It looks like demand for Nintendo's new Wii U is as strong as it was for the original Wii six years ago...at least, for now.
Nintendo told CNET that the roughly 400,000 units sold in the Unitd States during its debut week was "essentially" a sell-out, with supplies running dry at most retailers during that time.
By comparison, the original Wii sold 475,000 units during its debut six years ago (according to NPD data), which was also a near-sellout of its initial shipment.
Interestingly, due to Black Friday discounts, Nintendo's old DS portable managed to outsell its new 3DS, 275,000 to 250,000.
More from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime at CNET.
Update: This story initially reported that Nintendo's 2006 shipment of the original Wii was 300,000: it was actually 475,000. The article has been updated to reflect this.
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According to every article I looked up, they sold 600000 units in 2006, not 300000, e.g.:
http://www.nintengen.com/2006_11_01_archive.html
I am very interested in seeing the sales reports for the Wii-U games in a year. That will give a good indicator for how good the system is really doing. Units may sell but it is the games that matter in the long run.
EDIT: I would also love to see how much the losses are for Ninty. They are selling it at a loss right?
Nintendo will do okay, but not as good as they did with the original Wii.
I bought a Premium Black Wii U from Toy's 'r' Us (last one after Black Friday) and 2 games, with one being discounted because TRU has a deal of by 2 get 20% off the 2nd. The games I bought where BLOPS2 and NG3. So I got three games because of the one included for 470+ USD.
Also Nintendo has most of the retail games for sale at the big box stores also for sale as DLC at the 59.99 price tag on their Online Store, so I think Nintendo made a great profit even if the consumer just bought a system with no games at first.
I love Nintendo and I'm hoping for the best but this isn't a Wiipeat just yet.
Waiting for the Deluxe Wii-U myself.
Further, none of the employees understood why people weren't buying them, since adding some external memory later (if the need arises) seems to be the only real downside.
I also find it hard to believe that, if demand was anywhere near as high for the console that it was for the Wii, color or a $10 difference on a mini-game collection hardly seem like items that would stop people from buying it. This, coupled with employees laughing about customers who return deluxe units after finding out they can't sell them for $800 on eBay like they did the Wii makes me think the overall demand is moderate at best.
IMHO, they can't really just release a "more powerful" machine, since the Wii U looks like it takes full advantage of consumer HDTVs.
I'm not sure if they can out "gimmick" the Wii U's second screen and keep the price reasonable. But, if they do, I'm guessing Sony will try a HMD (they have a prototype) and Microsoft will release a dockable gaming Surface.
Or they could try to compete on price ($149 NextGen console?) and/or exclusive titles.
In any case, here's hoping the next couple of years will be even more exciting for game developers than the last. :)
What i don't know is how many wii u games i can play seeing as how even nano assault neo lacks southpaw.
I simply put the game on the gamepad and use the gamepad upside down instant southpaw but if you leave the game on the hdtv southpaw flight and guns are both inverted a patch needs to come out as it's a great stardust /geomitry wars style game though both of those games offered southpaw .
As far as nsmb u or rayman i can play those but give me twin or dual analog and i better have my custom scheme or i simply can't play it.
PS3 first week sales 197K
(according to NPD)
The Wii did great numbers for several years but when it died it died quite suddenly. Fell off a cliff, was the term nintendo itself used talking to the financial press. Much more quickly than Nintendo had expected and they took a serious knee in the groin financially, especially when other factors were also slapping them around. Transition management is a tough business.
Even with ms having chief and marcus to carry xbox and sony having many more franchises but saddled with debt nintendo alone has both significant ip and a war chest of funds.
The next gen should be a very interusting place.....and hopefully everyone supports backwards compatibility and a full custom slot overriding in game controls.
And I don't think any company cares about supporting people who can't deal with the controller pre-sets. If you can't play "right", stick to the PC.
But, if the rumors are true that Sony is dropping the Cell processor, it's unlikely they can produce an affordable console that is backwards compatible with the PS3, which is probably why they invested in Gaikai.
I'm not saying this is a "good thing" but, if I had to make a bet, I'd say it's unlikely the "PS4" will run any of your PS3 discs.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-batman-arkham-city-wii-u -face-o
ff
I agree that they should go the way of software, unless they are willing to compete for hardcore gamers again. The casual schtick will only get copied, but hardcore gaming is where loyalty is bred.
R.I.P the Gamecube and SSBM.
Besides, you claimed it was a lie that the FPS got down to 15. What reason did you have for that?
With that said I have the game on Wii U and I'm enjoying it. There are also a lot of positive post about it on Miiverse.
...because to imply that an experience is holistically broken somehow in order to spread negative information to masses of people who may or may not have full information of a situation is indeed just that.
Justin posted: "TB said that batman arkham city WAS RUNNING at 15FPS. Its pretty pathetic considering it runs better on 7 year old hardware"
The words "dips down to" is not even implied in his sentence and he uses this information to create a sense that something that is working fine is not. So your assuming you have truth of a situation from second hand source and I assume your source(s) is not being truthful based off of on hand experiences I have had with playing games on a Wii U system.
Oh And I'm on Gama because I think its more sophisticated from the usual spin you get from true hardcore gaming sites that find noting better to do with their time but cater to fandom viewpoints.
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The whole game industry is waiting for the next generation of consoles and so is the gaming community. It's been almost 8 years since the initial PS3 and 360 launches. Just take a look at CoD:Black Ops 2 and compare it to Crysis 3. It aches almost. Genres are stagnating in innovation. It's about time for a new generation of consoles to boost the development of new IP's and reimagening - not re-re-and-reanimating - established ones.
I.E. in light of the NES, SNES, PSX, PS2, Gameboy and GBA, it's really dumb and I wish people would pay these people less for spouting inanity.
The market is speaking: 'success' of one platform does not = death of all others. This is not that zero sum game.
The people who say iPhone makes game consoles obsolete are people who never were very interested in consoles to begin with, I think.
Overall, the game market is doing great. There are more venues and ways for publishers to sell than ever before. Traditional dedicated platforms are facing a challenge, though. They won't go away but there will be fewer companies able to play for lack of developer support and thus lack of product to sell.
The devs/pubs have to play a numbers game. How much is a platform diluted by competition that didn't exist in previous generations? Are the numbers there to make a port of a high end game capable of making a profit? Would the company be better off focusing on simpler games with a higher level of hardware abstraction and thus cheaper to port everywhere?
For the casual games flooding the market the decisions are easier but the selling price much lower and it's much ahrder to stand out in a crowded market. For the more demanding games you could easily have a repeat of the Wii situation on the Wii U. A developer would consider whether it was worth the investment to make a version of their game that was very cut down from the PS4/XboxNext version but, if the time and money were spent, could be given unique features exploiting the platform's features.
In the current generationt he answer was all too often "No, it isnt worth it. People who want our game are going to own the PC or Sony or Microsoft hardware to play it. not enough of the people attracted to Nintendo's platform are our customers." Whether this was the correct choice is not at issue. What matter sis the choice was made repeatedly and the results as recent history shows us.
Even so, the Wii made tons of money for a long time. Nintendo has long marched to the beat of a different drum than the other console makers. But there are more and more new entries draining off the casual gamers who have other reasons to buy the device with games just a bonus. If it keeps them from buying a dedicated gaming device it can tilt a lot more publishers away from investing in what they already consider a secondary platform. An example is the Roku box that is mainly sold for streaming video but it comes with a version of Angry Birds. Plenty of games of that sort can be downloaded any time the consumer wants to play. No local storage is needed beyond a tiny amount to store settings and scores. Even that can be eliminated with an online account infrastructure.
This doesn't matter to a dedicated gamer but it eats away at the fringes and diminishes the platform's piece of the market pie. If that piece gets too small, publishers of the sort of products dedicated gamers are looking for will go elsewhere to sell their products.
I think Nintendo ask themselves a question perhaps internally about what drives people to the smartphone and tablets. It wasn't the games because quality games happened later on in the lifecycle of those devices. It was the ability to be socially connected by not needing to make a phone call. This happened because of Facebook mostly and the abilities it later granted to be able to communicate freely with others without having to worry about extra monthly charges on a monthly fee. Because so many people gravitated to the smartphones and tablets, and because of the way Facebook became a nucleus for that gravitation, Nintendo (and really the gaming industry as a whole) needed a way to make that same connection without the hassles of being too technical.
In the three plus days I have had my Wii U I have done something I really never do much with a video game console. I have turned it on first, used it to turn on my TV and cable box second, and then checked the MiiVerse and internet. To be honest, I have yet to use it to actually play a game on a HD TV screen because I have used the controller as my gaming screen while I or my family watches TV. To be perfectly honest, if any of my family where gamers; and non of them are but if they where, they could use the TV for whatever at this point and I would not mind. It's like the Wii U is a device that finds a way to be relevant without taking up the space all the time. It takes HD quality gaming and offers a way to play it on a semi portable level. No longer do they have to ask company X to make a videogame and then make a portable game with the same level of graphics for a totally different device. It all there and its optional. It makes sense to me as a consumer to the point that the marketing made even more sense after I got the device. How will you play?... now that you have more options to play the games.
I'm going to finish with this. When I bought the device someone in my family began to understand that this was a new system and not an add on to the first Wii. I don't think they at first thought that given the reaction. When I began to tell them what it could do, I think they started to get it more. The Wii U is a social gaming hub that gives the gamers more options than any device currently out. IT was priced to compete with the iPad and tablet space, but only made to compete as a living room device and nothing more. Insofar as I can see, they may have just pulled it off. Time will tell if the core market developers get this aspect, and understands how this device should be used when competing for casual and core gamer dollars.
Thanks if you read this.
I really wish the gamepad was a stand alone device itself though. I hope Nintendo releases one that is or the next xbox/ps has one.
That would make it much more expensive, which comes with its own problems.