http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DonDaglow/20090323/966/The_Four_Stages_of_Wii.php
The Four Stages of Wii
Let's face it, the tremendous success of the Wii took place despite the skepticism of many in the game development community.
In doing research for this post, I was surprised to see how many old articles about the Wii being under-powered, over-hyped and totally-doomed no longer pop up in Google. If you click on CNET's 2006 E3 coverage you are sent to a page about the 2009 CES!
They must have been moved to the same folder with the "Obama has no chance to be President" articles.
Lest we forget, the early reactions to the Wii were skeptical. I personally opted for a PS3 and a 360 before I bought a Wii. There are some lessons for all of us in how this all unfolded.
2004 - 2006: Denial
When the Wii first was announced in May, 2004 under the code name "Nintendo Revolution," the development community assumed that Nintendo was going to field the third similar horse in a three-horse race. This was, of course, all wrong.
In the fall of 2005 the motion-sensing remote was unveiled, along with Nintendo's strategy of making completely different kinds of games. They were not competing head-to-head with Sony and Microsoft.
Many people had a first reaction of "Huh?"
When the name "Wii" was first announced in April, 2006 it was easy to anticipate gamers' comments in the online forums. Reading the same joke 72 times got old very fast.
2007: Anger
In May of 2007 Microsoft's Robbie Bach ripped the 6-month-old Wii as "underpowered" and un-interesting.
He wasn't just launching another "my box is better than your box" salvo. He was appealing to emerging Developer and hard-core player anger because the Wii did not play by the rules.
Over and over again at conferences that year, game creators told me, "I'm not interested in the Wii. It's a novelty item. It doesn't have the power to do anything fun."
These comments were often delivered with anger and resentment, because the success of the Wii was slowing the acceptance curve for the Xbox360 and PS3. They were messing up the script we had to follow in order to get to next-generation fun.
The question that this raises, of course, is "next-generation fun for whom?"
I still remember how that Spring I kept hearing people say, "The Wii is like chewing gum. It's fun for a little while and then you lose interest. It's not gonna last."
2008: Grief
By the end of 2007 it was becoming clear that the success of the Wii was gaining momentum, not losing it, despite the shortage of Wii consoles. Ubisoft, EA and other top publishers revamped their product mixes to pursue the big, unplanned Wii audience. The industry is growing!
So why did grief set in for game developers?
Because the perception of the PS3-360-Wii years as a repeat of the boom years of last gen "with better graphics, more creativity and greater personal fulfillment" never came true.
The hard-core audience has not regained its former buying power, and the publishers have not retained their old-style ivory towers.
Instead new customers have come forward, making the overall game industry pie bigger. The casual online players. The Wii Fit users. The huddled masses of WOW, yearning to be leveled up. Together with our traditional gamer audience, their combined buying power has helped the games business prosper during the deepest recession in any of our lifetimes.2009: Acceptance
Although skeptics remained both inside and outside the industry, 2009 has marked the year when more developers have decided to move on with their lives.
Where once I heard complaints about the Wii, I now hear pitches for new titles that people are trying to place.
Sony's studios are having a fabulous creative year, Microsoft has made XBLA a successful new business model, and Steam has been helping re-invent PC gaming for the better. The success of the Wii has not precluded any of this Good News.
So what can we learn from all this?
You probably recognized that this article discusses the four stages of mourning: Denial, Anger, Grief and Acceptance.
When my father died, I had to go through that cycle. You can't call up God and say, "Hey, I read all the articles. I'll just skip ahead to the Acceptance part and leave out all the pain. Thanks!"
But do we need to do this in our creative lives? Do we have to take a long time to react to surprises in the marketplace?
Is there a reason we can't immediately target a new audience?
What new opportunities to entertain people with great games are out there right now?
What other audiences that weren't available two years ago are now ready to play your games?
Is there any reason you can't work on a game for this new audience?
Can I please have a copy when you ship it?
Copyright 
2009, Don Daglow
