There are valid points and overstatements in the article.

The market has grown with the Wii and would have probably grown without it. But a lot of software has moved for that little white box to people who never would have bought a game system previously -- and that cannot be discounted.

Second, analysts were saying pre-Wii that Nintendo should exit consoles and become third party software (a la Sega). So the worst case scenario is not as far-fetched as some might think. Plus, selling at a production point profit does not make back the R&D costs.

Finally, I always find it a bit odd people talking in the gaming press talking about Nintendo's arrogance. Nintendo has always been different (and difficult), so this is not a change. In addition, it has chosen to speak to the consumer -- rather than the reporter -- at E3 -- which has caused a lot of hard feelings among those who feel they are the ones to whom Nintendo should cater.

Mike from Morgantown

@arius
see, that's not what I'm saying at all.

that's a good point mike.
Motion Control might even still be here without the wii. If they would have lost 100$ on every console instead of making 100$, they might have even done that.

Shown=/=What is.

The truth is theprof, your wrong. The market was expanding becuase of Nintendo. Like you mentioned, sales were up in 2007 over 2006, because the Wii was out in 2007 and sales were great. In fact, the decline in 2009 is due to the Wii falling over all else. You can see how importaint the Wii was to the market's overall health.

And once again, I'm posting this.

No, the revenue is the same, not the profits. The system selling for $600 might have a higher variable cost. Cost of Good Sold could be higher. The $600 system may have higher fixed cost. The question may be why the system is $600.

The problem prof is your claim is still wrong. Your claim is "The market would be growing of the Wii was not there." The revenue has been going up. The profit has not. The number of consumers going in are not going up. Since the market declined in 2009 along with the Wii, it means the market is tied with the Wii, meaning any growth is also tied to the Wii's growth. If the Wii grows in 2010, expect the market to get better.

I think you have your causality backwards. The games market hasn't shrunk because the Wii is in decline. The market has shrunk because we're in a recession. The HD systems and handhelds have felt it less than the Wii (in terms of unit sales) because in the past year they've recieved all kinds of hardware redesigns and price cuts and more big software releases than the Wii has seen, not because the game market is somehow completely defined by the Wii.

meh, Consle industry would have continued on for another gen or 2 before hitting a crash. Just check out the comic crash. It's the same type of direction that Sony & MS took. Bigger, better, badder(in the cool sense) comics for the dedicated selective few.

Will the console hit a crash. Well due to the new direction that Sony and MS are adopting 4 years after Nintendo we will not hit a console crash. Consoles still may crash due to the economy though.

if we had a more traditional console:


Nintendo would:

1. still make a profit.
2. have better core games out.
3. come in third place.
4. not go bankrupt.

Should Nintendo have become a third-party developer, I honestly would not have minded seeing either Zelda or Metroid in either HD consoles... [My own personal opinion, of course]

Though, I will say this:

Without the Wii, all consoles would have been competing with same audience it had last generation.
Therefore, none would have dipped as much into casual market as Wii did.

Without the Wii, would the gaming industry have increased in software sales overall?
Despite the recession, Yes, it still would have but not to great lengths Wii had done in the past years.

Without the Wii, would the gaming industry have increased in hardware sales?
With the recession, slightly and not as dramatic as it did the past years. PS3 Xbox360 would have performed as it is performing now. Gamecube 2, though, would have fared much better than Gamecube did...

A very opinionated observation to a hypothetical scenario..
None of us would truly know what would have happened.
There are so many factors to consider (small & big) that would have affected the industry

@Cobretti2
In terms of Nintendo itself, I would have to agree with you. Nintendo is smart business-wise

While Nintendo didn't exactly launch the GameCube 2, they did in fact launch 2 GameCubes duct-taped together...

BA-DUN-SSST!!!

Thank You!  I'm here all week... try the veal!