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[Thunder Monkey]

So people are actually trying to spin this number as if it isn't both terrible and portentous.

Apparently.

But some probably did invest money. And it's performance this month is indicative of some rot at its core. Launch month was pretty high, Dec was a wash (though the reports of stock surplus should have been cause for worry), but this months total is a definite "Oh fuck..." moment.

 

[TheOddOne]

Just woke up to this. Checked the first few pages. Has the 55k been confirmed by other source? There seemed to be some confusion there.

11k/week is really low. Is that a new record for a console in US?

We kind of got a confirmation. Just to say, it's really low for a new console on the market.

 

[shinra-bansho]

Yep. The first (and slowest) retail month of the year.... Still not enough data to make these outlandish claims.

This is the worst third month/January of nearly every system we have numbers for.

In the same tracking period the PS3 and 360 collectively sold 8-10x more than it.

It's not January. It's the Wii U.

 

[Spider_Jerusalem]

By your logic, the SNES was a failure too.

"But you have to take into consideration the size of the market"

 

[SmokyDave]

I wonder if many former Wii owners have upgraded to a PS3 or 360 lately. After a few years with a Wii, either of those would feel like a generational leap.

It has nothing to do with anything, I was just idly wondering.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Yep. The first (and slowest) retail month of the year.... Still not enough data to make these outlandish claims.

You took that from what I said?

In what way is "It has a lower floor than the PS3 (which had a dreadful first year) and it's the first month of the year." anything but feint praise?

 

[DSN2K]

woeful numbers for Vita and WiiU but are people really shocked ? Price/lack of games hurt platforms...neither are in right place currently.

 

[Aquamarine]

Yep. The first (and slowest) retail month of the year.... Still not enough data to make these outlandish claims.

The Wii sold 436,000 consoles in its first January. The PS2 sold ~400,000 consoles in its first January.

Yeah... I think we can conclude that the Wii U is performing poorly.

 

[Quinton McLeod]

Casual consumer is still buying a ton of 360s and PS3s.
They just don't want the Wii U.

What makes you think these same people will buy a PS4 and/or X720?

EyeToy was very innovative for its time and Kinect is absolutely innovative today.

Kinect is an advanced version of the EyeToy, and its designed for motion gaming - something Nintendo innovated with. Dunno if you can call Kinect innovative. Eyetoy definitely was... But now we're talking PS4 and X720. Where's the innovation there?

No. 770,000 consoles WORLDWIDE, LIFETIME sales for the Virtual Boy is pretty damn abysmal.

In comparison, the SNES had 50 MILLION worldwide, lifetime sales.

Hmm... SNES "7 months" = 1.5 million. Took the SNES over half a year to reach 1.5 million. I assume that's just for the US - but correct me if I'm wrong.

By your logic, the SNES was a failure. See what I'm getting at here?

 

[airmangataosenai]

Apparently.

But some probably did invest money. And it's performance this month is indicative of some rot at its core. Launch month was pretty high, Dec was a wash (though the reports of stock surplus should have been cause for worry), but this months total is a definite "Oh fuck..." moment.

Yeah, when you go back into some of the old threads you see some serious denial about what the huge piles of stock meant for January sales. I thought I was being bold by saying that sub-100k wasn't unreasonable (My final prediction was 130k) around the time of the last NPD thread and getting laughed at. This is an unprecedented level of failure for a console from a major manufacturer.

 

[Quinton McLeod]

This is the worst third month/January of nearly every system we have numbers for.

In the same tracking period the PS3 and 360 collectively sold 8-10x more than it.

It's not January. It's the Wii U.

It's not enough information to make predictions for the entire year.

 

[NBtoaster]

So... You're saying if you go further back, Nintendo had a console that sold just as bad or worse? I mean, 2001... That's only the Gamecube. After that, the Wii was a run-away success.



I doubt January shows enough information to determine the rest of the year for one system.

It selling like the Gamecube shouldn't be reassuring, that sold very poorly. And February is likely to be even worse, with less weeks and no new releases.

 

[QaaQer]

I really hope it's a breakout success for Platinum.
At the very least I expect it to be their best selling game, yet.

The Metal Gear brand name is strong, the Platinum Games respect amongst hardcore gamers is strong, and it's all but a foregone conclusion now that the game will review well.

I would like to see this game destroy the sales charts.

They've certainly set it up to do so.

IDK, it has a troubled history, and games with troubled histories don't always turn out. However, a guaranteed 60fps action game is a buy for me.

 

[casinoman921]

The holidays are going to be interesting saleswise. You'll have Wii U with possibly a price cut and a decent (hopefully) software lineup. Plus retailers will actually have Black Friday Wii U deals that should boost sales tremendously.

You'll have 1 or 2 new consoles, fully priced, eating into each others sales. Who knows how many will be shipped. Maybe not a lot.

Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii consoles should be much cheaper, also eating into new console sales.

It's going to be all over the place, lol.

 

[Aquamarine]

Hmm... SNES "7 months" = 1.5 million. Took the SNES over half a year to reach 1.5 million. I assume that's just for the US - but correct me if I'm wrong.

By your logic, the SNES was a failure. See what I'm getting at here?

Let me spell it out for you:

SNES -> "7 months on the market" -> IN THE USA ONLY -> In 1991 when the market was tiny -> 1.5 million

The SNES was sold in the USA until MARCH 2001, nearly TEN YEARS after it was released. In those ten years, the SNES sold 23 million units in the USA.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Yeah, when you go back into some of the old threads you see some serious denial about what the huge piles of stock meant for January sales. I thought I was being bold by saying that sub-100k wasn't unreasonable (My final prediction was 130k) around the time of the last NPD thread and getting laughed at. This is an unprecedented level of failure for a console from a major manufacturer.

I do think software will increase its fortunes. So I don't exactly think it's hopeless yet... but yeah. Calling it a failure when it sells around 11,000 units a week is more than warranted. It completely fucking applies.

 

[dallow_bg]

What makes you think these same people will buy a PS4 and/or X720?

I have a feeling Orbis/Durango will offer a bigger upgrade over PS3/360 than Wii U does.
Well see though. I don't see either of them having sub-60k months ever.

With regards to SNES, you need to take context into consideration.

 

[Mitark]

Just from the first few pages, Hilarious reactions to both 270k and 55k.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

I do think software will increase its fortunes. So I don't exactly think it's hopeless yet... but yeah. Calling it a failure when it sells around 11,000 units a week is more than warranted. It completely fucking applies.

In its first January no less!

 

[Quinton McLeod]

Let me spell it out for you:

SNES -> "7 months on the market" -> IN THE USA ONLY -> In 1990 when the market was tiny -> 1.5 million

The SNES was sold in the USA until MARCH 2001, nearly TEN YEARS after it was released. In those ten years, the SNES sold 23 million units.

Notice how the discrepancy is that the market was small.
Yet, for the Wii U, January, the slowest retail month of the year (the only month the Wii U has shown these numbers) is vindictive of how successful the Wii U will be from now on. November and December numbers be damned.

 

[Lysander91]

Those Vita sales are abysmal. I really hope that Sony can do something to boost those Vita sales with their upcoming press conference. As a Vita owner, I'm more than a little worried that support for the Vita will be discontinued.

 

[shinra-bansho]

It's not enough information to make predictions for the entire year.

It's enough information to make inferences and comments in the interim, until something alters the situation, at which point analyses should take into account new information.

In January it was selling ~10K a week. Much less than other systems.

In February, ~40-50K should be expected. Much less than the 4th month of other systems.

 

[airmangataosenai]

In its first January no less!

LOL, I think you just got caught trying and failing to use an alt.

 

[Aquamarine]

Notice how the discrepancy is that the market was small.
Yet, for the Wii U, January, the slowest retail month of the year (the only month the Wii U has shown these numbers) is vindictive of how successful the Wii U will be from now on. November and December numbers be damned.

How do you explain the "Wii U sales are the worst month ever for any major home console since 2001" statistic, then?

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Notice how the discrepancy is that the market was small.
Yet, for the Wii U, January, the slowest retail month of the year (the only month the Wii U has shown these numbers) is vindictive of how successful the Wii U will be from now on. November and December numbers be damned.

Nov and Dec showed us there was launch interest in "Nintendo games in HD." January shows us that interest is really limited.

 

[AzaK]

I wonder if many former Wii owners have upgraded to a PS3 or 360 lately. After a few years with a Wii, either of those would feel like a generational leap.

It has nothing to do with anything, I was just idly wondering.

I got a 360 about a month after my Wii U. Haven't bought a game for it yet as I have lots of Wii U games still to play. I'd prefer to by Wii U to be honest for off-TV play but I'll probably get some bargain bin old 360 titles if the Wii U eShop doesn't get better. I'm budget limited so most games will have to be sub full-retail.

I could probably survive this gen on old 360 games to be honest.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

LOL, I think you just got caught trying and failing to use an alt.

Nah, I respond to myself every once in a while.

 

[Quinton McLeod]

It's enough information to make inferences and comments in the interim, until something alters the situation.

Such as predicting the Wii U's total 2013 sales will mirror January's? No.

I have a feeling Orbis/Durango will offer a bigger upgrade over PS3/360 than Wii U does.
Well see though. I don't see either of them having sub-60k months ever.

Oh? A bigger upgrade to attract casual gamers, right? Explain.

 

[ASIS]

55k Wii U?

OH DAMN!

 

[AzaK]

Nov and Dec showed us there was launch interest in "Nintendo games in HD." January shows us that interest is really limited.

It's still there, but the games just aren't.

 

[shinra-bansho]

Such as predicting the Wii U's total 2013 sales will mirror January's? No.

I don't recall ever saying that. I recall saying that this isn't "January's fault."

Which you seem to want to pin this on.

Not only is this not because "it's January" it's an unusual 5-week January.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

It's still there, but the games just aren't.

You are right.

I left an entire sentence out of that post.

 

[GremlinFool]

Notice how the discrepancy is that the market was small.
Yet, for the Wii U, January, the slowest retail month of the year (the only month the Wii U has shown these numbers) is vindictive of how successful the Wii U will be from now on. November and December numbers be damned.

This is what unbridled delusion looks like, folks.

 

[Quinton McLeod]

How do you explain the "Wii U sales are the worst month ever for any major home console since 2001" statistic, then?

How do you explain how one month of bad sales (January) determine the lifetime success of a system?

Nov and Dec showed us there was launch interest in "Nintendo games in HD." January shows us that interest is really limited.

Interest is limited? That's the case with mostly all of retail. However, how does these speak for the entire year of a system's life? Please, explain this to me as if I were a child.

 

[Soriku]

I wonder if many former Wii owners have upgraded to a PS3 or 360 lately. After a few years with a Wii, either of those would feel like a generational leap.

It has nothing to do with anything, I was just idly wondering.

I don't have an HD console actually. I only have a Wii as far as current gen consoles go. However I've been mostly catching up on the PS2's entire library the past few years, and I also have a DS, so I never felt like I was running out of games.

I'm very interested in making the jump to the PS4 actually...which would be an absolutely massive jump. The only thing that would hold me back is lack of BC. I REAAAAALLY hope Sony surprises. If not, I'll get a PS3 this summer as there's a sizable library of games I want already and there'll probably be a few more things before the PS3 is up (for me), while PS4 will take a while.

 

[Exterminieren]

Wii U is absolutely crippled, there's no doubting it.

As a worldwide entity, Nintendo's attempts to market and sell this hardware have been little short of embarrassing, and they're reaping the results in every single market.

For the foreseeable future, yes, they are absolutely fucked in the home console space. It may come to having to ride the Wii U out until their convergence strategy is a plausible reality.

 

[sacrificengineer]

Too many pages, is there anything about PS3 sales range?

Also, it's not too shaby for Ni No Kuni, isn't it?

P.S. Horrible sales for Wii U and Vita. At least, killing Vita is not as painful for Sony as killing Wii U for Nintendo. They are great consoles with cool ideas behind them, but unfortunately there is no sence for them to remain on the market without demand.

 

[Durante]

Oh wow, it looks like I missed out on a lot here. Do we know anything about PS3 numbers?

 

[Nibel]

Holy shit, those Wii U numbers are abysmal. Holy shit. Boy, they're fucked.

This

Incredible how they relied on the Wii name and two months where nothing (!!!!!) gets released

 

[shinra-bansho]

Too many pages, is there anything about PS3 sales range?

Some proportion of ~300K.

Depends on how well the Wii sold.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Interest is limited? That's the case with mostly all of retail. However, how does these speak for the entire year of a system's life? Please, explain this to me as if I were a child.

If you were a child I'd pinch your cheeks and say calm down little one you're going to hurt yourself.

Interest in Nintendo games in HD is obviously limited... when there's only like two games out from them, and neither is exactly trying anything with that new tech.

 

[airmangataosenai]

Notice how the discrepancy is that the market was small.
Yet, for the Wii U, January, the slowest retail month of the year (the only month the Wii U has shown these numbers) is vindictive of how successful the Wii U will be from now on. November and December numbers be damned.

Why are you acting like there's some shot of the system selling anywhere near 1.5 million in the first 7 months like the Super Nintendo? For it to do that it would need to average 140k per month for the next 4 months, which ain't happening. Assuming the system matches this months performance next month but somehow turned things around in March, it would need to sell 167k units per month in March, April, and May, more than 3x it's current performance.

That's to say nothing of the comparison being silly due to the difference in the size of the market. Winning/doing well back then required much smaller userbases. Final SNES/Genesis combined sales are probably comparable to where the PS3/360 will end up individually.

 

[Durante]

So, with >100k in the US and all those #1 positions in Europe Ni no Kuni should have already outsold the Japanese LTD in its western release month, right?

 

[Quinton McLeod]

If you were a child I'd pinch your cheeks and say calm down little one you're going to hurt yourself.

Interest in Nintendo games in HD is obviously limited... when there's only like two games out from them, and neither is exactly trying anything with that new tech.

Once again. How do these numbers speak for the entire year of a system's life? Could you explain as if I were in 3rd grade, please?

 

[darkistheway]

The bottom line is that Nintendo needs to do something immediately to increase sales of the Wii U... but what can they do?

No system sellers are in the pipeline for the forseeable future. A price drop without games is just throwing money away.

I presume that looking at the lessons learned from the PS3 may be of use to Nintendo execs. Sony stayed the course with the PS3 and ended up with an modestly successful generation.

What caused this? I assume that Nintendo knew the Wii U was coming for a few years now so why does it feel like they launched early. Did the panic caused by the 3DS' slow start force development resources away from console products? That would explain a lot about the current dearth of Wii U software.

Why wouldn't they launch with Wii Sports 2 and a massive marketing push? One of my theories is that they are saving the big guns to go up against Sony and Microsoft's upcoming launches but anemic sales between now and the fall are not going to help with the brand name.

Another thought that arises is that Microsoft and Sony need to watch this situation very carefully. Without a steady stream of quality software, their new consoles may find it hard to find a market outside the early adopters. Software droughts just can't happen in such a volatile marketplace.

 

[pieatorium]

So, with >100k in the US and all those #1 positions in Europe Ni no Kuni should have already outsold the Japanese LTD in its western release month, right?

Easily, I beleive it was in the region of 20k in the UK

 

[UberTag]

So, with >100k in the US and all those #1 positions in Europe Ni no Kuni should have already outsold the Japanese LTD in its western release month, right?

You are correct, sir.

 

[AzaK]

As a worldwide entity, Nintendo's attempts to market and sell this hardware have been little short of embarrassing, and they're reaping the results in every single market.

Embarrassing bordering on incompetence.

 

[SolarPowered]

Embarrassing bordering on incompetence.

Indeed

 

[Quinton McLeod]

Why are you acting like there's some shot of the system selling anywhere near 1.5 million in the first 7 months like the Super Nintendo? For it to do that it would need to average 140k per month for the next 4 months, which ain't happening. Assuming the system matches this months performance next month but somehow turned things around in March, it would need to sell 167k units per month in March, April, and May, more than 3x it's current performance.

That's to say nothing of the comparison being silly due to the difference in the size of the market. Winning/doing well back then required much smaller userbases. Final SNES/Genesis combined sales are probably comparable to where the PS3/360 will end up individually.

You sound as if this is impossible.