Support NeoGAF

[ziran]

CNET - Will the Wii be a set-top box?

Channels:

The company has created a service in Japan that lets consumers get TV listings via the Wii, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, said at the Dow Jones Consumer Technology Innovations Conference taking place here this week.

Nintendo went forward with the project because a TV Guide Network-like service similar to what Nintendo is offering didn't exist. (TV in Japan is notoriously weird: in the past, PCs and TVs had to be fitted with an array of tuners to get all channels).

There are no plans to bring something like this to the United States at the moment, he said, but Nintendo is always looking around. "There are other channel opportunities," he said. "They may look like games. They may not look like games."

Dev Costs:

Nintendo also spends less on its games than its competitors do.

Developing a game for the DS costs a few hundred thousand dollars. Thus, Nintendo has to sell 100,000 only copies of a game to make money on it.

Wii games cost a little more. Developing a game for Wii might cost $5 million to $10 million, including all of the marketing costs.

By contrast, developing a game for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 can cost $20 million to $50 million, Fils-Aime asserted. As a result, a developer needs to sell 1.3 million to 1.5 million copies of a game to turn a profit, he argued.

Biggest sales week ever:

Two weeks ago, the company had its biggest sales week ever. Last week, it surpassed that record, he noted. As a result, the console is tough to find for a second holiday season in a row.

The idea of Wii becoming a set top box is interesting, especially considering Nintendo's pro-gaming stance before the system launched. Wii's channels are more appealing than I thought they would be, and the Wii Fit one is a nice addition, but the system really needs a HDD for any further development as an all-in-one box. Also, I don't think this direction is one which Wii owners would be that interested in, still, Nintendo does seem to be adopting a 'throw anything and see what sticks' approach.

Last week being their biggest sales week ever, surpassing the previous week, is impressive, but I suppose expected given the demand for Wii, SMG and DS, and the time of year. Still, it bodes well for November's NPD numbers.

 

[Mithos Yggdrasill]

Wow.

 

[Stocka]

Nintendo win holiday 07

 

[oatmeal]

Wow.

HE SAID IT!!!

 

[Spire]

November NPD is going to be apocalyptic.

 

[Civil]

November NPD is going to be apocalyptic.

Eh, same as always for the Wii. "We sold them all."

It would be far more interesting if the damn thing wasn't supply constrained. See ebay prices and people still lining up at their TRU on Sunday mornings.

 

[schuelma]

Wow..it's too bad we don't have weekly numbers to be able to say what the highest week ever was. I assume it was launch week?

 

[HomShaBom]

Fad.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

If they are able to spout off numbers, why are they paying NPD?

 

[Borys]

November US NPD Wii data = 1M+

I can almost feel it.

 

[Link316]

By contrast, developing a game for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 can cost $20 million to $50 million, Fils-Aime asserted. As a result, a developer needs to sell 1.3 million to 1.5 million copies of a game to turn a profit, he argued.

yeah ok...

 

[Forgotten Ancient]

If they are able to spout off numbers, why are they paying NPD?

to see what everyone else is doing? Obviously they know how they're doing in terms of shipped figures. They'd just have to look at their accounting records for that. They're paying for market research, not research of their own company.

 

[Attack You]

Dev Costs:

Nintendo also spends less on its games than its competitors do.

Developing a game for the DS costs a few hundred thousand dollars. Thus, Nintendo has to sell 100,000 only copies of a game to make money on it.

Wii games cost a little more. Developing a game for Wii might cost $5 million to $10 million, including all of the marketing costs.

By contrast, developing a game for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 can cost $20 million to $50 million, Fils-Aime asserted. As a result, a developer needs to sell 1.3 million to 1.5 million copies of a game to turn a profit, he argued.

Aside from a few key products, I often wonder how deadly efficient Nintendo is at developing a game. Must be frustrating to collaborate with them if you don't have your shit together on a molecular level.

 

[Duke Togo]

All of this is meaningless without another Animal Crossing! Or a Wii Nintendogs! Don't they understand what my fiance wants to play!?

 

[Mudhoney]

I wonder if those game development costs he throws out there are an average. A lot of the stuff on Wii certainly seems pretty cheap, while games like Metroid and Galaxy I'm sure cost a bit more to make than the rest.

CNET - Will the Wii be a set-top box?The idea of Wii becoming a set top box is interesting, especially considering Nintendo's pro-gaming stance before the system launched. Wii's channels are more appealing than I thought they would be, and the Wii Fit one is a nice addition, but the system really needs a HDD for any further development as an all-in-one box. Also, I don't think this direction is one which Wii owners would be that interested in, still, Nintendo does seem to be adopting a 'throw anything and see what sticks' approach.

Why is that article even talking about Wii as a set-top box in the first place? Nintendo has a TV-Guide channel, which in no way implies that Nintendo is turning Wii into a set-top box, or intend to do so. So discussing it is really pointless. It's like the people writing that article didn't even read what they wrote before headlining it.

 

[jakncoke]

If it only costs a couple hundred thousand to do a DS game, what does it cost to dev a PSP game? I wonder why he didn't state as well.

 

[otake]

and wii fit isn't even out yet....

 

[maynerd]

Wow NPD next month is gonna be EPIC!

 

[botticus]

If they are able to spout off numbers, why are they paying NPD?

I'd imagine so they can see how they're selling relative to the rest of the market. Doesn't Nintendo, along with everyone else, use their own internal sales tracking to make PR statements like this?

Wii games cost a little more. Developing a game for Wii might cost $5 million to $10 million, including all of the marketing costs.

Wii software has the added benefit of apparently requiring $0 marketing.

 

[laserbeam]

Breaking Sales records 2 weeks in a row is pretty impressive. I think we should all /mourn for the PS3 and 360

 

[bryehn]

What game cost $50 million?

 

[rage1973]

It will be really interesting to see how many Wiis Nintendo was able to send out. I am thinking in the neighborhood of 700 to 800k. I really did look everywhere and they are nowhere to be found. Most of the employees and Best Buy and Circuit City had no idea when their next shipment was either. I bet they could have easily sold 1.5 million in November if they could have just gotten more units out.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

November US NPD Wii data = 1M+

I can almost feel it.

This is what I'm going to have for my NPD prediction.

 

[Weisheit]

If it only costs a couple thousand to do a DS game, what does it cost to dev a PSP game? I wonder why he didn't state as well.

Developing a game for the DS costs a few hundred thousand dollars.

Not a couple thousand.

 

[Tieno]

What game cost $50 million?

Maybe something like Halo 3 or GT5? Although I've heard Bungie guys say that Halo is not as expensive as you'd think or that it was well within the budget...don't know which of the two it was anymore.

 

[ToxicAdam]

By contrast, developing a game for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 can cost $20 million to $50 million,

WHAT


Anyone know what game has broached that mark?

 

[clearacell]

But is it up over 300% ? I think NOT.

 

[maynerd]

WHAT


Anyone know what game has broached that mark?

Halo 3?

 

[krypt0nian]

Nintendo also spends less on its games than its competitors do.

Yeah Fire Emblem showed that. Bastards.

 

[laserbeam]

Maybe something like Halo or GT5?

Think factor 5 estimated their costs at 50 Million for Lair too early on.

While not every game will be mega bucks. High Quality AAA Epic games will be very pricey just like not every Wii game will even remotely approach 10 million and theres bound to be exceptions that cost alot more

 

[Mudhoney]

If it only costs a couple thousand to do a DS game, what does it cost to dev a PSP game? I wonder why he didn't state as well.

Developing a game for the DS costs a few hundred thousand dollars.

Still, PSP costs would be interesting. Although I'd like it from someone other than Reggie. Who knows how he arrived at those numbers. Is it an average or something?

 

[RumblingRosco]

Aside from a few key products, I often wonder how deadly efficient Nintendo is at developing a game. Must be frustrating to collaborate with them if you don't have your shit together on a molecular level.

Nintendo has been around for ages, it's no surprise that they're efficient, but as you said, it is an insanely deadly efficiency that seems just ridiculous for a company their size. I remember that old Fortune Magazine article that spoke on this.

In short, Iwata has made Nintendo as efficient as a bullet train and as stingy as a bento box. The company's 3,400 employees generated $8.26 billion in revenue last year, or $2.5 million each.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/06/11/100083454/?postversion=2007053109

It's definitely impressive, and the effects of it have been amplified thanks to their huge success of the Wii/DS. *insert DSprintingmoney.gif*

 

[Mamesj]

Interesting...so the Wii sold its self on games and now they are considering other types of functionality. In a sense, the opposite of what Sony and MS did (tout multimedia functionality before the sales came in.)

 

[Miniboss1232]

WHAT


Anyone know what game has broached that mark?

Lost Planet hit $40 million with marketing included.

You have to remember that Reggie was including marketing in with the dev costs, which is probably how it should be anyways.

 

[v0yce]

Nintendo also spends less on its games than its competitors do.

Is that a plus?

 

[jakncoke]

Not a couple thousand.

Your too quick, my stealth edit failed. But yeah what games cost 50 million, isn't Killzone 2 the most at like 40?

 

[urk]

November US NPD Wii data = 1M+

I can almost feel it.

NPD will be the death of us all.

 

[Tieno]

Think factor 5 estimated their costs at 50 Million for Lair too early on.

While not every game will be mega bucks. High Quality AAA Epic games will be very pricey just like not every Wii game will even remotely approach 10 million and theres bound to be exceptions that cost alot more

If that's true then Lair is one hell of a bomba.

 

[Luckyman]

I think biggest PS2 costed way past 10M. So if they want to up the quality on Wii..

 

[Tempy]

What game cost $50 million?

He's most likely referring to the top-tier, high-budget games, rather than the average of *all* titles for the ps3/360. Publishers don't usually reveal official costs.

Also, marketing budget is unusually high for a lot of titles. It's not like all that money is actually put into development unfortunately.

 

[bill0527]

By contrast, developing a game for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 can cost $20 million to $50 million, Fils-Aime asserted. As a result, a developer needs to sell 1.3 million to 1.5 million copies of a game to turn a profit, he argued.

He really kind of owns himself with this argument because developers spread this cost around to 3 different platforms now - PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Between those 3 platforms, its not hard to sell a million copies total and make money unless your game just totally sucks. This is why you still don't see third parties giving the Wii much of anything but lip service. Publishers can spread their risk out over 3 platforms rather than putting all of their eggs in the Wii basket.

 

[perfectchaos007]

But how will sales compare to Sony's 300% increase?

 

[Tempy]

Yeah Fire Emblem showed that. Bastards.

Fire Emblem is still damn awesome. It's not like srpgs get high budgets anyway, and I still like the presentation in FE.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

It's a good thing I managed to get a Wii because it'll be a very long time before I see another one again.

 

[Xzbeat]

Wow.

Wow².

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Two weeks ago, the company had its biggest sales week ever. Last week, it surpassed that record, he noted

Wow. I imagine the biggest week would be launch week. If I'm remembering the end of November 2006 NPD correctly, Wii had very close to one week counted, so that week would've accounted for pretty much all of 476K.

Then again, the wording of that doesn't make clear that it means purely Wii sales, even though it comes in a Wii discussion. "The company had its biggest sales week" could mean adding in DS, or it could mean including all software revenue, or *shrug*.

 

[krypt0nian]

Fire Emblem is still damn awesome. It's not like srpgs get high budgets anyway, and I still like the presentation in FE.

Great game system underneath. Incredibly lazy otherwise.

 

[Xzbeat]

What game cost $50 million?

Metal Gear Solid 4? FFXIII?

 

[laserbeam]

Wow. I imagine the biggest week would be launch week. If I'm remembering the end of November 2006 NPD correctly, Wii had very close to one week counted, so that week would've accounted for pretty much all of 476K.

Then again, the wording of that doesn't make clear that it means purely Wii sales, even though it comes in a Wii discussion. "The company had its biggest sales week" could mean adding in DS, or it could mean including all software revenue, or *shrug*.

Yeah its a very vague statement but pretty much every scenario possible is just amazing. Hardware wise for DS and Wii it could be 300,000+ in a week

 

[Gahiggidy]

He really kind of owns himself with this argument because developers spread this cost around to 3 different platforms now - PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Between those 3 platforms, its not hard to sell a million copies total and make money unless your game just totally sucks. This is why you still don't see third parties giving the Wii much of anything but lip service. Publishers can spread their risk out over 3 platforms rather than putting all of their eggs in the Wii basket.

But, what's to stop them from supporting all 4 platforms?