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NPD January 2013 Sales Results [Up7: Wii U 57K (CNET), Vita ~35K, PS3 201K]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
And when they bring that game out all of a sudden we'll get a million "Nintendo should retire Pokémon" threads. They deserve to fail. That line makes me laugh.
metalslimer
Member
Completely and totally agree. In that Mario on 3DS thread I made earlier someone brought up the comparison of Disney. They've expanded so much from their original animation roots and now own a large portion of the movie industry. Nintendo has expanded at a very slow pace, and now is unable to keep up with the lack of 3rd party support they have. They are forced into making sequel after sequel because that's the only way to sell their systems and now these are taking too long to create with the lack of personnel and studios
michaeltraps
Member
+1
Apophis2036
Banned
Isn't 20 million consoles sold a success for a video game only company that rely almost entirely on first party content, esp if they are selling every console at a small loss to begin with and then progressing to larger profits later ?.
People have to remember that Nintendo were on the way down with regards to console sales before Wii, that was a temporary sales spike, no one, not even the most hardcore Nintendo fans expected Wii like numbers again did they... did they ?.
If Nintendo can get the console profitable at $250 then they will make a tidy amount of money by the end of the generation, esp when the big first party games start to arrive in winter 2013.
The 3DS sales esp in Japan will ease the pressure on Iwata at least in the short term aswell.
I play mine every day and love the thing. GamePad is a brilliant idea for people who share a telly. I think Nintendo need to market the shit out of this feature, browsing and the Nintendo TViiii stuff. Get the casual/family/spousal gamer realising how cool it is.
Baki
Member
Ok try again...
You made me cry. Fucking NoJ. :'(
RobotMafia
Banned
The Wii U is a disaster, no question there.
It's going to be interesting to see how they approach things going forward. Didn't their cash reserves take a massive hit over the last year? How much can they realistically drop the price by? I think they need at least a $100 drop to get this thing going. They also need as many games as they can manage, through any means possible.
Here's what I would do:
- Kill the basic model. Drop the deluxe to $249. It will be a big hit short-term, but they're doomed if they don't.
- Reach out to as many developers as possible. Years ago they should have farmed out F-Zero to either Monster Games or Sumo Digital for example. Who have they teamed up with apart from Platinum?
- Fix the damn software. Hire some competent programmers with experience developing embedded operating systems. Fire whoever was in charge of the software for the Wii U.
- Fire Reggie. Who the hell knows what this guy is doing. I'd like to know what Nintendo's developer outreach efforts are like in the US compared to Japan and Europe.
The thing is, it's not like they're inherently fucked. It's just shoddy management. If they'd done the above prior to launch, they would be in a far better position. The hardest thing about Nintendo is it's like everyone can see it but them.
MikeE21286
Member
Would you go as far as calling those partnerships.....unprecedented?
Way back in the Xbox 1 days Microsoft wanted to buy Nintendo. Obviously Nintendo would never let that happen but I wonder if they'd be interested in a partnership. WiiU ain't coming back without a miracle so nintendo needs a console platform to develop on. A partnership would benefit both sides a lot.
AlphaStriker
Member
Nintendo PR: Please understand.
I'm hoping for Ambassador Program 2.0. I want some free stuff!
I'm also hoping that Iwata gets to keep his job
The date is right there in the gif.
I'm also hoping that Iwata gets to keep his job
The date is right there in the gif.
Mario Kart U will sell 1/3:rd of Mario Kart Wii if not less since Mario Kart 7 hasn't sold 8 million yet. Brawl will probably sell over 5 million. It won't be enough to sell Wii U above GameCube eat all
I rather see Ninendo develop exclusively on the 3DS
Gentleman Jack
Member
Ok try again...
Oh my stars and garters
I was going to say, where there is a will, there is a way. Although both might be down YoY. If the 3DS number is good they might want to just mention that and then be vague about the Wii U.
Any insight into the portables, PS3, Wii?
I'm probably one of the bigger low key N-heads here and I don't see any situation where this isn't considered a failure. Nintendo:
- Squandered a year's head start
- Launched $50 out of the sweet spot range (wouldn't be as big a deal if the next wasn't true)
- Had no "premier" titles for the system
- Their mission statement was erratic and only confused people more
- Didn't utilize their marketing to play up the advantages of their new feature in the game pad (which is legitimately interesting/novel)
- Hadn't gotten to grips with modern account systems Day 1
- (Seemingly) haven't been getting their production teams used to HD development (more specifically, understanding the piece of custom kit they developed for this system) and thus...
- Cannot guarantee a steady stream of notable titles for the console until seemingly 9 months after release at best
- In the effort to cater to their needs, desgined a system with an architechture that cannot swing at full feature parity to the consoles coming along now (Even if I feel like Wii U's philosophy for technical design is OK, Nintendo started giving 3rd parties justification to skip them over with this alone, everything else is just snowballing.)
And to add to all this, there are new consoles sucking away any spotlight they would get by just being the new guy on the block.
This is far beyond bad.
They better start promising indies free blowjobs on top of everything else if they want any support from the west.
Yeah, this is another thing. Who seriously sat back and let them repeat the same mistakes in the same quantities and timings with Wii U's launch window period that they did with 3DS? I don't know if that guy needs to be fired immediately or enshrined for greatest disservice to a company ever.
You know, I've been extremely pessimistic about the Wii U so far, but I've already built a 55k number into my expectations. Right now, I'm actually fairly optimistic about the Wii U. It seems to have great word of mouth, and it'll have a fairly decent library built up by summer. If they can get a couple monster games ready for holiday, they could be in a position to sell very well against launch-supply-constrained Durango's and Orbis's.
Tl;dr version - these numbers are obviously bad, but it's not time to panic yet.
Tl;dr version - these numbers are obviously bad, but it's not time to panic yet.
...1/3 of 30 million is still 10 million. That's a huge piece of software for any company. That's a killer app. And Smash will definitely sell past 7 million. It's too popular a series not too.
Skiesofwonder
Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
Schnozberry
Member
I agree. New platforms are struggling. Nintendo botched the Wii U launch, but the 3DS and Vita both released to apathy in the mass market too. I don't know why everyone seems to think Durango and Orbis will be immune to this. The old platforms are selling too well for them to explode onto the market.
How is Nintendo stock doing right now, by the way? Are we talking about an RIM level crash?
Duxxy3
Member
Someone earlier said that even the lowest PS3 month was over 70k. That was probably within the first year of launch.
shinra-bansho
Member
I don't know; what was the GameCube selling on a monthly basis back in the day?
I think there are very real issues with the core device and who exactly the target market is.
It's not a generational leap. And there's a justified perception of poor third party support going forward.
Ergo: There's no value proposition for the market that built the PS3 or 360 installed bases.
Meanwhile, the hook they've pinned their hopes on is difficult to convey and simply not going to be as compelling as waggle.
Ergo: There's no value proposition for the market that built the Wii.
There's a value proposition for the Nintendo fan - it will have Nintendo games, it has NSMBU.
metalslimer
Member
maquiladora
Member
Probably not as bad as the Feb results will be.
Well they "announced" all their huge IPs in the last one already, so unless they release another ND say that ZeldaU 2 SSBU2 are coming, it's a bit problematic.
It was 82k in April 2007 iirc
Honestly the most worrying thing about the numbers, for me, is that the massively low install base this is building towards may make it hard for Bayonetta 2 to do anything other than tank, unless it's a far-future title.
At this point I'd kind if like to see Nintendo offer to fund some ports for as-yet-unreleased games. They've got the money, and it's time to be desperate.
At this point I'd kind if like to see Nintendo offer to fund some ports for as-yet-unreleased games. They've got the money, and it's time to be desperate.
GitarooMan
Member
Nintendo really fucked up between 2010 and 2012 in their failure to ramp up HD development and it's biting them in the ass. Additionally it's clear that the Wii U was basically conceived as a console DS during the height of the DS craze, but they failed to realize that the dual screen had little to nothing to do with DS's success and that it may not be a great idea for people to be constantly looking down away from their TV while playing a game. DS was huge because of the attractive price and metric ton of compelling software.
dreamer3kx
Member
I recently picked up a WiiU and love it, it really is sad to see it sell like this, can they drop this thing to $200 and 250 for deluxe or is that too costly for them, this is pretty pathetic.
Terrordactyl
Member
Great word of mouth? Ive heard no one talk about it, even my friends that own it dont talk about it.
Save 'N Quit
Banned
Who is creamsugar?
Psychological Intellect
Banned
Is that worse than the Vita?
Portugeezer
Member
Yeah there is an astonishing amount of content and polish to that game, I love it. It was also the first game in ages I paid full price for, so I'm hoping it's doing well and I'm glad I did my part.
As for Nintendo, that just about sums up my feelings towards them. I certainly do not want them to fail and be gone forever, but looking at their consoles and their current output, it's just not enough to get me back on board.
ShineALight
Member
This month's sales are horrendous and several moths will pass before there's even really a chance of them turning it around, but it's still far too early to talk about Nintendo running to Microsoft.
metalslimer
Member
If they are losing money now, a 200 dollar Wii U would kill them.
at $599 to boot
With February's release calendar being as dry as it is, I'd expect next month to look even worse.
I don't disbelieve that things can turn around for them. I'm not so dismissive as to declare "BOMBA!" and just walk away. But man, the months up to E3 are going to be ROUGH. Maybe they'll get some glimmers of hope in March, but E3 is going to have to be AMAZING for them, and simultaneously, it'll have to be pretty bad for Sony and Microsoft.
I own the thing and enjoy it for the time I've spent with it. But yeah... sad day for Nintendo, if not for the kickass ND this morning.
I don't disbelieve that things can turn around for them. I'm not so dismissive as to declare "BOMBA!" and just walk away. But man, the months up to E3 are going to be ROUGH. Maybe they'll get some glimmers of hope in March, but E3 is going to have to be AMAZING for them, and simultaneously, it'll have to be pretty bad for Sony and Microsoft.
I own the thing and enjoy it for the time I've spent with it. But yeah... sad day for Nintendo, if not for the kickass ND this morning.
Oh oops.
In all fairness it is really tiny so it was hard to spot it right off the bat.
Of All Trades
Member
Unless the eshop takes off or there are a pile of hidden games I would not call the 2-3 likely good games releasing between now and then to create a remotely "decent library", and there's no way to describe 55k as "great word of mouth". 55k is "stink of failure" territory.
edit: I mean, the console just lost (for 7 months) a semi-high profile game that probably still would have done nothing to really increase sales.
Moral Panic
Member
The fact that the old consoles are still selling means people still want to play video games. They still buy Halo, they still buy AssCreed, they still buy COD. When the new consoles come out, even if they hit a speed bump out of the gate, they are still guaranteed to get Halo, gears, AssCreed, COD.
Problem is that it won't save the Wii U, I think those games will sell less than what I wrote