the Wii at the start of the gen with guitar hero but they aren't anymore now........

 

Valve did ridiculously well this gen but I doubt much of that can be attributed to the consoles. They're effectively a platform holder now with Steam and gaining royalties for digital purchases.

That's why I didn't mention Steam.

I just looked at what Valve did last gen on consoles compared to this gen and I believe the profits should be better as they had more successfull consoles releases.

I know that overall Valve profits increased a lot due to Steam, but even if you set Steam aside their console business was better this gen ( I'm not sure their PC business was actually better if you discount Steam but Steam is so integrated in their PC unit you can't really look at both separatly and their PC games have become a way to market Steam..).