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Forums - Nintendo - Nintendo Wii is a fad claim revisited.

 

Was Wii a fad?

Yes 219 55.30%
 
No 147 37.12%
 
Hesitant to say one way o... 29 7.32%
 
Total:395
Mummelmann on 24 March 2013
Gamerace said:
I would say Wii Sports and absolutely Wii Fit were fads.

I wouldn't call Wii itself a fad. It had a very successful and very typical 5 year console life. It's PS3/360 which have broken with historic console sales norms. Slower starts (due to initial high prices, and on market (without replacement) longer than any before in gaming history.

If the 8th gen ended in 2010/2011 like previous generations (That is 5 years after they began) then there would have been absolutely nothing 'fadish' about the Wii's sales. All consoles would have peaked in year three (as typical) and been replaced in year five. Wii would have just done it more successfully (thanks to the fads of Wii Sports and Wii Fit).

If Wii have dropped like a rock in 2009 they you could call it a fad. Sales have been in constant decline since 2011 (normal end for a console) and that's due to a lot of normal factors - it's outdated (SD not HD), it's gotten stale (as all consoles do), and 2010 was the last great year for Wii software-wise. And as we all know, without great software, hardware will drop.

Therefore I do not see any basis for calling Wii (the console) a fad.

Agree with this. The lifetime sales and averages are just about normal, the sales curve and spikes are what sets the Wii apart in hindsight (incredibly rapid rise followed by historical decline).

According to the wikipedia definition, I suppose an argument can be made for calling it a fad though but I don't know if I'd go so far as to actually put it that bluntly.



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Mazty on 24 March 2013
RolStoppable said:
pokoko said:
The defensiveness over the use of the word "fad" is really interesting, as is some of the sophistry being employed to discredit the idea. The PSP a fad? I mean, really?

Is it truly so painful to admit that a certain segment of the Wii's sales fit the imitative model of a fad? I don't know why it the response to that is so angry.

Any highly successful product will have some "me too" sales, where people rush out to impulse-buy rather than because of careful consideration or because that product fit with an established sense of taste and preference. The Wii definitely did, as non-gamers bought it in droves. I just don't get the vehemence of the denial.

Every successful console can be said to have had "me too" sales, so why is the Wii so much of an exception that only it can be a fad while no other video game system was? That's the main issue here, that certain folks redefine the term "fad" to fit the Wii, but no other system. And it's done for no other reason than to diminish the success of the Wii.

This is just like the legendary "The Wii is a toy" thread where somehow the Wii was the only console to be a toy while Sony and Microsoft consoles were not. Calling the Wii a toy isn't an issue, because video game systems are toys. But it becomes an issue when the statement is made for the sole reason of elitism and declaring the superiority of competing products.

When you look at what the Wii did in the seventh generation, nobody can claim that it took away third party games from Sony and Microsoft in any noteworthy manner. The success of the Wii didn't hurt owners of Sony and Microsoft consoles from a gaming standpoint. Pretty much the sole reason why anyone would need to downplay the Wii is because they are butthurt by the hardware sales of the console. They are butthurt, because the Wii didn't succeed for the reasons that a console should succeed in their eyes.

http://www.uh.edu/margo/paper.pdf

The sales and selling point of the wii indicates that the first two years of the console were indeed "fad" sales. The slower decline in sales imo can be attributed to the console then selling on it's gaming prowess rather than "oo motion controls" as would be indicitive of a fad item.



pokoko on 24 March 2013
RolStoppable said:

Every successful console can be said to have had "me too" sales, so why is the Wii so much of an exception that only it can be a fad while no other video game system was? That's the main issue here, that certain folks redefine the term "fad" to fit the Wii, but no other system. And it's done for no other reason than to diminish the success of the Wii.

This is just like the legendary "The Wii is a toy" thread where somehow the Wii was the only console to be a toy while Sony and Microsoft consoles were not. Calling the Wii a toy isn't an issue, because video game systems are toys. But it becomes an issue when the statement is made for the sole reason of elitism and declaring the superiority of competing products.

When you look at what the Wii did in the seventh generation, nobody can claim that it took away third party games from Sony and Microsoft in any noteworthy manner. The success of the Wii didn't hurt owners of Sony and Microsoft consoles from a gaming standpoint. Pretty much the sole reason why anyone would need to downplay the Wii is because they are butthurt by the hardware sales of the console. They are butthurt, because the Wii didn't succeed for the reasons that a console should succeed in their eyes.

You're really coming across as paranoid and reactionary with this.  You can't shout people down from analyzing something just because they're not bending over backwards to praise it.  I'm getting absolutely sick of hearing the inane "butthurt" counter-argument for bleeding everything.  It's ridiculous.  That term needs to die.  I assure you, looking at something critically is not the same as being "butthurt".

I said that the Wii was partially a fad, though I think Gamerace was probably more accurate by saying that Wii Sports and Wii Fit were the real fad products.  It just happens that the Wii was necessary to play them, to the point that many people used the term "Wii" as meaning "Wii Sports".

It's not even like it's a negative.  I don't get the anger at all.



Train wreck on 24 March 2013

I've always wondered what this site would look like when a nintendo home console becomes a non factor sales wise (like the 10 years before 2006)...guess we are seeing an early glimpse of it now.



fordy on 24 March 2013

No more than the PS2 was a fad...



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Jay520 on 24 March 2013

The word fad usually does have a negative connotation associated with it. It usually refers to a product that saw short success solely for its novelty rather than its quality. If that's the argument you are making, then you would have to support that. You would need to demonstrate that the factors that made the Wii successful are inherently incapable of seeing longterm success. This would be difficult because Nintendo really slowed support for the Wii late in its life; therefore the factors that made the Wii successful were absent when the Wii started to drop. Also, Nintendo seems to be following a different strategy with the Wii U, so you can't use the Wii U's sales either to support your point.

If you're using the formal definition of a fad, then of course it is clear that the Wii was a fad. It sold strong for a good five years and dropped hard. But then again, you could say the same for any non-Playstation console, since Sony has been the only manufacturer to experience extremely high sales years 5 and beyond. So basically, what you would be saying is the Wii followed a pattern different from Sony consoles, and instead followed a pattern similar to most consoles. But that really isn't telling much since its something we already know.



greenmedic88 on 24 March 2013

I'm going to say for the majority of consumers who pushed the Wii to 100 million units, it was a fad that ended sometime shortly after they stopped using Wii Fit.

I know plenty of light/non-gaming households who bought a Wii and stopped playing it within that time frame. To these consumers, it was a fad. I even remember one such person who was quite enthusiastic about Wii Fit ask me a year or so later if I was still playing the Wii, indicating they had stopped.

I know plenty of core gamers who eventually only used the Wii when a new major Nintendo franchise game was released before it went back into inactivity.

There were still a good 25 m Nintendo fans who continued to play enthusiastically (even if just for Smash Bros and Mario Kart parties) and were treated to plenty of solid titles from Nintendo all the way up to Skyward Sword, and then a couple of top rate exclusive non-Nintendo RPGs, but it seems like the big enthusiasm died somewhere around 2010.

3-4 years is a bit long to say it was a fad, between peak Nintendomania and Wii what? but I think the reality is there were millions of households who probably spent the majority of play time with Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and a handful of other games that weren't nearly played as much within a 2 year period before the console went largely unused.



Max King of the Wild on 24 March 2013
pokoko said:
RolStoppable said:

Every successful console can be said to have had "me too" sales, so why is the Wii so much of an exception that only it can be a fad while no other video game system was? That's the main issue here, that certain folks redefine the term "fad" to fit the Wii, but no other system. And it's done for no other reason than to diminish the success of the Wii.

This is just like the legendary "The Wii is a toy" thread where somehow the Wii was the only console to be a toy while Sony and Microsoft consoles were not. Calling the Wii a toy isn't an issue, because video game systems are toys. But it becomes an issue when the statement is made for the sole reason of elitism and declaring the superiority of competing products.

When you look at what the Wii did in the seventh generation, nobody can claim that it took away third party games from Sony and Microsoft in any noteworthy manner. The success of the Wii didn't hurt owners of Sony and Microsoft consoles from a gaming standpoint. Pretty much the sole reason why anyone would need to downplay the Wii is because they are butthurt by the hardware sales of the console. They are butthurt, because the Wii didn't succeed for the reasons that a console should succeed in their eyes.

You're really coming across as paranoid and reactionary with this.  You can't shout people down from analyzing something just because they're not bending over backwards to praise it.  I'm getting absolutely sick of hearing the inane "butthurt" counter-argument for bleeding everything.  It's ridiculous.  That term needs to die.  I assure you, looking at something critically is not the same as being "butthurt".

I said that the Wii was partially a fad, though I think Gamerace was probably more accurate by saying that Wii Sports and Wii Fit were the real fad products.  It just happens that the Wii was necessary to play them, to the point that many people used the term "Wii" as meaning "Wii Sports".

It's not even like it's a negative.  I don't get the anger at all.

The butt hurt comment is so fucking ridiculous considering I have a Wii and Ps3, last gen had a xbox and the gen before that had a 64 and Ps1, SNES, NES (I still have my 64 and SNES). If anything I'm a bigger nintendo fan than half the ones claiming they are Nintendo fans on this site.



phenom08 on 24 March 2013
Max King of the Wild said:
pokoko said:
RolStoppable said:

Every successful console can be said to have had "me too" sales, so why is the Wii so much of an exception that only it can be a fad while no other video game system was? That's the main issue here, that certain folks redefine the term "fad" to fit the Wii, but no other system. And it's done for no other reason than to diminish the success of the Wii.

This is just like the legendary "The Wii is a toy" thread where somehow the Wii was the only console to be a toy while Sony and Microsoft consoles were not. Calling the Wii a toy isn't an issue, because video game systems are toys. But it becomes an issue when the statement is made for the sole reason of elitism and declaring the superiority of competing products.

When you look at what the Wii did in the seventh generation, nobody can claim that it took away third party games from Sony and Microsoft in any noteworthy manner. The success of the Wii didn't hurt owners of Sony and Microsoft consoles from a gaming standpoint. Pretty much the sole reason why anyone would need to downplay the Wii is because they are butthurt by the hardware sales of the console. They are butthurt, because the Wii didn't succeed for the reasons that a console should succeed in their eyes.

You're really coming across as paranoid and reactionary with this.  You can't shout people down from analyzing something just because they're not bending over backwards to praise it.  I'm getting absolutely sick of hearing the inane "butthurt" counter-argument for bleeding everything.  It's ridiculous.  That term needs to die.  I assure you, looking at something critically is not the same as being "butthurt".

I said that the Wii was partially a fad, though I think Gamerace was probably more accurate by saying that Wii Sports and Wii Fit were the real fad products.  It just happens that the Wii was necessary to play them, to the point that many people used the term "Wii" as meaning "Wii Sports".

It's not even like it's a negative.  I don't get the anger at all.

The butt hurt comment is so fucking ridiculous considering I have a Wii and Ps3, last gen had a xbox and the gen before that had a 64 and Ps1, SNES, NES (I still have my 64 and SNES). If anything I'm a bigger nintendo fan than half the ones claiming they are Nintendo fans on this site.


We can all make things up bud. Anyways its true, usually haters try to downplay the Wiis success by calling it a fad. Its usually just people being butthurt.



phenom08 on 24 March 2013
pokoko said:
RolStoppable said:

Every successful console can be said to have had "me too" sales, so why is the Wii so much of an exception that only it can be a fad while no other video game system was? That's the main issue here, that certain folks redefine the term "fad" to fit the Wii, but no other system. And it's done for no other reason than to diminish the success of the Wii.

This is just like the legendary "The Wii is a toy" thread where somehow the Wii was the only console to be a toy while Sony and Microsoft consoles were not. Calling the Wii a toy isn't an issue, because video game systems are toys. But it becomes an issue when the statement is made for the sole reason of elitism and declaring the superiority of competing products.

When you look at what the Wii did in the seventh generation, nobody can claim that it took away third party games from Sony and Microsoft in any noteworthy manner. The success of the Wii didn't hurt owners of Sony and Microsoft consoles from a gaming standpoint. Pretty much the sole reason why anyone would need to downplay the Wii is because they are butthurt by the hardware sales of the console. They are butthurt, because the Wii didn't succeed for the reasons that a console should succeed in their eyes.

You're really coming across as paranoid and reactionary with this.  You can't shout people down from analyzing something just because they're not bending over backwards to praise it.  I'm getting absolutely sick of hearing the inane "butthurt" counter-argument for bleeding everything.  It's ridiculous.  That term needs to die.  I assure you, looking at something critically is not the same as being "butthurt".

I said that the Wii was partially a fad, though I think Gamerace was probably more accurate by saying that Wii Sports and Wii Fit were the real fad products.  It just happens that the Wii was necessary to play them, to the point that many people used the term "Wii" as meaning "Wii Sports".

It's not even like it's a negative.  I don't get the anger at all.


Except you arent critically analyzing this at all. Seriously some of these posters claim it only had 3-4 good years? What exactly is a good year? Most consider 2011 poor for Wii, even though what it sold that year is as good as what the others sold in their peaks. Who decides what a leading platform should do in its 6 year? Its mostly just fans being butthurt about Wii selling more in 5 years than PS3/360 can do in 10 years.