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Forums - Nintendo - Nintendo US Year 1 Console Sales (N64 vs. GCN vs. Wii vs. Wii U)

Soundwave on 13 September 2013
RolStoppable said:
Seece said:

What exactly could they have done to go after the blue ocean again?? Seems to me their hands were tied.

It would have been as simple as releasing a Super Wii with a bundled game for $250 (better motion controls, better eShop etc.), because Sony and Microsoft aren't interested in building such a console. Instead Nintendo made the Wii U which got instantly perceived as the HD triplet, a problem that the Wii never had. While the Wii's horsepower wasn't far ahead of the four sixth generation consoles, the market didn't perceive it as a fifth console that is arriving several years late.

A better Wii was all that Nintendo needed to make, but instead they repackaged the GameCube strategy and slapped the Wii brand on it. The GC was very much a triplet too (after Sega had to withdraw from the market).


That would probably sell better than the Wii U, but just about anything would probably sell better than the Wii U.

Truth is casual gamers were a tease ... they were the girl in the bar who flirts with you and dances with you but has zero intention of being your girlfriend. You just happened to be the guy that happened to catch her attention that week by saying something funny, next weekend she's off with someone else. Nintendo thought they had something there, but got ditched in favor of tablets/smartphones by that audience.

That's the problem with casuals. You have to constantly come up with something new, you can't just make Wii Sports 1/2/3 and Wii Fit 1/2/3 ... that audience wants the "thrill" of new novelties constantly.

A "better Wii" would just be yesterday's news, but at least it would probably be a fair bit cheaper than the current Wii U and probably have somewhat better sales.



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zorg1000 on 13 September 2013
gigantor21 said:
zorg1000 said:
Cool chart

But one thing I took from this is u cant judge a console by its first year sales. N64 was tracking only 400k behind Wii arlt this point in USA but in the long run only sold about half.

I think these numbers say a lot actually.

According to the chart, the system hasn't come anywhere near outpacing the Gamecube since January. Pikmin was the first game it had that cracked the top 10 in something like 7 months. And it's only sold about half as much as the GC in the same time frame. The PS3 performed much better in its first year despite being a $600 running gag with production problems--it's lowest selling quarter so far was 700k, while the WiiU has seen numbers as low as 160k before it's first birthday.

That's absolutely abysmal. If we're talking about the N64, it's not going to sell much more than that globally at this rate.

If I recall correctly PS3 was tracking behind GC Iin the same time frame and is now 2x GC lifetime sales in USA. Also N64 only tracking 10% behind Wii up to this point then going on to sell less than 50% of Wii lifetime sales in USA. Those 2 things prove that first year sales dont have no bearing on lifetime sales.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

Soundwave on 13 September 2013
zorg1000 said:
gigantor21 said:
zorg1000 said:
Cool chart

But one thing I took from this is u cant judge a console by its first year sales. N64 was tracking only 400k behind Wii arlt this point in USA but in the long run only sold about half.

I think these numbers say a lot actually.

According to the chart, the system hasn't come anywhere near outpacing the Gamecube since January. Pikmin was the first game it had that cracked the top 10 in something like 7 months. And it's only sold about half as much as the GC in the same time frame. The PS3 performed much better in its first year despite being a $600 running gag with production problems--it's lowest selling quarter so far was 700k, while the WiiU has seen numbers as low as 160k before it's first birthday.

That's absolutely abysmal. If we're talking about the N64, it's not going to sell much more than that globally at this rate.

If I recall correctly PS3 was tracking behind GC Iin the same time frame and is now 2x GC lifetime sales in USA. Also N64 only tracking 10% behind Wii up to this point then going on to sell less than 50% of Wii lifetime sales in USA. Those 2 things prove that first year sales dont have no bearing on lifetime sales.


There's also never been a console that's sold as poorly as the Wii U out of the gates (from Nintendo or anyone else) in the game industry and gone on to be a relative success.

Even the PS3 at $600 was selling better than this.

Sony always had the safety blanket of virtually all major third party support backing them, all they had to do was get the price of the system down, which was inevitable. Wii U is a far trickier situation for Nintendo.

What they really need desperately is new breakout hit ... something that isn't Mario/Zelda/DK to come out and drive sales of the console to someone other than same group of 20 million Nintendo fans.

That's what Wii Sports did, and while that's probably impossible to replicate, Street Fighter II and GoldenEye are other examples of games that galvanized new audiences for Nintendo and caused a large uptick in sales. You cannot rely on Mario to do everything, all you're going to get is a console with a very narrow fanbase.



NobleTeam360 on 13 September 2013

The Wii U only has 1.25 million total sales? It's worse than I thought. I thought it had at least 2.5 million.

Edit: Nevermind forgot it was talking about the US only. 



Soundwave on 13 September 2013
RolStoppable said:
Soundwave said:

That would probably sell better than the Wii U, but just about anything would probably sell better than the Wii U.

Truth is casual gamers were a tease ... they were the girl in the bar who flirts with you and dances with you but has zero intention of being your girlfriend. You just happened to be the guy that happened to catch her attention that week by saying something funny, next weekend she's off with someone else. Nintendo thought they had something there, but got ditched in favor of tablets/smartphones by that audience.

That's the problem with casuals. You have to constantly come up with something new, you can't just make Wii Sports 1/2/3 and Wii Fit 1/2/3 ... that audience wants the "thrill" of new novelties constantly.

A "better Wii" would just be yesterday's news, but at least it would probably be a fair bit cheaper than the current Wii U and probably have somewhat better sales.

The truth is that you are an idiot for thinking that way about the people who you lump into the category of casual gamers. If that audience moved away from Nintendo, then it's only because Nintendo stopped making games for them. 2009 was the last year with big releases, 2010 still saw moddest support, afterwards it was over.

The problem with your argument is that there is no proof for it whatsoever. If Nintendo made Wii Sports 3, Wii Fit 3 and other sequels, and then the audience didn't buy, then you would have a point. But as it is, all you have is bitterness and the desire for Nintendo to move back to the Nintendo 64 days which for some nonsensical reason you see as a successful era for Nintendo.

The truth is I don't need to call people names to make a point.

Casual gamers are interested in the new trends, Nintendo simply hasn't been able to provide them. Really after Wii Fit, they came up with what? Wii Music? Which was a dissapointment. They gave up on Wii Vitality because the sensor didn't work that great. Nintendo Land was their big hope with the Wii U but it hasn't been able to carry the platform the way Wii Sports did (that would be an understatement).

Brain Training on the 3DS is a flop. Nintendogs + cats did OK, but again didn't do anything for 3DS hardware sales and is a huge drop off from Nintendogs on the DS. These things have a 3-4 year window at most usually where they are hottest thing around and then that erodes (see also: Guitar Hero, which used to be the biggest third party IP).

The writing is on the wall ... casual gamers went elsewhere. If Wii Fit U is a huge success you can tell me I'm wrong, but I'm going to guess that you won't be uttering a peep about this conversation when the sales numbers come in.



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zorg1000 on 13 September 2013
Soundwave said:
zorg1000 said:
gigantor21 said:
zorg1000 said:
Cool chart

But one thing I took from this is u cant judge a console by its first year sales. N64 was tracking only 400k behind Wii arlt this point in USA but in the long run only sold about half.

I think these numbers say a lot actually.

According to the chart, the system hasn't come anywhere near outpacing the Gamecube since January. Pikmin was the first game it had that cracked the top 10 in something like 7 months. And it's only sold about half as much as the GC in the same time frame. The PS3 performed much better in its first year despite being a $600 running gag with production problems--it's lowest selling quarter so far was 700k, while the WiiU has seen numbers as low as 160k before it's first birthday.

That's absolutely abysmal. If we're talking about the N64, it's not going to sell much more than that globally at this rate.

If I recall correctly PS3 was tracking behind GC Iin the same time frame and is now 2x GC lifetime sales in USA. Also N64 only tracking 10% behind Wii up to this point then going on to sell less than 50% of Wii lifetime sales in USA. Those 2 things prove that first year sales dont have no bearing on lifetime sales.


There's also never been a console that's sold as poorly as the Wii U out of the gates (from Nintendo or anyone else) in the game industry and gone on to be a relative success.

Even the PS3 at $600 was selling better than this.

Sony always had the safety blanket of virtually all major third party support backing them, all they had to do was get the price of the system down, which was inevitable. Wii U is a far trickier situation for Nintendo.

What they really need desperately is new breakout hit ... something that isn't Mario/Zelda/DK to come out and drive sales of the console to someone other than same group of 20 million Nintendo fans.

That's what Wii Sports did, and while that's probably impossible to replicate, Street Fighter II and GoldenEye are other examples of games that galvanized new audiences for Nintendo and caused a large uptick in sales. You cannot rely on Mario to do everything, all you're going to get is a console with a very narrow fanbase.

All im saying is a product can go from desirable to undesirable and vice versa. A third example I have is that 360 was tracking behind Xbox and barrly above GC but not it has roughly 3x the install base of either of them in lifetime sales for USA.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

Soundwave on 13 September 2013
zorg1000 said:
Soundwave said:
zorg1000 said:
gigantor21 said:
zorg1000 said:
Cool chart

But one thing I took from this is u cant judge a console by its first year sales. N64 was tracking only 400k behind Wii arlt this point in USA but in the long run only sold about half.

I think these numbers say a lot actually.

According to the chart, the system hasn't come anywhere near outpacing the Gamecube since January. Pikmin was the first game it had that cracked the top 10 in something like 7 months. And it's only sold about half as much as the GC in the same time frame. The PS3 performed much better in its first year despite being a $600 running gag with production problems--it's lowest selling quarter so far was 700k, while the WiiU has seen numbers as low as 160k before it's first birthday.

That's absolutely abysmal. If we're talking about the N64, it's not going to sell much more than that globally at this rate.

If I recall correctly PS3 was tracking behind GC Iin the same time frame and is now 2x GC lifetime sales in USA. Also N64 only tracking 10% behind Wii up to this point then going on to sell less than 50% of Wii lifetime sales in USA. Those 2 things prove that first year sales dont have no bearing on lifetime sales.


There's also never been a console that's sold as poorly as the Wii U out of the gates (from Nintendo or anyone else) in the game industry and gone on to be a relative success.

Even the PS3 at $600 was selling better than this.

Sony always had the safety blanket of virtually all major third party support backing them, all they had to do was get the price of the system down, which was inevitable. Wii U is a far trickier situation for Nintendo.

What they really need desperately is new breakout hit ... something that isn't Mario/Zelda/DK to come out and drive sales of the console to someone other than same group of 20 million Nintendo fans.

That's what Wii Sports did, and while that's probably impossible to replicate, Street Fighter II and GoldenEye are other examples of games that galvanized new audiences for Nintendo and caused a large uptick in sales. You cannot rely on Mario to do everything, all you're going to get is a console with a very narrow fanbase.

All im saying is a product can go from desirable to undesirable and vice versa. A third example I have is that 360 was tracking behind Xbox and barrly above GC but not it has roughly 3x the install base of either of them in lifetime sales for USA.

It can but that usually requires some kind of *new* break out hit software. Like Pokemon coming out of nowhere in the mid-1990s to make the Game Boy relevant again. Does Nintendo have something like that coming? Are they even trying?

The 360 also had a lot of manufacturing/supply problems early on. Comparing the Wii U to either the PS3/360 may ultimately be futile.

Is the Wii U ever going to have anywhere close to the third party backing the 360/PS3 enjoyed for years and years? If the answer is no, then there's gotta be something else here in this equation that's a game changer.



Solid-Stark on 13 September 2013

It surely doesn't paint a good picture.



e=mc^2

Gaming on: PS4 Pro, Switch, SNES Mini, Wii U, PC (i5-7400, GTX 1060)

Soundwave on 13 September 2013
RolStoppable said:
Soundwave said:

The truth is I don't need to call people names to make a point.

Casual gamers are interested in the new trends, Nintendo simply hasn't been able to provide them. Really after Wii Fit, they came up with what? Wii Music? Which was a dissapointment. They gave up on Wii Vitality because the sensor didn't work that great. Nintendo Land was their big hope with the Wii U but it hasn't been able to carry the platform the way Wii Sports did (that would be an understatement).

Brain Training on the 3DS is a flop. Nintendogs + cats did OK, but again didn't do anything for 3DS hardware sales and is a huge drop off from Nintendogs on the DS.

The writing is on the wall ... casual gamers went elsewhere. If Wii Fit U is a huge success you can tell me I'm wrong, but I'm going to guess that you won't be uttering a peep about this conversation when the sales numbers come in.

I don't see that as namecalling, but rather as a statement of truth. If you don't want to be called an idiot, then don't be an idiot.

None of the sequels to non-fictional worlds IPs will come close to their predecessors' performance, because the hardware itself is an obstacle. Both the 3DS and Wii U weren't made for the audience that bought those games. Since those people don't want the hardware, the software isn't going to sell. They are merely token games by Nintendo, because Nintendo would of course love it if those people bought the hardware and then switched over to playing spiritual successors of Nintendo 64 and GameCube games. It's absolutely telling that Wii Sports 3 is still not officially announced, even though it was the Wii's single biggest IP. It simply isn't the kind of game that Nintendo wants to sell, hence why it has no priority whatsoever.

Think about this for a moment: What are the things that make the Wii U a better Wii?

Nobody wants a Wii period. 2006 was a long time ago in pop culture terms. The O.C. is not the biggest TV show for teens anymore, Paris Hilton is not the "hot" celebrity everyone just has to follow, even something like Twilight has become a bit passe. Baggy  jeans gave way to skinny jeans. Atkins diet came and went. Facebook was some new thing your parents didn't know about yet. Trends have changed. I mean sh+t, eight years ago the most interesting thing you could do on your phone was play Snake on it and check your voicemail.

Nintendo *has* tried to replicate the success of their earlier blue ocean hits. Nintendogs + cats, Brain Training 3DS, Nintendo Land ... it ain't working dude. The 3DS is selling reasonably alright as a hardware, so by your logic then Brain Training should do fine, it's not that long ago that it was pushing 20 million units every time out. That's the reason why there isn't a Wii Sports 3 right now -- because Nintendo knows deep down that it wouldn't be the same hit it was seven years ago.

Nintendo Land was their attempt to put a different spin on that idea, and it failed as a system driver.

Casual gamers got a taste of $1 games that scratch their gaming itch, why should they go back to $50-$60 games? They're not that invested in gaming, it's just a fun little pass time that they maybe get around to doing a few times a week at best. Guess which business model is cannibalizing which market.



jabberjawky72 on 13 September 2013

Looks bad, but like others are saying the Wii U will do SOME catching up this Holiday. Then hopefully sustain a much higher weekly sales average next year thanks to some major software releases