Was the Wii a fad?

[Mummelmann]

Soriku said:

Mummelmann said:

Soriku said:

The definition of a fad is a short-lived craze. It's their best selling console and its decline has been consistent with the normal lifespan of the average console...how is it a fad again? At this point in its life you can't even say it has a weak library either, and there's many quality games on it that don't even require motion controls.

I'm not going to argue with the rest of the post but the bolded is just flat out wrong. There is nothing even remotely average about the Wii's incredible decline, especially considering its peak sales and installed base. And being a market leader makes it even more exceptional.

The Wii peaked in 2008 but has been consistently above the PS3 and 360 till last year, which is 4 years it's been on top. It doesn't really matter if it peaked early because it was still higher than the competition despite this. In 2010 it even sold better than 2007, so even if it peaked there was one instance where it sold better later on than a previous year, and it wasn't till last year till things slowed down. And you have to factor in that its peak was insanely high and broke the record. It couldn't be expected to continue to grow unlike the HD consoles, especially with SW support slowing down which has nothing to do with with the Wii being a fad. This whole generation is exceptional anyway.

I said no such thing, nor was that my point. The Wii's decline is not normal, it went from outselling the PS3 and 360 combined to selling less than each individually in a timespan of less than two years, that is unprecedented. It has seen decreases of over 40% yoy for some time, which is also unheard of, especially for a market leader.

You don't have to dig very far back on vgchartz to find a lot of threads that explicitly stated that the Wii would continue to grow, would sell incredible amounts, would get tremendous 3rd party support and would most assuredly be the longest living console this gen. This was not predicted, or rather, stated as fact, by only the ones with insane predictions of 200 million + consoles sold, it was the general consensus among Wii fans on the site. You and I have both been on here long enough to know that this is true. HD console growth and lack of tech causing the Wii to drop was also not an option to these people, the Wii was every bit as future proof as the others.

There were also those who didn't believe in the Wii's longevity, I was one of them. "The Wii is a sprinter and not a long distance runner." is what I used to say. I said silly things in the past and I stand by having said them, that's how you learn to moderate yourself and show an ounce of humility, why are there so many who can't do the same?