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[DragonSworne]

Nintendo got the sales they deserved.

Horrible marketing and horrible name yields crap launch sales. Let's see if they can keep a steady stream of shipments to increase sales Throughout the.

If they don't fix their act soon, they'll have a vita of their own to deal with.

 

[BGBW]

Argos didn't run out at any point as far as I can tell. I was checking.

Please Dave, just close the tab. It's not healthy to be this obsessed with the WiiU.

Sold out on the high street? Really? I can't say I can honestly provide evidence to contradict this but the Sainsbury's I was in yesterday had stock.

Or are supermarkets exempt from that statement?

There's a carpark in between the store and the pavement.

 

[PaulLFC]

They're not sold out, I was in GAME yesterday and they had consoles but now way in hell am I paying their crazy prices. 309.99 is really an insane price.

Yeah the price is ridiculous. I was sort of interested but nothing really jumped out at me that made me go "I have to have this on day 1" and then looking at the prices, I decided to wait for a price drop. Which, if sales continue at this level, shouldn't be too long. If I'd got a £199 preorder from Amazon I probably would have bought one though.

 

[Pranay]

France, Spain, Italy, Portugal - Sony Land
UK - MS land
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland,...whole eastern Europe - PC land

I dont want to go offtopic but ill divide as well Germany 60:40 as well :v A lot of sony games have done really well and really stayed at the top 5 as well.

Wont discuss much on it now since its irrelevent to the topic

 

[SmokyDave]

Please Dave, just close the tab. It's not healthy to be this obsessed with the WiiU.

Nothing I enjoy is healthy. At least schadenfreude doesn't contain any calories.

 

[shinra-bansho]

It does absolutely. For retailers. You keep stock small, requiring a lot less storage space in stores and in your general warehouse. It requires a very efficient supply chain though and a lot of cooperation of the product makers. I doubt it makes sense for Nintendo, unless stores were already expecting low sales. You don't do this if you expect a Wii-style sell-out.

I probably should have added the qualifier, "if demand is there it makes no sense."

If demand was there for 40K's worth of sales on day 1 then Nintendo aportioning shipments into let's say daily 20K increments would seem wasteful. It would mean unmet demand, potential lost sales and additional logistical costs.

If demand isn't there then it makes sense to order in small volumes as per necessary. You could be correct in that demand simply isn't there to justify holding larger amounts of stock.

 

[dazzgc]

Most people that i have spoken to have no idea what a Wii U is. i had to fully explain it to a few people, as they assumed it was a controller addon and asked what's different about it from the wii. Nintendo did a terrible job marketing it and explaining whats new, not to mention it doesn't have a unique gimmick like the wii had. yes it had a touch screen but what device doesn't these days (I'm not hating on it by the way i love my Wii U, just my opinion)

 

[BlazingDarkness]

The Wii U has three major problems at the moment;
1) Pricing. Yes it's a new console, but there are two comparable consoles on the market (excluding the Wii) that are priced much more attractively (with huge software libraries) so especially as Christmas presents, it's very likely either the 360 or PS3 are the presents of choice - including for those people who wanted one in the past and can now afford it. The pricing takes the wind out of the Wii U's sails.
2) Marketing. The marketing is quite frankly a mess. There's not enough of it, and what is there is causing confusion, people still think the Wii U is merely a new controller for the Wii and not a new system.
3) It's lost its 'casual' appeal. Nintendo have tried to take a piece of the third party pie (with mixed results at launch) and the Wii U itself is too complex for the average Wii 'casual' gamer. Why is there two screens? How can you look at the TV and at that at the same time? Doesn't it have Wiimotes? These are the sort of questions people are asking.

 

[Conciliator]

Cool, good for them.

 

[DMeisterJ]

Oh wow. Those sales are... something else

 

[El-Suave]

"Tank! Tank! Tank!" jokes - cheap but appropriate.

 

[Coolwhip]

The deluxe edition seems to be out of stock on Amazon UK.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Wow.

PS3 sales are huge!

Yeah, what the hell happened here? :/

 

[klapauzius]

There were already rumors weeks before launch that UK and germany only gets around 50.000 consoles each.

But it seems after the weekend there has been a restocking, so that some shops now have the Wii U available again.

Here in germany it literally sold out. The only shop that had Wii U (premium and zombiu) was toysrus.

 

[Pranay]

Yeah, what the hell happened here? :/

People must have had a lot of jobs those days

 

[Kerub]

Most people that i have spoken to have no idea what a Wii U is. i had to fully explain it to a few people, as they assumed it was a controller addon and asked what's different about it from the wii. Nintendo did a terrible job marketing it and explaining whats new, not to mention it doesn't have a unique gimmick like the wii had. yes it had a touch screen but what device doesn't these days (I'm not hating on it by the way i love my Wii U, just my opinion)

Pretty much this. I've talked to some Wii-owners that doesn't follow game news or play anything outside of the Wii/iPhone. Some didn't know about the Wii U, and the ones that had heard of it was considering buying one for their Wii. When I explained that they couldn't do that they were a little upset. "Why should I buy a new Wii when I already have one? I just want the controller!"

 

[Floex]

The Wii U has three major problems at the moment;
1) Pricing. Yes it's a new console, but there are two comparable consoles on the market (excluding the Wii) that are priced much more attractively (with huge software libraries) so especially as Christmas presents, it's very likely either the 360 or PS3 are the presents of choice - including for those people who wanted one in the past and can now afford it. The pricing takes the wind out of the Wii U's sails.
2) Marketing. The marketing is quite frankly a mess. There's not enough of it, and what is there is causing confusion, people still think the Wii U is merely a new controller for the Wii and not a new system.
3) It's lost its 'casual' appeal. Nintendo have tried to take a piece of the third party pie (with mixed results at launch) and the Wii U itself is too complex for the average Wii 'casual' gamer. Why is there two screens? How can you look at the TV and at that at the same time? Doesn't it have Wiimotes? These are the sort of questions people are asking.

Disagree completely with that last comment. While I don't think Nintendo have put the message well at all the industry needs to stop treating consumers like idiots. The Wii-U isn't complex, saying you can watch tv and game at the same time isn't confusing for someone to understand. The message and marketing is the issue

 

[m.i.s.]

Most people that i have spoken to have no idea what a Wii U is. i had to fully explain it to a few people, as they assumed it was a controller addon and asked what's different about it from the wii. Nintendo did a terrible job marketing it and explaining whats new, not to mention it doesn't have a unique gimmick like the wii had. yes it had a touch screen but what device doesn't these days (I'm not hating on it by the way i love my Wii U

Why is there two screens? How can you look at the TV and at that at the same time?

The whole concept muddies the waters. You have a HD console for your big flat screen TV and yet here's a controller with a screen. It's just utterly incongruous. It's no wonder people are left scratching their heads. And marketing. How do you market such a device?

 

[Pie and Beans]

The deluxe edition seems to be out of stock on Amazon UK.

And yet instock tomorrow and so ordering today means it'll ship tomorrow, thus effecting no-one. Nintendo is clearly drip feeding stock hoping for just these "SOLD OUT" headlines, although actually selling less than the Vita.

 

[malingenie]

Nothing I enjoy is healthy. At least schadenfreude doesn't contain any calories.

Your self reflection made me laugh. Good show.

 

[user_nat]

Yeah, what the hell happened here? :/

Europe launch being delayed resulted in more stock than the average launch.

 

[Des0lar]

I dont want to go offtopic but ill divide as well Germany 60:40 as well :v A lot of sony games have done really well and really stayed at the top 5 as well.

Wont discuss much on it now since its irrelevent to the topic

It's just fun to talk about

 

[Gemüsepizza]

Wow.

PS3 sales are huge!

Were. Those seem to be the sale numbers from launch.

 

[Wrestlemania]

And yet instock tomorrow and so ordering today means it'll ship tomorrow, thus effecting no-one.

It's been showing stock on the 4th for a few days. It is a fact that a lot of online stores are out of stock of either the premium or both bundles.

 

[klapauzius]

The Wii U has three major problems at the moment;

It sold out? Where is the problem?

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Disagree completely with that last comment. While I don't think Nintendo have put the message well at all the industry needs to stop treating consumers like idiots. The Wii-U isn't complex, saying you can watch tv and game at the same time isn't confusing for someone to understand. The message and marketing is the issue

That's not what I was talking about, I meant when playing a game that uses both screens (such as ZombiU) having to look at both of them while you're playing confuses a lot of people. I'm talking about the sort of person that likes the Wii because you don't have to use as many buttons you can just waggle it.

 

[Pranay]

I will be honest but both the E3 Nintendo hosted was a mess. They relied to much on their "Direct".

and TBH i dont blame people thinking Wii U as an add on

It's just fun to talk about

Yeah Sure.

 

[Risk Breaker]

France, Spain, Italy, Portugal - Sony Land
UK - MS land
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland,...whole eastern Europe - PC land

Sorry but:

Spain - NintenSony Land, lots of hardcore dudebros that pirate X360.

Small correction

 

[Huff]

It sold out? Where is the problem?

you think this was a good launch?

 

[Tenki]

So what is more doomed? Nintendo or the UK market?

 

[allan-bh]

Vita 61k is a number given by an analyst. Chart-Track number is more about ~45k (90%).

 

[Kerub]

So what is more doomed? Nintendo or the UK market?

PS3 seems to do pretty good..

 

[BlackJace]

Very meh.

 

[Pie and Beans]

It's been showing stock on the 4th for a few days. It is a fact that a lot of online stores are out of stock of either the premium or both bundles.

Lets not chuck the words "fact" and "a lot" about willy nilly, thats how we get MCV articles! Dying retailers HMV and Zavvi are out of stock, but actual big players Sainsburys and Amazon are too.

But thats okay because Play, Tesco, Asda, Toys R Us, Game, Currys, CEX, and Argos are instock.

 

[TunaLover]

What are the Vita launch numbers? Also Wii U numbers only accounts for 3 days.

 

[hodgy100]

The sellout claim has to be bollocks, I went into Sheffield town centre on Saturday and every retail outlet that sold games had them available, the Game store alone had 19 unsold consoles.

 

[BGBW]

and TBH i dont blame people thinking Wii U as an add on

While I won't blame the general public for thinking this, I did think it was funny how the gaming media got confused. It's not like it's their job or anything and the words "new system" wasn't used and how rumours weren't flying around. It was an easy mistake to make really.

 

[zoukka]

The Wii sold out here in finland. There's plenty of WiiU's in the stores.

Wii U can never match the hype of Wii Sports.

 

[PaulLFC]

It sold out? Where is the problem?

Except it didn't sell out.

 

[Floex]

That's not what I was talking about, I meant when playing a game that uses both screens (such as ZombiU) having to look at both of them while you're playing confuses a lot of people. I'm talking about the sort of person that likes the Wii because you don't have to use as many buttons you can just waggle it.

But Zombiu isn't the best example for an old person for example. Take an imaginary title where this situation may arise, as long as there are clear instructions on the TV like 'look down at gamepad' then it isn't an issue. Want to start applying to an older market? Get puzzles on that thing, Suduko, crosswords, the lot. Daily puzzles when you switch on your console

 

[chertipros]

Damn those sales are fucking disgraceful

 

[MrCookiepants]

These are the relevant comparison figures:

360 - 70K
PS3 - 165K
Wii - 105K

First week sales as tracked by ChartTrack/GfK.

Dat PS3. All Sony had to do was not fuck up and they would have had this gen so easily.

 

[Pie and Beans]

What are the Vita launch numbers? Also Wii U numbers only accounts for 3 days.

*sigh* Most new game launches and often hardware releases come on Friday in the UK and have their first weeks tracked only by the weekend/3 days. Thats how it is. This isn't a special case.

 

[Wrestlemania]

Lets not chuck the words "fact" and "a lot" about willy nilly, thats how we get MCV articles! Dying retailers HMV and Zavvi are out of stock, but actual big players Sainsburys and Amazon are too.

But thats okay because Play, Tesco, Asda, Toys R Us, Game, Currys, CEX, and Argos are instock.

Also out of stock:
Very
Simply Games
Expansys

I think "a lot" is pretty fair. Certainly more true than "All online stores...are rich with stock"!

 

[Roxas]

*sigh* Most new game launches and often hardware releases come on Friday in the UK and have their first weeks tracked only by the weekend/3 days. Thats how it is. This isn't a special case.

TBF, the Vita did launch on 22nd Feb...which was a Wednesday.

 

[Busty]

Just 40k units?

A total and utter disaster plain and simple.

Cool, good for them.

*chortle*

 

[AppleMIX]

2:1 attach rate is good. everything else, not so much.

 

[zomgbbqftw]

TBF, the Vita did launch on 22nd Feb...which was a Wednesday.

It also launched in February...

 

[SmokyDave]

It also launched in February...

...during a recession.

 

[zomgbbqftw]

...during a recession.

For £229! :O