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Media Create Sales: Week 28, 2013 (Jul 08 - Jul 14)

BowieZ

Banned
Firstly, the sales are okay for now. It's a bit of a disservice to the discussion that the fact of 2 days of sales is not stressed in the OP or early in thread. Secondly, ya'll need to be more comfortable with the idea of a "grey area" - the Wii U situation is precarious but neither dead or doomed nor great. It's just okay. Which is, again, not bad! Or good. It is what it is. It's okay. For now.

But lastly I want to point out something that I feel is forgotten with Nintendo sales, and that relates to the amount of newness and novelty that just completely overwhelmed popular culture last generation.

Two screens!?
Nintendogs??!
A completely made-over revival of 2D Mario!!
Brain Training
Professor Layton
Motion controls!
"Wii" and "DS"?!??
Wii Sports
Balance board!? lol

They went completely batshit, it caused a stir, and everyone loved it.

Now Nintendo seems to have completely forgotten that, and thinks it can or should(?) rely on older ideas. I mean, the two main new propositions of Wii U are kinda old ideas (Nintendo Land is full of old IP mini games, and the second screen is like a DS).

People are crossing off lists of old propositions that Nintendo should have launched with or this or that, but I feel the opposite is true. Nintendo should have had some balls and, well, upended the tea table once again.

It's not about trying to get lightning in a bottle to strike twice, it's just about creating new sparks of imagination wherever possible to generate energy -- novelty and hype.

I think the thing that will turn the Wii U around - if anything - is not 3D World or MK8, or Smash (well, they will definitely help)... but rather the promise of Nintendo's secret "new gameplay experience" ideas that Iwata is worried about other companies stealing.

They need some fucking balls to gamble on something fresh and exciting like that.

PS it's past midnight, sorry if this is nonsense lol
 
WiiU :(

I promise I'll buy one. When 3D World gets released, preferably after a price cut. Would a price cut be too disastrous for Nintendo's pocket, guys? If the thing is being profitable after one game purchase, I guess there's a bit of room?

A price cut in japan seems unlikely. One in the west is doable though.

he Wii U situation is precarious but neither dead or doomed nor great. It's just okay. Which is, again, not bad! Or good. It is what it is. It's okay. For now.

Dude in no world is the Wiiu situation in japan okay. Dead may be going too far but wiiu 2013 is worsethan vita 2012 and vita 2012 was horrific on every level
 
The lack of a yen price at E3 is telling when they always show the jpn launch price at E3

Sony probably doesn't know if they will have enough PS4 to launch in Japan before January.

Still imho it would be good to make at least end of December 2013 launch for it to avoid bad impressions from Japanise consumers.

On the other hand it's not like people looking for home console will have any alternative in Japan so long term damage is likely minimal.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
A price cut in japan seems unlikely. One in the west is doable though.

They need to realize they have no chance of meeting their fiscal target and suck it up. A $350 premium this holiday isn't going to cut it.
 
WiiU :(

I promise I'll buy one. When 3D World gets released, preferably after a price cut. Would a price cut be too disastrous for Nintendo's pocket, guys? If the thing is being profitable after one game purchase, I guess there's a bit of room?

They just need to ditch some of the bundled pieces of plastic, sell them separately, start selling Nintendo branded hard drive accessories, introduce the second gamepad,.there's lots of ways to make more profit.
 
I still haven't seen any real evidence of a 2014 release. Am I missing something?

Comments from Yoshida about other regions release depending on if they can supply enough shipments for EU/US is i think a decent indicator. If it does hit 2013 I'd expect it to be pretty late

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/413824/sony-still-gauging-whether-ps4-can-launch-in-japan-this-year/

"This E3 we confirmed that in the US and Europe we will be launching this holiday with the $399 (£349) price point," Yoshida said.

"But it's not like we are not launching in other territories - we are waiting to get more information about manufacturing quantities and demand in each market so that we are able to decide where and when outside of the US and Europe."
 
Wii U problem is not only about the lack of system sellers, but the lack of software in general too.

Wii U 2013 releases so far:

Code:
Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2	31-Jan-13
Tank! Tank! Tank!	21-Feb-13
Need for Speed: Most Wanted U	20-Mar-13
Game & Wario	28-Mar-13
Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online	30-Mar-13
Resident Evil: Revelations	23-May-13
Rabbids Land	6-Jun-13
Injustice: Gods Among Us	9-Jun-13
F1 Race Stars: Powered Up Edition	27-Jun-13
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure	12-Jul-13
New Super Luigi U	13-Jul-13
Pikmin 3	13-Jul-13

3 1st PT
4 JP 3rd PT
5 W 3rd PT


JP pubs literally don't care about this thing, no one develop for it.
 
Sony probably doesn't know if they will have enough PS4 to launch in Japan before January.

Still imho it would be good to make at least end of December 2013 launch for it to avoid bad impressions from Japanise consumers.

On the other hand it's not like people looking for home console will have any alternative in Japan so long term damage is likely minimal.

Launch in japan and putting a damper on nintendo with 3d world would be good evenif they have no supply

Edit: There are and dont seem to be any 2 gamepad games. Selling the gamepad separately would lose them money just on production
 
Wii U had around 175% jump in hardware sales this week, but it really needed something like a 400% jump to show life. I don't imagine W101 to be more of a system seller than Pikmin 3.
 

Taker666

Member
A price cut in japan seems unlikely. One in the west is doable though.

A minor cut should be doable in Japan....just to get it below the 30,000 Yen(including tax) barrier. Plus it's not like the preimum actually has an extra 5,000 Yens's worth of stuff included in Japan (it's just the stands and extra memory over there).

They could at least shove in a free copy of Nintendoland (or New Super Mario Bros) as they have in the west to make it seem a better deal.
 

wrowa

Member
Firstly, the sales are okay for now. It's a bit of a disservice to the discussion that the fact of 2 days of sales is not stressed in the OP or early in thread. Secondly, ya'll need to be more comfortable with the idea of a "grey area" - the Wii U situation is precarious but neither dead or doomed nor great. It's just okay. Which is, again, not bad! Or good. It is what it is. It's okay. For now.

A grey area is okay, but Nintendo's far from such a thing. Wii U's baseline is currently well below 10k units a week and that's quite simply not acceptable. It's not good, it's not okay, it's downright bad.

Nintendo needs to double or rather tripple the current baseline to about 20k a week before sales can be considered "okay".
 
Launch in japan and putting a damper on nintendo with 3d world would be good evenif they have no supply

Edit: There are and dont seem to be any 2 gamepad games. Selling the gamepad separately would lose them money just on production

Oh i agree they should launch in 2013 even with minimal supply but then it's Sony - sometimes they seem to use a bit diffrent logic then everyone else.
 
Well, clearly someone in the stock market believed in Pikmin... wtf happened there?

probably has to do with the falling yen again. I remember when the Wii was at its peak in 2009 Nintendo stock wasn't flourishing. Its hard to give a rhyme or reason to the market fluctuations.
 

L Thammy

Member
It does seem strange that Nintendo is being so conservative with the Wii U. I came off of E3 thinking "wow, it's like they're parodying their critics." They had SPD producing a lot of new ideas during the DS era and they soared high. Now they have them producing quite a few sequels (also Game and Wario).
 
Today is the day I can confidently call the grim end of the WiiU.

mj-laughing.gif


Man, I read your posts often on Nintendo related threads and you often bring this "WiiU is doomed" shit, but after this I'm 100% certain you're a troll.

If Pikmin 3 sold 20/40k and WiiU sold 9/10k, then yes, you could call WiiU dead. For Japan numbers, 93k, considering WiiU's userbase, the overprice and 2 days sales, are very good numbers. If there's something those numbers proves are that WiiU isn't dead.

WiiU does need a price drop, when that happens and the games comes out, it'll sell nicely. This Pikmin 3's hardware boost is an indication.
 

marc^o^

Nintendo's Pro Bono PR Firm
Wii U needs good word of mouth, and Pikmin will accomplish this task pretty well, based on impressions. So it is good to see it sold 100K already, that's a good foundation.

Another positive thing this week is Wii U tripling sales will get positive headlines (Gamekult just wrote "Wii U ate a mushroom", I liked this one :).
Wii U needs positive headlines, this product is close to being ready to (re)launch, and such positive awareness is long due.

That being said, to keep Wii U on top of console sales & build momentum, Nintendo has to embrace MS and Sony business model and accept a big loss on hardware. They have the money to do it, so I'm assuming they haven't dropped the price already, not to create a pattern for the future ("don't buy their console in the first 9 months: the real price will come if you wait - see 3DS, Wii U").
 

RM8

Member
It's going to be so unfortunate if Mario Kart underperforms. It's looking so much better than MKWii, and it's doomed to never achieve those crazy numbers, not even close.
 

daxgame

Member
probably has to do with the falling yen again. I remember when the Wii was at its peak in 2009 Nintendo stock wasn't flourishing. Its hard to give a rhyme or reason to the market fluctuations.

I'm seeing only Nintendo stocks having a big movement though, not Nikkei, maybe I'm missing something though, I'm tired
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
It does seem strange that Nintendo is being so conservative with the Wii U. I came off of E3 thinking "wow, it's like they're parodying their critics." They had SPD producing a lot of new ideas during the DS era and they soared high. Now they have them producing quite a few sequels (also Game and Wario).

I think on some level they know things like Brain Age aren't going to work anymore, but aren't sure what new direction to go, so they fall back on what they feel has the best chance of working.

I imagine that Nintendoland's relative failure (now followed by Game & Wario's failure) has resulted in falling confidence in their casual ideas, while their safest title so far (NSMB U) is the only performer, so doubling down on that things like that probably looks like the best idea from their perspective.
 

BowieZ

Banned
Nintendo needs to double or rather tripple the current baseline to about 20k a week before sales can be considered "okay".
Well, exactly. It got well over 20k with only 2 days of Pikmin 3 and a slightly repurposed SKU (plus 5 days of status quo).

That's new information that COULD be heading in the right direction, or maybe not. But to call the sales "bad" or "dead" after THIS week of a moderate bump is disingenuous. It's maybe bad comparative to very high expectations, but I think some of those expectations are based on the notion that a new color and game were released for 7 full days of the reported week.
 
Famitsu:

[WIU] Pikmin 3 (Nintendo) {2013.07.13} - 102.188 / NEW [170.000 - 255.000*]
[3DS] Youkai Watch (Level 5) {2013.07.11} - 52.901 / NEW [88.000 - 132.000*]
[WIU] New Super Luigi U (Nintendo) {2013.07.13} - 27.312 / NEW [68.000 - 136.600*]

*Estimated copies shipped.

Those second numbers are combined reail+DLC sales, am I reading it right?
 

GetemMa

Member
Nintendo is in full delusional mode. A severe price cut is the only thing that will get this system any life. 3DS style price cut.

I say throw out the gamepad and make it a peripheral so manufacturing costs don't kill the margins. Require that devs to only support off TV play for the gamepad and that's it.

$250 w / NSMBU + WiiU Pro Controller

None of the big games they have coming out require the gamepad, at all. 3D world, DK Tropical Freeze, Kart 8, Bayonetta 2, Wind Waker HD, and I dare say even Wonderful 101 would totally work and still be good games.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
mj-laughing.gif


Man, I read your posts often on Nintendo related threads and you often bring this "WiiU is doomed" shit, but after this I'm 100% certain you're a troll.

If Pikmin 3 sold 20/40k and WiiU sold 9/10k, then yes, you could call WiiU dead. For Japan numbers, 93k, considering WiiU's userbase, the overprice and 2 days sales, are very good numbers. If there's something those numbers proves are that WiiU isn't dead.

WiiU does need a price drop, when that happens and the games comes out, it'll sell nicely. This Pikmin 3's hardware boost is an indication.

If it makes you feel any better, Vita is doomed as well and has been for some time. WiiU is doing worse than Vita. This week is one of its most high profile for... well the rest of the year really with a new(-ish) premium pack, retail Luigi, and of course Pikmin 3. It managed 20k.

Now, maybe next week we'll see... I dunno, a modest raise to 25k or something to balance out the TWO DAYS OF SALES cries, but this is not a big enough bump to show the system is in any standard of health.

The next big period is November/December another quarter from now. This isn't the kind of run a product can experience and then be fairy godmother wand'd away. This sticks and colours the markets perception of a device until its bitter end unless a billion was invested in turning every area of concern around say 6 months ago to have a fighting chance.

Seeing Pikmin 3 have such a little effect on hardware in the corner of the world where it performs its best is just something I feel dots the i's and crosses the t's on an "it's dead" proclamation.
 

Bladenic

Member
i would not call roughly 100,000 copies sold in its first two days a flop...

Look at the shipment estimates. Even if it only shipped 170k that's a low sell trough rate. Come next week it'll be lucky to sell 20k.

And for people screaming 2 days, that's what most games in Japan get. It's not an excuse.
 

onipex

Member
That is close to what I expected for Wii U and Pikmin sales. It just wasn't going to be a big system mover and people are not going to rush out to buy a new color if they are not buying games. This still shows that the system needs more games to keep sales up.
 

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Look at the shipment estimates. Even if it only shipped 170k that's a low sell trough rate. Come next week it'll be lucky to sell 20k.

Oh I feel quite confident it will do better than that. Nintendo games have a lot better legs than other titles.
 

Theorymon

Member
I still think another reason for Nintendo's safeness is them being really unprepared for HD development. I mean, Game & Wario doesn't exactly look like a high budget game, Lego City Undercover seemed like a buying the publishing rights sort of deal, and Nintendo Land was the most "creative" out of the bunch.

It's sad to say, but I'm sorta worried that Nintendo is getting that "HD Bug", and are getting more safe to avoid budget problems. Maybe I'm missing something though, but that's the impression I got from the E3 direct. The Wonderful 101 seemed to be the only really wacky thing, and Platinum is making that too (though I wonder how much infulence Nintendo has on that). Okay I'll also admit that Mario Kart 8's gravity stuff looked really interesting!

While I wouldn't call the 3DS a bastion of creativity, the usual Nintendo franchises seem to be getting more unique twists and changes there, stuff like Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, Mario and Luigi Dream Team, Fire Emblem Awakening, etc. Even Pokemon is making that big jump to 3D models. I guess the 3DS, in addition to being the much better seller, may also be more of Nintendo's comfort zone due to the less man power needed for them.
 
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