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[metalslimer]

A phone SKU of vita would just be a big moneysink. At this point you just dont come back from selling 30k. Vita is done, unless Sony makes it a really expensive pack in. The PSP was basically removed from stores by the time it hit 30k.

 

[Basileus777]

The 3DS numbers really aren't too bad given it was the inferior version (SD textures, no online, worse control options). Anyone who owned both systems had much more incentive to pick up the U SKU. In context, the platform split makes some sense.

The fact that 3U essentially matched Tri with pretty much no promotion behind it (outside Capcom Unity grasssroots efforts) is incredibly encouraging. And this isn't even factoring digital sales, which seem decent going by the eShop charts. I'm not sure how you see Capcom passing on MH4 based off 3U sales really. 3U shows that Tri's audience expansion efforts largely paid off, the fanbase stuck around. MH4 will be the next push to grow it further.

And really, DD isn't all that far off from MH in a lot of respects. Another good comparison would be Lost Planet 2, but we don't have specific numbers for that (between 145k and 85k).

It just makes me wonder how MH would do in the west if it wasn't chained down by platform exclusivity. I wonder what kind of audience it could find if it was 360/PS3/PC as well.

 

[AranhaHunter]

Guys, no one else celebrating the green thunder? 365k at retail and 50k digitally in just one week. 415k in 14 days of availability...it's probably the biggest surprise of the month

I don't think you can say 50k digitally in one week when we know the 415K number is LTD.

So the honest question from these sales and recent announcements is: Does Nintendo have the resources to support two consoles without 3rd party support?

No. Unless it's a curveball pheomenom like the Wii, Nintendo, like Sony and MS, NEEDS 3rd party support in order for their console to thrive.

A phone SKU of vita would just be a big moneysink. At this point you just dont come back from selling 30k. Vita is done, unless Sony makes it a really expensive pack in. The PSP was basically removed from stores by the time it hit 30k.

A phone SKU would either hit it big or flop badly. Like I said, if I were Kaz or House I would scrap the vita right now with FY 13 being its last year on the market.

 

[creamsugar]

I'm very curious about how Luigi will impact 3DS hardware during April. It had a big debut, with 415k sold in two weeks between retail and digital. It's certainly a much bigger hit than Kid Icarus Uprising last year (140k in its debut week, then 80k in the following four weeks). Heck, it certainly sold more in two weeks than what KI:U sold LTD :lol Last year 3DS did 125k, after a 262k February and a 225k March. This time, we have 190k in February and 230k in March, so a much better trend in the end, no?

Ah, yeah: with just two months counted, Fire Emblem: Awakening already topped Shadow Dragon, 250k LTD.

You forget pikachu XL was released in March.

 

[Cutebrute]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but other posts indicated that MH3U 3ds SKU accounted for 2/3 of that game's sales this month, right? And if that is the case, didn't the 3ds version sell a little under 100k?

I know that this doesn't include DLs, but if game doesn't find any legs in April, then I don't know if Capcom would even bother bringing MH4 to NA.

 

[Tobor]

So the honest question from these sales and recent announcements is: Does Nintendo have the resources to support two consoles without 3rd party support?

With all those recently announced 3DS titles, it seems for the past year or more A LOT of Nintendo resources have been pegged to the 3DS.

Nope, they do not. They need to cut their losses on Wii U and focus on 3DS. Hopefully Iwata's replacement figures that out.

 

[clashfan]

With sales in Japan going back to sub 10K soonish, I believe Sony has 3 options with the vita.

- Strip it down and make it essentially an expensive, $99, PS4 accessory. This option would not do well IMO
- Kill it by March 2014. I.e. ship whatever they are gonna ship this FY and by May 2014, when they give out their FY report, state that the vita project is no more
- Relaunch it with 16/32GB embedded internal memory, hdmi out, tablet, phone SKUs, redesigned store along with app, ebook, mp3 stores, price drop by at least $50, MC price drop by ~50% while introducing 64 and 128GB MCs, and a whole bunch of new games. They would also need to relaunch PSM at the same time as well

If I were Kaz Hirai I would go with the 2nd option to be honest.

I can't see 2 ever happening.

 

[allan-bh]

I'm surprised that Sony GoW outsold Microsoft GoW.

 

[Mpl90]

You forget pikachu XL was released in March.

That's true too, but I remember hearing it basically went sold out very soon probably due to a very low shipment.

 

[Miles X]

I'm surprised that Sony GoW outsold Microsoft GoW.

Extra week + HW Bundle

 

[Mpl90]

I don't think you can say 50k digitally in one week when we know the 415K number is LTD.

Ops, I just corrected the second sentence now that I noticed. 50k for the first two weeks. Sorry for that

 

[allan-bh]

Extra week + HW Bundle

Yes, but Gears is much more strong in US than God of War.

These sales show how bad Judgment is

 

[Plinko]

So the honest question from these sales and recent announcements is: Does Nintendo have the resources to support two consoles without 3rd party support?

With all those recently announced 3DS titles, it seems for the past year or more A LOT of Nintendo resources have been pegged to the 3DS.

For this generation? Probably. After that? No, which is why they either need to focus on one handheld OR console or team up with another company that can garner the support they need.

The third party relationships are now irreparably damaged.

 

[AranhaHunter]

I can't see 2 ever happening.

Why?

Ops, I just corrected the second sentence now that I noticed. 50k for the first two weeks. Sorry for that

Technically it's still not factually correct though

We know the 365K number is retail only and up to 4/6/2013
We know the 415K number is retail + digital and up to 4/16/2013 (IIRC? I think we are going off Reggie's comments)

We do not know what it sold digitally, unless you got some new info?

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

It just makes me wonder how MH would do in the west if it wasn't chained down by platform exclusivity. I wonder what kind of audience it could find if it was 360/PS3/PC as well.

Probably about the same looking at how Dragon's Dogma and Lost Planet 2 performed. Both those are also less archaic in design and more western friendly even too.

 

[Mpl90]

Why?



Technically it's still not factually correct though

We know the 365K number is retail only and up to 4/6/2013
We know the 415K number is retail + digital and up to 4/16/2013 (IIRC? I think we are going off Reggie's comments)

We do not know what it sold digitally, unless you got some new info?

The other possibility is that 415k could be retail total up till April 6th (365k)+ digital sales up to April 16th.

 

[allan-bh]

Why?
We know the 415K number is retail + digital and up to 4/16/2013 (IIRC? I think we are going off Reggie's comments)

I Believe 415k is up to 4/6 because of Fire Emblem coment:

"Fire Emblem Awakening sold an additional 64,000 combined physical and digital physical copies in March, and has now sold more than 240,000 combined units to date."

 

[AranhaHunter]

The other possibility is that 415k could be retail total up till April 6th (365k)+ digital sales up to April 16th.

Sure, but that's an assumption. You can't just say it sold 50K digitally in two weeks given the numbers we have and when Reggie wasn't specific enough.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Yes, but Gears is much more strong in US than God of War.

These sales show how bad Judgment is

Not to mention such a massive drop off from it's previous game. Yes, God of War was down a lot (just less than 50%?) but Gears sold like... 1/5 - 1/6? of the last game.

 

[SmokedMeat]

A phone SKU of vita would just be a big moneysink. At this point you just dont come back from selling 30k. Vita is done, unless Sony makes it a really expensive pack in. The PSP was basically removed from stores by the time it hit 30k.

As long as remote play is something that's capable with the majority of PS4 games I'm content with it mostly being an off screen PS4 controller. Actually I'm excited about it.

 

[Miles X]

Not to mention such a massive drop off from it's previous game. Yes, God of War was down a lot (just less than 50%?) but Gears sold like... 1/5 - 1/6? of the last game.

Gears 3 did 2m I think, so 1/3.

 

[Schnozberry]

For this generation? Probably. After that? No, which is why they either need to focus on one handheld OR console or team up with another company that can garner the support they need.

The third party relationships are now irreparably damaged.

It sounds like Nintendo is making the hard charge for indies and will likely have a lot of publishing deals with small and mid-tier third party developers (i.e. Platinum Games, Atlus) to make exclusive games for their consoles and handhelds.

The Wii U situation is grim, but it was arguably just as bad for the 3DS 18 months ago. I expect after E3 we'll have a pretty good idea of what Nintendo is going to have ready for the Holidays, and whether the changes Iwata has been making to the company structurally will pay off. I think he has one more fiscal year to show signs of financial life or he will have to step down.

 

[frankie_baby]

curious is there a list of retailers that report sales to npd? specifically does EA/origin? as i'd assume nfsmwu should have squeezed a few k from the pricing mistake there

 

[Kusagari]

Gears has had far more fatigue than God of War this gen, with Judgment being the 4th game this gen, and I also think it was probably viewed more as a spinoff/inconsequential title than Ascension was.

Not sure if it's really a bad sign for Gears 4 or anything.

 

[Dave Long]

For this generation? Probably. After that? No, which is why they either need to focus on one handheld OR console or team up with another company that can garner the support they need.

The third party relationships are now irreparably damaged.

Why couldn't they just enlist more resources? Nintendo can afford to hire. If they don't think they have enough people on hand to support their consoles, they'll either hire internally or they'll find a developer to produce what they're looking for. They've been doing this for awhile now.

Nintendo smartly have never put all their eggs in the third party basket. I think that's exactly why Sony has struggled so much since PS3/PSP. They were far too reliant on 3rd parties to provide games.

Third parties are fickle. Micbrosoft will find this out one day too.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Gears 3 did 2m I think, so 1/3.

Ah, I can't seem to find any details on it bizarrely, but I did see something about it selling 3 million in a week, but I don't know. Maybe that was worldwide.

Edit: Found it, yes just over 2million. So about a third of 3's sales.

 

[Miles X]

Ah, I can't seem to find any details on it bizarrely, but I did see something about it selling 3 million in a week, but I don't know. Maybe that was worldwide.

Yeah that was WW.

 

[Schnei871]

Yea Luigi! I think the 3DS is just going to boom this year. Super excited

 

[Plinko]

Why couldn't they just enlist more resources? Nintendo can afford to hire. If they don't think they have enough people on hand to support their consoles, they'll either hire internally or they'll find a developer to produce what they're looking for. They've been doing this for awhile now.

Nintendo smartly have never put all their eggs in the third party basket. I think that's exactly why Sony has struggled so much since PS3/PSP. They were far too reliant on 3rd parties to provide games.

Third parties are fickle. Micbrosoft will find this out one day too.

Nintendo has been actually hiring for the past couple years.

 

[Miles X]

Third parties are fickle. Micbrosoft will find this out one day too.

And if they do MS will just get their cheque book out.

 

[Jarmel]

So other than the Virtual Boy, is this Nintendo's worst selling console ever?

 

[Gonzo The Great]

So other than the Virtual Boy, is this Nintendo's worst selling console ever?

Yes.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I wish Evilore would update the OP!

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Just as well the WiiU is getting the finger pointed at it or else people would be crying more over GoW and Gears

I wish Evilore would update the OP!

I don't think unofficial data normally gets put in the OP does it?

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

Yeah that was WW.

Things change, just ask Japanese 3rd parties.

 

[donny2112]

The more scary question is how low the wii u goes this summer. Without a pricedrop it could be sub 40k

They're setting it up to be able to trumpet a huge % increase.

Spoiler

No, not really.

 

[Dave Long]

Nintendo has been actually hiring for the past couple years.

Right. And that will only lead to more product down the road for their machines.

Nintendo has been announcing software like crazy in the last three months. It just mostly hasn't been on the WiiU... yet.

 

[hgarrett54]

Was hoping PMD: Gates to Infinity and MH3U would do better

 

[Pie and Beans]

I don't think unofficial data normally gets put in the OP does it?

Might as well start posting an Unofficial NPD Results thread for how much good the OP is these days. People have to end up asking the same questions over and over through the thread to even know if we have numbers, when we have plenty of ballparks and some pretty damn finite hardware deductions.

Or this all needs to stay obfuscated so we still get our good old cream

So the honest question from these sales and recent announcements is: Does Nintendo have the resources to support two consoles without 3rd party support?

With all those recently announced 3DS titles, it seems for the past year or more A LOT of Nintendo resources have been pegged to the 3DS.

They were fine when Handheld games meant low budget 2D outings for the most part, but now we're in an era where 3DS titles are at around Gamecube level and the WiiU is at PS3 level. Nintendo can't support two platforms that require full on 3D games, and probably never will. Hybrid device is all but ensured with the WiiU just dying off and unless Nintendo makes that HOLOGRAM BREAKTHROUGH, theres gonna be precious little "new way to play" console potential in another 4 years.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Might as well start posting an Unofficial NPD Results thread for how much good the OP is these days. People have to end up asking the same questions over and over through the thread to even know if we have numbers, when we have plenty of ballparks and some pretty damn finite hardware deductions.

Or this all needs to stay obfuscated so we still get our good old cream

Yeah if you don't read most of the thread you miss a lot of snippets. But yeah I'd prefer to have my cream and sugar than not at all.

 

[gcubed]

33k for the Vita? Good night sweet prince. Good lord

 

[Shion]

Does Nintendo have the resources to support two consoles without 3rd party support?

They obviously don't.

One of Nintendo's biggest mistakes in the last few years was not using all these millions from the DS/Wii phenomenon to greatly expand their resources.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I don't think unofficial data normally gets put in the OP does it?

for purposes of summarization, and since we will get less and less 'official' data as time goes on, I wish they'd at least add a section to the OP or another post with unconfirmed data from our own trusted sources like some of our 'insider' posters.

But I guess GAF doesnt support wiki posts anyway.

 

[Aquamarine]

So other than the Virtual Boy, is this Nintendo's worst selling console ever?

Since NPD started tracking data (as dedicated video game sales data as opposed to tracking them "as toys") back in January 1995, the Wii U had the worst launch out of ANY Nintendo home console.

Here's a direct comparison:

And its momentum sucks.

 

[donny2112]

The only sustained shifts in the PS3's situation came from major price reduction. Any increases from specific games were very transient.

Yes, that's the historical norm in the U.S. market for pretty much any system.

 

[kinggroin]

For this generation? Probably. After that? No, which is why they either need to focus on one handheld OR console or team up with another company that can garner the support they need.

The third party relationships are now irreparably damaged.

How do you figure yes for this gen but no for next?

If they havent expanded their development teams, their first party support will be just as anemic in either scenario.


As for the actual answer....who knows?

They dont say shit about shit so we havent a clue if they ARE adding to their development repertoire, so no way to speculate on that front. We can come up with hypotheticals based on given scenarios though.


If they dont expand, there will always be one platform to suffer for it at any given time.

If they do, they have a higher chance of becoming self sufficient and carving a decent profitable marketshare for themselves amongst core gamers (assuming they develop software that appeals to them).

I think flat out saying "no", like Tobor has above and then following that with "they should kill it" is asinine without any information internally.

We'll find out soon enough anyway, without having to make baseless guesses. After whatever software barage they have planned for the U late this year, lets see how well or rather how steady the strean of software remains for both platforms.

 

[jcm]

They obviously don't.

One of Nintendo's biggest mistakes in the last few years was not using all these millions from the DS/Wii phenomenon to greatly expand their resources.

They doubled their headcount. Increasing size much more quickly than they have is actually really hard to do successfully. You can't just snap your fingers and happily integrate 10 more studios.

33k for the Vita? Good night sweet prince. Good lord

I don't see how they can keep shelf space at this point. I think the retailers will go ahead and kill it if Sony doesn't. Two more consoles with multiple sku's are coming this year. Something has to give.

 

[Mpl90]

Yes, that's the historical norm in the U.S. market for pretty much any system.

Pretty much.

P.S. There's a PM for you

 

[Shion]

Increasing size much more quickly than they have is actually really hard to do successfully. You can't just snap your fingers and happily integrate 10 more studios.

Definitely.

And that's precisely why Nintendo should have planned their expansion back in the DS/Wii days.

 

[Plinko]

How do you figure yes for this gen but no for next?

If they havent expanded their development teams, their first party support will be just as anemic in either scenario.

Because we know for a fact that they have expanded their development teams and Wii U still doesn't have much announced. Plus, their third party support is awful and, I believe, irreparably damaged. That doesn't bode well for the future. "Resources" also refers to money to handle losses.