I guess Vita has been floundering long enough that people don't care or are amazed by its (lack of) performance.
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NPD January 2013 Sales Results [Up7: Wii U 57K (CNET), Vita ~35K, PS3 201K]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
I guess Vita has been floundering long enough that people don't care or are amazed by its (lack of) performance.
Quinton McLeod
Banned
Can you name a few?
Thunder Monkey
Banned
Spider_Jerusalem
Member
Magicpaint
Member
What is so shocking about these Wii U sales is that even some of the most pessimistic predictions didn't go this low. Nintendo really dropped the ball with the Wii U. Like the Vita it just doesn't have an identity of its own and no major selling point. This is going to be a rough year for Nintendo, especially if there are no signs of good backup plans come E3. This thing is nearly DOA.
airmangataosenai
Member
Depends on what we're considering relevant I suppose. Virtual Boy almost certainly would have it beat but it's hard to know. N-Gage too, maybe Lynx. When we talk about "major" handhelds, the only real data points we can talk about are those for Nintendo (4 handhelds, 5 is you count GBC, 6 if you count the VB), Sony (2), and Sega (1 for Game Gear, 1 more if you count the Nomad). So between 7-10 devices total, in a span of 20+ years with over half of them coming from a single manufacturer, making those sorts of comparisons can be difficult.
Quinton McLeod
Banned
I doubt it'll be a rough year for Nintendo.
Thunder Monkey
Banned
Not all crazy said in this thread came from WiiU defenders.
I do think WiiU had a small window to become early market leader, but that idea is all but dashed at January numbers. Right now its best hope is to regain relevancy before the cuts are too deep.
Quinton McLeod
Banned
Which you're only using January numbers... Sad.
Spider_Jerusalem
Member
AND - it didn't have to fight the launch of two new hyped consoles one year after its launch. Nintendo already isn't in a good position at all, and starting feb. 20 it will be even worse.
But they can do something: first of all, a price cut. Second, annoncing some big, very big games stedily coming out in the next months until Christmas. But if they had such games in the pipeline, wouldn't they have announced them by now? Why make the platform suffer and let people think it has no games coming?
Magicpaint
Member
Well then you have more faith in Nintendo's ability to recover than I do. The Wii U is massively underperforming in every single region and there is no software within the first half of the year that can turn things around dramatically enough to put them in a comfortable position.
I'm still shocked at how badly Nintendo positioned this system. The odds are heavily against them.
Reggie is irrelevant. He is a sales guy not the one that makes calls for nintendos decision
But looking at theor future lineup emphasis is on games like wiii fit, wii party or mario kart
This says a lot about the WiiU. They have no faith in the console. They took a game that was exclusive to the WiiU and made it multiplatform. On top of that, they delayed the WiiU version so they don't lose sales on the 360/PS3 version because a 6 month old port is not going to sell as well. Basically Ubisoft figured that a 6 month old game releasing on the 360/PS3 would hurt sales for those systems, and the game is going to sell poorly on the WiiU right now, so why not wait and release them simultaneously even if it does hurt the WiiU now.
UberTag
Member
Nobody's predictions in the GAF hardware prediction thread went this low.
The lowest prediction was 70K. I ran with 79K.
Both of those would have been catastrophic, record-breaking and unprecedented lows in their own right but Nintendo had to do us one better.
It was the correct call. They wouldn't have been able to price the X360/PS3 versions of Legends at anything higher than $39 with unsold copies of the WiiU version sitting at $19 in bargain bins. Heck, most retailers wouldn't have even bothered ordering it in large quantities. This way, they can launch at $60 on all three platforms simultaneously in September without being stigmatized by the "failed to sell on WiiU" label.
Oh lordy look at you. Wii U has had one of the stronger real world launches that I can remember. Better than the 64 for sure and better than the first three months of the 360 easily. So shit ain't smooth like butter for you, calm it down if they would of designed it for mass market appeal you'd be bitching about that...
I dig my HD Nintendo and ~30W power consideration, finally something I can leave on and enjoy! All that aside, these low numbers will change with price adjustments but I'm not going to hate on them for playing it smart price-wise, business-wise this early on.
So whatevs, better console then the Wii ever was for the simple reason I can read the god damned text on my TV without breaking out a CRT.
Tinkleberry
Banned
Said that back in late November, stickin to it. I be Nostradamus n shit.
Still predicting at least a $50 cut by this summer, but it needs to be a $75-$100 cut, and they may actually do that by the time it reaches winter season.
What a colossal fuck up.
They need to do a relaunch. Get rid of the shitty basic model, Relaunch the deluxe console for $250 with NSMB WiiU, and for the love of god, change the fucking design so it doesn't look like a modified Wii...
Too late for a name change now, but it needs to be completely re-branded too.
Aquamarine
Member
Vita launched in the February 2012 NPD.
It's now the January 2013 NPD, 11 months later.
In comparison:
GBA - launched in June 2001 NPD
NPD May 2002: Game Boy Advance - 309,740
PSP - launched in March 2005 NPD
NPD February 2006: PSP - 170,000
Nintendo DS - launched in November 2004 NPD
NPD October 2005: Nintendo DS - 136,000
Nintendo 3DS - launched in March 2011 NPD
NPD February 2012: Nintendo 3DS - 262,000
To answer your question------------not any major handheld. Vita is dead.
Okay, here are some of the titles that released within a window of one year around the release of the console (though some released later in other regions):
Super Monkey Ball, Rogue Squadron 2, Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero, Luigi's Mansion, Smash Brothers Melee, Animal Crossing, Burnout, Doshin the Giant, Eternal Darkness, Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Star Fox Adventures, Mario Sunshine, Timesplitters 2, Wave Race
TIMESPLITTTERS =(
Thunder Monkey
Banned
No I'm talking falling to freaking 11,000 units a week. If you can't see how bad that is for a brand new platform to fall that low then there really is no reasoning with you. Next month might be better, next month might be worse. But to have this low a floor this early on?
You'd be completely delusional to not think "Holy fuck..."
Baconsammy
Banned
No it says more about the Wii U than it does Ubisoft.
I hope Crytek will eventually answer our prayers!
Quinton McLeod
Banned
Your original argument went on to complain about rehashes, and yet, you add those "rehashes" to your list.
shinra-bansho
Member
While presumably you're using screeds of magic data only you're privy to to inform this opinion.
If you really can't see how bad this result is and can't see how it causes negative outlook you're, as noted above, delusional.
doesn't this mark a trend? 3DS avoided this kind of death on the strength of an agressive price cut and releasing and annoucing software like its life depended on it (which was the case, actually)
3 out of 5 next gen players have had disastrous post launch windows.
Quinton McLeod
Banned
Right... Except they will lose even more sales because it's now competing with other multiplatform games of higher caliber. Not only that, but it'll be competing with the potential release of brand new consoles. Yeah.... That doesn't make any sense.
Because there's nothing that indicates the Wii U will have a bad year... Nothing.
They all happened for different reasons so I don't think its a trend.
Aquamarine
Member
Imagine that "North America" meant only the United States, and didn't take into account Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, etc.
Now imagine that with only 11,000 Wii U units sold per week, 1,571 get sold every day. And out of those 1,571...........an average of 31 consoles get sold in each state.
Can you believe that....only 31 consoles....in the entire state....every Walmart, Best Buy, GameStop, online order....every day.
Tell me, what's going to turn the Wii U's fortunes around the next 6 months?
And if you think this fall is going to be any better for Nintendo's future, imagine the current crickets to the Wii U's presence drowned out further by two shiny new systems, with much larger marketing campaigns around them to boot.
shinra-bansho
Member
Thunder Monkey
Banned
Honestly, the only question for Nintendo now is how do they stop this slide in interest?
Dropping this low this quickly has to be a huge wake-up call for them. North America is by far their largest home console territory. But then again it was in handhelds too. The GCN had a better first January though. And we all remember them stopping production not long after back then.
Those figures really put things into perspective.
RyougaSaotome
Member
I'm not sure anybody can look at these numbers and say that Nintendo's not going to have a rough year. We're not the only one seeing these. Investors are too.
I don't particular care about system wars and all that BS, but you have to be blind not to look at these numbers and go "oh shit." As a Wii U owner myself, all I can do is make frownie faces at my screen.
I don't particular care about system wars and all that BS, but you have to be blind not to look at these numbers and go "oh shit." As a Wii U owner myself, all I can do is make frownie faces at my screen.
There are some sequels in the list, but for all of them there is a significant difference in gameplay when compared to that of the previous entries. Take Smash Brothers for instance. You can't deny that the gameplay and design improved tremendously between the original and the sequel. They same can not be said for Brawl, and I fear that the fourth entry will be more of the same. My point is that Nintendo is playing it very safe with the announced Wii U titles.
Baconsammy
Banned
January numbers combined with Japans and Europes low sales results combined with Iwata announcing that he was dropping sales estimates by 1.5 million consoles for the period of launch through March. So we are not just saying its awful based off of one month in the US. And what's worse for them is that it looks rather likely that they have no chance of hitting their already lowered estimates. They've shipped 3 million, and by all estimates haven't come close to selling those, which leaves Feb and March to sell those already shipped plus ship and sell another million in order to reach the revised 4 million sold estimate. Grasping yet why people think there might be a problem?
Sure, unless you count Nintendo indicating the year is headed in a bad direction. Thus the steep sales estimate drop.
Alcibiades
Member
Gamecube had a great "hardcore" lineup from Nintendo and also had good support from Acclaim, Midway, Capcom, Ubisoft, etc... Problem is the system bombed, especially in Japan and Europe. Granted, it was missing top-line third party support like GTA, Metal Gear, and real Final Fantasy, but it had plenty of solid third party multiplatform titles like Timesplitters, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, etc...
The small discs thing was an excuse and wouldn't have stopped any third party from putting any game they wanted on the system, it just fell prey to a bad image because it looked like a toy and every Nintendo system ever has gotten branded as a kids system.
I don't think playing the high tech race necessarily hurt Nintendo though with the GCN though, what hurt it was the lead Sony had in install base and third party support which couldn't be overcome. Too much momentum to overcome.
The small discs thing was an excuse and wouldn't have stopped any third party from putting any game they wanted on the system, it just fell prey to a bad image because it looked like a toy and every Nintendo system ever has gotten branded as a kids system.
I don't think playing the high tech race necessarily hurt Nintendo though with the GCN though, what hurt it was the lead Sony had in install base and third party support which couldn't be overcome. Too much momentum to overcome.
Except, well, y'know, the numbers in the OP.
test_account
XP-39C²
There has been a lot of talk about how the Vita is dead, and when the WiiU reaches 55k faster than the Vita does, it make sense that people are shocked though. There were also quite a few "holy shit!" comments when the Vita got under 100k in its 3rd month.
The numbers have broken his mind! I don't think he wants too see Febs...
Roland Deschain
Member
Couldn't have happened to a more complacent company.
shinra-bansho
Member
Nintendo actually have their own PoS tracking system, iirc. NPD results shouldn't be their only source of consternation, they should simply confirm what they're seeing internally.
I think their "panic mode" ND was supposed to drum up interest but, imo, those ND really aren't a great form of marketing. Those games are Nintendo's solution.
The only options right now open to them are probably price drops and increased losses, which will probably be timed with a key software release. This will be twice in two recent system launches.
I think if they had other options they would have employed them or at least shown signs of employing them.
In a week, Sony will unveil the PS4 and change the conversation. Shortly after, Microsoft will do the same.
pieatorium
Member
I really think the WiiU biggest problem is it's just a year (or more ) to late. If it had hit qt the end of 2011 i think it's multiplat situation would like look alot better. Too many pubs and devs have moved resources onto the next systems. I think there is less of w want to support the engines and sytems that are on the way out and that if theis kind of suppoet could hqve been secured earlier this lasr bqtch of this gens games aswell as the cross gen stuff would have had a much higher chwnce of hitting the WiiU.
I dont for a second think that it would have gotten every multi game that the ps360 got but i really think it would hqve been noticably better than what has transpired.
I dont for a second think that it would have gotten every multi game that the ps360 got but i really think it would hqve been noticably better than what has transpired.
rapid32.5
Member
there is not a single reason to own a WiiU if you have PS360 already, sales numbers are deserved, You can't have a free ride in a single train car for two generations. Nintendo hasn't done shit with their studios and 3rd parties don't support them. Lets be realistic here 2013 is out for WiiU, maybe for a whole gen.
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
Woah, that's fricken terrible. I want to change my mind about which console is likely to go Sega.
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
GameCube was a disaster on another level, though. They were practically giving the console away after about 6 months.
2003 they even halted production and dropped it down to $99 to shift stock.
Quinton McLeod
Banned
You misunderstand my argument. I'm not arguing the opposite of what you're thinking. I'm simply saying there isn't enough data to predict Wii U's success or failure in 2013
Aquamarine
Member
Revising.