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Forums - Sales Discussion - Nintendo DS Sells over One Million in Korea

Lingyis on 26 January 2008

yeah, i think it's widely available, but in general i think it's just too expensive for ordinary chinese.

also, it's in japanese, which makes the demand somewhat lukewarm. it's hard to get an english version, or even pirated copies of games in english.

i don't know what an official nintendo release would use english. probably probably.

online games are very popular. if nintendo is to make real money in china some kind of online game would be crucial to its success. but nintendo seems too conservative to pursue that kind of strategy.



the Wii is an epidemic.

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clouette on 26 January 2008

launching wii or ds officially in one country requires games to be translated to their language. Not just doing advertisement and selling the hardware only.



WW Market share prediction on 31st March 08 (I make this prediction on 13 Dec 07):

Wii - 50%

X360 - 30%

PS3 - 20%

MANUELF on 26 January 2008

DS is the best handheld console forever



Kasz216 on 26 January 2008
Bodhesatva said:
Yeah, no one in China can afford a Wii, just like no one in China can afford a good PC, a high speed internet connection, and World of Warcraft.

 Arn't a some those WoW players like... jobs for people who get items and then the company sells them.  Basically paying people to powerlevel?

I remember reading about that about the time i read about a woman who got out of paying the estate tax because before she died she aquried a few million dollars worth of land.

MMORPG virtual land.  Congress has had talks about tryign to tax MMORPG players for the value of their "epic gear".



Kasz216 on 26 January 2008
Bodhesatva said:
BKK said:
Seriously, try finding a game store in any major city in China which don't stock any of the current gen consoles, even though none have been officially released there yet. Same is true in South East Asia. You don't even need to get them "chipped", as the stores have already done it. Granted, demand will go up once it's officially released, as it will be cheaper, and be advertised, but the console market isn't mature enough yet to sell mega numbers. In ten years time it might be a different story. It's not something I've heard, I frequently travel to Shanghai, Hong Kong/Macau/Shenzhen I live in the region.

I can't find any game store in a major city in China, because I'm not there. Interesting that you can find these, then -- why would Nintendo plan an official "launch" if this is the case? I clearly don't understand the Chinese market, because I also didn't know WoW was played largely through cafes.

Any info would be appreciated!


I wouldn't say "Widley available" but a number of wii's have been bought, modded and sold for a profit from Japan. Or that's what i've read on the matter anyway.

Not sure why the chinese would want a modded wii in Japanese.   

Now a Wii sold at actual price instead of inflated. That might go over better.  With actual chinese language added on?  Or atleast english?  That would go over much better.

Also... would actually be "widely" available.



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Bodhesatva on 26 January 2008
ioi said:
I think many are underestimating demand in China. I expect to see at least a couple of manufacturers announce huge (I'm talking a few million unit) launches in China 2008.

 Couple of manufacturers of what? You mean you expect PS3/360/Wii all to launch in China this year?



http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a324/Arkives/Disccopy.jpg%5B/IMG%5D">http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a324/Arkives/Disccopy.jpg%5B/IMG%5D">

Bodhesatva on 26 January 2008

Also, thought I'd add this:

http://kotaku.com/349222/mario-kart-korean-tv-serious-business

Mario Kart DS now has a show in Korea dedicated to it -- the entire show is just head-to-head matchups, like a sporting event. Or like Starcraft, if you'd prefer.

So yeah, DS TV in Korea. Sooounds like things are going well over there.  



http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a324/Arkives/Disccopy.jpg%5B/IMG%5D">http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a324/Arkives/Disccopy.jpg%5B/IMG%5D">

stranne on 26 January 2008

Do the chinese prefer japanese or western games?



shams on 26 January 2008

@ioi - yeah, where are the sales for these regions tracked? In 'Other' as 'other'?

I ask, because the latest figures:

Other:

ConsoleWeeklyTotal
26,1712,015,310
12,047790,469
11,4481,495,460
8,1874,326,417
7,099303,394
2,923132,799
Total67,875

... 

As you can see DS 'other' sales are just 2m. And if Taiwan + Korea account for almost 2m sales (as Taiwan figure was 700k in August, and will be a lot higher now? And Korea is1m?) - does this seem right?

Maybe its time to break down 'other' into a couple more major territories? (such as Korea & Taiwan?). 



Gesta Non Verba

Nocturnal is helping companies get cheaper game ratings in Australia:

Game Assessment website

Wii code: 2263 4706 2910 1099

NJ5 on 26 January 2008
Bodhesatva said:
ioi said:
I think many are underestimating demand in China. I expect to see at least a couple of manufacturers announce huge (I'm talking a few million unit) launches in China 2008.

Couple of manufacturers of what? You mean you expect PS3/360/Wii all to launch in China this year?


The Wii should indeed be launched this year there (and South Korea) according to Nintendo. It was even going to be launched in the spring, but supply issues in the rest of the world prevented them from doing it. The launch is still scheduled for 2008 though.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/26/nintendo-aims-for-2008-wii-launch-in-china-south-korea/

http://www.wiisworld.com/wii-news/wii-in-china.html

 



My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957