Nintendo president: 'The Wii has stalled'
Though it once appeared to be a tiny sales juggernaut, Nintendo's top-selling Wii console has struggled in 2009. In July, the Japanese publisher reported April-June revenues that slid 40 percent from a year prior to 253 billion yen ($2.81 billion). Nintendo didn't fare much better during its July-September quarter, saying Thursday that sales fell 34.5 percent to 548 billion yen ($6.09 billion) during the first half of its fiscal year.
Nintendo's slipping performance has not gone unnoticed by the publisher's president. As reported by Japan's Mainichi Newspaper and translated by GameSpot, Nintendo executive Satoru Iwata told analysts and investors as part of a post-earnings Q&A that a weak software lineup has contributed to the Wii's sluggish performance.
(Credit:
Nintendo)
"The Wii has stalled," Iwata said. "Games of high demand could not be continuously released and the good mood has chilled." Iwata went on to note that it will be difficult to recover from "the slowdown in demand," but he also expressed optimism over Nintendo's ability to continue selling Wiis.
According to Japan's Nikkan Sports (also translated by GameSpot), Iwata said during the conference that Nintendo misjudged market conditions as they pertained to the publisher's sales strategy.
"The mood of the market got colder than expected, and there was a difference in expectations," he said. "Now, we are preparing for next year and thinking about what to do the year after next." Iwata reportedly went on to note that Nintendo is optimistic about its chance to right the Wii's downward sales trend going forward.
Notably, reports have emerged that Nintendo is planning a number of enhancements to its console. Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Nintendo would be introducing Netflix's online video-streaming service to the console, functionality that is already available for the Xbox 360 and will soon be introduced to the PlayStation 3.
Analysts and industry insiders also expect the publisher to launch an HD version of the Wii or an all-new system in 2010 or 2011 to better compete with Microsoft and Sony's consoles.
As for Nintendo's other hit hardware, Nikkan Sports reports that Iwata downplayed suggestions that the DS was losing ground to Apple's increasingly ubiquitous iPhone. "Our presence in the marketplace is growing," he succinctly stated.
Thursday, Nintendo also took the lid off its fourth DS hardware iteration, the DSi XL. The jumbo-size DSi, which features 4.2-inch screens, increased battery life, and a larger stylus, is expected to launch in Japan later this year for 20,000 yen ($220.50). The device's North American and European launch is expected to follow during the first part of 2010.
Tom Magrino reported for GameSpot.
What made the Wii so unique was its controller and how cheap it was but now the other two major console competitors got their own too and sliced their own price a lot.
What do you guys think will happen to Nintendo?
sry for my poor grammar.
I would expect Nintendo to do what it is doing with the DS, release a modified version of the Wii- either HD, different colors, shrink the size, etc...Or release a Wii 2 in 2011.
Our Wii was sort of fun to start with but the games just aren't the same as for other consoles. The sort of people Nintendo targeted this console for aren't going to stick with anything that long. After the "cutesy" factor wears away all you have is a console that never really was all that to begin with.
Now they want to offer an HD version which only makes me regret purchasing the Wii all that much more.
I considered purchasing a wii before BUT the remotes turned me off. I'm pretty sure this had the same effect amongst the gamer community. Sure it's fun for a little bit but moving around cute little avatars on a tennis course gets old really quick. I even attempted to pay cod on wii if I'm not mistaken, The controls were absolutely horrible.
Now on to HD Support, I might help their market but late adoption to this technology was a mistake. This means the majority of the wii owners are most likely going to have to purchase new wii consoles and even better.. more $50 games with HD Support.
I'm not a "fanb0y" or elite "gam3rz". I'm not try to bash this console because the platform has potential, just saying that it might be a little too late to recover from declining sales. Take your profits and start working on the Next Generation Nintendo Console and come up with a stronger gameplan. Don't just research into this platform because it's failing and it will continue to fail. Sorry to offend any nintendo fans.. I hold nintendo dearest in my heart too :)
And right there is everything one needs to know about you not knowing jack. Find me any PC with the exact specs as a mac and you'll come with in a couple hundred dollars, if not more of apples pricing and tech. And any PC you find wont have unibody construction. It will be some cheap plastic piece of crap. Enjoy your racing stickers.
If it wasn't for Nintendo and their success, Microsoft and Sony wouldn't have even thought twice about adding motion to their hardware.
I love my xbox dearly, but it's a huge money grubbing cheap pile. And I'll spare you how I feel about the sub par booger hounds who play rock band and half the other low IQ titles that are out there. At least Nintendo wants to work the fat off your gelatin azz.
Adding an HD is fine, but if they couple it to make it into a digital video recorder, that would add to the argument to purchase a Wii instead of a Tivo or the Apple TV box.
"If Nintendo wants to survive..."
You fanboys make me laugh. If your product is shifting so much that a 40% drop still sees you beating the competition then you are in no trouble at all. The Wii's sales couldn't continue like that forever and you're all going on like Nintendo's sky is falling. Newsflash: IT ISN'T.
Interesting how "gam3rz" and XBOX/PS3 "fanb0yz" all bash the Wii, but never mention the fact it ranks #1 amongst all categories of people who play video games.
It's an amazing console that was able to bring non-gamers and people who normally do not play video games together. That is quite an amazing feat.
"So a pretty lame console?" Ya, if you think being the #1 seller since it came out is lame... well, yes I guess it is then. If you have no idea what your talking about, and have no idea how to successfully run a business... well then, yes.. I guess it is lame =)
Wii Sports and Wii Fit are the extent of many Wii users game library, hence the terrible sales of any Mature rated games - remember last Xmas? The big "buzz" was women buying Wii system simply for Wii Fit's....I would love to know the percentage that actually still use it. Too bad the Wii Fit Board isn't taller, as it would make a great thing to hang clothes on after you get them out of the dryer (come on now, you know that is what the treadmill you HAD ended up being used for :)
But for the games that are well designed for the Wii, that controller does make it fun, even for me. But those games are far and few between.
I don't need the HD stuff. It's nice, but, I like a good game.. a game that plays well, and takes awhile to complete.. one that's not too linear.. it's a simple formula really, but, many fail to follow it.
But when the Wii came along with its totally new concept of motion control, I had to buy one. There was nothing else like it anywhere, and as someone who found the original introduction of the mouse very appealing, the lure of motion control was too much to resist. When I finally managed to track down and buy a Wii, it was every bit as wonderful as I'd hoped for.
My favorite game was Wii Boxing, which I never got tired of playing. I still go back to that game for the basic primal pleasure of pummeling my opponent with real punching motions, as opposed to the mere visceral feel of button-pushing. I own a variety of Wii games, including Sports Resort with its fun Motionplus sword-fighting combat and table tennis, and Wii Fit Plus with its fun duck-n-shoot snowball fights and its fantastically aerobic Wii Jogging.
I really wish Nintendo hadn't been so distracted by the worthwhile exercise-gaming market, and had made sure there were more of other kinds of games for Wii (sci-fi, military, fantasy, etc). I'm not just talking about games published directly by Nintendo, but games published by 3rd parties as well, because without these then no console can see its full market potential fulfilled. Instead of only throwing punches in Wii Boxing, I wish I could throw punches as a superhero knocking down walls or bad guys.I also wish I could box against people on the internet. I wish that I could use my Wii Balance Board to duck and reload in a game like Time Crisis or Keisatsukan Police. I wish that I could use my Wii Motionplus to toss grenades at the enemy with deft precision, or to fling a Tron Deadly Disc instead of just a frisbee.
The main reason that 3rd party developers didn't go after the Wii, was because they were narrowly obsessed with graphics, and were too snobby to care about the fresh untapped potential of motion-based gaming, which they viewed as a mere novelty. Well, this ended up not just hurting Wii, but also hurting those developers themselves, since the rival consoles didn't have the same large install base as Wii.
I've read the latest rumors about a "Wii-2" or "Wii-HD" that might be released in Fall 2010, supporting 1080p, as well as having a Blu-Ray drive and Motionplus as part of its baseline tech. If that's the case, then I'd be willing to buy it, but again how much satisfaction I get from it will depend on the quality of the games that come out for it. Unless Nintendo can get more 3rd party developers interested in making good games for it, then even the best hardware platform in the world won't be able to show what its made of. Nintendo failed to grab the hardcore gamer market, but not so much because of the graphics limitations that the hardcores complain about, but because they couldn't get enough 3rd parties on board and change their thinking to embrace motion control, so that Wii's motion control would be exploited to its fullest potential.
I still love Wii Boxing and play it every week, even though I've spent more hours with it than any other game in my lifetime. I'm just surprised that its fun adrenaline-inducing punching dynamic hasn't been replicated even once on any other Wii title. I'll take superhero punching over boxing any day.
I will challenge a commenter above who suggested that it is serious gamers that underpin the video game industry. It may have been true once (maybe) but I would suggest that it is parents buying for their families who are just as significant if not more so. These parents don't tend to hog forum time on video game web sites and so probably are not so visible but they are there at the cash register and despite protestations about the economy and a lack of hit games to drive sales from Nintendo the Touch has not been slowed down by the same market forces. That is because parents see that it is the iPod Touch that kids respond to. The Touch doesn't need big hit games because it offers a huge variety of fun games and kids love variety.
As more and more developers turn resources toward the iPhone/iPod Touch and the user base grows Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft may all find increasing need to worry about sales figures over the next couple of years. We could be seeing the same sort of impact on other players in the gaming industry as with iPod in the music player industry.
One of the things that I think could really revolutionize gaming is when video glasses come out with decent display resolutions. Imagine 4 friends being able to jack their video glasses into one console, and all play the same game together without having to play on splitscreen, since everybody would have their own separate video feed. That would be a really fun way to game together with friends, and I think it would have irresistable appeal.
Your post reminded me of this idea, because I think that portable platforms like iPhone/iPodTouch, etc will eventually give rise to video glasses, as users seek display options with better resolution. Imagine a group of friends each having their own portable game device with video glasses, together locally forming an ad-hoc peer-to-peer networking group, with low network latency.
The power of such a network could be extended by using a console as a local server hub.
These are novel ideas that might prove to be very interesting and a hit with the masses, if they ever come out.
@artistjoh: reading what you said, I was thinking that maybe what happened is that they entered a volatile market. "Hardcore" gamers will often stick with their console and keep getting games for it, driving sales. Nintendo came up with the Wii seeing an untapped market of "non-hardcore", but this market is the same one that goes through fads, and as soon as something new comes out, its the novel ( ;-) ) thing that everyone wants and people don't stick to the old thing. Nintendo, essentially, was the Numa Numa Guy of gaming. They saw something that got them mass appeal, and wrongly believed that they could keep it by continuing to keep doing or augmenting the same thing. But the masses aren't loyal and lose attention quickly.
So maybe Insomniac Games' Brian Hastings was right when he claimed the Wii fad would fade.
Now, maybe the iPhone/iPod Touch will be able to hold onto its glorious position as THE toy, or maybe it too will fade (though Apple has shown with its past iPods that they have holding power) I mean, it clearly has become so ubiquitous that the term iTouch (which would never have caught on in the normal Apple geekdom) has entered into popular usage, to the point where nobody corrects you if you say it. This makes it clear that its large support base consists of the people who don't know much about tech and are getting it because they heard about it through a friend. 'iTouch' is the equivalent of "what's this 'bluefinger' thing my son keeps asking for?" or "I need one of those clicker thingies for the doohickie".
As far as the WII, I don't have one. I have played it at friends houses, and it never struck me as something I could enjoy long term. Most of the fun games get repetitive after awhile, and the controls on some leave a lot to be desired.
The game selection is also one of the main issues of the WII. That really needs to improve.
I know that my Wii can't play anything like crysis or anything, but eh, thats what I have my computer for.
there are way to many rubbish 3rd party titles and not enough quality 1st publisher titles. While having easy to pick up games like wii sports is important you also need titles that are in-depth in their content. The Wii just doesn't have a balanced game line up.
They are still stuck on the age old "Feed The Machine" mentality of the quarter-based arcade era and it was the inability to change and alter course from such a business model that ultimately sealed Midway's fate much to the frustration and loyalty to their own developers and talent because Ed Boon and the MK gang obviously abandoned the "Feed The Machine" model after MK4 because it was no longer relevant to a dying arcade market as home consoles were dominant, yet it seemed to never enter the heads of Midway's upper brass.
As for PC gaming ... I used to be a hardcore PC gamer but not anymore. It literally does not pay to spend $400-$600 on a mid-range, best-bang-for-the-buck video card from either Nvidia or ATI only to find it completely obsolete in 6 months and with games that either seldom tap its potential and then further insult you with its XBOX 360 control hud staring at you ... such as the PC version of Capcom's Bionic Commando (which adds further insult to injury by falsely advertising DirectX 10 support on the game's box when such support was disabled and apparently never finished by GRIN). How do hardcore PC gamers avoid the conclusion that each time they crack open the wallets and drop $400-$600 on just a video card alone, they are effectively socializing the console market?!? The same technology on their expensive video card is going under the hood of the console, and achieving fantastic frame rates and performance because the resolution is limited to old school and HDTVs. Yet when the PC "port" comes out, it's just the XBOX 360 code with higher resolution support, and the extra effects, bloom, shininess, and other eye candy completely hobbles performance or causes crashes with no option whatsoever of disabling them?!?
Saying that this is because its lets the gamer play the game as the developer always intended is besides the point -- on the PC, the customer/gamers intentions TRUMP developer's intentions. All the time. Every time. They want to play games as THEY intended - not the developers. If that were the case, they wouldn't be PC gamers; they would be console gamers because consoles are more closed and proprietary than the more open source and hardware agnostic PCs.
Then, within a PC, there are a multitude of hardware and software combinations. Maybe if you ran, say, a quad-core AMD, with THIS particular motherboard BIOS version, this particular Windows version AND that particular antivirus program, it causes the game to crash. But how can any company reasonably test all possible, or even all common, permutations? Let alone optimize their game for these permutations?
How much time and effort do you then devote to, you know, the game itself?
Software testing is one of the most difficult things to do well. Games, which are essentially time-critical, resource demanding applications, are probably very difficult to test.
That's why PC games can suffer in terms of bugs relative to console games. For console games, there is 1 hardware and software combination to test, so it can be tested far more throughly.
I like how a lot of the pc games are now coming with an xbox control scheme. I can't begin to tell you how tired i was getting with standard pc controllers. Get logitec/madcatz/etc. install crap driver that claims to auto sense games and hold game profiles, watch it fail and spend next half an hour setting up which button is wich. or you can just plug in your xbox controller into the usb port on your pc windows says hey I know that thing, device ready to use and the game has the controller type already written in. I will only say this once "thank you MS for making my life easier"
I do agree though gaming consoles are the easiest and most inexpensive way to play games if games is all you want. With that said I don't think Nintendo is really missing any marks with their current system. A HD version is obviously a necessary next step and I figured as much from the get go but honestly Nintendo can wait. they sold so fast and furious for the first 3 years the drop off could literally be the wii hitting market saturation. Games need to be the focus now and not games from nintendo they have already delivered some heavy gold on the system. Third party games are where the wii needs help much like early ds games a lot of useing the new cool control scheme and very little actual substance.
I don't hate on xbox or ps3 they are solid game platforms with great graphics and in xbox's case a large library of winners and ps3 is finally really coming into it's own as well. I can't wait for project natal I couldn't care less about the ps wand. I'll still play most of my hardcore on my pc and I'll still have tons of fun with my wii.
For me, the best games for the Wii are the games in the Virtual Console.
But a good game doesn't need to have fancy graphics---it needs to be fun to play. If it has good graphics, that's not a bad thing, but I'd rather developers focus on making the games fun to play and re-play. Nothing bites worse than a game you complete and have no desire to play again, because the game offers no replay value.
I saw the video of the new XBox technology and it is impressive.
2.) Make it with BluRay
3.) Make it in Black
4.) Make it stream Netflix
5.) Make games that use that take advantage of the regular-style controller they have
do that, and I'll buy one, if its still 200 bucks. Otherwise, i'm leaning ps3
Who has 4-5 friends to come over and play a game all the time? Who wants to play solo sports all the time? Sure - we don't need 'hardcore games' but what about ANY games that appeal to the non casual gamer
If you build a system for casual gaming in groups - then wouldn't it be logical that only one person really needs to have the system and the others would just come over and play the system when they have a party?
2.) The DS will suffer for the same reason that the Xbox 360 and PS3 suffered when the Wii released. The Iphone will appeal to an even broader, more causal audience. Why buy a DS when this phone I ALREADY own has seemingly the same functionality? Remember, it doesn't matter what the reality is, but what a majority of the consumers perceive. They will see the Iphone as a gaming platform just as much as they see the DS as one. And with the games a fraction of the cost of the DS counterparts, it will be a hard sell for the casual demographic over the age of 16. Of course, there is always the kids that the DS will sell to, until they start asking for Iphones and Itouches from Santa...
All in all, Nintendo is in quite a predicament .
It sounds like *someone* hasn't seen Uncharted 2 for PS3. :|
- by luke_marsh November 1, 2009 4:15 PM PST
- The next wii
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (49 Comments)A slightly smaller box that has apps and peripherals that go well in far more environments than just mainly lounge.
in bed toys and games.
Wiis for recreation centers.
Wii's for health checks Seriously.
Mini wii's too companion desktop computers.
Wii's tailor made for girls.
Wii's in plane set-ups.
Wii's in special pub tables
Wii's for DJing more professionally With extension devices.
ect ect
The problem the wii has hit the road block is that many now have living room wii's and you can only really saturate one sector so much so take it to other sectors.
I know visual recognition is making big moves now but equipment based fun still has a good marketable place how to get the wii into these original market places is anyone's guess but this can't be the end of Nintendo just yet when so much fun is yet to be had.
you go Nintendo find your way towards the future.
Make a web site called futurewiis.com and ask consumers where you could have wii's and mini wiis and what you could do with them and work out first which ideas are the most profitable then go wider into the market place set the bar don't lets others do that there are advantages to equipment based interaction vs free flow visual recognition based interaction even if more light bulbs are smashed learn what these advantages are in detail lol.