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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Software Will Not Boost Wii U Hardware Sales

Mythmaker1 on 29 March 2013
the_dengle said:
Mythmaker1 said:
the_dengle said:
Mythmaker1 said:


Probably going to regret going to all of this effort, but...

Okay, now point at the graph and tell me where the long-term sales boost is.

Right here.

With all those ups and downs, it might be easy to forget that the Wii outsold its competitors for 4 years. And had a nice, normal, heathly sales curve for a game console. You know, peaking in its third year and falling steadily after that.


I'm sorry, I don't think you understand what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about games that, after release, increased sales of the system over the long term.  You can look at that chart you scribbled over and see that practically none of these games had much of an impact on sales even a month after release.

Are you suggesting that with zero software releases, the Wii would have sold at the same rate?

Of course not. With no software, sales would have dropped. Fast. They didn't drop because the software was selling the hardware. Hardware sales don't just increase forever, they peak, they maintain, they fall. They tend to peak quickly, within the first three years. What I circled is a sustained period of high sales due to major software releases. That is software pushing hardware.

Of course not. I said in my first post that software helps maintain an increase in hardware sales. I simply said that they don't tend to drive those long-term increases...which is true. The increases that are maintained tend to start with something like a price-cut, or a remodeling, or an add-on like Kinect, Move, or Wii Fit, but that can't be maintained without software to reinforce that increase.

Wii sales peaked in 2008, 2 years after launch. For myself, I believe that Wii Fit had a lot to do with that increase, though I think the games that came out then and later helped maintain sales as time passed.



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tbone51 on 29 March 2013
Plezbo said:

Umm.... If you look at the hardware sales in America, this last week, with the release of MH:U and Lego City(amazing game by the way, better than GTA IV imo), the WiiU saw a sales increase of 198%. So, OP, you are so wrong that my head exploded and then reformed itself. You are wrong, illogical, and mostly just crazy.

Your argument is that software won't drive hardware sales, because WII U DOESN'T HAVE THE SOFTWARE THAT WILL DRIVE HARDWARE SALES FOR SONY AND MICROSOFT. Do you understand logic? You cannot if you just made that argument. Maybe what you meant is that Nintendo's Software won't drive any appreciable hardware bump in sales? I don't know, you seem ridiculously dull.

And long term sales boosts?  You seem not to understand economics here.  There is a limited demand for everything because there is a limited population.  You can't just have an infinite length of sales.  Using your argument, NOTHING drives longterm sales.  Look how shitty PS1 sales were last year THATS A TOTAL FAILURE OF A CONSOLE SONY SHOULD QUIT!!!!

You are a troll, you are trying to illicit a certain response, and this sort of thread is dull.  

WiiU won't get the sales of Wii because the landscape has changed.  I might also add that PS4 and NextBox won't reach the sales that they did for the same reasons.  The gaming landscape has changed.  Now you have smart phones and tablets that can play very decent games, the casual market has shifted to these devices.  Steam has eaten into a small chunk of the gaming population, but even a few percent is still millions of gamers.   This last generation of gaming is definitely the peak of standalone consoles, nothing will ever sell like the Wii or PS2 again, not ever, unless we are speaking of Tablets and phones.  The gaming market is too spread out these days.  In 2006, if you wanted to play anything better than chess or a crappy flash game you needed at cheapest, a DS, now you can play HD games on your phone.  

 

Someone close this thread, the OP is a troll. 



↑↑↑10points↑↑↑



Nem on 29 March 2013

I'm sorry, i can't resist hoping back here and pointing out how wrong the OP was. The latest hardware numbers prove the point.

Confirmed as a hater? Yup.



tbone51 on 29 March 2013
Nem said:

I'm sorry, i can't resist hoping back here and pointing out how wrong the OP was. The latest hardware numbers prove the point.

Confirmed as a hater? Yup.



In my eyes confirmed b4 the #s even came out!



Mythmaker1 on 29 March 2013
Nem said:

I'm sorry, i can't resist hoping back here and pointing out how wrong the OP was. The latest hardware numbers prove the point.

Confirmed as a hater? Yup.

Won't speak to the intent of the OP, but I don't think games alone aren't going to budge the Wii U from a consistent 30,000. We'll see a blip, maybe 2 weeks, maybe 3, and then we'll be back where we were.

Well, that might be unfair. We could see an increase, but probably something on the order of 10-20%. Which wouldn't be much help.

Not trying to start an argument, but...I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch. That's all I'm saying.



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nuckles87 on 29 March 2013
VGKing said:
nuckles87 said:
VGKing said:
The lack of these big-name 3rd party titles is what killed the Wii.(Of course Nintendo had some part in this as well)

Even though Wii U is getting some big games such as AC and Watch Dogs, its still missing some major franchises. The ones it did get didn't sell very well at launch so I think the future of 3rd party support for Wii U won't be much different than that of the Wii.

 

If you call selling 99 million units "killed" anyway. It was a lack of software in general that caused Wii's sales to stall. The Wii didn't need big name third party titles to sell units. After 2010, the Wii's software releases slowed to a trickle, with only two releases of any note in 2011 and almost nothing at all in 2012. No major Nintendo titles, let alone third party. Coincidentally, that's also when Wii's sales went into a downward spiral from which it would never reover.

Just look at 3DS. All it needed was a price cut, Mario 3D Land, and Mario Kart, and the system started selling great. Not saying it WILL happen with Wii U, as it is in a different situation from the 3DS, but it COULD, and it's too early to say whether or not it will.

3DS isn't exactly lighting the charts on fire. It's only selling well in Japan. Everywhere else its selling horribly considering its 2 years old.

 

"


The 3DS has been continuing to out pace the DS worldwide last I checked, and has done quite well during the holiday seasons. It's not lighting up the charts like the DS was at it's height, but then again it took the DS more then two years to reach it's height.

This article gives a pretty good idea of the 3DS's success after it's price cut and the launch of it's flagship software titles:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/03/06/a-year-later-3ds-sales-make-it-an-unqualified-success/

Worldwde success, mind you. So yeah, the 3DS is selling well. It's not flying off the shelves, but the roughly 31 million units it's expected to have sold by the end of it's second year is by no stretch of the imagination "horrible".

In any case, this is all something of a moot point. As the 3DS has shown, and as the Wii U has shown this past week, software DOES drive hardware sales.



arsenalrc15 on 29 March 2013

I'll be clear. My intent was to spark debate between the ardent Nintendo fans of this site as they continually defend the dismal Wii U sales numbers. Why do you think I worded my thread that way? You really think I'm that daft? hahaha

Having an almost 200% increase in weekly hardware sales is awesome, but when you consider the actual units sold, the Wii U is still in a miserable position.

If you do not realize that Nintendo's first party offerings will not be enough to spring Wii U hardware sales upward against the future sales of the Playstation 4 and next Xbox, then you need to smell the ashes.

Software does move hardware. It is becoming increasingly clear that the quantity of premium titles for the PS4 and the next Xbox will far outnumber the first party titles available for the Wii U.

As you continue to read about engines that will not be making the transition to Nintendo's 8th generation console, I feel that the smell will only get stronger in your nostrils.

Now you may flare up on the forums with pride for Nintendo, but I truly believe they have lost this time around, and that the company needs to realize that the Wii U was a mistake.



Roar_Of_War on 29 March 2013

You picked the wrong week to make this thread.



tbone51 on 29 March 2013
arsenalrc15 said:
I'll be clear. My intent was to spark debate between the ardent Nintendo fans of this site as they continually defend the dismal Wii U sales numbers. Why do you think I worded my thread that way? You really think I'm that daft? hahaha

Having an almost 200% increase in weekly hardware sales is awesome, but when you consider the actual units sold, the Wii U is still in a miserable position.

If you do not realize that Nintendo's first party offerings will not be enough to spring Wii U hardware sales upward against the future sales of the Playstation 4 and next Xbox, then you need to smell the ashes.

Software does move hardware. It is becoming increasingly clear that the quantity of premium titles for the PS4 and the next Xbox will far outnumber the first party titles available for the Wii U.

As you continue to read about engines that will not be making the transition to Nintendo's 8th generation console, I feel that the smell will only get stronger in your nostrils.

Now you may flare up on the forums with pride for Nintendo, but I truly believe they have lost this time around, and that the company needs to realize that the Wii U was a mistake.



really? Realllyyy?

I wanna hear your lifetime predictions for Vita and Wii U! Dooming both like they dont have a chance, your in denial http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=157842&page=1



Mythmaker1 on 29 March 2013
arsenalrc15 said:
I'll be clear. My intent was to spark debate between the ardent Nintendo fans of this site as they continually defend the dismal Wii U sales numbers. Why do you think I worded my thread that way? You really think I'm that daft? hahaha

Having an almost 200% increase in weekly hardware sales is awesome, but when you consider the actual units sold, the Wii U is still in a miserable position.

If you do not realize that Nintendo's first party offerings will not be enough to spring Wii U hardware sales upward against the future sales of the Playstation 4 and next Xbox, then you need to smell the ashes.

Software does move hardware. It is becoming increasingly clear that the quantity of premium titles for the PS4 and the next Xbox will far outnumber the first party titles available for the Wii U.

As you continue to read about engines that will not be making the transition to Nintendo's 8th generation console, I feel that the smell will only get stronger in your nostrils.

Now you may flare up on the forums with pride for Nintendo, but I truly believe they have lost this time around, and that the company needs to realize that the Wii U was a mistake.


In defense of the defenders, Nintendo first-party titles do have certain advantages: a more established/broad fanbase, higher profit margins (likely, considering the Wii U would be somewhat more dated tech), generally broader appeal, and fair consumer satisfaction. Their games are fun, cheap, appealing, and have a lot of fans. I don't think it'll make much difference in the end, but I'm not ruling out the possibility.

And I think it's safe to say that Nintendo know's they made a mistake with  the Wii U. Perhaps not that the Wii U itself is a mistake, but the way they've handled it definitely is.



I believe in honesty, civility, generosity, practicality, and impartiality.