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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
Screamapillar on 25 March 2013
Max King of the Wild said:
Screamapillar said:
I think you're blurring the lines between 'fad' and 'success'.

On the one hand, yes, Wii had a very large explosion in popularity the moment it launched and it had subsided by the end of 2009, when it got it's first price cut and momentum had clearly subsided to a more typical level.

Even then, though, Wii still sold more hardware and software than either of the other consoles at the time. Wii didn't really start to seriously slow down and stall until 2011 and 2012. 2009-2010 were still banner years for hardware sales and the release of extremely popular software titles.

I think the thing is, Wii stopped being the word-of-mouth mainstream sensation right about the middle of 2009, and from then on it relied heavily on the tried-and-true Nintendo franchise sequels to sell itself.

So, yes, a segment of the Wii, heavily focusing on the front half of the system's life, was 'fad' in nature, on account of the Wii Remote and Wii Sports combo, but just as importantly, it was Nintendo's most successful console ever and their first-party franchise sequels sold better on Wii than on any previous hardware. Clearly, there is bountiful evidence that many of the 'fad' adopters stuck around and also picked up NSMB and Mario Kart, and some even jumped on board Galaxy 1 and 2.

Wii was shattering Ps2's pace. It was looking as if the Wii would sell more than the ps2... now it's looking as if it might tie the ps1. Thats clear indication of a fad.
Also, aren't fads by definition successful? But not all successes are fads (which I the counter points bringing in Ps2 are awfully weak). It might have sold healthy for 5 years like a "normal console life span" but the fact that it wont nearly live as long as ANY (NES, SNES, Ps1, Ps2) 1st place console is another clear indication.

Bold: is another trend for fads.

As people have pointed out. I'm not sure why people think it's a bad thing. I spent most of my teenage years skateboarding in the late 90's when it blew up. I dont regret it and had fun during that time. It was obviously a fad (thanks to tony hawk) even though the sport remains relevant today but not nearly the same capacity it once was. People try using that as evidence also... but those are clear signs of fads.

The point at which I would start considering something successful on it's own merits (not being a cool trend to follow) would be it's long term relevance (for lack of a better word) compared to the industries standards. Considering a 1st place console never fizzled out so quick would conform to that idea

I never said anything about PS2, or are you talking about something you said?  But I don't think you're correct when you say it won't live as long as other successful consoles.  Wii is still selling decently and software sales are also decent.  Even at Wii's absolute worst performance (let's say summer 2012 for the sake of argument), it was still far more successful than GameCube at any point in it's lifespan.  Why is Wii a fad merely because it fell back down to a reasonable, sustainable level three years after release?  I just don't see it that way.



The Screamapillar is easily identified by its constant screaming—it even screams in its sleep. The Screamapillar is the favorite food of everything, is sexually attracted to fire, and needs constant reassurance or it will die.

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Screamapillar on 25 March 2013
oniyide said:
Screamapillar said:
I think you're blurring the lines between 'fad' and 'success'.

On the one hand, yes, Wii had a very large explosion in popularity the moment it launched and it had subsided by the end of 2009, when it got it's first price cut and momentum had clearly subsided to a more typical level.

Even then, though, Wii still sold more hardware and software than either of the other consoles at the time. Wii didn't really start to seriously slow down and stall until 2011 and 2012. 2009-2010 were still banner years for hardware sales and the release of extremely popular software titles.

I think the thing is, Wii stopped being the word-of-mouth mainstream sensation right about the middle of 2009, and from then on it relied heavily on the tried-and-true Nintendo franchise sequels to sell itself.

So, yes, a segment of the Wii, heavily focusing on the front half of the system's life, was 'fad' in nature, on account of the Wii Remote and Wii Sports combo, but just as importantly, it was Nintendo's most successful console ever and their first-party franchise sequels sold better on Wii than on any previous hardware. Clearly, there is bountiful evidence that many of the 'fad' adopters stuck around and also picked up NSMB and Mario Kart, and some even jumped on board Galaxy 1 and 2.

actually their is evidence they didnt stick around. Those games released when Wii was at its peak. But if you actually look at the library youl will see that software sales dropped overall over time with only some doing good. Lets look at sequels. THere are only 2 series i can think of where, they actually got more popular over time. Raving Rabbids and Just Dance. Even some of Ninty's games cant say that. Galaxy2 didnt sell better than one, Wii play sequel, Carnival games, Zelda, deblob, epicMickey, damn near all EA sports games, etc. That is a stark contrast to most other systems, where the games sequels, at the very least sell about par. This tells me that people lost interest about midway through. I would love an explanation of why this is so.

I'm not talking about sequels to Wii games, I'm talking about Wii sequels to old, stable franchises.  Mario Kart Wii sold 33 million...Double Dash sold...7 million-ish?

Melee sold 7 mil, Brawl sold almost 12

Twilight Princess sold 7 mil, Wind Waker sold 4.5 mil

Galaxy sold 11 mil, Sunshine sold less than 6.5 mil

The popularity of Wii installments versus GameCube installments in these franchises proves that the expanded audience that caused Wii sales to explode got in on old Nintendo franchises that previously were in decline from N64 to GameCube. 



The Screamapillar is easily identified by its constant screaming—it even screams in its sleep. The Screamapillar is the favorite food of everything, is sexually attracted to fire, and needs constant reassurance or it will die.

Max King of the Wild on 25 March 2013
Screamapillar said:
Max King of the Wild said:
Screamapillar said:
I think you're blurring the lines between 'fad' and 'success'.

On the one hand, yes, Wii had a very large explosion in popularity the moment it launched and it had subsided by the end of 2009, when it got it's first price cut and momentum had clearly subsided to a more typical level.

Even then, though, Wii still sold more hardware and software than either of the other consoles at the time. Wii didn't really start to seriously slow down and stall until 2011 and 2012. 2009-2010 were still banner years for hardware sales and the release of extremely popular software titles.

I think the thing is, Wii stopped being the word-of-mouth mainstream sensation right about the middle of 2009, and from then on it relied heavily on the tried-and-true Nintendo franchise sequels to sell itself.

So, yes, a segment of the Wii, heavily focusing on the front half of the system's life, was 'fad' in nature, on account of the Wii Remote and Wii Sports combo, but just as importantly, it was Nintendo's most successful console ever and their first-party franchise sequels sold better on Wii than on any previous hardware. Clearly, there is bountiful evidence that many of the 'fad' adopters stuck around and also picked up NSMB and Mario Kart, and some even jumped on board Galaxy 1 and 2.

Wii was shattering Ps2's pace. It was looking as if the Wii would sell more than the ps2... now it's looking as if it might tie the ps1. Thats clear indication of a fad.
Also, aren't fads by definition successful? But not all successes are fads (which I the counter points bringing in Ps2 are awfully weak). It might have sold healthy for 5 years like a "normal console life span" but the fact that it wont nearly live as long as ANY (NES, SNES, Ps1, Ps2) 1st place console is another clear indication.

Bold: is another trend for fads.

As people have pointed out. I'm not sure why people think it's a bad thing. I spent most of my teenage years skateboarding in the late 90's when it blew up. I dont regret it and had fun during that time. It was obviously a fad (thanks to tony hawk) even though the sport remains relevant today but not nearly the same capacity it once was. People try using that as evidence also... but those are clear signs of fads.

The point at which I would start considering something successful on it's own merits (not being a cool trend to follow) would be it's long term relevance (for lack of a better word) compared to the industries standards. Considering a 1st place console never fizzled out so quick would conform to that idea

I never said anything about PS2, or are you talking about something you said?  But I don't think you're correct when you say it won't live as long as other successful consoles.  Wii is still selling decently and software sales are also decent.  Even at Wii's absolute worst performance (let's say summer 2012 for the sake of argument), it was still far more successful than GameCube at any point in it's lifespan.  Why is Wii a fad merely because it fell back down to a reasonable, sustainable level three years after release?  I just don't see it that way.

I was talking about generally through this thread. Niether you nor I said that just some others.  As for your post above this one lets see how those titles do on the Wii.



Mnementh on 25 March 2013

Torillian said:

Insulting those that disagree with you isn't allowed on this site.  Keep that in mind.  And no, being general about it doesn't help anything.  If I get into a debate and call everyone who voted for Mitt Romney a goatfucker after reading replies by people that voted for him I'm calling everyone that posted before and said that a goatfucker. 

So again, keep this in mind.  I'll leave this as a general warning to the thread at large about that particular issue.

You're right, I edited my post to change the wording.



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my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

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Jay520 on 25 March 2013
Jay520 said:
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.


What is your reply to this?

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J_Allard on 25 March 2013

Anything successful can be a fad.

Every console is a fad. Omg I haven't seen a PSone release in years! Guess people are over that fad.

Every huge selling game is a fad. I don't see MW1 still selling millions every year. Guess the MW1 fad is over.



Max King of the Wild on 25 March 2013
Mnementh said:
Cobretti2 said:
I agree Wii is suck a fad, I mean like the casuals have moved on already.

Oh wait Just Dance is still selling better that all the other hardcore 3rd party games combined on Wii.

Shht, don't tell all the people that are angry about the success of the Wii, they can assure themself by calling Wii a fad.

Funny, I have no anger towards Nintendo and this is the first gen I chose someone else over them (unless you count my brief endevor last gen with the xbox... never... again). You would think that I would love Nintendo to be successful. However, the Wii was not fun in my opinion and I will not support Nintendo again until they make a console that rivals N64 quality. In my opinion niether Wii's do that. But keep being blind and think it's just people who abandoned Nintendo after Ps1 released and hate Nintendo for being Nintendo



Mnementh on 25 March 2013
Max King of the Wild said:
Mnementh said:
Cobretti2 said:
I agree Wii is suck a fad, I mean like the casuals have moved on already.

Oh wait Just Dance is still selling better that all the other hardcore 3rd party games combined on Wii.

Shht, don't tell all the people that are angry about the success of the Wii, they can assure themself by calling Wii a fad.

Funny, I have no anger towards Nintendo ...

You misread my post. I don't say anyone claiming the Wii was a fad is angry about Wiis success, I said some that are angry about Wiis success may reassure themself by saying the Wii was a fad.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

10 years greatest game event!

bets: [GTA6]

Max King of the Wild on 25 March 2013
Jay520 said:
Jay520 said:
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.


What is your reply to this?


Sorry, didn't see the post due to the flood of nonsense. I disagree with your introduction as I have demonstrated above about skateboarding. The evidence to support your definition is so obvious. People went out in droves to purchase the Wii due to motion and Wii franchise and not because of Nintendo's quality software or else Nintendo would have seen the same amount of success with N64. Zelda:OoT and Mario 64 are my favorite games of all time. Did Nintendo slow support for the Wii due to being stupid or because they could tell the novelty was wearing off. I would like to think that Nintendo is a very competant company (even with the Wii U blunder) and they made a business decision to stop support a console that started showing weak consumer support. I never used Wii U's sales but the direction Nintendo was taking the Wii U.



oniyide on 25 March 2013
Screamapillar said:
oniyide said:
Screamapillar said:
I think you're blurring the lines between 'fad' and 'success'.

On the one hand, yes, Wii had a very large explosion in popularity the moment it launched and it had subsided by the end of 2009, when it got it's first price cut and momentum had clearly subsided to a more typical level.

Even then, though, Wii still sold more hardware and software than either of the other consoles at the time. Wii didn't really start to seriously slow down and stall until 2011 and 2012. 2009-2010 were still banner years for hardware sales and the release of extremely popular software titles.

I think the thing is, Wii stopped being the word-of-mouth mainstream sensation right about the middle of 2009, and from then on it relied heavily on the tried-and-true Nintendo franchise sequels to sell itself.

So, yes, a segment of the Wii, heavily focusing on the front half of the system's life, was 'fad' in nature, on account of the Wii Remote and Wii Sports combo, but just as importantly, it was Nintendo's most successful console ever and their first-party franchise sequels sold better on Wii than on any previous hardware. Clearly, there is bountiful evidence that many of the 'fad' adopters stuck around and also picked up NSMB and Mario Kart, and some even jumped on board Galaxy 1 and 2.

actually their is evidence they didnt stick around. Those games released when Wii was at its peak. But if you actually look at the library youl will see that software sales dropped overall over time with only some doing good. Lets look at sequels. THere are only 2 series i can think of where, they actually got more popular over time. Raving Rabbids and Just Dance. Even some of Ninty's games cant say that. Galaxy2 didnt sell better than one, Wii play sequel, Carnival games, Zelda, deblob, epicMickey, damn near all EA sports games, etc. That is a stark contrast to most other systems, where the games sequels, at the very least sell about par. This tells me that people lost interest about midway through. I would love an explanation of why this is so.

I'm not talking about sequels to Wii games, I'm talking about Wii sequels to old, stable franchises.  Mario Kart Wii sold 33 million...Double Dash sold...7 million-ish?

Melee sold 7 mil, Brawl sold almost 12

Twilight Princess sold 7 mil, Wind Waker sold 4.5 mil

Galaxy sold 11 mil, Sunshine sold less than 6.5 mil

The popularity of Wii installments versus GameCube installments in these franchises proves that the expanded audience that caused Wii sales to explode got in on old Nintendo franchises that previously were in decline from N64 to GameCube. 

Im not talking about GC because GC has no bearing on the players on Wii. How does an old console show that Wii players stuck around? it doesnt, it doesnt make any sense. We would have to look at actual WII game numbers and looking at the numbers throught the gen, their was a drastic drop in many series that were doing large numbers. So that tells me that didnt stick around, or they stopped buying as much games.