bigtroyjon
Member
1.25 million units of hardware in December for a handheld is not good. Handhelds have shitty attach rates, need to sell lots of hardware to have good software sales.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
NPD December 2012 Sales Results [Up2: Xbox 360, All Nintendo Hardware, NSMB Wii U]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
1.25 million units of hardware in December for a handheld is not good. Handhelds have shitty attach rates, need to sell lots of hardware to have good software sales.
MisterNoisy
Member
Agreed (the GC and XBox both delivered better visuals than the PS2 last gen), but since Nintendo chased all the casuals away and is ostensibly making a play for the core gamers this time, power comes back into it.
Ultimately, it's about the software. The big miscalculation this time is 'we're offering the same games you can get on the 360 or PS3'. The core gamers they're trying to win back this time around already have a 360 or PS3, so why would they spend $300-350 more just to play the same games they could on the consoles they have (with worse performance in many cases)? In this scenario, there should have been a full-court press at launch with the Nintendo software that sells (and differentiates you from the other two platforms) - Mario Kart, a 3-D Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Smash - this is why the NSMBU attach rate is so damned high. Without those titles or a technical leap, you're just offering a $420 version of Assassin's Creed 3 and a recycled 2D Mario game.
Well considering it probably sold with 70-75% of all consoles sold..
Three consoles with 8 year old hardware specs.
Baconsammy
Banned
Shake shake shake, shake your...well, not your booty.
343 pounds of stank dropped.
pieatorium
Member
bundled with the only Sku people actually want to buy
Whenever I use it, I'm just talking about the period after 3DS launched to the Holidays when it became a success. If Nintendo was panicking prior to 3DS being launched, it would've been $180 at launch.
Pachterballs
Banned
wiiU will become gamecubeU soon enough.
holy crap. with those sales, with no games in coming.
pretty bad.
/bow to creamsugar.
holy crap. with those sales, with no games in coming.
pretty bad.
/bow to creamsugar.
CadetMahoney
Member
Disagree, third parties have no leverage on deciding whether or not MS and Sony should collude on specs so third parties can have an easier time porting titles between them.
Assuming the whole point is to sell more on your console than your competition I don't see where their leverage is. You have it the other way around, MS knows third parties will have to make a choice and choose a side if it comes to it considering the huge software sales difference between MS and Sony. Downporting isn't really some sort of deal-breaker especially when Sony said the cell is being ditched.
Hardware parity benefits Sony more than MS.
Nintendoland is the pack-in game for the deluxe model.
Bending_Unit_22
Member
Sorry, I ccan't the post about someone being insane to have thought the 360 would pass the Wii in lifetime sales.
In response though, I would say it was crazy to think that Nintendo would simply go on autopilot, then drop a system after 4 years on the market and not release a succesor for 2 years, while at the same time MS kept a console on the market for 8 years (and Sony for 7). That it happened doesn't make it any less crazy to have thought it would happen 5 years ago.
Leaving aside the issue of defining "bad", saying the market is bad is a bit different than saying it is done. Personally, I have been in the group that thought smartphones and tablets would have a deleterious effect on handhelds but that it wouldn't kill them. Handhelds would simply revert to their mean of the days when a single $100-120 handheld could do really well. That's basically what has happened, 2 handhelds entered 1 is still standing, and sales are about what they were 10 years ago if the GBA had cost $150 or so and had few games released for it. Nothing shocking in the numbers and to the extent they are bad Nintendo is definitely to blame (along with the super strong yen).
In response though, I would say it was crazy to think that Nintendo would simply go on autopilot, then drop a system after 4 years on the market and not release a succesor for 2 years, while at the same time MS kept a console on the market for 8 years (and Sony for 7). That it happened doesn't make it any less crazy to have thought it would happen 5 years ago.
Leaving aside the issue of defining "bad", saying the market is bad is a bit different than saying it is done. Personally, I have been in the group that thought smartphones and tablets would have a deleterious effect on handhelds but that it wouldn't kill them. Handhelds would simply revert to their mean of the days when a single $100-120 handheld could do really well. That's basically what has happened, 2 handhelds entered 1 is still standing, and sales are about what they were 10 years ago if the GBA had cost $150 or so and had few games released for it. Nothing shocking in the numbers and to the extent they are bad Nintendo is definitely to blame (along with the super strong yen).
Killing_Joke
Member
So is MS going to kill 360 or let it ride with xbox3?
TheNatural
My Member!
Why would they kill it when it's still selling so well?
Poor ZombiU.
And Nintendo Land outselling that many games is a BADDDDD sign for those under it. AC3 must be selling like dogshit.
outunderthestars
Banned
Why would they kill the 360? There is a ton of money to be made selling it and their back catalog of titles for the next few years.
lwilliams3
Member
I'm curious on the digital distribution sales, but I guess only Nintendo would announce those numbers.
Baconsammy
Banned
I'm not saying the actual companies want parity. A lot of gamers I see do, though.
They're talking about the US, and it appears to be inevitable.
pieatorium
Member
no reason at all to kill it, it's not like the OG xbox and it's bad lhardware licensing that cost them money, killing the 360 would only give more sales to Sony and Nintendo in that hardware space.
metalslimer
Member
Expect to see Zombi U and Rayman multiplat announcements in a couple of months.
I still don't get why Rayman is Wii U exclusive.
cosmicblizzard
Banned
It requires the gamepad.
pieatorium
Member
Dont you mean Bombi U
see what i did there
see what i did there
I know that.
It just doesn't make sense why they would make what's basically a sequel to Origins, which was on everything, exclusive to a new system.
Wiiu can be Bombi, Vita can be Bambi('s mom) ;-)
Mobile Phones ... totally different.
BoboBrazil
Member
No surprise at Wii U sales. Pretty much anyone without a Nintendo bias could have seen this coming with stock available everywhere. Noone wants one of these things and a touchscreen controller is a lame gimmick trying to catch on as a fad again the way motion controls did for Wii. There will be a price drop by Spring at the latest and this thing will be $199 by next Fall if not earlier. Nintendo can do decently as a budget alternative to Sony and MS with parents who don't want to spend that much on their kids or are afraid of them having adult content. That is their only chance to do alright in the market. They will be lucky to match Gamecube sales, but I assume Nintendo will give up and probably try to release another gimmicky console in 3-4 years. The market as a whole dropped for videogames due to stagnation of the current consoles. Both PS3 and 360 should have had price drops already. They've maxed out most of the userbase they are going to get without dropping price. MS is ahead of the curve with their $149 360 and $99 360 with live subscription so that's probably why sales dominated over the PS3.
I honestly think Zombi U would require too much work to get it to work on the other consoles to the point where it wouldn't be worth porting. Rayman is up in the air(though they would have to do something about Murphy) since we it could do decent and they are making NFC figures IIRC.
Baconsammy
Banned
It won't be for long. Unless they hate money.
Those are different circumstances. They don't actually kill them. They just stop supporting them. Much like Apple does. The best example is the original Xbox. They killed that.
pieatorium
Member
neither of those were alive in the first place
It would have to sell a million billion jillion to satisfy some around here.
outunderthestars
Banned
because nobody bought it on 360/PS3?
Baconsammy
Banned
I bought it on 360 AND Vita. I should be given the key to Ubisoft City.
MisterNoisy
Member
It depends on what you're comparing it to, but given that the 360 did over 1.5x that figure in December alone, it doesn't bode well for the future of a new console whose big claim to fame right now is 'we have the same games they do'.
Mr.Squirrel
Tom
Edit: wrong thread.
Just as much as it means it's not bad news, doesn't make it good news, and doesn't mean they'll be fine. We're still no more enlightened as to how WiiU will do longterm.
(except now at least we know it'd have a crappy start)
Thunder Monkey
Banned
Those 24 good months have the system as the second highest selling home console of all time in America.
The issue was not being able to continue interest through software, and letting the "fad" die.
lunchwithyuzo
Banned
Yay Sonic. I'm guessing sold best on Wii U again?
Baconsammy
Banned
Yeah, they picked the wrong two years to be great in. Maybe that's their plan with the Wii U. To suck the first 4 years, and then bring the heat in the last 2.
MrCunningham
Member
For Christmas numbers, 2012 was pretty hurting. Xbox 360 and Nintendo 3DS both sold surprisingly well though. The Wii is doing so-so considering how much the hardware sales have slid over the years and the Wii-U is not off to a good start.
Bending_Unit_22
Member
I'm aware of that, out of curiosity what did I say that indicated I didn't? I even agreed that it will happen.
Baconsammy
Banned
I love both the brevity and insanity of this.
To be honest your first sentence is really poorly written.
That to me looked like you were saying it's insane to think that it might happen.
Thunder Monkey
Banned
That would be the worst plan in existence.
Even being the huge explosive starter of the generation didn't really help the Wii garner serious investment from 3rd parties. Sony barely rebounded and they're still last in one of their largest markets.
Agent Icebeezy
Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
The next Xbox is going to slay all in its path here in the states when it first launches. That is the only guarantee anyone can really give.
I'm sure they don't, BS, but it seems 360/PS3 owners hate the series. Its going to bomb, wherever they put it, though I imagine having it bomb everywhere and spend a little, is better than bombing on the only platform that exists. They'll have to rework Murphy levels however.
Baconsammy
Banned
I believe they said they made money off the first, despite low sales all around. I don't see how making it exclusive to one console was ever a good idea. A new console at that. Their shareholders should be asking the person that made that particular decision what the hell he was thinking.