I don't think Nintendo was prepared/was hit with unexpected delays. Both of which were preventable. I like the Wii U as a concept, and I feel like it has a good future ahead of it, but every Nintendo console always falls into having a drought right after launch.
-
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 January 2013 Sales Results [Up7: Wii U 57K (CNET), Vita ~35K, PS3 201K]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
I don't think Nintendo was prepared/was hit with unexpected delays. Both of which were preventable. I like the Wii U as a concept, and I feel like it has a good future ahead of it, but every Nintendo console always falls into having a drought right after launch.
PopcornMegaphone
Banned
It's not just 55K... but 55K over five weeks. That's unbelievable.
Father_Brain
Banned
This is really, really premature.
If Wii U gets at least two out of (3D Mario/MK8/New Retro title/SSB4) and is still selling sub-GC numbers, then we can talk. But otherwise, there's a lot of daylight between "disappointing" and "DOA."
Yeah, their decision to go multiplatform was totally justified.
Chances of it outselling the Japanese version?
AgentOtaku
Member
Amir0x said:
completely agree. I'm so sick of every Nintendo Direct basically ending with "lol, we're so busy and making HD games is hard!". Especially when said overtasked studios are essentially just making titles with the same IPs/characters over and over and over and over again.
I love Mario, Yoshi, etc., and don't want to veer to much into that other thread, but clearly them banking on those characters isn't going to fucking cut it anymore, so just stop it already!
Also, has it been even established if their Nintendo Direct strategy is even working? Like how many people are even seeing it?
Pachterballs
Banned
ubisoft vindicated.
I know Rayman isn't a system seller, but it would have been mighty close to being one for me. The 2D platforming king of our era can not be denied so easily.
There would be no upside to refusing Nintendo games like some petulant child.
DR2K
Banned
WiiU sold 5K more than Rayman did in its first month.
shinra-bansho
Member
Most certainly. But I don't know if those games alone would be able to sustain HW sales at 150-200K a month.
Ergo, while again, I do agree software is the most important facet to address - I think that people thinking those titles will be some sort of panacea are wrong.
Third party support is still, imo, the successmaker.
I think we're essentially seeing what would have happened to the Wii if motion control didn't take off.
Another question for anyone: So far in their lives, which had/has better third party support - the GCN or Wii U?
Duxxy3
Member
The Vita is in a much better place to recover than the Wii U. Vita has some good software out there and excellent online services. The ridiculous price of the console and memory cards prevent it from being adopted.
PopcornMegaphone
Banned
Yeah, I can't wait to see what Retro is doing though. Maybe they'll be making just the type of attention grabbing game I'm talking about?
Now, just for a moment I think an exercise might be interesting:
Do we think this state of Wii U is purely going to be representative of the failings of Nintendo, or do you think PS4 and Xbox 720 might do the same? Might we be seeing the first true sign of what awaits the industry in a few months? Why or why not?
I've always maintained I hate system launches and their "launch windows" because generally speaking we might get ONE good game at best and two mediocre ones, and then eleven-twenty atrocious ones followed by no games for 3-6 months. And I still suspect the same will be true of Xbox 720 and PS4. Games take a long time to develop, and there's generally never enough time to ensure your game is in a healthy state by the time devs got the final dev kits and modified their vision and content to make it on time.
What type of games do we think Xbox 720 or PS4 might have to change the game in their own way? I certainly feel Sony is in a much better position in terms of game development than Nintendo is, given that they've put out tentacles all over the place this gen and have experience with it now. But I don't know if it'd be enough... because it's clearly probably going to launch at $399.99 along with Xbox 720, and that's a lot of money for people these days coupled with a terrible launch window and experiences they've already had before.
Just wondering what people might think of this
We may have to wait until Capcom update this, and those would be worldwide numbers.
http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/business/million.html
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Oh yes. Brilliant.
I starting to agree with the Vita, since Sony simply looks like they have no plans for it, and everyone is ignoring the fact that it even exists. Nintendo has released 2 titles for the Wii U. There's a long way to go.
Maybe you shouldn't put words in other people's mouths. Then maybe you wouldn't be offended!
Bravo
GraveRobberX
Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
If this is January #'s
THE FUCK ARE GOING TO FEBRUARY #'s?
Holy Hell
Mandatory Accomplishments please, I'll buy one, I swear!
THE FUCK ARE GOING TO FEBRUARY #'s?
Holy Hell
Mandatory Accomplishments please, I'll buy one, I swear!
Adam Blade
WWKC
Your tag may need an update.
AranhaHunter
Banned
So the 55k figure is true then. Wow. And it's a 5 week month too.
This is vita level kind of bad, actually what's the likelihood that vita outsold it in January? And considering it's worse than Vita in Europe and quickly approaching vita level in Japan, I can't help but think the WiiU will be a failed device as well. I'll give it until TGS to call it that though.
Who is doing that? Am I missing something here?
By the way, what's the difference between that and "I pray and hope Nintendo goes 3rd party". There's no difference here.
Zoramon089
Banned
I don't understand the Ubisoft vindicated posts...games sell systems
metalslimer
Member
As bad as Wii U is doing now? No, it's really not. Vita has had a year on the market and even with a large marketing focus and two big titles last christmas it sold terribly.
There is no difference. Both are disgusting.
Ubisoft is not a charity and Rayman is not a system seller. It would bomb had at this point in the Wii U's lifecycle so there was no point releasing it now.
maquiladora
Member
And if jvm is right, its probably a few k lower than 55k.
Feb results could be horrific.
Motion per se is suffering pretty hard, Kinect+Move are probably on track to sell below WiiU Nov-Nov. I think Nintendo just did a miserable job at telling people next gen is here now, compared to this gen where they were able to ride a year of X360 word of mouth plus Sony's huge campaign, and then compounded it by making their lead launch title the second 2D Mario in six months because they had to wheel out the big guns for 3DS too.
Haunted
Member
Ancel's face makes it. :lol
Count Dookkake
Member
It's ok. It will make the eventual restoration of balance all the funnier.
No it isn't. Sony does not have a title remotely capable of selling the system (except perhaps Gran Turismo, but even that pales in comparison to Nintendo's lineup).
rough times for the wii-u and with nearly all the notable software delayed out of the launch window things aren't likely to change anytime soon.
hopefully they can get things rolling later this year and put up a decent holiday lineup.
I think mario kart is a shoe in for a holiday release, curious what else they'll have.
hopefully they can get things rolling later this year and put up a decent holiday lineup.
I think mario kart is a shoe in for a holiday release, curious what else they'll have.
Ok try again...
so 3DS is Atreyu? because that machine is turning into nintendo's saviour
Q
qizah
Unconfirmed Member
Post E3-2013 I think we'll see a real turn around for the Wii U. There's really not many reasons to own one yet, NSMBU can only move so many units.
That being said, I still love my Wii U - but it needs more titles.
That being said, I still love my Wii U - but it needs more titles.
Randolph Freelander
Member
Except it's more usually the case that systems sell games.
But I don't know the panic here. Seems to me that Nintendo just extended their next generation lead by another 55K.
excuse me?
wii u and vita are both having abysmal performance but if you look at the future lineup of announced games the one with the system sellers is not the vita, that's for sure.
nothing already announced for vita has even slightly the selling power of Mario Kart alone.
do i think the Wii U is going to get great sales?
not at all
do i think the Wii U has more chances then the vita to turn this up?
10000 times yes
strangedopamine
Member
30K at most.
Do you have any idea how bad this number is an how bad Wii U's software lineup is for the next 6 months?
Holy fuck, isn't 55K like... worse than Gamecube levels? I'm not usually part of the whole "Nintendo is Doomed" thing, but this is gonna be a hell of a lot harder to turn around than the 3DS. Even with strong sellers like Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, and Zelda, the Gamecube still ended up at around 20 million, and at least the Gamecube actually made money till it's price got slashed to 99$.
I apologize in advance if the below just sounds like incoherent rambling, I'm not really that well versed in the business side of video games. Its just that 55K just sounds so terrible that even I feel like I should say my 2 cents here!
I know comparing Nintendo to Sega isn't usually that accurate, but I do wonder if the Wii U could end up being sorta like the Sega Saturn, as in it gets killed off relatively early to make way for it's successor. Granted, I expect the Wii U to do way better than the Saturn sales wise, and I THINK Nintendo is in a far better financial situation than Sega was at the time (not sure though, I usually don't pay too much attention to this kind of stuff), but still, selling worse than the Gamecube did at this point is pretty dire. If Nintendo were to do that though, I'd really hope that they don't end up putting out the equivalent of the Dreamcast (or worse, the Wii U ends up being like the Dreamcast)!
I guess a less drastic approach would be to find some sort of way to relaunch the Wii U in a more appealing package. While the lack of Software is probably the biggest reason the sales are hitting these kinds of record lows, I don't think "Panic Mode Nintendo" alone can turn this around like the 3DS, especially since if I recall, the Wii U isn't making a profit on day 1. I almost wonder if Nintendo should do something crazy like relaunch the Wii U with a totally different controller concept, and make the gamepad just a wacky accessory. Normally I'd think that's a terrible idea (and it might still be!) due to splitting up what the user base can play, but at the same time... the tablet concept (as much as I love it) just doesn't seem to be very appealing to the general public. With the possibility of sales getting even WORSE in the near future, I wonder if the risk of splitting up the early user base could be worth it. Of course, the big issue with this approach is that Nintendo would have to come up with a new controller that has a similar sort of wide appeal that the Wiimote had, but also isn't just a retread of the Wii, and that is honestly quite a tall order!
I apologize in advance if the below just sounds like incoherent rambling, I'm not really that well versed in the business side of video games. Its just that 55K just sounds so terrible that even I feel like I should say my 2 cents here!
I know comparing Nintendo to Sega isn't usually that accurate, but I do wonder if the Wii U could end up being sorta like the Sega Saturn, as in it gets killed off relatively early to make way for it's successor. Granted, I expect the Wii U to do way better than the Saturn sales wise, and I THINK Nintendo is in a far better financial situation than Sega was at the time (not sure though, I usually don't pay too much attention to this kind of stuff), but still, selling worse than the Gamecube did at this point is pretty dire. If Nintendo were to do that though, I'd really hope that they don't end up putting out the equivalent of the Dreamcast (or worse, the Wii U ends up being like the Dreamcast)!
I guess a less drastic approach would be to find some sort of way to relaunch the Wii U in a more appealing package. While the lack of Software is probably the biggest reason the sales are hitting these kinds of record lows, I don't think "Panic Mode Nintendo" alone can turn this around like the 3DS, especially since if I recall, the Wii U isn't making a profit on day 1. I almost wonder if Nintendo should do something crazy like relaunch the Wii U with a totally different controller concept, and make the gamepad just a wacky accessory. Normally I'd think that's a terrible idea (and it might still be!) due to splitting up what the user base can play, but at the same time... the tablet concept (as much as I love it) just doesn't seem to be very appealing to the general public. With the possibility of sales getting even WORSE in the near future, I wonder if the risk of splitting up the early user base could be worth it. Of course, the big issue with this approach is that Nintendo would have to come up with a new controller that has a similar sort of wide appeal that the Wiimote had, but also isn't just a retread of the Wii, and that is honestly quite a tall order!
zero shift
Banned
The Vita and Wii U are just two very unappealing platforms. One's main draw is being a highend do everything gaming system while the other sells itself on a unique controller with a large touch interface.
Its unfortunate that both Sony and Nintendo missed out on the developments in mainstream technology over the course of the latter half of the previous decade. Consumers have high-tech do everything devices, they're called cellphones, consumers have played games with a large touch interface, tablets. Its just incredible that these are some of the most successful multibillion dollar companies and yet they have managed to screw up so much with this. Its all common sense.
Its unfortunate that both Sony and Nintendo missed out on the developments in mainstream technology over the course of the latter half of the previous decade. Consumers have high-tech do everything devices, they're called cellphones, consumers have played games with a large touch interface, tablets. Its just incredible that these are some of the most successful multibillion dollar companies and yet they have managed to screw up so much with this. Its all common sense.
Portugeezer
Gold Member
Probably one person which means "some". And no difference.
mysteriousmage09
Member
Sony will save us.
Zoramon089
Banned
Father_Brain
Banned
Extremely fucked up, don't get me wrong. But since GC still (sort of) held on for a normal generational lifespan, I wouldn't call it DOA.
Vita doesn't have, and never has had, a single software release that even had a chance of being a huge system-seller. In Wii U's case, we at least know that major first-party software is coming and that it will have some statistically significant impact on hardware sales. The question is when and how much.