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Forums - Sales - Wii losing its thunder?

menx64 on 22 August 2010

Yeah, it is losing its thunder, as it has been since it was released... No, Wii will win again this holiday season, ;) sorry PS3/360 fans, your dad will be back in december to kick as***...



Menx64

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Rpruett on 22 August 2010

The Wii is on it's slow down-ward spiral IMO. 

It will remain this generation's winner easily however but it's at a cross-roads now where Sony and MS are reaching financially viable mass market pricing as well as peripherals that make use of motion controls.  What makes a Wii more appealing than a full-fledged motion control line-up of Kinect or Move?  In my eyes,  not a ton.  Not anymore atleast.

This doesn't mean that the Wii won't outsell either the PS3/360 this holiday season but I don't think it will be a clear cut  huge victory and I would not be slightly surprised to see the Wii hit 2nd or even 3rd place this holiday season.  The other systems have stronger libraries coming out this holiday season, lower prices , more features out of the box and their own motion controls. 



jarrod on 22 August 2010
Rpruett said:

.  What makes a Wii more appealing than a full-fledged motion control line-up of Kinect or Move?  

The same thing that made Wii a success in the first place: Nintendo games.

Wii Party alone will probably outsell all the (unbundled) Move and Kinect launch games combined.



adsl on 22 August 2010
Metallicube said:
kowhoho said:
Metallicube said:
thx1139 said:
Metallicube said:
thx1139 said:

Sorry Metallicube when you have 70M consoles already sold a title isnt going to cause everyone to run out and purchase a Wii.  It is the library and what the console offers. Pre 2010 holiday Wii was your only choice for a motion controll system.  That is now gone.  A couple of long time Nintendo faithful titles arent going to cause a bunch of people that dont have a Wii to go all nostalgic and pickup a Wii for them.  The people that would go nostalgic have already purchased a Wii.

Tell that to the PS2. The console has sold a good 140 million units. There's absolutely no reason Wii couldn't sell those kinds of numbers too. Keep in mind the Wii is still outpacing the PS2, despite having zero hardware movers in 2010. Though I think somewhere in the ballpark of 100 - 110 million is more realistic, since it does not have near the 3rd party support PS2 had, plus the added sales of people rebuying for the slim and the issue of consoles breaking down. So it will probably not outsell PS2, but will certainly outsell PS1.

Whatever, I'm done arguing that Donkey Kong Country is going to move consoles, because the sales will speak for themselves when they come in November (although I'm sure some people will still use the excuse that it's just the holiday boost rather than the game). But I will say one more thing, it's not about nostalgia, it's about making a great game that appeals to a wide audience. Donkey Kong Country is a game that seems to accomplish this, as NSMB Wii did. Side scrolling platformers are games that are widely loved by many, but rarely made these days, creating pent up demand, which is why I think this game can be huge.

And the people that wanted the side scolling platformer picked up a Wii for NSMB. They arent going to pickup another Wii for DKCR.  What does this have to do with the PS2 anyway.  The PS2, GCN and Xbox were similiar in capabilities.  The Wii had one capability the PS3 and the 360 did not have that people want and that is motion control.  That advantage is now gone.  They all have good libraries (I would say the PS3 and 360 libraries are superior) and now all have motion control.  The Wii also was the fitnes console and that is gone as well.  You want to sweat get Kinect and a 360 and that word will get out.

How are you so sure that everybody who likes side scrollers picked up a Wii for NSMB? That's like saying that everybody who likes FPS already got a 360 for Halo 3. Yet I think we both know that Halo Reach and Gears 3 will push some consoles.

Maybe some people simply love Donkey Kong Country and aren't as into Mario. Maybe some people were on the borderline with NSMB and are now swayed with DKC. Maybe some people sold their console and are now thinking of rebuying with Donkey Kong. Maybe some little kids are getting their first console this holiday and are interested in Donkey Kong. I know people that love the Donkey Kong Country series more than Mario games. You even have it as your sig; software is what sells hardware, and DKC will only strengthen Wii's library.

As for the motion control, it's only a piece of the puzzle to the console's success. The root of Wii's success isn't necessarilly motion control, but rather embracing the roots of arcade-style gaming, similar to the Atari 2600 and the NES. That is, pick up and play action games with little focus on cinematics and complex controls and more focued on raw gameplay that appeals to a wide audience. Motion control is just a means to an end.

I am fairly confident that if the Wii had arrived with no motion control and the sub-HD graphics it offers, it would be in last place right now.

And this is likely the assumption most 3rd parties had on Wii, which is why they were so surprised that their games failed, despite the fact that they were poor quality. They expected motion control to bail them out, since.. "well it worked with Wii Sports right?" Motion control does not cast this magical spell on people that suddenly makes them want to play games. Motion control can be fun, sure, and it offers a new way to play games. But if they games themselves are no fun, motion control will not help you.

If what you said is true, then NSMB Wii, a game that barely uses motion control, would not be the massive succes it is. As I said several times, software sells consoles. And not only does Wii have the most software out of the three consoles, but it also has by far the most software that appeals to the most people.


And this why Wii sold more 70 millions units, it has the most diverse library of games in the gen. It has games to children, teenagers, adults  and even old-aged, unfortunately many people here and in sites like IGN can't admit that.



adsl on 22 August 2010
jarrod said:
Rpruett said:

.  What makes a Wii more appealing than a full-fledged motion control line-up of Kinect or Move?  

The same thing that made Wii a success in the first place: Nintendo games.

Wii Party alone will probably outsell all the (unbundled) Move and Kinect launch games combined.

Wii Party really have that potential. But I think that the game that will "save" the Wii sales this year will be Donkey Kong.

Dance Central has no chance against Just Dance 2 only because in Just Dance 8 people can play at the same time but in Dance Central only two can.

And about Kinect: when a saw the announcement at 2009 E3 I was impressed about it potential however when I saw its launch line-up I got very disappointed because the lack of innovation, MS introduced only copies of the Wii games and tons of fitness games.  



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Aiddon on 22 August 2010

The Wii is far from losing its thunder; next week we have Metroid: Other M, in October Kirby comes back as well as NBA Jam, and then in November Donkey Kong Country Returns. I also expect stuff like Mario Galaxy 2 to get a big boost when the holidays start up. Plus if it WAS losing its thunder that would be expected considering the fact that it regularly beat the stuffing out of BOTH of its competitors year to year since its launch and it might be reaching market saturation



Rpruett on 22 August 2010
jarrod said:
Rpruett said:

.  What makes a Wii more appealing than a full-fledged motion control line-up of Kinect or Move?  

The same thing that made Wii a success in the first place: Nintendo games.

Wii Party alone will probably outsell all the (unbundled) Move and Kinect launch games combined.


I don't believe for one second that Nintendo games were the sole or even primary reason for Nintendo being in a success in the first place this generation.  I believe Motion controls and price take the top two spots. 

The Nintendo games just were after thoughts or benefits after the fact.  I say this because,  I have had a blast playing Nintendo games on every Nintendo console (Dating back to NES/SNES/N64/GameCube)  good games from Nintendo has been a constant not a variable.    Motion controls and price (relative to the competition) is a variable however. 



thx1139 on 22 August 2010
Aiddon said:

The Wii is far from losing its thunder; next week we have Metroid: Other M, in October Kirby comes back as well as NBA Jam, and then in November Donkey Kong Country Returns. I also expect stuff like Mario Galaxy 2 to get a big boost when the holidays start up. Plus if it WAS losing its thunder that would be expected considering the fact that it regularly beat the stuffing out of BOTH of its competitors year to year since its launch and it might be reaching market saturation

So last year

August the Wii averages about 220K per week.

September the Wii averaged around 160K per week.

October averages about 370K per week.

 

So how much will Metroid Other M boost the Wii later this month to start catching up.  This year the Wii in August is averaging just over 150K per week.



Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.

Euphoria14 on 22 August 2010
Gamerace said:

No need for all that.   Nintendo just needs to bring out a modern version of the only NES peripheral without a Wii variation yet:

NES                                                                                                                                                            

Admit it.   You'd buy a Wii for that.  You know you would...


Check the avatar.

He was so cool back in the day with Gyromite.



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Metallicube on 22 August 2010
thx1139 said:
Mr Khan said:
thx1139 said:
Metallicube said:

How are you so sure that everybody who likes side scrollers picked up a Wii for NSMB? That's like saying that everybody who likes FPS already got a 360 for Halo 3. Yet I think we both know that Halo Reach and Gears 3 will push some consoles.

Maybe some people simply love Donkey Kong Country and aren't as into Mario. Maybe some people were on the borderline with NSMB and are now swayed with DKC. Maybe some people sold their console and are now thinking of rebuying with Donkey Kong. Maybe some little kids are getting their first console this holiday and are interested in Donkey Kong. I know people that love the Donkey Kong Country series more than Mario games. You even have it as your sig; software is what sells hardware, and DKC will only strengthen Wii's library.

As for the motion control, it's only a piece of the puzzle to the console's success. The root of Wii's success isn't necessarilly motion control, but rather embracing the roots of arcade-style gaming, similar to the Atari 2600 and the NES. That is, pick up and play action games with little focus on cinematics and complex controls and more focued on raw gameplay that appeals to a wide audience. Motion control is just a means to an end.

No it is motion control gaming.  You know it is motion control gaming otherwise the N64 and the GCN would have done just as well.  Do I think Reach will push some consoles? Do I think Gears 3 will push some consoles? Sure, but not to the extend that many here claim that DKCR believe will push Wiis.   I for one also dont believe NSMBWii was the reason the Wii sold well last holiday.  It was the holiday, the price cut and the continued interest in both Motion Control gaming and fitness (After all for every 2 Wiis that are sold a copy of WiiFit is sold).  No game this deep into a generation has a huge impact on console sales unless it is a total game changer.    Something like WiiFit was a game changer, something like Kinect is a potential game changer.  A new platformer side or third person for a console known for platformer titles isnt.  Software may sell fabulously well, but as my signature says.  Now it is about the library.  Wii has a strong enough library already.  Problem is the public is starting to see that thier is something else out there that offers the differentiator that the Wii used to have a monopoly on.

You're a non-believer in the power of the killer app, so there's little that can be said in this case, but that's the long and short of it. NSMBWii single-handedly revived the Wii, with only minor help from the price cut and a bit more help from Wii Sports Resort. Even if the other consoles are more library-based, Wii is clearly killer-app driven, given that its success handily reflects a small core of titles that have borne the weight of the system on their backs.

I am just looking at the reality of the situation.  Last year the Wii was selling right about 190K per week (according to VGC) until Wii Sports Resort launched and over about 3 weeks it sold about an additional 200K above the 190K per week average. So about 200K can be credited to WiiSports Resort as an immediate boost.  By the mddle of August the Wii was back down to 190K or even less with a low point of about 150K the week before the price cut.  The price cut immediatly boosted the Wii to 330K the 1st week of October and continued to grow.  The week of NSMBWii launched in late November the Wii jumped 36% and the 360 jumped 18%.  This is right at the start of the huge holiday sales boost that happen in the US.  Did NSMBwii help? Sure.  Was it responsible for the majority of the boost? Nope, sales had already climbed signifigantly with the price cut and continued as we headed into the holidays. The second week of NSMBWii sales of the Wii jumped 54% and the 360 jumped 51%. 

The influence of NSMBWii and Wii Sports Resort are greatly exagerated.

So you think the Wii selling the most consoles in US history in December, selling 4.3 million 3 years into its release, is mainly the result of a $50 price cut? Wii did not recieve a major boost in sales after the price cut. Only after NSMB Wii did it recieve a major boost, and a sustained one at that.

2D Mario games are the most popular games in the world, thus they have the ability to move hardware. As DKC will  to an extent.

Sure, a cheaper Wii may look more appealing to many, but why do you think these people want to buy a Wii in the first place? To play games. I find it hilarious tat people seem to be using every excuse in the book for the Wii's strong/weak sales except for the one that is real, THE GAMES!