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Forums - Sales - What's the point of no return for WiiU?

 

What's the point of no return for WiiU?

When/if MK fails 121 35.07%
 
When/if Smash fails 64 18.55%
 
When/if a $100 cut fails 78 22.61%
 
Other 79 22.90%
 
Total:342
g911turbo on 04 January 2014
Dream_While_Awake said:
Max King of the Wild said:

If Nintendo didnt support their best selling console for longer than 4 years and released a new console in 6 what makes you think thwy wont drop their worst selling console faster? If Wii U doesnt reach 14m by the end of year then that means no one wants flat out and no price drop or game will help

@Your question: It's Nintendo. They might have a new system released but will keep selling the Wii U until it's milked for what it's worth. They will eventually drop the price to $150 probably before discontinuing it.

@Your sentence: That's just untrue. Every price drop and big game will help to some extent.

Seece said:

If they don't want the gamepad and Mario at $300, they don't want it at $200 either. It's in the range where if the masses wanted it they would buy it. Heck Wii would have sold gangbusters at $400.

People rage on about $199 but really, people have more disposable cash than that. Look at the $$$ people put down on tablets.

It's all about the consumers perceived value. The Wii was something fresh & cool so it would've sold well with a higher price. Tablets are seen as all in one devices and are seen as worth it. The Wii U isn't seen as a good deal at the moment. $300 for a console, Gamepad, and some Mario? Nope. $200 for a console, Gamepad, Mario, Mario Kart, DK, SSB, and Zelda? Maybe. The value is now better. A potential cool add-on could up the value too.

Wii U won't sell like Hotcakes but it should pass GC fairly easy.

I like this answer too and agree.  Especially about the part on perceived value.

 

Another way to put it using a hypothetical, as of RIGHT NOW, the Wii U is $15.  Who WOULDN'T own one.



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Captain_Tom on 04 January 2014
MohammadBadir said:
Max King of the Wild said:
Dream_While_Awake said:

Why does it have to reach GC level by the end of the year to still have a chance? 

It'll still outsell the GC in the long-run.

so its selling bellow GC level sales and falling behind each month yet it will pass GC... have you taken a Calculus class?

5 year * sales < 10 years * sales/1.5

and that's assuming the WiiU sales stay the same way they were.


Hahahahaha!  Yeah the Wii U will be on sale for 10 years.  Can I have some of whatever it is you are smoking?



FarleyMcFirefly on 04 January 2014

When Sega re-enters the hardware business.



1doesnotsimply

theprof00 on 04 January 2014

wait til the big games come out, then we can talk.
A zelda remake is not a big game.
Super mario is, and we've seen sales increase.
Like has always been said, one game does not make a library.



Dragon246 on 04 January 2014

When PS4 overtakes Wii U.



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bosslug on 04 January 2014

Most people said the point of no return was if SM3DW didn't significantly pick up sales. So far Wii U sales have picked up but only due to the holiday season. If the Wii U doesn't have a respectable baseline post-holidays then I don't think anything will ever save it



Jranation on 04 January 2014
Seece said:

So we've seen a few of Nintendo's attempts to reignite WiiU fail now, the bundles, the 'price cut', Super Mario 3D World, Zelda remake.

At what point do we say, this thing isn't going to take off or even sustain 5m a year??

When/if Mario kart doesn't do anything?

Smash?

Price cut to $199?

Something else??


what will happen if it does not sell more than 5m a year???

if the consequences are not HUGE, then we dont need to worry about it



Pocky Lover Boy! 

Alby_da_Wolf on 04 January 2014

Even if all those significant steps "fail", they'll surely better Wii U sales a little, enough, with successive regular 1st party releases, to grant it 25-30M in its first five years and a half and 30-40M lifetime. Very disappointing, but not a killing blow for Ninty, not to mention that it could further better later. Rushing the development of the next home console woudn't be justified anyway and it's actually the very choice that could put Ninty in serious danger.
Ninty could lower costs and attract potential users that find the pad too large releasing a version with a 5" display pad, although it's too late to correct another error, slower and smaller than competition RAM, that can make ports of the largest multiplats first developed on PS4, XBOne or PC difficult.
About the last issue, I guess Cerny and the whole PS4 team must still be thanking God for the intuition (helped by dropped prices) of doubling the initially planned 4GB amount of RAM.



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Declan on 04 January 2014

With hindsight, you could say the point of no return was E3 2011 . This was the show that highlighted Nintendo's abandonment of Wii support (meaning no home console momentum going into the new home console's launch) and the introduction of an expensive but uninspiring controller that would make the console prohibitively expensive for many potential consumers.

I expect a modest boost for the WiiU on MK8's release, which should signal to Nintendo that there is no hope of salvaging the wreck they've created with this misguided attempt to innovate.



Conina on 04 January 2014
slashydrunkard said:

Pretty much. I hate it when people say "Why do you care about sales?" Sales are how we measure a console's success. The more successful the console, the longer its lifespan, which equates to more games to play. 

Well... not exactly. Many declared the Wii as the winner of the 7th generation (even if it is not finished yet), because it sold the most hardware units.

Had it the longest lifespan? When were the last noteworthy titles released?

  • Wii = Skyward Sword (60 months after launch), Xenoblade Chronicles (64 months after launch), The Last Story (68 months after launch)
  • PS3 = Diablo 3, GTA5,  FIFA14, NBA2K14, Battlefield 4, AC4, R&C: Nexus, XCOM: Enemy Within, NfS Rivals, MineCraft, TWD Season 2 (82 - 85 months after launch), further support at least 18 months (Thief, Destiny, Persona 5...)
  • Xbox360 = Diablo 3, GTA5,  FIFA14, NBA2K14, Battlefield 4, AC4, XCOM: Enemy Within, NfS Rivals, TWD Season 2 (94 - 97 months after launch), further support at least 9 months (Thief, Titanfall, Destiny...)

Had it the most good games? No, on both other platforms there are many more quality titles... and they will get even more in 2014

  • 90+ metascore: Wii = 14, PS3 = 51, Xbox360 = 53
  • 85+ metascore: Wii = 43, PS3 = 170, Xbox360 = 178
  • 80+ metascore: Wii = 106, PS3 = 374, Xbox360 = 404
  • 75+ metascore: Wii = 199, PS3 = 577, Xbox360 = 677

Had it the most sold games? If we only count retail games, then yes... so far.

Wii = 912 millions, Xbox360 = 865 millions, PS3 = 795 millions... these are not big gaps and they will close over time (due to the better software support in 2013 and 2014). All three platforms will probably reach around 1 billion retail sales in 2015. And if we add digital sales (not a forte of the Wii), it will lose its pole position even faster.

Had it the highest hardware revenue? Probably not... it sold more units, but at a lower price. On the other hand: if we consider over 42 million sold Balance Boards, the overall Wii revenue should be higher than the 360 revenue (80+ million consoles and 24+ million Kinect) or the PS3 revenue.

Had it the highest profits? Yes, by far! Everything was highly profitable from the start: the console hardware, the accessories (wiimotes, nunchuks, balance boards), the software (much less development costs than for HD games). But from a consumer perspective, the Wii had the shortest lifespan and the fewest good games.