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[slaughterking]

but with those weird and crazy legs, it could pull a brain age and beat DQIX in a few months/years.

DQIX has some considerable legs itself and with the new TV ad campaign it can only get better.

 

[Loudninja]

FF13 advertisement has already started
http://www.andriasang.com/e/ticker/3862094014/

 

[Fafalada]

Edit: Even further, could new slim owners have bought a bunch of used games? This would explain the less than expected sales this week of old top sellers.

Has there ever been a software bump as result of new hw/price point in Japan selling a lot in (re)launch week?
PSP 2k and 3k certainly didn't have one (outside of the big title released alongside, just like Gundam on PS3 now). I don't remember one with GBA:SP either, not sure about other launches though.

 

[test_account]

A rather big difference between the Media Create and Famitsu numbers regarding Monster Hunter 3. Media Create has MH3 with 7000 more copies sold compared to the Famitsu numbers.

Well, duh, its only PS3 Fat owners that has bought the SLIM,

I agree that probably several of PS3 Fat owners bought a PS3 Slim, but i think that it might be a bit too early to say if most of the people that bought a PS3 Slim this week (or last week) were already people who owned a PS3 Slim, but who knows? Maybe several of people who bought a PS3 for the first time this week bought some used games instead of new games.

Edit: Even further, could new slim owners have bought a bunch of used games? This would explain the less than expected sales this week of old top sellers.

Ye, i also think maybe used games might be one reason that we didnt see a bigger PS3 software sales bump in general. It might be hard to say for sure if many people bought used PS3 games instead of new ones though.

 

[fanboi]

A rather big difference between the Media Create and Famitsu numbers regarding Monster Hunter 3. Media Create has MH3 with 7000 more copies sold compared to the Famitsu numbers.



I agree that probably several of PS3 Fat owners bought a PS3 Slim, but i think that it might be a bit too early to say if most of the people that bought a PS3 Slim this week (or last week) were already people who owned a PS3 Slim, but who knows? Maybe several of people who bought a PS3 for the first time this week bought some used games instead of new games.



Ye, i also think maybe used games might be one reason that we didnt see a bigger PS3 software sales bump in general. It might be hard to say for sure if many people bought used PS3 games instead of new ones though.

Dude, I was joking, and maybe 1-2 % double dipped (number taken out of my ass)

 

[test_account]

Dude, I was joking, and maybe 1-2 % double dipped (number taken out of my ass)

Ah ok. I am not always that good to notice when people are joking or not, sorry :\ But after reading your post again, i guess that i should have guessed that you were only joking, i am sorry about the mistake :\

But what you said might have some truth to it though Since who knows how many people who bought a PS3 Slim already had a PS3 Fat. I guess that we will never know for sure unless someone does a survey for pretty much all people who bought a PS3 Slim this week and asks them if they already had a PS3 Fat.

 

[fanboi]

Ah ok. I am not always that good to notice when people are joking or not, sorry :\ But after reading your post again, i guess that i should have guessed that you were only joking, i am sorry about the mistake

But what you said might have some truth to it though, since who knows how many people who bought a PS3 Slim already had a PS3 Fat. I guess that we will never know unless someone does a survey for pretty much all people who bought a PS3 Slim this week and asks them if they already had a PS3 Fat.

I can only go to myself and say I would never ever in the 89 hells rebuy a console I already have, even if its smaller.

But thats me

 

[kay]

smh

 

[Woo-Fu]

I'd love to know what Iwata is thinking with these PS3 numbers.

Besides "(laughs)" of course.

He's thinking he likes the toy business much better than the videogame business. He doesn't have to compete directly with players like Microsoft and Sony in that space.

 

[Chris1964]

He's thinking he likes the toy business much better than the videogame business. He doesn't have to compete directly with players like Microsoft and Sony in that space.

Not this again.

 

[antispin]

I'd love to know what Iwata is thinking with these PS3 numbers.

Besides "(laughs)" of course.

Who put the non-competition in my non-gaming console?!

*Then seen pulling out a non-competing iPhone to call non-game-designer Miyamoto to make a game, whatever that is

 

[test_account]

I can only go to myself and say I would never ever in the 89 hells rebuy a console I already have, even if its smaller.

But thats me

Ye, i think that this is actually a good point. After all, the PS3 Slim doescost about $299 in Japan, and that might be quite a bit of money to use just to rebuy a console because that it is smaller (the PS3 Slim has a bigger harddrive and uses less power as well though, but still, i dont know how big of an advantage/selling points (or what i shall say) a bigger harddrive and less power consumption are. And people can just change the PS3 harddrive on their own as well if they want a bigger harddrive). So how many people will use about $299 to get a smaller PS3 with a bit bigger harddrive if they already own a PS3 Fat? I havnt really thought too much about this

I guess that the people could sell their PS3 Fat and get some money for that, but i have no idea about how many people that are actually going to do this. I never bought a PS One and a PS2 Slim after i already had a PS1 and a PS2 Fat. I dont think that i will buy a PS3 Slim either, not unless my current PS3 stops working and if i dont have any warranty left on it. But hopefully my current PS3 Fat will work for many year


By the way, i guess that an increase in PS3 software sales might be the best indication that there are more new PS3 owners? I guess it depends on which games that are being released though. Some games might have the potential to sell more compared to other games depending on how popular the games are.

 

[BishopLamont]

Impressive PS3 hardware numbers, but the software ones aren't so shiny. FFXIII will certainly give it a boost especially now with the ads showing.

test_account
A rather big difference between the Media Create and Famitsu numbers regarding Monster Hunter 3. Media Create has MH3 with 7000 more copies sold compared to the Famitsu numbers.

MC is under tracking MH3 as many has assumed, so it's no surprise.

 

[test_account]

MC is under tracking MH3 as many has assumed, so it's no surprise.

Ye, that might be why. I guess that it might also be that Famitsu has over tracked though. But i guess that what is most important is how MH3's LTD number will look between Media Create and Famitsu, and Dengeki as well for that matter, when MH3 is pretty much done selling. It might sucks a bit if all the trackers has quite a different LTD when it is all said and done, since then it might be hard to know which tracker that has the most correct LTD number :\

 

[Road]

From the other thread:

I wonder what Nintendo's next move is. I guess the obvious step would be price drop to 20,000Y but is 5000Y enough to make a difference?

Seems a little, but might be enough to create a perception it is considerably cheaper than the PS3. I don't think the Wii "sudden" drop to below 20k is unrelated to it being now closer to the Sony machine in price. It was a minimal effect on top of PS3's biggest week yet, but, to me, it's just another "hint" of the role price plays.

And, no, Nintendo isn't in trouble in the real world... But Wii failing to meet expectations is not good for the Japanese market as a whole.

 

[swerve]

And as I said in the other thread, what happens when the Wii price-drop effect wears off? They've been down that road with the ever-cheaper GameCube.

All these companies have targets and plans which we know little about. How long were people calling for a PS3 price cut, but it kept on not coming? The Wii weekly sales situation is obviously not something to celebrate at NCL, but we just don't know what they have planned or what sales they were expecting by this point.

Like, if they have been developing Nintendogs Wii Online Dog Show Contest for the last three years or something else totally unexpected but, like Tomodachi Collection and Style Savvy, something which keeps selling and moving hardware with it.

Or, if they have a hardware refresh just around the corner.

Or maybe they're just banking on NSMBWii being as good at word-of-mouth and friend-get-friend sales as Mario Kart Wii was.

 

[Stumpokapow]

And as I said in the other thread, what happens when the Wii price-drop effect wears off? They've been down that road with the ever-cheaper GameCube.

Yes, it's true that just continuing to drop your price is likely not a sensible move. It's also true that there are very very few products in history that don't drop in price corresponding with a massive drop in production costs and an older age.

There are clearly individuals who are not willing to spend the current price, no matter what the software. That's true for any price point.

The Wii weekly sales situation is obviously not something to celebrate at NCL, but we just don't know what they have planned or what sales they were expecting by this point.

Like, if they have been developing Nintendogs Wii Online Dog Show Contest for the last three years or something else totally unexpected but, like Tomodachi Collection and Style Savvy, something which keeps selling and moving hardware with it.

Well, maybe, but the time to deliver that product was, I don't know, 12 months ago now. Or 9 months ago, last Christmas. Or literally any time in 2009. I know there's a sort of consensus here that the 2008 Christmas drought is a combination of Nintendo overestimating the products it did have and Wii Sports Resort taking longer than anticipated, but I think it's a fairly logical consequence of putting more eggs in fewer baskets and taking every other option off the table.

Or maybe they're just banking on NSMBWii being as good at word-of-mouth and friend-get-friend sales as Mario Kart Wii was.

Christmas 2008 should teach them that tightrope walking without a safety rope is a stupid idea.

 

[DangerousDave]

By the way, DSi sold 170k in japan the launch week. So 150k of a hardware that coust the double is quite impressive. The second week, DSi sold 104,897, so we can count with 70k for the next week.

 

[oldie-newbie]

Very very impressive hardware numbers for PS3

But very very disappointing software numbers for PS3 !!!


Possible explanations for these low numbers:

- some people just wanted a more compact and affordable Blu-Ray player.

- some people just upgraded from PS3 fat.

- some people just bought used games.

For anecdotal evidence, around my friends, 2 PS3 fat owners upgraded to PS3 slim and 1 bought a PS3 slim as a new owner with two games. These two games are not used copies because in France, only specialized sellers can sell used copies but consoles are available in many others sellers.

 

[swerve]

Yes, it's true that just continuing to drop your price is likely not a sensible move. It's also true that there are very very few products in history that don't drop in price corresponding with a massive drop in production costs and an older age.

But one notable such product is Nintendo's other hardware platform. In fact, it's gone up in price every two years or so.

There are clearly individuals who are not willing to spend the current price, no matter what the software. That's true for any price point.

Of course, and I'm not defending no price drop (and I wouldn't be so surprised to see one). However, I appreciate the idea of trying to make your product more valuable, rather than lowering the cost to make it acceptable to less enthused buyers. It resonates with me, and seems somehow more admirable.

The best solution to people not wanting your stuff is to make your stuff more wantable. If you can't do that, make something else.

Even if Nintendo totally fails to get Wii back off the ground again, I don't think a price cut would have been the 'obvious solution' that many people seem to think.

Well, maybe, but the time to deliver that product was, I don't know, 12 months ago now. Or 9 months ago, last Christmas. Or literally any time in 2009.

Agreed, and I don't really expect that that software exists. I think they're at full capacity and spread very thinly over Wii Channels, DS support, and Wii big hitters. But I don't *know* anything going on there and I can only assume, considering how well Iwata has run the ship thus far, that they have plans for all eventualities.

Christmas 2008 should teach them that tightrope walking without a safety rope is a stupid idea.

Releasing software when it's not ready would have done them more harm, long term.

Plus, this year must have built up a large bank of kids after MH3, Resort, and NSMBWii for the holidays. I can't imagine the same was true for 2008's line up.

 

[Pureauthor]

But one notable such product is Nintendo's other hardware platform. In fact, it's gone up in price every two years or so.

That other hardware has never (aside from maybe a short period near launch) ever suffered from a dearth of games - almost all the people who dislike it do so on the principle that they don't like handheld gaming in the first place.

 

[swerve]

That other hardware has never (aside from maybe a short period near launch) ever suffered from a dearth of games - almost all the people who dislike it do so on the principle that they don't like handheld gaming in the first place.

I was pointing out that Nintendo have 'past form' for this no price drop tactic, and they are trying a different route.

I wasn't offering an opinion about the validity of such a scheme. Merely the evidence for why it may continue.

 

[onken]

I don't know why people are expecting huge resurgent PS3 software numbers. Chances are if you're the sort of person who has to wait for a particular (low) price point before you buy a console, you're probably not going to be buying masses of software.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

With my PS3, I bought a used Asian version of Infamous and a brand-spankin' new European version of Batman.

So um, sorry Japanese software numbers.

My next purchases are going to be used Japanese games, too.

 

[cvxfreak]

Given the usually excellent quality of used Japanese games, nothing wrong with that, Segata.

I've seen what they actually do to brush up used games in Japan. My gosh.

 

[Brofist]

Given the usually excellent quality of used Japanese games, nothing wrong with that, Segata.

I've seen what they actually do to brush up used games in Japan. My gosh.

So true. I found a copy of Little Big Planet used priced down to under 2000 yen because the case and disc supposedly had scratches. Thought I should finally check it out, so I took a chance and bought it, was absolutely mint.

 

[oldie-newbie]

I don't know why people are expecting huge resurgent PS3 software numbers. Chances are if you're the sort of person who has to wait for a particular (low) price point before you buy a console, you're probably not going to be buying masses of software.

We are not talking about masses of software but at least one game by console. From the Famitsu data (Top 30 and PS3 best releases), about 190 000 PS3 games have been sold this week. More than 90% of this software would be sold without PS3 slim launch. Gundam PS3 games always sold around 160 000 copies on the installed base of PS3 !!!

 

[spwolf]

I was pointing out that Nintendo have 'past form' for this no price drop tactic, and they are trying a different route.

I wasn't offering an opinion about the validity of such a scheme. Merely the evidence for why it may continue.

Well you still cant compare the two, because competition is very different.

 

[onken]

We are not talking about masses of software but at least one game by console. From the Famitsu data (Top 30 and PS3 best releases), about 190 000 PS3 games have been sold this week. More than 90% of this software would be sold without PS3 slim launch. Gundam PS3 games always sold around 160 000 copies on the installed base of PS3 !!!

A common mistake. Musou games sell around 160k copies. Senki is a sequel to a game that sold around 30k (target in sight).

 

[donny2112]

Edit: Even further, could new slim owners have bought a bunch of used games? This would explain the less than expected sales this week of old top sellers.

http://mainichi.jp/enta/mantan/news/20090910mog00m200035000c.html

From Traders video game division director in Tokyo's Akihabara district, Toshikazu Kobayashi.


Used game rankings for Sept 1-7

01. NDS Dragon Quest IX
02. NDS Love Plus <- Trading in happens quickly in Japan
03. 360 Dream C Club
04. PS3 Resident Evil 5
05. PS3 Demon's Souls
06. PS3 Atelier Rorona
07. PS3 Kidou Senshi Gundam Senki <- See bolded above
08. PS2 SD Gundam G Generation Wars
09. PSP Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
10. PSP Hatsune Miku: Project Diva

 

[Jonnyram]

Not a big fan of the used market for cart-based games (because of the game saves you get), but for disc-based games, Japan is wonderful.

I was gonna say, I'm surprised anyone would buy MGS4 new considering the ltd ed is available in droves, and at a bargain price, second hand.

 

[duckroll]

Not a big fan of the used market for cart-based games (because of the game saves you get), but for disc-based games, Japan is wonderful.

I was gonna say, I'm surprised anyone would buy MGS4 new considering the ltd ed is available in droves, and at a bargain price, second hand.

I tend to think the main market for budget re-releases are casual buyers and impulse purchase decisions. People who actually want to play a game but held off just because of the launch price would most likely already have the game.

 

[Sage00]

Just to throw out another possible reason for low PS3 software. Some people may be waiting until Tales of Vesperia releases next week to buy that instead of buying another game now.

 

[schuelma]

Wii being in its yearly post-Obon slump isn't surprising, but the PSP is pretty weak lately, and I can't see this being PSP Go fault. When was the last time SCEJ put out some new colors? We just have 8 or 9, it could use two new pairs!

Yeah PSP seems to be under the radar lately but it's not performing much better than the Wii at this point. Honestly, outside of the DS resurgance after DQIX and this weeks Slim bump its been a very disappointing year for hardware.

 

[oldie-newbie]

A common mistake. Musou games sell around 160k copies. Senki is a sequel to a game that sold around 30k (target in sight).

A common mistake too. Gundam (Target in sight) was a launch game with around only 80 000 PS3 available :lol
The LTD of this game is better than 30 k : 146,199 LTD from Garaph search...

 

[lowlylowlycook]

Do we have any idea what percentage of the total market is used games?

 

[oldie-newbie]

Just to throw out another possible reason for low PS3 software. Some people may be waiting until Tales of Vesperia releases next week to buy that instead of buying another game now.

May be, but there is no rumor of PS3 slim shortage, so you can wait one week to buy both. As a gamer, I have never bought a console without game and waited one week to buy a game.

 

[gogogow]

Not a big fan of the used market for cart-based games (because of the game saves you get), but for disc-based games, Japan is wonderful.

I was gonna say, I'm surprised anyone would buy MGS4 new considering the ltd ed is available in droves, and at a bargain price, second hand.

Yeah, and seeing games like Gundam senki already on the used games charts, only available for like a week, these games are practically new.

You guys know how much a used game like Gundam Senki (couple days old) is going for used?

 

[Stumpokapow]

Not a big fan of the used market for cart-based games (because of the game saves you get), but for disc-based games, Japan is wonderful.

If the game has a save reset, does it really bug you that you get a game save? I can see being bugged if it doesn't, because some games have unique first-start-up sequences, but if it's just the idea that someone has once saved something on the cart, I don't see the big deal.

 

[Y2Kev]

08./08. [NDS] You'll Incur Losses if You Remain Ignorant: How Money and Things Work DS (Nintendo) - 16,000 / 37,000 (-24%)


This sounds like the best game ever...we should release it here sponsored by Citi and Bank of America.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I'd love to know what Iwata is thinking with these PS3 numbers.

Besides "(laughs)" of course.

"Hey, this reminds me of those 70 consecutive DS weeks." ?

 

[-WindYoshi-]

16. [WII] Little King's Story (Ousama Monogatari) (Marvelous Entertainment) - 6,400 / NEW

: (

 

[charlequin]

Yes, DS and Wii probably wont sell this holiday season and there will be no new announcments at their fall conference...sure

There is not going to be any kind of surprise huge holiday title, no.

Looking back, it's pretty clear that the Wii has been in trouble since about the middle of last year.

Yup. And as I've been saying for some time, it's Nintendo's own unwillingness to a) develop a superior internal software lineup, b) work closely with third parties to bring a strong lineup of titles to the system, and c) aggressively improve the value of their system to maintain valuable momentum that's screwed them over here. Unlike the DS, Nintendo hasn't adopted the strategy of a winner with the Wii; they've tried to rest on their laurels and rely on a woefully inadequate lineup of selling points to maintain its performance, which has led to the ongoing doldrums and (much worse) left them in a position where there is almost no conceivable way to turn things around in the short-term.

At this point we've officially seen the inaccuracy of many of the defenses leveled for Nintendo's strategy (no secret 3-month-out expanded market titles, no hidden cache of WM+ titles backed up into 2009, no flood of negotiated third-party titles, etc.) which really just leaves "bad management" as an explanation.

Yeah, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Dragon Quest X, and a new Zelda game on the horizon are all meaningless.

I wouldn't say "meaningless," but a 2010 sequel whose target market all already own hardware, an entry in a franchise whose Japanese appeal has largely decayed, and two titles that are unlikely to be released before 2011-2012 are on their own pretty

This is basically just the PS3-style "wait for..." idea, that the most obvious titles for the platform (i.e. the ones that people have already bought hardware for) are going to transform its performance. In reality, Wii needs something new (either completely new, or at least previously not available on Wii) to change its performance at this stage.

And as I said in the other thread, what happens when the Wii price-drop effect wears off? They've been down that road with the ever-cheaper GameCube.

The price drop is not some crazy newfangled idea that people just came up with this generation and Nintendo is resisting because it's unproven; it's a well-understood part of the console lifecycle.

Video game systems sell, effectively, on momentum, to a varied group of consumers: people who have different standards for which, and how many, games they want before a system is worthwhile to them, and how much they're willing to pay for it. A successful system, regardless of its specific target market, interleaves new tentpole releases -- games with broad appeal that a large part of the audience wants to buy -- with a wide selection of more niche titles, all while slowly improving the value of the system itself (by lowering the price) to draw in new purchasers who were previously priced out of the market.

The reasons price cuts tend to produce an initial "bump" but no long-term improvement is that they're a countervailing force to an inherent downward trend: eventually you run out of interested buyers at any given price point, and you do so even more quickly if your software lineup is not seen as compelling. For historically successful systems, though, pricedrops aren't worthless -- they help the systems keep coasting at high sales rates, bringing in new buyers just as the previous customer base might start to dry up. Ideally, Nintendo should be dropping the price and then extending the benefit of that drop by releasing a variety of desirable software that drives these new customers to buy.

The idea that a successful system shouldn't "have" to drop its price might apply accurately to a system like the DS that's priced so low as to nearly be accessible to every interested buyer already, but it definitely doesn't to a system like the Wii that's more expensive than any previous Nintendo system ever started out.

However, I appreciate the idea of trying to make your product more valuable, rather than lowering the cost to make it acceptable to less enthused buyers. It resonates with me, and seems somehow more admirable.

Like most business strategies, this is only a good strategy if applied sensibly and not stupidly. Up-pricing your product is a strategy for a product that has an excess of demand; improving the value proposition for your product rather than dropping its price is for a product that is already priced at an industry-standard rate such that there is little obvious waiting demand beneath that point. The Wii is neither; it's a product with a deficit of demand that is still priced near what used to be the ceiling for gaming hardware.

The DS is a very different situation since it's spent the majority of its life with a surfeit of demand (the DS Lite price hike was completely free money for Nintendo for the first year+ of its lifespan), was initially priced near the floor of game system prices (there's really no one who's ever wanted a DS in Japan but just couldn't swing the cost), and has sold so many units that it makes sense to aim additional unit sales at upconverting existing customers.

 

[bttb]

.

 

[Somnid]

Yup. And as I've been saying for some time, it's Nintendo's own unwillingness to a) develop a superior internal software lineup, b) work closely with third parties to bring a strong lineup of titles to the system, and c) aggressively improve the value of their system to maintain valuable momentum that's screwed them over here. Unlike the DS, Nintendo hasn't adopted the strategy of a winner with the Wii; they've tried to rest on their laurels and rely on a woefully inadequate lineup of selling points to maintain its performance, which has led to the ongoing doldrums and (much worse) left them in a position where there is almost no conceivable way to turn things around in the short-term.

This analysis seems considerably flawed. You question the strength of Nintendo's first party which is infact much, much stronger than perhaps any in history. Does it really need to be pointed out how Nintendo games have dominated these charts for years or how many multi-million sellers they have? They set forecasts in the tens of millions, how does one improve in the consumer eye?

The second is third parties. Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest are perhaps the 2 biggest non-Nintendo franchises in Japan and Wii is getting mainline sequels. In the West they also hold the lead development for Guitar Hero which is a suitable western equivolent. There's been plenty of work done for these titles on Nintendo's part and they are doing quite well for themselves, the problem is that the majority of third parties want to put out crap.

Certainly this impossible to escape picture you've set up is among one of the worst exaggerations I've seen. Sony was in a much worse position and to believe that they will hurt Nintendo is to also believe that they have turned themselves around. However even with a hardware bump many have pointed out that Sony still has no software which sheds some doubt on whether or not this price drop can hold them in the long term.

 

[lowlylowlycook]

Media Create: 2006-2008 Market Value (01, 02)

               |   2008          |   2007          |   2006
Hardware       |  260.6 (36.77%) |  346.6 (42.86%) |  265.5 (37.64%)
New Software   |  325.2 (45.88%) |  338.0 (41.80%) |  337.9 (47.92%)
Used Software  |  123.0 (17.35%) |  124.1 (15.35%) |  101.8 (14.44%)
Total          |  708.8          |  808.7          |  705.2

- Figures in billions of yen.
- New software is based on the Best 500. Used software is based on the Best 2000.

- In 2007, 41,174,612 units of used software were sold. (03)

Thanks! As always you are awesome.

[edit] So with a closer look, used sales have 1/3 the revenue of of new sales. Do we hear a lot from Japanese developers complaining about used sales like we do in the west?

 

[charlequin]

This analysis seems considerably flawed. You question the strength of Nintendo's first party which is infact much, much stronger than perhaps any in history.

What does that have to do with anything?

I know your plan here was just to jump in with the usual boilerplate Nintendo talking points, but we were actually talking about something specific: Nintendo's ability to improve their hardware sales and market positioning of the Wii system in the short to medium-term future, in Japan. Nintendo's current announcements of first-party software (besides NSMB Wii which I expect to be huge in every conceivable way) do not actually represent strength in that area, because titles in already-established series like Zelda or SMG aren't going to sell very many consoles -- their target market already bought Wiis for the first entries in those series.

Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest are perhaps the 2 biggest non-Nintendo franchises in Japan

One of which has already come out and had no lasting effect on Wii hardware sales, the other of which won't be out until 2011. Again, neither is relevant to the question of whether Nintendo can improve their weekly performance in the next six to twelve months.

I don't think I really need to explain why Guitar Hero is irrelevant to discussion in a Media Create thread.

Sony was in a much worse position and to believe that they will hurt Nintendo is to also believe that they have turned themselves around.

Who said anything about Sony? I don't really care about the horse-race narrative here, especially since the Wii and PS3 are the third and fourth-place systems. My criticisms of the Wii strategy are all about how Nintendo's system is underperforming its own potential, not that it might run into trouble where a competing system is "beating" it.

 

[TheKingsCrown]

Who said anything about Sony? I don't really care about the horse-race narrative here, especially since the Wii and PS3 are the third and fourth-place systems. My criticisms of the Wii strategy are all about how Nintendo's system is underperforming its own potential, not that it might run into trouble where a competing system is "beating" it.

Isn't the Wii still ahead of the PS2 at the same time frame in its life cycle in Japan?

 

[schuelma]

Isn't the Wii still ahead of the PS2 at the same time frame in its life cycle in Japan?

Don't think that has been true for a while.

 

[Torhthelm Tídwald]

Yeah, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Dragon Quest X, and a new Zelda game on the horizon are all meaningless.

The PS3 had a Metal gear, a Devil May Cry, a Resident Evil, and tons of other games comparable to 3d Mario, Metroid, and Zelda. It didn't help. Dragon Quest X, meanwhile, isn't coming out for forever. It will be way to late to save Wii. In fact, if the Wii doesn't get start improving, SE might while start eyeing some possible ports, just like they did for FFXIII.

And as I said in the other thread, what happens when the Wii price-drop effect wears off? They've been down that road with the ever-cheaper GameCube.

So price drops don't turn failures into successes. Given that the Wii didn't start off as a failure, this isn't relevant. The Wii is the only market leading console not to drop its price. It is also the only market leading console to lose that position. Edit: This was a bit hyperbolic, since the Wii still has a much larger install base. What I mean is that it is selling week to week like a 2nd place console, and will probably be outsold this year by the PS3. (Unless Nintendo does something drastic, like a price drop)

As for the DS, if the Wii had started out as cheap as the DS it wouldn't need a price drop. In fact, Nintendo could probably get away with raising the price. The DS seems like an example of reverse price-skimming. It gained an audience at a low price, became a better value because of the games released for that audience, then its price increased as an even larger audience sought it out for those games, as well as current audience members upgrading. So the no price drop policy on the DS worked only because it started out at a very low price.