Japan Sales: Famitsu & Media Create - Week 3 ( Jan 14-20)

[DanneSandin]

RolStoppable said:

DanneSandin said:

I just asked in general... To me, it's quite an awesome concept - but I haven't had the chance to try it out, so... yeah... But I understand why it's no new Wii; touchscreens and tablets aren't a novelty these days - but it might have been if Apple hadn't launched the iPad, and when that was released it was too late for Nintendo to change direction.

But how is it you think it's a bad concept?

Remember the Wii? One of the key points was that conventional controllers posed a psychological barrier due to their amount of sticks and buttons. Nintendo succeeded, because they removed this barrier to entry with the Wiimote. People bought Wiis in droves, because the controller was different and the games were different. However, with the Wii U Nintendo went back to the pre-Wii days with their controller design. Just because they put a touchscreen on it doesn't make the conventional controller awesome. People got accustomed to the Wiimote and then Nintendo puts out this monster of a controller that goes completely against what the Wii stood for. Sure, Wiimotes still work on the Wii U, but they are not the main controller anymore.

Yes, I can see how the Wii U controller can be a barrier for casual gamers, but that shouldn't stop it selling to more core centric players - the crowed that bought PS360. But of course, I can see a whole lot of arguments why they wouldn't by it... But, if (and that's a pretty big if) Wii U gets all the 3rd party games as the future PS720 would you still deem it somewhat of a failure?

Regarding novelties, the DS already used a touchscreen, so the Wii U controller wouldn't have been anything new anyway.

Yes, but I doubt a lot of adults played the DS... Some how I doubt the soccer moms that used the Wii Fit picked up the DS as well, so for them it would still have been a novel idea (that is, before the launch of iPad)

For Japan specifically, we have seen the market moving towards handhelds, because mobility is much more valued than graphical prowess. The Japanese play their handhelds everywhere, including at home. Nintendo's thought process must have been that their home console can benefit from featuring off-TV screen play, because it's doing the same job as a handheld within people's own four walls. But all this will do is cannibalize the sales of either their handheld or their home console. The system that gets the games will be fine. The system that does not, however...

This is weird, because I can swear I just read in another thread that you don't believe in cannibalization... But I get what you're saying with regards of how the Japanese prefer HH.

Sony faced this exact problem in the seventh generation. The PSP cannibalized PS3 sales*, because a handheld is the superior choice in Japan (unlike in the rest of the world). There are two ways to keep home consoles alive:

1. The home console gets a good number of big exclusive games. That was basically the saving grace for the PS3, because many big main series games weren't released on the PSP. Also, since the 360 was practically dead in Japan, every multiplatform game was effectively a PS3 exclusive.

2. The home console offers games that cannot be replicated on a handheld (this can be combined with point 1). This is why the Wii wasn't cannibalized by the DS**. You simply can't make Wii Sports or Wii Fit for a handheld.

For the Wii U you better don't get your hopes up that point 1 becomes reality. For point 2 it isn't properly equipped, unless Nintendo goes back to their Wii ways and emphasizes the Wiimote again, because the Gamepad is very similar to what you get with a 3DS.

*The PS3 and PSP received the vast majority of third party support (like usual for Sony) in the seventh generation. Sony had two systems on the market, but their sales didn't double over the sixth generation. PS2 did about 22m, the PS3 and PSP combined will maybe end up around 33m.

**The Wii received hardly any third party support. The DS only during the middle of its lifespan; the beginning and end were rather dry. Essentially, Nintendo had similar support as in the sixth generation. The Wii outsold the GC by a factor of 3, the DS outsold the GBA by a factor of 2. Huge gains in both cases, because Nintendo managed to attract new audiences while giving both of their systems unique identities.

Do you think there is something Nintendo can do to turn this bad concept around? Or do they simply have to hold out for this gen to be over and hope next time will go down better?