None so far. Nintendo is really good about replacing with no questions asked though.
Wii U
- Thread starter Therage
- Start date
That doesn't sound good. They've managed to generate nearly zero buzz about the system it seems. I think keeping the Wii name was a huge mistake and they don't seem to be doing enough advertising to remove the confusion of the average consumer. It's amazing to me that they did basically the same thing with the 3DS and the WiiU.
Wombat
Trakanon Raider
- 2,021
- 791
The number we are seeing this morning is 57K. Which, to be clear, isterribad.
Now, I'm seeing a lot of "Panic mode Nintendo is best Nintendo! Wii U Ambassador Program inc!" posts on the internet today. But:
1) The Ambassador programalready exists. It's the $0.30 trial program.
2) Panic mode Nintendoisthe best Nintendo. But 57K isn't panic mode - it's desperation flop sweat mode. That's "Everything needs to come out this Christmas, whether its ready or not!" That's "Who cares about the non-critical bugs, we'll patch it later." That's "Cut out the third of the game that isn't ready, and we'll sell it as DLC later" desperation mode. That isn't what you want.
I'm sure the Wii U's fortunes will improve when games come out. Let's just hope that the games are still quality when they come out.
P.S. Again, the Wii U's biggest problem is... that it came out too close to the 3DS. Nintendo's strength, and now their weakness, is that they largely have the same teams working on console and handheld games. Except those teams were busy with 3DS games until late 2011, and now people are confused when E3 2012/Holiday 2012/possibly even Holiday 2013 are barren. Games take time, and Nintendo had too many teams working on 3DS games long past the point where they should have switched to Wii U development.
Now, I'm seeing a lot of "Panic mode Nintendo is best Nintendo! Wii U Ambassador Program inc!" posts on the internet today. But:
1) The Ambassador programalready exists. It's the $0.30 trial program.
2) Panic mode Nintendoisthe best Nintendo. But 57K isn't panic mode - it's desperation flop sweat mode. That's "Everything needs to come out this Christmas, whether its ready or not!" That's "Who cares about the non-critical bugs, we'll patch it later." That's "Cut out the third of the game that isn't ready, and we'll sell it as DLC later" desperation mode. That isn't what you want.
I'm sure the Wii U's fortunes will improve when games come out. Let's just hope that the games are still quality when they come out.
P.S. Again, the Wii U's biggest problem is... that it came out too close to the 3DS. Nintendo's strength, and now their weakness, is that they largely have the same teams working on console and handheld games. Except those teams were busy with 3DS games until late 2011, and now people are confused when E3 2012/Holiday 2012/possibly even Holiday 2013 are barren. Games take time, and Nintendo had too many teams working on 3DS games long past the point where they should have switched to Wii U development.
Don't see what the big deal is. There aren't a lot of good games out to sell the system - just like when the 3DS came out.
When Monster Hunter 3, Wind Waker remake, and the other stuff they announced in the last Nintendo Direct release, it will start selling again. Not to mention Mario Kart, Brawl, new Metroid, Zelda, new Monolith Xenoblade game, etc etc. Nintendo isn't going to stop production on the Wii U or go bankrupt, they have tons of cash built up and aren't in danger like Sony's game branch.
Same shit happened with every console ever - my PS3 I bought at launch was pretty much turned off for an entire 6 months after buying it - it had terrible launch lineup.
When Monster Hunter 3, Wind Waker remake, and the other stuff they announced in the last Nintendo Direct release, it will start selling again. Not to mention Mario Kart, Brawl, new Metroid, Zelda, new Monolith Xenoblade game, etc etc. Nintendo isn't going to stop production on the Wii U or go bankrupt, they have tons of cash built up and aren't in danger like Sony's game branch.
Same shit happened with every console ever - my PS3 I bought at launch was pretty much turned off for an entire 6 months after buying it - it had terrible launch lineup.
Nintendo is fucked. Mobile devices are cutting into their handheld market and the next gen systems will attract the attention of most hardcore gamers. The casual gamers that made the Wii a success have already moved on - they're playing games on their phones and their tablets instead.
Iwata needs to be fired and Nintendo needs to change their strategy ASAP.
Iwata needs to be fired and Nintendo needs to change their strategy ASAP.
You're crazy. Until mobile phones have tactile controls they will never replace true hand helds. The 3DS is selling better than the DS was at this stage of it's life.
Phones are fine for playing Farmville and Bejewelled type games, but that's about it. I play the shit out of Puzzles and Dragons during down time but I can't ever see myself playing an RPG or anything more complicated with a touchscreen.
Phones are fine for playing Farmville and Bejewelled type games, but that's about it. I play the shit out of Puzzles and Dragons during down time but I can't ever see myself playing an RPG or anything more complicated with a touchscreen.
I knew sales numbers would have be pretty bad considering I could walk in a store on xmas eve and buy one. I would love to play the new Mario game, but I am not spending $350 to do it. For me its wait till a price drop on Wii U or more must play games come out.
Good for you? Games make up for the majority of revenue on the ios app store and the Google Play store - phones and tablets are obviously good enough for a huge segment of the market.
So, let's explain why Nintendo is fucked.
1 - Their share price has dropped to Gamecube era prices -http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?...rce=undefined;.
2 - The 3ds is selling poorly. Nintendo predicted to sell 17.5 million 3ds units this financial year. They had to reduce that estimate to 15 million because of poor sales over Xmas, and it looks like they're going to miss that estimate, too.
The 3ds also performed incredibly poorly in the US this January. Last year, it sold 170k units. This year, it sold approximately150k~ units. That's a massive drop. To make matters worse, January 2012 was a 4 week month while January 2013 was a 5 week month, which makes the sales figures look better than they are. Accounting for the 5 week month, we're looking at a 30%~ish drop in sales in 2013 compared to 2012.
The only place the 3ds is selling well is Japan. And maybe France.
3 - Consumers don't care about the Wii U. Nintendo originally predicted selling 5.5 million Wii Us this FY - they revised that estimate to 4 million, and they're likely to miss that figure, too. It's overpriced, underpowered, lacking games, and the tablet gimmick hasn't gone over well at all. We already have so many touch devices in our life - why would we care about the Wii U tablet? Unlike their previous consoles, Nintendo is selling the Wii U at a loss, too, which isn't helping things. It also gives them little room to maneuver on price.
What's interesting is that the Wii U drought was, in fact, planned out by Nintendo in advance. Quoting Iwata -
They were delusional if they thought ports of old ps3/360 games would be fine for launch. Supposedly the Wii U has a software tie ratio of 2.0 - 2.1.. Absolutely terrible.
---
Nintendo is a victim of poor management and poor planning. Iwata and the rest of Nintendo upper management are clearly out of touch with the current state of the market market and the current consumer. The 3ds is trending downwards year on year and the Wii U has gotten off to a disastrously poor start. They need to make big changes ASAP if they want to get out of this mess.
I want to know what Nintendo did with their ds/Wii profits. Why didn't they invest some of their profits into making tons of new games for the Wii U/3ds launches?
I do wonder if anyone else is feeling Nintendo 'fatigue', too. Their games are well designed, the controls are tight and they're fun to play. But fuck, I'm so sick of exploring Hyrule and the Mushroom Kingdom. The 'NSMB' aesthetic feels so tired already, despite it being a relatively new 'franchise'. I wish Nintendo would start working on some new IPs.
Delly
Trakanon Raider
- 2,981
- 622
Not that it will show up in the sales numbers, but this month and next month is the time people will be buying the Wii U and possibly even the 3DS for Monster Hunter. Which is releasing in EU also. They even have a bundle in EU for both systems so that might help with sales.
Almost seems like Nintendo is sabotaging themselves, but in the end most companies are making money in different ways. Offering online services such as premium, games, and apps. Selling consoles isn't the only thing they do.
Either way, heres to hoping the MH community can bump those sales numbers up.
Almost seems like Nintendo is sabotaging themselves, but in the end most companies are making money in different ways. Offering online services such as premium, games, and apps. Selling consoles isn't the only thing they do.
Either way, heres to hoping the MH community can bump those sales numbers up.
meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
- 6,375
- 4,653
To those suggesting other home consoles have had months like this, most haven't. This kind of figure is only comparable to the Dreamcast and Virtual Boy sales (Vita too, which only sold ~30k units over this same 5 week period, but that's not a home console either). One article I read said US sales of the PS3 bottomed out at around 87k during it's early struggles.
The biggest problem here is this is the only 'next gen' system on the market, they have this window to boast that and gain market share, instead they've squandered it and software support is already shrinking considerably. Tiger Woods was one of if not the best sports game on the original Wii and already has been confirmed to not be coming to Wii U. EA may not put any sports titles at all out on the system this year, and without significant changes I don't see why they'd resume next 'season'.
As of Wednesday next week more and more consumers are going to be looking to the future, not the WiiU.
The biggest problem here is this is the only 'next gen' system on the market, they have this window to boast that and gain market share, instead they've squandered it and software support is already shrinking considerably. Tiger Woods was one of if not the best sports game on the original Wii and already has been confirmed to not be coming to Wii U. EA may not put any sports titles at all out on the system this year, and without significant changes I don't see why they'd resume next 'season'.
As of Wednesday next week more and more consumers are going to be looking to the future, not the WiiU.
I think this hurt them pretty bad. They really should have had their flagship games ready for launch. Brawl, Mario kart etc are some of the main draws to the system. Even if like someone else said they were worried about no new game sales later in the cycle they could have had the games ready for release in case this strategy didn't work. Like oh shit we aren't selling anything. Release the kart/brawl/metroid/zelda!
Xexx
Vyemm Raider
- 7,433
- 1,638
This is how i see it, and the reason they arent selling is largely in part of the lack of games as someone said. Had Bayonetta been out d1 w/ good reviews i'd have been tempted to purchase it, but considering Sony may unveil soon its as good as an afterthought.
Harsh! But fair.
Interestingly, under EA's classification system, the Wii U is classified as a 'Gen 3' system - the same as the 360/ps3. Durango/Orbis have been classified as 'Gen 4' systems.
It says a lot about the 'power' (or lack of it..) of the system.
Nintendo hasn't been following the "generation" thing for a long time. They realize there is no reason to jump into the battle between Sony and MS over hardware superiority, they said so themselves. Of course they would love more 3rd party support but they will always have their first party games that the other systems can't really boast. Especially with Final Fantasy now in the crapper.
Their on a different track with different type of customer base, they haven't been competing with the other 2 companies for a while.
When it's all said and done, they have been the only one of the three to actually make money off their systems in the last 6-7 years.
I personally have all the consoles for different reasons (exclusives mostly), I don't see why there is always a big dust up about Nintendo. Of the 3 companies, they have done nothing to earn customer's ire - great customer service, replace hardware (that almost never fails) with no questions asked, and haven't bastardized the series that people love from their childhoods like Sony has. I've had 3 xbox360's RROD and 1 YLOD from a PS3, meanwhile my original gameboy, NES, and SNES still work the last time I tried them.
Their on a different track with different type of customer base, they haven't been competing with the other 2 companies for a while.
When it's all said and done, they have been the only one of the three to actually make money off their systems in the last 6-7 years.
I personally have all the consoles for different reasons (exclusives mostly), I don't see why there is always a big dust up about Nintendo. Of the 3 companies, they have done nothing to earn customer's ire - great customer service, replace hardware (that almost never fails) with no questions asked, and haven't bastardized the series that people love from their childhoods like Sony has. I've had 3 xbox360's RROD and 1 YLOD from a PS3, meanwhile my original gameboy, NES, and SNES still work the last time I tried them.
Oh that's a load of horse shit and you know it. The X360/PS3 eventually become profitable on hardware sales and MS/Sony were making tons of money the whole time off LICENSING, far more than Nintendo since Nintendo didn't actually fucking sell *any* Wii games.
They didn't have a different type of customer base, they didn't have ANY customer base. People bought Wii Fit and Mario Kart, not much else. No one sold shit for games on that system. Nintendo didn't even sell many of their own big games on it, the last Zelda completely tanked and none of their titles had notable sales figures aside from Mario Kart. The Wii has one of the worst game attach rates in the history of gaming, if not the worst. Though the Wii U is looking to fail even harder than it did.
Nintendo got lucky with Wii hardware sales, they're not going to repeat that with the Wii U. The hardcore Nintendo fans have all bought it and they havenoability to sell it to the same casual audience that bought the Wii.
They didn't have a different type of customer base, they didn't have ANY customer base. People bought Wii Fit and Mario Kart, not much else. No one sold shit for games on that system. Nintendo didn't even sell many of their own big games on it, the last Zelda completely tanked and none of their titles had notable sales figures aside from Mario Kart. The Wii has one of the worst game attach rates in the history of gaming, if not the worst. Though the Wii U is looking to fail even harder than it did.
Nintendo got lucky with Wii hardware sales, they're not going to repeat that with the Wii U. The hardcore Nintendo fans have all bought it and they havenoability to sell it to the same casual audience that bought the Wii.
They may make money off their consoles now after price cuts and hardware cost lowering but MS Gaming division is so far in the red from R&D even now, and PS3 was sold at a loss for about 3/4th of it's lifespan.
Not sure how you can say they have no customer base after selling 99 mil consoles (all at profit). They may not be the CoD or Halo playing hardcore bunch who buy every Madden, but they still exist.
I hardly play console games (maybe 3-5 a year across all 3 consoles) and I still have a bunch of Wii games, some with over 100 hours played each with friends (Smash Bros, Kart). Both Zeldas, Metroid Prime 3, Monster Hunter Tri, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Muramasa, Xenoblade, The Last Story.
For me, Xenoblade was the best game of the entire generation (all consoles) and Galaxy is damn close 2nd.
So yeah, not sure how they failed last "generation".
I played and enjoyed all 3 consoles, I don't see why there is so much more hate for Nintendo. I don't understand why haters expected them to release a $600 console that could do next gen graphics and compete with 2 already entrenched companies doing the same thing. Just let Nintendo do their own thing, no one is forcing you to buy their console.
Do people just want them to fail finally so that they go the way of SEGA and just make games for the other 2 consoles? I don't think that will ever happen.
PC/Steam is the best, regardless. The only reason I have Nintendo consoles is for those titles I know will never come to PC, unlike 95% of the stuff that come out on PS3/360. The best games I've played on those consoles in the last 5 years were Vesperia and Ni No Kuni.
Not sure how you can say they have no customer base after selling 99 mil consoles (all at profit). They may not be the CoD or Halo playing hardcore bunch who buy every Madden, but they still exist.
I hardly play console games (maybe 3-5 a year across all 3 consoles) and I still have a bunch of Wii games, some with over 100 hours played each with friends (Smash Bros, Kart). Both Zeldas, Metroid Prime 3, Monster Hunter Tri, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Muramasa, Xenoblade, The Last Story.
For me, Xenoblade was the best game of the entire generation (all consoles) and Galaxy is damn close 2nd.
So yeah, not sure how they failed last "generation".
I played and enjoyed all 3 consoles, I don't see why there is so much more hate for Nintendo. I don't understand why haters expected them to release a $600 console that could do next gen graphics and compete with 2 already entrenched companies doing the same thing. Just let Nintendo do their own thing, no one is forcing you to buy their console.
Do people just want them to fail finally so that they go the way of SEGA and just make games for the other 2 consoles? I don't think that will ever happen.
PC/Steam is the best, regardless. The only reason I have Nintendo consoles is for those titles I know will never come to PC, unlike 95% of the stuff that come out on PS3/360. The best games I've played on those consoles in the last 5 years were Vesperia and Ni No Kuni.
Dude, if those customers don't actually fucking buy video games, which they did *not*, then they do not have a customer base. Jesus. Nintendo's software sales numbers are absolutely pathetic. Get your head out of the sand and Nintendo's balls out of your mouth.
Software is far more telling of a console's success than pure Hardware numbers. Nintendo's Wii numbers mean absolutely nothing since they had no software sales to back them up what so ever. That's called failing.
Software is far more telling of a console's success than pure Hardware numbers. Nintendo's Wii numbers mean absolutely nothing since they had no software sales to back them up what so ever. That's called failing.