Yeah I planned on clearing out all my systems for some next gen $$$$ when WiiU launched and hoping WiiU would be a nice stop gap until next gen hits. Let Live Gold expire and then got rid of my 360. Went to sell my PS3, then had a feeling that just maaaaaaybe I better hang on to something in case this third party thing on the WiiU doesn't work out this year. That was a wise decision.
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NPD Sales Results for March 2013 [Up5: BioShock Infinite]
- Thread starter EviLore
- Start date
Yeah I planned on clearing out all my systems for some next gen $$$$ when WiiU launched and hoping WiiU would be a nice stop gap until next gen hits. Let Live Gold expire and then got rid of my 360. Went to sell my PS3, then had a feeling that just maaaaaaybe I better hang on to something in case this third party thing on the WiiU doesn't work out this year. That was a wise decision.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
What 3rd party game released between November and now would have significantly moved Wii hardware in that time period? Far Cry? Crysis? DmC? Metal Gear Revengance? Or Bioshock and Tomb Raider, both with entrenched fanbases on Xbox and Playstation, respectively?
Lego City, NFS, and MonHun (and Rayman, before the delay) were supposed to be the "big fish in the small pond", but it looks more like they simply flopped.
I was telling someone at work today about all the 3DS games coming and then he asked me whats the next wii u game I will be getting and I simply said told him to look on Game FAQS and then revisit that question.
BlazingDarkness
Member
But it's like Nintendo isn't even attempting to capture that same market. They made a song and dance about attracting those 'hardcore' audiences with third party relations, we got a load of late 360/PS3 ports and then there's been barely anything, and there still continues to be barely anything from Nintendo either. If they're sitting on a load of stuff until the holiday then screw them, I got my Wii U at launch in the UK and I've not switched the damn thing on since before Christmas.
TheNatural
My Member!
Where are you creamsugar
Wii U numbers are so bad even he can't believe them.
Metallix87
Member
The point isn't for them to significantly move Wii U hardware. The point is to keep a steady stream of releases coming to avoid a drought, since droughts tend to have a detrimental affect on system ecosystems. Those titles may not have sold as well on Wii U as on 360 and/or PS3, but they would've shown that Wii U is alive and a viable system for core gamers.
Thunder Monkey
Banned
No.
America has always been Nintendo's largest market.
The fact that they've screwed up here is much worse. Wii only sold 12 million units in Japan versus 42 million here. Nintendo hasn't had a huge dominating home console presence in Japan since they were the only real game in town. In terms of market leaders Wii is at a 4 million unit deficit with the PS2 in America, and 8 million units in Japan.
Screwing up to the degree they have in America is the shocker. The thing is tracking lower than the GCN. And America had by far the largest userbase of any region that platform released in.
I'm sure all of the franchises you mentioned (Crysis, MGR, Bioshock, TR, etc.) would have sold less than 50k on Wii U (hell, some less than 10K), but it would have encouraged current Wii U owners to stick with it.
Mmh. I remember jvm having a database for amount of money spent per unit too. jvm, were are you?
True but while western third party support was never guaranteed I did think they would be ok in Japan.
theDeeDubs
Member
Glad to see BioShock and Tomb Raider up there. Both are amazing games. Waiting on a price drop for Gears though.
My point is more that Nintendo has always been focused very heavily on Japan with its efforts, and with a few exceptions seems to have better relationships with Japanese 3rd parties than with Western ones- sales numbers aside, Nintendo is still a very Japanese centric company and to see them fumble so bad in Japan is a shock to me.
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.
edited in about the Wii anomaly, but with figures on all Nintendo home consoles, they mostly drop about 10 million a generation with the Wii obvious being a pretty big anomaly to the Gamecube's like 21 million.
WiiU is tracking behind Gamecube, and may even experience a more savage drop off after the Mario 3D and Kart rescue parties, so that it could crawl in anywhere between 15 million and 18 million.
150 million is the DS total to beat, but I personally can't see 3DS reaching close to 100 million at this rate. Everything a slipping downwards.
Thunder Monkey
Banned
Now this is the real shocking thing about the WiiU situation.
I figured a good chunk of Japanese devs would relish reusing variations of the tech they've spent years developing.
Little Green Yoda
Member
I think he's referring more to dev support than sales. Let's face it, the Wii U was never going to get meaningful Western dev support once we learned of its specs relative to the PS4/720. Japanese support was its best hope of getting some good 3rd party support and it's actually looking worse than the Western support right now.
Gonzo The Great
Banned
But we already know exactly what Iwata will say.
"I apologize for the software drought"
"Please understand the situation"
"3D Mario and Mario Kart at E3"
"Pikmin 3 will increase install base"
shinra-bansho
Member
jvm had the 3DS ASP at $165 for May 2012, for reference.
Metallix87
Member
I still think it's possible that TGS 2013 ends up pretty good for Wii U in this respect.
TheNatural
My Member!
More problematic is Nintendo's big franchises didn't even save Gamecube. It had one decent surge when Double Dash came out and that was about it. And it wasn't competing on both budget and next gen ends against 4 consoles like the Wii U will be.
There's nothing to indicate outside of a holiday surge that major franchises will save this system in the grand scheme of things.
Don't see how, when it launched at the same price point as Bioshock 2.
Also the Double Dash surge came at around the same time as the $99 price drop, IIRC.
A Human Becoming
More than a Member
Where are you creamsugar
opticalmace
Member
What is ASP?
Historically speaking NPD has rarely talked about dollar sales for software (sans games that come bundled with toys like Skylanders), whereas they do that on a somewhat regular basis with hardware.
I imagine this is because software generally comes in one price for the vast majority of sales whereas it's not uncommon to have multiple SKUs of consoles andhandhelds these days, sometimes with significant price differentiation.
Petrae
Member
Just once, I'd like someone in the gaming press to ask Satoru Iwata what his internal development teams have been doing for the last 2+ years when it comes to Wii U.
None of this "Please understand" business. It's not like this platform being released should have been a surprise. More games needed to be ready, and in shorter order. Was it because the HD transition was too difficult? Was it because more focus needed to be on 3DS development and resources were thin? Was it mismanagement? There has to be a reason for this kind of awful showing.
Regardless of what we think about the Wii U, it should be faring better. These numbers are a joke for a new platform that's following a big success like the Wii. In my eyes, someone should be held accountable, whether it's Iwata, Fils-Aime, or someone else.
None of this "Please understand" business. It's not like this platform being released should have been a surprise. More games needed to be ready, and in shorter order. Was it because the HD transition was too difficult? Was it because more focus needed to be on 3DS development and resources were thin? Was it mismanagement? There has to be a reason for this kind of awful showing.
Regardless of what we think about the Wii U, it should be faring better. These numbers are a joke for a new platform that's following a big success like the Wii. In my eyes, someone should be held accountable, whether it's Iwata, Fils-Aime, or someone else.
TheNatural
My Member!
Average sale price.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
Where the hell is Monster Hunter.
Ha ha ha...ha....yeah that certainly won't be pretty yet part of me can't wait.
Thunder Monkey
Banned
It's definitely weird, but kind of a fools gambit.
Console development in the Japanese space is largely becoming about what the west wants. And while the west seemed to want the Wii, they also wanted game types that most developers aren't suited to developing.
Home console development in Japan is probably working on PS4 right now, and Durango by virtue of similar hardware approaches.
I will not hold my breath.
Metallix87
Member
I think it's likely that a great deal of resources were shifted onto the 3DS when things looked dire for it, and Iwata likely assumed that Wii U wouldn't struggles as much when it launched with Mario.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
That's Nintendo's job to space out releases, not 3rd parties. Pikmin, W101, Game & Wario, and Wii Fit were all supposed to be out by Q2 at the latest. I think maybe 1 out of 4 will be out before August. Nintendo had to have known as early as last fall that this was going to be their lineup for Q1, with maybe Metro, Crysis, Rayman, and Aliens: CM filling in the blanks (and cancellations/delays being out of their control). You either fill in the gaps with first party content (the Sony strategy), or go big on advertising the 3rd party games you do have (the MS strategy).
BlazingDarkness
Member
But those same games will probably be available for PS3 as well (at the very least) and would sell more on that platform too. Unless Nintendo moneyhat a load of third party exclusives I can't see bigger publishers going Wii U exclusive (it'd be multi-platform) and I can't see small developers relying only on the Wii U, when it's selling so poorly.
Perfect Blue
Banned
What's on the 24th?
Skiesofwonder
Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
Iwata has already given an answer pertaining to such a question. It seems they came across problems switching to HD development during 2012, but "have recently corrected that issue".
JordanLMiller
Member
Where are Wii U numbers?
I have no idea what this means. Problems like what? Like, oh god we forgot we were supposed to be making games?
I have no idea what this means. Problems like what? Like, oh god we forgot we were supposed to be making games?
TheNatural
My Member!
http://neogaf.com/forum/member.php?u=10279
Last Activity: Today 07:39 PM
He's in the house. Somewhere.
Nintendo investors meeting.
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Iwata's resignation.
Aquamarine
Member
Never mind.
People keep saying this like it's the gospel but there are so many huge factors in the Wii U's favour that weren't in the Gamecubes. Firstly It's not releasing a year after it's main competition and secondly and more importantly the franchises it had on the gamecube have grown hugely since then. Super Mario is a far bigger name than it was back then: thanks to the popularity of games like MK and NSMB. Animal crossing is also far bigger. Not to mention the Wii line of game themselves are now in Nintendo's court. Sure they may not as huge, but even if they drop 80% of sales from the Wii generation they'll still be million sellers and huge wind in the sales of the Wii U.
Don't get me wrong: it won't be a roaring success but I still expect it to surpass the Gamecube and also the Nintendo 64 for these reasons alone.
Randolph Freelander
Member
Still waiting on confirmation my Wii U prediction (8, Bob) was spot on.
Oh alright. I would also assume that the 360 version is the better-selling SKU overall.
I wish him all the best in front off the grilling he's going to receive. I'm interested in whatever plan Iwata has for the WiiU and hope he spills the beans next week...