Typical predicting the demise of the the leader, as has been happening for centuries. Its kinda like that news of Kobe Bryant and Iverson jersey sales in China outselling Yao's. It wasnt anything Yao did, every one had his jersey already and he was far out in front that others could catch up. But it IS sales based. And to retain sales numbers you have to do things to hold attention and interest. Using the NBA analogy again, its like Wii is still going with the big men wins titles approach, while Xbox and PS3 are going with the guard's game approach evolving with the new rules. It just happened that Team Wii had Shaq in a guard's game. But after Shaq retires whats Team Wii gonna offer? With not much big men on the landscape, might need to bring some guards in to workout. I actually have none of the current gen consoles Offering an outsider non-fan boy point of view
If I'm not mistaken, the Wii's attach rate is pretty similar to the other two consoles, especially if you look at their first 2-3 years or so (360 gets a slight advantage since it was released a year earlier). But as mentioned in the article, a large portion of that software appears to be either Nintendo or Guitar Hero/Rock Band games. But it does seem like Wii owners are buying a decent amount of games. I suppose it remains to be seen if it will stay that way though. (plus, Nintendo is/should be making a decent amount of money on each Wii sold). Well...depends on what you mean in the long run. It isn't like we have another 8 years left in the cycle. I don't feel like looking up the numbers, but I'm guessing they're ahead right now. Can't really see things changing too drastically in another 2-3 years to change that. I suppose lack of games could hurt, but I'm guessing Nintendo will continue to put out some big sellers from time to time. Plus Monster Hunter 3, Dragon Quest 10, Guitar Hero/Rock Band games, etc. If the software/hardware sales were just a result of a fad, sales would have dropped like a rock months (if not years) ago. You can argue that they may start to decline gradually, but that would likely be due to the Wii's life cycle being naturally shorter...not to mention that they probably can't sell the 2nd 50M consoles as easily as the 1st 50M.
That's probably because the Wii hardware is entirely proprietary and Nintendo has their hardware prices fixed. So people can't shop around for the best deal on a controller like they can with the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Well, Nintendo's been pretty reliant on their own games for a long time now. If these consoles are just a way for them to sell endless number of Mario/Pokemon/Zelda games, it's not exactly a negative. The lack of 3rd party support only means they can't reach their true potential in terms of sales, like the DS. But really doesn't mean they're doing badly. From a 3rd party game developer standpoint, it seems pretty logical to choose the console(s) that has more ownership. I'm not sure about your point exactly.
I have a Wii and I could care less about this concern. All I know is before the Wii dies, I will enjoy multiple future Mario and Zelda games, and perhaps another Super Smash Bros. game. I'm not a full-time gamer like I used to be, so no big deal. I'm really looking forward to this MotionPlus and whether or not it will be incorporated in major games like a new Zelda game. Imagine having complete control of Link's Master Sword...
Yeah, I agree with that point. In fact, since Nintendo has a higher percentage of 1st party games sold and a similar rate of games sold total, they'd actually be getting more money from game sales than Microsoft and Sony. This can be viewed as a negative for whatever reason, although in this particular case, it definitely isn't a bad thing.
Wii is going nowhere. Kids are a huge market and that is where the Wii aims. I will say that I ultimately became dissapointed with the Wii. When I first got it, i was hooked. Then as time passed, i just lost interest. The Will still doesn't have that system killer. As in one game that makes you get the system. Playstation had Metal Gear, xbox has Halo. There are some decent games on the Wii but no single game made me get the Wii. It was more based on the whole motion gameplay. The whole motion thing is somewhat flawed and not near 1:1. Maybe the wii motion plus thing will change all that. Mad World is a great game and maybe that is a sign of new things to come with the Wii.
I saw this guy probably in his 30's or 40's buy the sword and shield combo for Zelda. I realized then that the Wii needs to die. Die Wii Die!
You missed my point it is not the hardware etc....it is the games...each company gets about $10 for every game sold. The Wii sells more units but far less games...it''s attach rate is far lower.....over the lifespan of each console. DD
Do you have different numbers than what I'm looking at? This is a little outdated (September 08), but I don't think the numbers are too far off: http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20988
Nintendo was a customer of mine so I have some insight in how they operate. For them, profitability is very important since they do not have other groups to subsidize their gaming division like Sony and Microsoft. Things to consider: Nintendo makes money on their consoles. They made about 50 bucks profit(inside source) when it was released so I imagine the profit margin is between $100-150 now. The other consoles lose money. From 50-200 dollars from some reports I have read. Now imagine third party game developers pay between 10-20 dollars in royalties per game sold. Sony and Microsoft would have to sell between 3-20 third party games per console just to break even. Most popular Wii games are in house. Many them take very little time to develop since they are not complex. Every time you pick up a copy of Super Mario Galaxy or Mario Kart, they take in the full amount paid. Nintendo has always been the most profitable gaming company and will be for a long time.
Mario, Link and Samus would disagree They've been such a fixture for over 20 years that they dont come across as the cutting edge matinee feature anymore. But myself I'd definitely get the system for those games. I just wouldnt get much else... That Mad World game does look intense.
Nice post. I've been figuring this for years now. But of course never knew any hard numbers. Even back when I was young, I was surprised that I was buying PS2 games with ridiculously high production values for $10 more than my little sister's Pokemon games on her GBA. And of course she owned like 5 of them. And they all looked like they could've been programmed by a few amateurs.
I have a wii and xbox360. I use them for different things. I do use both of them. I probably actually use the wii a little more. I play tennis, and bowling several times a week. I love them. I use wii fit, and will be getting the new EA fitness action on May 19th. The xbox I use for slightly more involved gaming like fallout3, GTAIV, Mass Effect etc. They are just different, but my wii isn't collecting any more dust than my xbox. I use them both.
It's funny how hard core gamers still get their undies in a wad over the Wii's success. The Wii is a good product. It's not remotely trying to compete on a processing or graphics level. That's not the point of it. It's a niche system, but filling a massive void and breaking away from a gaming industry that's starting to rust like the music industry did in the late 90s. 3rd party software is by and large crummy on the Wii. Aside from Tiger Woods, most of the games were ported in a lazy, thoughtless manner. Tiger Woods is far better on the Wii than the traditional consoles, but most other games like Madden and NBA Live suffer tremendously with the Wiimote. I wish that they had the sense to allow you to use the gamecube controllers as an option for those titles. Rock Band and GH were two of the very few that had seamless transitions. I like the Wii. A lot. I've got 20-some guys for it, and I'm pretty removed from my real game playing days. The first-party software is fantastic and I love the breath of fresh air in the controls. The downside is that I miss playing traditional sports games like Madden and have to assume that third party games are going to be a waste of money unless they get heavy buzz from others. WiiHD is going to be a big success when they iron out the kinks and incorporate 360-level processing/graphics (which by then will be outdated, but hey). Evan
By 3rd party software, I'm assuming you mean multiplatform 3rd party software (the word port kind of confirms that, but wanted to make the clarification). That's kind of the nature of ports, especially when there is a large difference between the hardware. Plus, it isn't like some of this software is very good to begin with. How would it be much different than things today? Unless I'm assuming different things here...
