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[hey_it's_that_dog]

In numbers, Nintendo won. But if you ONLY owned a Wii and nothing else, you fucked up. So congrats to the Wii I guess.

 

[pants]

They paid the ultimate sacrifice to win the war. And they lived long enough to become the villain.

Comic reference? Sounds somehow familiar.

 

[Shtof]

Clearly, Nintendo won.

Nintendo clearly and decisively won

.

Yep.

Cosigned. Can't knock how successful the Wii was.

It seems you did not understand the point I was making. If we look at the position Nintendo got themselves into towards the end of gen 7 and the start of gen 8, what exactly did they win? It's like the 300 spartans, they won the battle but lost their lives.

 

[gngf123]

A bunch of people often post how the Wii's attach rate is actually not that bad - anyone have the numbers?

Along the lines of 850m software units to 100m consoles I think, I'll see if I can find the official numbers.

 

[entremet]

The problem is that people are using subjective metrics for a question that has been answered objectively for ages.

 

[Espresso]

Didn't Wii outsell PS2?

 

[gemoran4]

Did they? They were irrelevant in the industry for the entire generation and once the casuals left, for whatever reason it was, they've been struggling without the help of the rest of the industry and dedicated gamers.

Yes. Just because Nintendo did a terrible job capitalizing on the success of the Wii and lost their market doesn't mean the Wii itself didn't win that gen.. also it had the most consoles sold (though who knows if that will hold up by the time the PS3 and 360 are discontinued)

 

[Derrick01]

I highly doubt we'd have seen something like Kinect or Move pushed this past gen if not for the Wii's early success, I don't consider that irrelevant - they caused their competitors to react.

How many games did the Wii get that were on every other major platform? That's what I mean by irrelevant. They were ignored by gamers and publishers alike despite their runaway success, and it's killing them slowly now.

 

[Steel]

A bunch of people often post how the Wii's attach rate is actually not that bad - anyone have the numbers?

I'd be interested in seeing numbers as well. I recall seeing something that said the WII's first party offerings waay outsold their sony and microsoft counterparts.

 

[gogogow]

This is it in a nutshell. They won because they had that precision strike on casuals but as casual people do, they've already moved on to the new trend and left nintendo high a dry. The wii won in sales but it probably wasn't worth it in the long run.

Yeah, all those billions earned, definitely not worth it...

The Wii won in sales and in profits.

 

[DJIzana]

Definitely Nintendo won. People may not have liked how they appealed to the casuals so much but clearly the sales numbers don't lie.

 

[Culex]

4 words:

THREE POINT EIGHT MILLION

 

[flkraven]

I agree that no console technically won, considering they are all so close sales-wise. However, I think Microsoft and Nintendo are very happy with how they did while Sony is disappointed (even though they all sold a bunch).

 

[N.Domixis]

Sony recovered admirably, but they still ended as a close third place. This gen was a loss for them, going from 90% during the PS2 days to this. The Xbox went from being a fridge to the most popular development console and the de-facto word for console gaming.
The silver lining for Sony, is that their arrogance and pride made the PS4 into exactly what everyone wanted, while MS fumbled horribly, looking far too ahead regarding media and ownership.

Lol did you forgot the rest of the world exists? It is only the defacto word for gaming in the us and uk, everywhere else it's either Sony and Nintendo.

 

[braves01]

A bunch of people often post how the Wii's attach rate is actually not that bad - anyone have the numbers?

In addition to attach rate figures, if anyone knows how much profit each of the big 3 made last gen that would be interesting too (gaming division only for sony and ms of course).

 

[gemoran4]

Didn't Wii outsell PS2?

Don't think so. PS2 had about 150 million consoles sold in itself lifetime and i think the Wii is around 100 million

 

[abunai]

Nobody wants to admit that all it took was a glorified Gamecube and a fresh take on motion controls to win the generation

And to be honest, if your head isn't too deep in any company's asshole and you own various systems, then you've won as well; open-minded gamers with the chance to play on all major platforms had many memorable and wonderful games to play

Gonna agree with this, pretty much.

Sales was always the defining characteristic of a 'winning' console; people trying to move the goal posts because they didn't like how casual the wii was (despite the load of good games on the system).

Personal taste is another thing.

 

[Spieler Eins]

In numbers, Nintendo won. But if you ONLY owned a Wii and nothing else, you fucked up. So congrats to the Wii I guess.

True. Owning both a DS and Wii however got you the best exclusives of the gen.

 

[apana]

The Wii won, stop crying about it already and move on.

 

[pretty done]

Didn't Wii outsell PS2?

No chance and it never will. It just completely fell off whereas the PS2 sold 50mil or something after PS3 release.

Wii is nowhere near PS2 levels domination. It just sold a lot of casual software to non-gamers.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

The problem is that people are using subjective metrics for a question that has been answered objectively for ages.

There are other objective measures like consumer intent and brand reputation that are important considerations if you want "winning" to be meaningful in a broader economic/business sense. If you just want to compare three numbers representing sales, then fine, but nobody needs a thread or discussion about that.

 

[AlucardGV]

victory for nintendo
victory for MS
pyrrhic victory for sony

 

[QP3]

Nintendo did so well this generation, it is taking sales away from their next generation.

 

[tengiants]

Nintendo won with the most console sold but I bet the software attach rate with the Nintendo Wii was pretty horrible. Sony and MS did much better and this is where the money is not in the hardware but in the software.

Is this true? Can you provide any citation?

 

[Mass Effect]

Clearly, Nintendo won.

Seriously. They made record-breaking profits up until 2011.

 

[Sothpaw]

Microsoft was up against the PS2 and completely turned the momentum. I give the victory to MS given how they were equal Sony's previously massive market share.

Nintendo sold the most units but their gimmick fizzled out and they are completely fucked now.

 

[jett]

Nintendo won in the end. They may have fallen so much from doing not much at the end, but there is no denial how much they were ahead this generation.

They won for four years. Then the Wii brand eroded into irrelevancy.
Xbox gained considerable foothold in America and mindshare overall.
PS3 managed to turn a dreadful situation around and has been a more consistent performer worldwide, although still well below it's predecessor.

 

[entremet]

It seems you did not understand the point I was making. If we look at the position Nintendo got themselves into towards the end of gen 7 and the start of gen 8, what exactly did they win? It's like the 300 spartans, they won the battle but lost their lives.

That's irrelevant to the question asked.

 

[Disco Batman]

Wii sold more. But it also had an abysmal attach rate. The battle isn't simply about the amount consoles sold.

 

[v1lla21]

Nintendo. I believe they also won when it comes to 1st party games. I had more fun with those than I did with MS and Sony's offerings.

 

[SomethingInTheSea]

Clearly, Nintendo won.

Yes, but it was a pyrric victory.

 

[88random]

Well, there is a lot of criterions. In terms of sales it's Nintendo. In terms of games and overall longetivity, it's probably Sony. They they also won the format war.

 

[injurai]

victory for nintendo
victory for MS
pyrrhic victory for sony

Its pyrrhic for MS too.

Xbox division has done nothing but lose MS money.

 

[macewank]

Didn't Wii outsell PS2?

It did not.

Wii LTD sales are estimated around 100 million units. PS2 sold closer to 150.

 

[Mr. Smiley]

Third-Parties won.

 

[Porcile]

It seems you did not understand the point I was making. If we look at the position Nintendo got themselves into towards the end of gen 7 and the start of gen 8, what exactly did they win? It's like the 300 spartans, they won the battle but lost their lives.

Slightly confused logic here. So Sony didn't win the PS2/GC/XB era because PS3 was a bit of a disaster? Nintendo won with Wii. It can't be denied.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

No chance and it never will. It just completely fell off whereas the PS2 sold 50mil or something after PS3 release.

Wii is nowhere near PS2 levels domination. It just sold a lot of casual software to non-gamers.

This is a very important consideration in any discussion of the Wii's success. If you do a very simple segmentation analysis of Wii buyers, there are the Nintendo core/enduring gamers, which make up a small fraction of the total sales. Then there are people who got interested in it because it was the mainstream hotness, like Tickle-Me Elmo. Those people didn't buy core software en masse and they didn't stay interested in gaming long enough to become new core customers. Importantly, they didn't become WiiU owners.

 

[Rocky]

True. Owning both a DS and Wii however got you the best exclusives of the gen.

Only if you're a Nintendo zealot.

 

[Sorian]

Yeah, all those billions earned, definitely not worth it...

The Wii won in sales and in profits.

Taking a lump sum of money now at the expense of future endeavors is a choice only a fool would make. Let's not add that sarcastic bites to our posts.

 

[entremet]

Its pyrrhic for MS too.

Xbox division has done nothing but lose MS money.

You could say the same for Sony then. PS3 lost tons of money.

 

[Impeccable]

Gamers won.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Comic reference? Sounds somehow familiar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDz8CW6utWY#t=77

 

[BluePigGanon]

It seems you did not understand the point I was making. If we look at the position Nintendo got themselves into towards the end of gen 7 and the start of gen 8, what exactly did they win? It's like the 300 spartans, they won the battle but lost their lives.

A great big pile of money? Which is more than Sony or MS can say.

 

[Clear]

If you asked this a few years ago I would say Nintendo without question.

However, the Wii's sales fell off a lot, and their momentum didn't carry over into next-gen. It seems like the PS4 and XB1 will have a much better start, and the PS3 and 360 ended up much closer in sales to the Wii than I would have ever expected back then.

I think you could make a good case for any of the three IMO.

This post nails it, considering the sheer length of this generation its hard to hand it to NIntendo despite their dominating performance at the start.

With emerging market sales there's a very real possibility that PS3 will eventually overtake Wii before discontinuation.

 

[braves01]

It seems you did not understand the point I was making. If we look at the position Nintendo got themselves into towards the end of gen 7 and the start of gen 8, what exactly did they win? It's like the 300 spartans, they won the battle but lost their lives.

You asked who won the gen, not who placed themselves in the best position to win next gen. In that case, yeah, then Nintendo scored a pyrrhic victory.

 

[Steel]

It seems you did not understand the point I was making. If we look at the position Nintendo got themselves into towards the end of gen 7 and the start of gen 8, what exactly did they win? It's like the 300 spartans, they won the battle but lost their lives.

I think the point here is not just the sales numbers. Neither sony or microsoft came out in the green this gen, nintendo did.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

Steam won.

Came into this generation as a nothing, but now the biggest momentum in the gaming industry coming into the next generation threatening the console space with Steambox.

 

[sono]

What is the common definition of the end of a generation ?

 

[Sothpaw]

Taking a lump sum of money now at the expense of future endeavors is a choice only a fool would make. Let's not add that sarcastic bites to our posts.

Actually a lump of money now is worth more than "future endeavors." The problem is the WiiU is a massive pile of shit.

 

[MasterOfPastures]

Lol did you forgot the rest of the world exists? It is only the defacto word for gaming in the us and uk, everywhere else it's either Sony and Nintendo.

Hey, I grew up in Argentina and lived in Switzerland. But market wise, the US is the biggest one. Everywhere else is peanuts, and you're fooling yourself thinking anything but continental europe and the US matters. Japan shrunk last gen due to costs and handhelds.
This gen? We will have to see how big of a role Brazil plays. I will admit the MS coup of producing Xbones locally was brilliant. Sony has to step up, or they might miss the biggest emerging market.