August 2013 NPD Thread! - 360:96k

[osed125]

Soundwave said:

osed125 said:

One game won't do anything, unless it's an extremely popular franchise (which Pikmin was not) and even with only one game, a boost can only last so long. February was different because the Wii U was still in the "launch window" period and people were still buying the launch games, that obviously wasn't going to last very long. If you thought Splinter Cell was going to boost the HW then you have bring yourself to the world of reality. 

Are we really that sure that 3D Mario (and not of the Mario 64/Galaxy variety that everyone seemed to want) and DKC are any more popular of a franchise over the NSMB series?

They better be at this rate, because Nintendo doesn't seem to have any other bullets in their gun left for the rest of the year other than a 10 year old GameCube game.

Pikmin 3 is probably the 4th or 5th "biggest" Wii U title of the year.

They are not, but more games = more reasons to buy one. They may not have a "system seller" (very very few games enter this category), but simple having more popular games will mean more people will be interested. Also, if we go by the 3DS, we can see that at least 3D Mario (with Mario 3D Land) is very popular, we can't say for sure about DKC because the one on the 3DS is a port, but the original on the Wii sold very well. Gamers rants on gaming forums don't reflect sales, if you see all people on VGC complaining about 3D World (myself included) it won't reflect the game's real performance.

Pikmin 3 being the "biggest" Wii U tittle this year doesn't mean anything. Nintendo could have Kid Icarus, F-Zero, Waverace and Pikmin this year (imagining that Zelda, DKC and 3D World aren't releasing this year) and Pikmin 3 would be their biggest tittle, so in your context, a game being their biggest doesn't mean anything when it comes to sells.