Squilliam said:
Khuutra said:
Squilliam said:
landguy1 said:
I disagree with the notion that Nintendo was aggressive at all with the Wii. Clearly, the Wii's general success was hoped for, but in no way planned for. If they had ANY idea that it would have hit this big, they would have had twice the production planned during its first 18 months.
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They would have charged $299 for the priviledge of owning one and wouldn't have given their biggest ever game away for free had they had any idea.
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I disagree; based on Iwata Asks interviews, the idea behind it was that the packed-in software was going to drive sales, and the take-away inside of Nintendo is that Wii Sports worked as a pack-in.
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The Wii would have sold as much over the first few years without it as a pack in given the perenial shortages. Effectively the Wii was under-priced given their inability to make enough consoles. Had they gone for something a little bit more expensive and a bit more sprightly under the hood their revenues/profits would have been higher again and likely the tail end of their sales would have been flatter with more generous margins even if the price curve had remained the same.
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After your basic agreement with my original thoughts, i hate to disagree now...
But, i think he was right about Wii Play. It is what really showcased the originality of the system, thus becoming the real reason for the systems success. I think that most of the big hits on the Wii have been unrelated to the motion control(except the WiiFit/Wiii Sports). Most of Nintendo's cast of Marios and Zeldas will sell no matter what system they are on with or without the motion control. It just helps to have such a monstrous install base to sell into. Sure most of the games have motion control in them, but it is not essential, it just seems that they have it for the sake of having it.
Either way, WiiPlay was essential to its success until it passed into Lemming status(about 6 days after launch!!).