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Analyst: Nintendo sold 55,000 Wii Us in March, 85,000 Wiis

C

ClovingWestbrook

Banned
Click me

Nintendo had yet another bad month in March, according to Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter.

In a research note to investors today, Pachter, who follows the gaming industry about as closely as any other analyst, said he believes Nintendo sold 55,000 Wii U units in the U.S. in March, representing a 17 percent decline compared to February. Perhaps even worse for Nintendo, its old Wii mustered 85,000 unit sales, falling 51 percent year-over-year, but still trumping a device that came out long before its latest.

Pachter, who each month releases his estimates on hardware sales based on channel checks, said that the Xbox 360 once again led the U.S. console market with 290,000 unit sales. The PlayStation 3 was close behind with 260,000 units sold, according to Pachter.
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The Wii U's troubles have been nothing short of worrisome for Nintendo. The so-called "next-generation" console was supposed to jump-start Nintendo's ailing hardware business and lead the company in its fight with upcoming competitors, the next Xbox and PlayStation 4. So far, however, it's done nothing of the sort, and turned into a black mark on Nintendo's earnings.

Still, Nintendo is hopeful. The company has said that it believes sales will be stronger once more titles hit the console's library and consumers take more time to focus on console gaming. Critics, however, say that Nintendo should simply cut the price of its console -- a nonstarter, so far, for the company.

In January, Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata argued that his company's Wii U pricing -- $299 for the basic set and $349 for the deluxe set, which adds the game Nintendo Land and some accessories -- is "a good price." He also echoed his company's earnings report, saying that he believes new entrants in the company's first-party library will "help Nintendo regain momentum for Wii U."

He might be right. But for now, the Wii U is getting beaten up. Badly.

The official word on March console sales will hit the wire Thursday, when research firm NPD announces its findings.
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If old, I am cursed.
 
J

JABEE

Member
Damn. They need to rebrand the system or something. I am at a loss for words at what they can do to revive the system.
 
K

Kazerei

Banned
Has anyone been keeping track of Pachter's NPD predictions and actual NPD results? Would be interesting to see.
 
L

Lunar15

Member
The Lamp said:
That doesn't sound good.

Nintendo better bring out the big guns at E3.
Click to expand...

My question is, what are the big guns?

Is it Mario, Metroid, and Zelda? Because those sure didn't help the Gamecube, and they showed them all off at the same conference.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
ah, a Pachter thread....

Anyways, I'd say his estimate is believable, if not the absolute low end of the spectrum.

There were games launched this month. That's something February didn't get the luxury of...
 
T

TheNatural

My Member!
Analyst does not equal Pachter, and sold does not equal estimated sold.

I'm sure it did bad, but this isn't news. Wait two days to get the real goods.
 
Riposte

Riposte

Member
JABEE said:
Damn. They need to rebrand the system or something. I am at a loss for words at what they can do to revive the system.
Click to expand...

I was playing around the idea of that and this time actually nail non-gaming utility side of it. Home tablet meets cable box.
 
D

Dang0

Member
Bear in mind these are estimations. Still, not good news for Nintendo if true. Does anyone know how popular Pikmin and Platinum Made games are in Japan and US?
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
I remember Patcher's January predictions were actually HIGHER than the abysmal 57k sales NPD reported

Can't wait for that relaunch alongside 3D Mario and a gimmick people want to buy
 
S

shinra-bansho

Member
While the title isn't necessarily misleading per se, it would have been more accurate as:
Pachter predicts: Nintendo sold 55K Wii Us in March; 85K Wiis.

And, no, I don't think his prediction is implausible.
 
J

Jaded Alyx

Member
Isn't it a 5 week month? If so I find it hard to believe it sold less than February. Plus games of some interest were actually released.
 
L

Lunar15

Member
Alistair Roo said:
Yet here we are... waiting for release dates for games that were supposed to be launch titles.
Click to expand...

Games that won't even help the system. Don't get me wrong, I love Pikmin, and I'm insanely curious about The Wonderful 101, but those games ain't gonna push a system.
 
AZ Greg

AZ Greg

Member
He overestimated WiiU sales by 16,000 last month IIRC. Not going to be good if he overshot by a similar amount this month...
 
Z

Zoramon089

Banned
Aquamarine said:
Come on son, Pachter is an analyst.

People are over-valuing the performance of LEGO City Undercover + Easter in this NPD. It's very well possible that Wii U could only muster 55,000.
Click to expand...

I know he is but his area isn't videogames. It's a hobby of his and acting like this is a profession analysis of the Wii U's performance when it's simply what he thinks, is why so many people seem to already be calling DOOM in this thread.

Not to mention all of his previous estimates were fairly off from the actual numbers
 
S

Squire

Banned
Lunar15 said:
My question is, what are the big guns?

Is it Mario, Metroid, and Zelda? Because those sure didn't help the Gamecube, and they showed them all off at the same conference.
Click to expand...

Those will come and they will only be able to fix so much. They'll keep the system from dying outright, but that's about it.

Welcome to the GameCube Redux era.
 
F

fargofallout

Member
Aquamarine said:
Come on son, Pachter is an analyst.

People are over-valuing the performance of LEGO City Undercover + Easter in this NPD. It's very well possible that Wii U could only muster 55,000.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Undercover isn't a system seller. They need their big guns and they need them now.
 
M

metalslimer

Member
shinra-bansho said:
To be fair, I don't think anyone really predicted the Wii U would sell that abysmally though.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the post was insinuating pachter has access to numbers right now

It's a hobby of his and acting like this is a profession analysis of the Wii U's performance when it's simply what he thinks, is why so many people seem to already be calling DOOM in this thread.
Click to expand...

Oh we dont even need pachters estiates to know the numbers will be bad
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Jaded Alyx said:
Isn't it a 5 week month? If so I find it hard to believe it sold less than February. Plus games of some interest were actually released.
Click to expand...

But the system's momentum could very well continue to decline if LEGO City Undercover doesn't impress and NSMB:U / Nintendo Land continues to show a weak performance.

It doesn't help any that advertising is still pretty much non-existent for the platform at the moment, and Nintendo is dead silent about future announcements.
 
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