A very interesting article I found today on Wh1pL4shL1ve_007's profile: http://www.ps-analog.com/news/articles/games. It shows the curve of number games released on all systems gen 7.

It looks oddly similar to this curve:

So what comes first, the chicken or the egg, or is it a two-way influence? Does the number of games released direct the HW sales trend, or does the HW sales trend inflate the number of games released, or is it both?

Why are these two curves so similar, and would the Wii's trend have been different had the number of games released kept its momentum to year 2012 as the other two platforms did?

Also, the magnitude of the Wii boom is greater in the "HW sales" trend than in the "# of games released" curve relative to the HD twins. Does that mean that the Wii had more demand despite less total number of games, driven by a few unique experiences, and that the HD twins needed a more lush offering to satisfy the needs of its clientbase? And did that change for the Wii over time, due to market confusion and software saturation (shovel-ware)?

Post your thoughts unique ones.

The poll will play an important part in this thread, so since the vote cuts of the texts, I'm pasting the options here and will give analysis later.

Poll: What is the relation?

The # games directs the HW sales.

The HW sales cause the # games to inflate or deflate. (demand)

It's a two-way relationship, but that balance depends on the consumer base

There is no relation, they are just coincidental phenomena.

It depends on the platform. For Wii, it's unique experiences mostly.

For Wii, the relation changed over time with saturation.

I would say so! It's practically been proven. It doesn't necessarily mean you need a lot of software, though. If you have several good games (Wii) it might go against the "SW = HW" tradition. It also depends on what type of games are on the console what type of people buy the console. There are many factors that go into this.

I don't think that graph is a good relation to hardware sales. The PS3 wasn't near the Wii in the early years, nor was the X360 outselling the Wii in that time.

I'd say software quantity, unique quality, hardware price, hardware features, and launch time are the factors to hardware sales

The thing that is happening to the Wii is that all the mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers and any other casual userbase, are already bored; and now nintendo fans are the only ones buying the games.

Can you elaborate? If possible, point by point (point form)

Like this:

1)

2)

3)

(asking nicely)

Jay, the curve is almost identical except for the magnitude of the Wii curve is much higher in the HW sales graph than in the # games released graph.

I thought I did? I posted the factors in the sentences before that one. It isn't it that poi.t way though. Why do you want me to do that?

^I thought there was more, so I asked you to elaborate. If that was it, then no problem

To actually follow up on your post then:
I agree that the Wii followed Nintendo tradition in its first 2-3 years. It pushed hardware with select quality titles. The big saying back then and in Cube days was quality over quantity, because Nintendo at the time had a reputation for releasing few titles to support their system, but all being of utmost quality.

It seems though that year 3 and beyond, that wasn't working anymore, and even when less SW came in but more unique propositions were being offered (motion+), the HW curve continued to descend. So what happened? (question to everybody)

If it was then Xbox 360 would have been the best selling console this generation by quite a margin.

Quality > quantity.

happydolphin said: ^I thought there was more, so I asked you to elaborate. If that was it, then no problem To actually follow up on your post then: I agree that the Wii followed Nintendo tradition in its first 2-3 years. It pushed hardware with select quality titles. The big saying back then and in Cube days was quality over quantity, because Nintendo at the time had a reputation for releasing few titles to support their system, but all being of utmost quality. It seems though that year 3 and beyond, that wasn't working anymore, and even when less SW came in but more unique propositions were being offered (motion+), the HW curve continued to descend. So what happened? (question to everybody)

The people who wanted it already bought into it. The "Casual" gamer (or non-gamer family) would most likely buy something they like near when it comes out. The Wii had a great run, it's done it's time. Time for the reign of Wii U!