World Wii sales slump by 43% Nintendo has admitted that Wii sales have “stalled” after reporting a 43 per cent drop in global sales of the console during the first six months of the firm’s current financial year. The company sold 5.7m Wiis during the six months to 30 September, compared to 10.1m during the year-ago half. Global Wii videogame sales also …
I haven't turned on my Wii for six months. All the games on the market are seriously shit movie tie ins, or require the purchase of another expensive add-on. (Wii Fit? Wii Motion Plus? What the f**k?)
Come on Nintendo, release another Zelda. Twilight Princess has been one of the only truly decent Wii games.
I seem to remember getting jumped on around here for calling the Wii a fad a while back. Oh dear.
"We were unable to continue to release strong software."
Translation:
"We just realised that 95% of the games released for the Wii are total shite."
The Wii was a nice piece of kit that managed to become the Christmas toy fad in the year of its release, but as a console it blows because the games on it are sooooo bad. Almost everything I see advertised for the Wii is either yet another Mario rehash, or another collection of mini-games no-one cares about. I know quite a few people who bought a Wii during the fad, and after 5 minutes playing Wii Sports they got bored, and it's sat there ever since, gathering dust.
Ironically enough, I'm in the market for one, now that every light gun game maker in existence is porting to the Wii because of the instant hardware support. Pity the accessories for the Wii also suck donkey balls. Everything's just a moulded piece of plastic you shove the Wiimote into. No chance of a decent gun to play with (though Sony are guilty of this this time around, too).
The DSi is a pile of shite too. No-one is going to buy a console just so they can take pictures of people and mess with them. No-one is going to upgrade their normal DS for those functions, so what's the point? And if you're going to advertise these things to little kids, remember how long little kids' attention spans last...
That'll be 'cos world + dog has got one and even the dog doesn't want two.
I never cease to be amazed when some company that's flogging product like it's going out of fashion acts all surprised when the market saturation point is hit and sales go off a cliff, rather than gradually tailing off toward the end of the product lifecycle as per their cosy internal predictions.
Nintendo need to take a leaf out of the MS book and make sure that the next version goes titsup when its warranty period expires to ensure a ready supply of repeat sales.....
...perhaps people have finally realised that the Wii is shit?
I know people will respond saying how great it is for gaming with the family, but it's not worth it unless you hold house parties every few weeks. As a console to play on regularly there isn't a single game I've seen which would hold my attention for more than a couple of minutes.
Either that or it's because they've now got those twats Ant & Dec to start advertising for them.
The Wii had slick marketing, but ultimately, it was a fad. it was overpriced when compared to a PS2 (which it was more akin to), and didn't have nowhere near the library of great games. The PS3 had thousands and catered for the hardcore and casual gamer alike. However Nintendo had a problem, how do they sell a console thats full of last-gen specs (or even less than last-gen, as even the PS2 could play DVDs), at double the price of a last-gen system.
Simplez, you tell consumers it's a current gen system, and give it a desirable gimmick like a EyeToy style control and some electronic scales add-on.
The harsh reality has now hit home, consumers would have been better off buying a PS2 at the budget end, or a PS3 at the high end.
Paris, because she is surely stupid enough to fall for Nintendos supply micromanagement "can't buy one for love or money" tricks.
How do you expect to sell any more when every man, woman, child, cat and dog owns one now.
Even my mother in law owns one now!
She was the last person in the world I expected to buy a game console, now when the wife take me round there her mother is sure enough gyrating and sweating on that damn wii board thing in front of the TV.
It's like watching a hippo trying to disco dance.
She knows just enough about the computer she owns to be able to switch it on, but not enough to not open every attachment she gets so her computer is chock full of spyware and viruses, I have got fed up with having to clean them all off whenever I visit.
She even replied to a banking phising email recently to tell them she didn't have a bank account with said bank. I suspect that feat has managed to get her onto an email sucker list.
I'm a proper gamer thank you very much, Im a member of a FPS gaming clan and even manage the website.
Now I feel I'm in a gaming minority because I don't own a wii like every other member of the planet, thank god, but now the wife keeps saying it would be nice for her to own a wii...
Sorry Nintendo, you can't sell any more, everyone who wants one has got one!
Unfortunately, despite a great console and (then)revolutionary control interface, teh software is basically PANTS!! I own one, and to be honest, when you compare the PS and xbox titles they wipe the floor with the Wii. You can't argue its graphics..look at Zelda, stunning graphics, massive maps and great gameplay. Then you have all the terrible crap that makes the old mega drive games even look good! Blocky smudged graphics with no gameplay, storyline or innovation. I think too many games publishers saw a fast buck!
and then everyone who wants one has got one. I can see the marketing team now, scratching their heads trying to work out how to convince customers that having 2 wiis are better than 1. It probably doesn't help that both Sony and MS have done a couple of price cuts and it took Nintendo ages to do the same, then when they did cut the price it wasn't by much.
The christmas season will surely up their sales.
Aside from that, all Ninty need to do is lower the price of the console by, say, £50, get all the low to non-existent income people drooling over it.
I mean, it must only have about £30 worth of electronics in its plastic shell to begin with! The WiiMote controller is more technologically advanced than the console as a whole.
To wit - IR camera with image detection for detecting multiple IR light points on the wiibar, three axis accelerometer, bluetooth adapter for comms with the console. They've saved money too by using the standard electronics protocol i2c for communicating with the nunchuk accessory and use a slight adaptation of the HID standard over bluetooth.
Now I wonder if ninty can stop marketing those utterly annoying squeaking chalkboard voiced characters in all their games, with their cutesy innocent bright coloured telly-tubby looks. Perhaps they wouldn't have saturated their key demographic (young kids) if they'd have diversified a little, i.e. aimed at teens / adults, you know, those people with a chance of having some actual money to spend on games consoles.
Fools.
*going anon*
..they're getting bitten on the ass with this. I'm the original Nintendo fanboy from spending my adolescence playing Super Mario World and Mario 64 and I've had high hopes for the games on the Wii.
Nintendo have more than delivered with their own games but their 3rd party support has been shocking. They should listen to good old Steve - "developers, developers, developers".
That said, I'm still REALLY excited about Mario Galaxy 2. And I still prefer the Wii to any other console.
I agree the Wii hit saturation point we all knew it was coming sooner or later with the Wii's insanely high monthly sale rate.
But the software sales I do agree for once with some of the posters most of the games released are pretty crappy currently. Japan gets a ton of variety in games vs the rest of the world waiting months, to years (if it ever gets translated) for the same game. Till the 1st of January I see a total of 4 games scheduled to be released in America that look like they don't suck, and honestly only 1 I think I might purchase. Compared to the Japanese release schedule there is 4 I would definitely buy coming out in the same time frame, and will buy if they ever make it to America.
But lets face it Nintendo is not at fault for game makers being too lazy and not caring enough to translate a game and bring it out to other markets.
"How do you expect to sell any more when every man, woman, child, cat and dog owns one now?"
By releasing a new version in black. SImple really. El Reg has run with the stories of the Wii HD, other sites have had stories on the Wii 2, there are stories doing the rounds about the Next Gen DS with Nvidia Tetra chipsets, it all rumbles on. But lets not forget, Ninty actually make a profit on hardware, something Sony and MS can only dream about.
Let the heavens decide is a literal translation of nintendo...
apparently the heavens have decided they're bonafide sh1t.
Personally I would have bought one if it werent for the fact that they were NEVER in stock when they first came out, and now that they are in stock (as many have already mentioned) the games are just no good because the hardware is so naff (where are the decent graphics when you want them for an immersive game?)
They need to pull their socks up for the next console release (and make sure its in stock).
... Crash and burn nintendo, crash.and.burn.
...and sell dull blades? Wait, that doesn't sound right...
Some of the Wii games I saw at E3 and TGS looked pretty fun, but it seems like they're stuck between a rock and a hard place - if they make games for gamers, the software will be good, but the people who own the console AREN'T gamers, and won't buy those games...
Plus, the Wii's hardware is so absolutely abysmal that it's got to be hurting them, even with consumers who aren't hardcore gamers. The Wii looks pretty godawful on any HDTV, and HDTVs are a pretty damned large percentage of the market now - for chrissakes, the thing has less memory total than my *video card* had *eight years ago*. It's a cell phone in a white box with component video output, and that was always going to limit them.
The chickens, they are roosting... Nintendo robbed peter to pay paul with the dev cycle, and it's going to be tough for them to come out of it. They still CAN, but it's gonna be tough.
As soon as the over-40 crowd started buying the Wii for use as an exercise machine it was doomed. What 13 to 25 year old wants to use the same console his parents do? When I think of the Wii I think of a chubby 35 year old woman playing Wii Fit on it every day and that kills any desire I have to use it for gaming. I'm sure I'm not alone on that.
The drop in sales and player interest represents the lack of an innovative game paradigm in yonks. It started strong with tennis, golf, frisbee etc, then recaught the wave with Mario Kart. When that buzz was dying out along came Rock Band and it was Game On! again. What's needed is a digital version of some heretofore ignored facet of life. We've had sports, driving and recreational music. What's left?
Why, I believe it's time for WiiBonk, the definitive nookie-meets-console experience! Can a strategic partnership with RealDoll be that far away?
When will people realise - the Wii is NOT meant to be a competitor to the PS3 and XB360 in the graphics department. Their target market is completely different, and its one where graphics are not so important. I have one, but never get the chance to play it (Super Mario Galaxy -great game)- can't get the children off Mario Kart or the other half off Wii fit (when she gets the chance).
People who bought them and now don't use them shouldn't have bought them in the first place, as hardcore gamers it's just not suitable. As they should have know at the time!! Its pretty damn obvious.
I'd agree that a lot of the software is a bit pants - but as others have said, that's not Nintendo's fault. Their stuff is pretty good. Although, I presume there is also a lot of crap stuff available for the other consoles as well..
Nintendo have done extremely well - produce a relatively low powered machine, add a genius controller, then sell a shite load of them at a big profit when the other console makers are selling at a loss. Hats off to that!
They may have hit saturation point though, as others have said. Role on the WiiToo.
Get a grip.
I agree that there is not much real good stuff out for the Wii, but that is true of all consoles. There is some really good stuff on the Wii though - Endless Ocean, Archery and Zelda to name but a few.
Guess the PS3 and XBOX brigade need to realise that not all games have to have bullets in them.
My six year old brother loves playing it and I got mine so I don't get my butt kicked by a six year old at christmas. Aside from that, I don't mind the garbage graphics because I knew full well that's what I was buying. I play tennis, which I never enjoyed growing up, sword fighting and of course the bowling and baseball that my little brother plays (don't care for table tennis). I wish they'd have brought "Killer Instinct" over from the N64 because "Mortal Kombat" wasn't my only favorite title AND I need something to kill after dealing with the people that I deal with at work. Other than that, mines for the kiddies to play with because it's easy for them to grasp and while playing outside would be better, jumping around with a controller is still preferable to being a couch potato.
AC because of the work comment...
The previous commentards here are right - Most Wii games suck monkey balls and any decent game they release requires the purchase of expensive additions. Plus, when I bought the thing, I stupidly forgot that after a day's hard work, the last thing I wanted to do was get my arse up off the sofa to play games.
Its probably the best thing since sliced animal if you're 7 or 70, but the rest of us in the 'middle ground' are less easy to fool.
As a company, Nintendo is conservative and risk-averse, and focuses on long-term profitability over all else. Which is why they're not desperate for market share like Microsoft and Sony who make next to nothing selling hardware (were losing it at one point). While sales numbers for consoles rise and fall, Nintendo is quietly pwning all other comers on handheld gaming, Apple's shrill marketing notwithstanding.
I, for one, welcome our low-resolution Italian plumber overlords.
Richard 102, the word they actually used, 失速 (shissoku), literally means "rapidly lose" (e.g. power, height, or in this case, presumably, sales). Like "stall", also used in reference to an aeroplane or engine, but the Japanese version is somewhat more literal, not too far from "plummet", really.
the wii is a fad?
right, and the the ps3 and xbox360 are what exactly?
face it, the wii won this round, with time to spare to put out a wii2 that *would still make money on day 1* while ms and sony are left with their *graphics have been pushed as far as they can go, so no more improvements until the next generation* consoles. (as if its graphics that matter most - well i suppose if your business model depends on first person shooters then you need something to make your game stand out)
I agree that making a direct comparison between the wii and the other 2 is difficult, but then Nintendo's bean counters couldn't give a shit about whether you think the wii is a "proper" console - a tactic often used by the infamous sony fanboy mark so he can say his ps3 is the fastest selling console (while pointing at the 360s earlier launch date)
oops i didnt mean that to sound quite as ranty.
oh wait, im lying.
and as for the comparison with the ps2...
why would someone buy a 9 year old console if they weren't just replacing the one that they had broken? how many games are still being released for it? outside of Japan i mean? People buy second hand sness for the misty eyed nostalgia. same for the dreamcast and ps2.
i dont care about all the new peripherals...i just want some more decent games. there have been hardly any triple A titles released for the platform this past year - most titles have been shovelware or 3rd party derivatives - and version 2 or 3 of a launch title :-(
give me some decent new IP and some new decent games - its a little shocking when some of the best titles are cheap WiiWare titles and the best you can hope for is a release of some 8bit or 16bit re-release on the VirtualConsole :-(
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