Heart Attack
Member
55k? fuck yeah!!! $199 price coming soon 
-
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NPD January 2013 Sales Results [Up7: Wii U 57K (CNET), Vita ~35K, PS3 201K]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Talked with Gamasutra colleagues. Looked at original quote on the 38%. Given historical data I have here, I come up with:
Down 37.5% -> 59.5K Wii U in January 2013
Down 38.4% -> 45.9K Wii U in January 2013
So there is a fairly big range in there. 55K is a nice figure in the middle, but it's more like 52±7K
Down 37.5% -> 59.5K Wii U in January 2013
Down 38.4% -> 45.9K Wii U in January 2013
So there is a fairly big range in there. 55K is a nice figure in the middle, but it's more like 52±7K
MikeE21286
Member
Ahh good point on that. What's the normal seasonal bump?
I'd guess that 35-40k is the level of the forecast. I don't know what the seasonal component is...maybe +20% (so about 10k total additional on 35-40k?)
Graphics Horse
Member
You monster.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
Dave Meltzer
Banned
Wii U wasn't a risk. It was an incredibly safe system, trying to just merge the Wii and DS in to one system while offering the benefits of an iPad.
Simply put, Nintendo lost all their forward thinking and the innovative mindset that helped Wii and DS become so huge. They released a lazy, poorly thought out product.
Anyone with some common sense would know this was the right idea. Nintendo played too conservative. Their conservative nature is both their greatest asset and curse just looking at the Wii and this early portion of Wii U's life.
Being really honest, I don't think they're beyond a comeback, but anyone thinking it's matching Wii needs to sit down in the corner and rethink their life a bit.
ItWasMeantToBe19
Banned
Nintendo probably should have expanded more when they were having tons of success (in 2008/2009) to be able to release more games.
Losing touch with the casual market is how they're here at this point, but they could just use more games of any type right now and more teams would have helped.
Not sure what they should do now.
Losing touch with the casual market is how they're here at this point, but they could just use more games of any type right now and more teams would have helped.
Not sure what they should do now.
They're not. They haven't even shown Mario 3D yet, and I don't think they've shown Mario Kart? Smash is probably next year at the earliest, same with new Zelda. This is the crux of my arguments; there's probably not going to be any huge 1st party title this year except for Pikmin 3, and based on Pikmin 2 numbers that's not going to push units and or sell millions.
Yay for market crash! Which will happen, if all of these anti-consumer policies continue to happen from the Big 3.
Portugeezer
Member
Nintendo meeting: "FUCKING DEVELOP DAT MARIO KART!"
shinra-bansho
Member
Oh, that wasn't a rhetorical question - I'm actually asking what numbers it was pulling if anybody has them.
If it was around the 100-150K mark I'd say it's "just" a lack of software and too high a price or the economy stupid.
55K strikes me as far deeper issues with the appeal of the product at play.
The supply constrained 360 and the $599 PS3 were selling ~5x more in their respective Januaries.
GiantEnemyGoomba
Member
Stop quoting the horse gif. ;_;
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
This is what happens when you launch a lukewarm console out the gate with a small software library that does little to nothing to differentiate itself from other bigger, more popular, and cheaper systems on the market, have zero software momentum in the subsequent post-launch months, and stuff up your marketing so the mass consumer isn't exactly sure what they're buying let alone why they should.
It's not a matter of quality for what is there. The point is if you don't want NSMBU or ZombiU, maybe Nintendoland, there really isn't any reason at all when you can instead pick up an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 instead and indulge in their far superior software library.
The tablet controll is good. It makes for interesting games and feels damn great to use. But it's not enough to sell the system, not by a long shot. And now they know.
It's not a matter of quality for what is there. The point is if you don't want NSMBU or ZombiU, maybe Nintendoland, there really isn't any reason at all when you can instead pick up an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 instead and indulge in their far superior software library.
The tablet controll is good. It makes for interesting games and feels damn great to use. But it's not enough to sell the system, not by a long shot. And now they know.
I think we can pretty much write off the Wii U at this point. Nintendo picked the worse time to release this console. If they released it like two years ago, then they may have had a chance. Now, it's pretty much done. Sony will be announcing the PS4 in the coming week and Microsoft will be announcing theirs for sure by E3. All this will do is create buzz for these two consoles and people will end up holding out until they're released later this year. A price cut won't stop people from waiting and the complete lack of AAA software won't either.
...both titles are already in playable form. Hell, even Retro's title was rumored to be in playable form last year. One or both of them is coming out this year.
Both Mario 3D and Mario Kart 8 will be out by these holidays on WiiU, even if they have to rush them.
I say, time to buy!
So, Wii U bomba confirmed. And a big one too. And it's only going to be worse until like, late Q2. Worse than the PS3 vs. GBA days, (Does someone half that polevault gif?) fucking hell. Nintendo are lucky the 3DS is going to have a great 2013, otherwise it would be chopping time (Although that might not be too far off if they can't turn this around).
No it won't, the big crash is not going to happen. Way to many things have to go wrong in order for it to happen.
SolarPowered
Member
This 55k is somewhere in the region of Wii U's numbers in Japan which has 1/3rd the population of the US. Those numbers are already bad in Japan. Imagine how bad they are in a country with three times the amount of people.
Let that sink in for a few minutes...
Baki
Member
lol, Alright Mr. Defensive. I was merely pointing out what total sales would be like IF current sales trend continues. I was not in anyway stating that these trends WILL continue - just what would happen if they DID.
Now as to what WILL happen? I think its too early to call anything and more time is needed. This holiday season will be very telling.
Moral Panic
Member
metalslimer
Member
I think Nintendo will rush both games out the door unfinished honestly. It's what they did with Windwaker and a lot of other gamecube games. This is why panic mode nintendo is horrible because we're going to end up with rushed games that aren't finished that could be much better.
Byakuya769
Member
So Wii was a fad. U just had to prove it.
MatthewB92
Member
The next couple of months will be fun.
gamergirly
Member
Still no confirmation of the 55K Wii U sales number?
MikeE21286
Member
All I can think of when reading that last paragraph is "oops, we didn't mean that. Just joking."
Not an option though.
abysmal numbers, did creamsugar already showed up to confirm it?
iwata is not stupid he wouldn't have set the 100b yen target if he wasn't sure they were coming for xmas
iwata is not stupid he wouldn't have set the 100b yen target if he wasn't sure they were coming for xmas
nhlducks35
Member
jeremy1456
Junior Member
While Wii U will bounce back when big games are released (especially in the holiday season), I think the PS4 is only a blip on the radar compared to the next Xbox in the Americas.
Portugeezer
Member
"we won't drop the price"
Wonder if this is still true?
Wonder if this is still true?
Bayonetta 2 and The wonderful 101 will save us T_T
metalslimer
Member
Looking at the 3DS and Wii U launch he certainly is. So either Nintendo got lucky in the previous gen or Iwata has lost his damn mind.
RamzaIsCool
The Amiga Brotherhood
In november 2007 it was at $76.87 :O
It's now around pre-Wii levels (2001) and going down. Heads will roll!
I think the price is only a fraction of the reason Wii U isn't selling, e.g., Eat Children's post a couple posts up.
They could cut the price in half and I still have no reason to buy one at least until September. I might of jumped in for Rayman then let it chill until Platinum releases something, but there with shit coming out anytime soon. I'm starting to think the Wii U launch is somehow shittier than PS3's.
I think releasing an underpowered console relying on different control scheme is pretty major risk by itself. It is not much different from the original Wii.
Dave Meltzer
Banned
Do we know how many people bought their Wii Us on the eShop? Those numbers aren't accounted for and would probably take the monthly total to >100k.
Cosmonaut X
Member
Assuming that Nintendo have some kind of plan for righting this ship, they're going to get one shot at it and one shot only, and it has to happen soon.
They need:
They need to hit bloody hard from March/April onwards and blow the doors off at E3, or the narrative is set.
They need:
- Price-cut or value-added bundles ASAP - Nintendoland should be bundled across the board, throw in a Remote/Nunchuk and perhaps phase out the standard package with a price-dropped deluxe for a good start.
- A new ad campaign in the Spring to coincide with the new releases, pushing aspects like off-TV play hard (with the right disclaimer to avoid the UK ad authorities, natch ;-) )
- A steady stream of releases from March onward. Hopefully the delay of games like Pikmin was to ensure that they are able to push regular releases from then on to Christmas
- Reach out to publishers (hopefully already on the go) with whatever they can offer (reduced licensing fees, publishing support etc.) to make the platform as low-risk as possible
- Push their eShop harder, and keep up what seems to be a good outreach to indie devs to get a steady stream of games there too
- If there is any significant third-party support coming (likely only from Japan at this stage) it needs to be shown ASAP. Also show off whatever they can from their Western partners, like Monster, and from their other studios, like Retro. Anything to encourage confidence in the platform's future
They need to hit bloody hard from March/April onwards and blow the doors off at E3, or the narrative is set.