Is the Wii a fad?

The Wii fad?

(Credit: CNET)

IGN News is reporting that Wii developers are becoming 'nervous' about the console's prospects and believe the device may be nothing more than a fad.

Nikkei Business Daily is reporting that anonymous developers are concerned that the Wii is only benefiting Nintendo and third-party developers are forced to play catch up in the hope their games will become a success. So far, some are claiming their games have been nothing more than expensive flops.

In fact, one developer explained that, "The Wii is like the 'Billy's Boot Camp' weight-loss program on DVD. People bought it out of curiosity, and it's likely a lot of them haven't used it."

So which is it? Is the Wii really a flop in the waiting? Or is it the video game savior we've all been waiting for? It's neither.

The Wii Flop

To call the Wii a flop is pure nonsense. Not only has the device been able to outsell every video game device (except for the DS) each month since its release, it has easily overtaken the sales lead in the industry and Nintendo has engineered the single most successful viral campaign the industry has ever seen.

If you go to a local store, chances are you'll be hard-pressed to find a Wii on the shelves. Last holiday season, people were waiting in lines for hours just to get their hands on a Wii and almost one year later, it's happening again. Is the device's popularity slowing? Possibly. But shouldn't we expect a cooling of support once the device has been out for over a year and most of the people who want one already have it?

After such a successful year, I think it's impossible to call the Wii a flop. That said, there are still a good three or four years left before it's replaced and quite a bit can happen in that time.

The Wii Savior

Regardless of your loyalty towards the Wii, it's difficult to argue that the device is the savior to gaming we have all been waiting for. Is it refreshing and a breath of ingenuity the industry has needed? Sure. But to call it the greatest thing in gaming is a misnomer.

The Wii is a fine device, but I need to agree with the developers here -- it has the possibility of becoming a party console, or worse, a fad. Nintendo is right -- the Wii shouldn't compete against the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 because they all do such different things. But in the world of game development, those words are a kiss of death.

For years, game developers have made a boatload of money supporting consoles that take graphics and gameplay to another level. Sorry to say, graphics still matter, and because the Wii is lacking, some walk into a room, play with it for an hour, tell everyone how fun it is, and go back to their PS3 to marvel at the look of a game.

A formula for disaster?

If you take an objective look at the Wii, a few things will immediately hit you -- games are few and far between, first-party franchises still rule the Nintendo console, and sales figures don't mean anything unless people play games.

A quick glance at the Gamestop Wii page tells you everything you need to know about this console right now -- five out of the eight top sellers on the Wii come from Nintendo. And if it weren't for Guitar Hero III, that ratio would probably be higher.

Next, if you take a look at the NPD sales figures for August, you'll find that only one Wii game in the top ten didn't come from Nintendo -- Madden NFL 08.

Once again, Nintendo finds itself in the unenviable position of a console manufacturer that has trouble with third-party developers. We saw it happen on the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube, and now it looks like it could happen with the Wii. If so, that's step one in what could become a Wii disaster.

Every time someone says something to put a damper on the Wii's success, people are quick to point out lofty Wii sales numbers. Listen, we all know the Wii is selling well, but that doesn't mean people are actually playing the console. And it is this fact that scares the developer community. If people decide to buy a Wii because it looks nice at a friend's house and proceed to play it until they get bored with it, where are the opportunities for third-party developers to make money?

I understand the same can be said for any console, but if you look at game sales figures, it seems people are buying third-party titles for the Xbox 360 in droves, which suggests to me that they're still using the consoles. And while people may still be using the Wii to play Wii Sports or any number of Mario games, where does that leave third-party developers that rely on strong sales to stay in business?

Maybe the Wii isn't a fad and it probably isn't a flop. But if Nintendo continues its stance as the fun alternative to other consoles, it will find itself in third-place once again for one reason -- third-party developers won't jump on the bandwagon.

[spideygenx]

Wanna sell a lot of games on Wii? Make a good game

As far as nintendo goes i think they are doing more than ever before to entice the 3rd parties to create games on their platform. I think the problem with developers is that they think they can just put together a crap title and then expect it to compete with a AAA title form the big N, not happening. None of this is Nintendos' problem its the 3rd party developers' problem. You want sell a lot of games on Wii? Then make a good game, thats it... period. As far as Wii being a fad, i dont see that. Wii i s a revolution in gaming, yeah they could of put some more oomph in the box to match graphically with the other competitors which is my only problem with the system. I love all video games but i am somewhat a nintendo fanboy but if u look in the past u gotta ask urself a couple of questions: Who was the first to successfully put rumble on console games? how bout split screen 4 player action? DS? What im sayin is that once again Nintendo has revolutionized gaming... again. Fad, i dont think so. Sour grapes is not reason enough to lash out at nintendo about your problems selling your games on their platform. Match or exceed the wuality of a first party title and you will sell a lot. I find myself waiting for the next first party title because there isnt too many games 3rd party or 2nd that im interested in playing. So i just finsihed Metroid 3 and Phantom Hourglass. What 3rd party game is available from a 3rd party thats any good to hold me over until Mario Galaxy? None if you ask me. Im about finished with this, all i have to say in conclusion is watch all of the sour grapes, and outspoken representatives continue to shift more effort onto the Wii. Companies gotta make money and very soon the system to maximize your profits will be the Wii. Im out. Drew Kali

[watsdamattau]

Bored of the Wii

I've had my Wii for a few months now and truthfully I'm seriously considering selling it. I had my fun with Wii Sports. I felt the pain from having sore shoulders and arms that I got from playing. It was a lot of fun. However, the games that are coming out for the unit aren't all that great.

The Bigs was fun until you try to do fielding. My son has no problems, but I do and so does my brother.

Madden 08 is basically ridiculous. Once you've figured out how to intercept the ball the passing game goes out the window. Trying to win the game on the ground is impossible.

Spiderman 3 sucked. Wasted $50 on that one.

Call of Duty 3? It would have been much better on the PC.

None of the other games really appeal to me or my son. We're having more fun with our Sony PSP than this unit. The only redeeming feature on the unit is "Everyone Votes!" It's fun to see what everyone else thinks. Other than that it's sit idle for the past month and a half. We turned it on for the first time yesterday to update the firmware then it went back off. Not a good sign.

[theoncomingstorm]

The problem is 3rd party NOT investing in titles

The 3rd parties are complaining about losing money? Then stop issuing garbage ports of previously disappointing games. The Wii has the ability to look good, as seen by Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy, so why aren't game companies investing in their products? The simple answer is they think profit comes from the least investment, and we all know that is absolutely wrong. People always complain about Nintendo systems like they are only good for 1st party games. That's because Nintendo actually invests in their properties, for the most part, to create an enjoyable experience. 3rd parties have this idea that if you just throw any game out on a Wii, it will sell. And regardless of what everyone is saying, they are still turning a profit on these awful ports of ps2 games. If you look at what sells well on other systems, it is usually games that are not available on the Wii in terms of 3rd party. Crappy games shouldn't sell well, period.

[peterkun]

Aren't all consoles fads?

Regardless of innovation, edges pushed, graphics rendered, aren't all consoles eventually going to be out-done. Essentially this means all consoles are fads. Why am I wasting my time talking about this anyway? This is a lame idea to ponder. The only thing I really don't like about the Wii has been iterated to a certain extent by previous posts, and that is it uses up to much physically energy. When I come home from what ever I'm doing, I'm tired and I want to chill and game without needing to swing my arms around like a weirdo. I just don't have the energy for Wii.

Remember Dreamcast, that console, in my opinion, is still better then a lot of consoles out right now, but lack of games is why mine was pawned.

[sketchnet]

How Can the Wii Be a Fad After a Year of Top Sales

The Wii isn't a fad. It is a fun little game box with an innovative control system. I
have a Wii and an XBox 360 and I play the Wii more. Nintendo did the right thing
by actually making a true 'game' console and not adding in all of the expensive
junk that comes with the PS3 and XBox. Also, the interface on the Wii is much
more user friendly than the XBox. The XBox feels like a PC when you try to
navigate it. I think the Wii will continue to sell well for at least another year until
HDTVs go big.

[PeekaBooGotU]

I might agree

I have a Wii and a XBox360 - myself and my 3 kids play with XBox360 almost daily.
We haven't touched the Wii in a couple of months
(the kids still play with GameCube every few days)

[calereneau]

Not a fad.

These people are right. 3rd party games don't really sell on Wii because so far most 3rd party efforts have been half-arsed ports or dumb minigame collections that should cost half of what they do (Carnival Games, anyone?).

The Wii has a lot of potential, and 3rd party developers will never see a huge Nintendo-sized return on their games unless they invest the kind of time in them that you see them doing on other consoles. People are trying to cash in on Wii's success, but it doesn't work like that.

[Lord Nitsud]

3rd Party Ramp Up

My biggest complaint with the Wii, is that 3rd parties aren't trying hard enough. It''s nothing new that the Wii doesn't have the graphical power of 360 or PS3, but I recall a lot of Xbox games that looked better than many of the Wii games. Just because the Wii has a lot of casual games, doesn't mean that hardcore gamers don't own the system. I love Halo, Killzone, Fable & many other games from other consoles, but I own a Wii because of the possibilities of new experiences. (I'd like to note that I only own a Wii, and no I'm not a huge fanboy, I have owned 2 360s, and 1 PS3. Actually sold the PS3 to buy the Wii.) If developers would actually try to make the graphics the best that were possible (cause I know it can look better than it has), and the gameplay that was fun and deep, with smooth controls (look @ Metroid Prime 3), 3rd parties would sell a ton more software. 1st party games do so well because their trying to use the console to the best ability possible.

[misery94]

Quality software and creative ideas are the keys.

Everyone the is bringing up the 3rd party software quality issue is absolutely correct. The Wii won't get great 3rd party software until development houses put a first or second tier team on these projects. We are mostly getting PS2 ports and 3rd team efforts. There are some exceptions. Capcom and Sega seem to be putting some investment behind the Wii and we are hearing that Zach and Wiki and Sonic and Mario will be very solid because of it. EA has also done some investing, but it will be interesting to see if EA Canada (who seems to be making all of the Wii games) can keep up. Madden 07 was great for a first effort, but Madden 08 has some issues and NBA Live 08 SUCKS. I own Fifa 08 and I think it is a really solid first effort in that series, but does EA Canada have the resources to keep up with that growing number of releases? Look at it this way, if the console keeps selling after the holidays in the face of all of the high profile releases for the 360 and PS3, then developers can't ignore it. Like the DS, it is unique and simply requires a different approach. There was a lot of crap put out for DS by 3rd parties in it's first year, but take a look now. Developers willing to put in the investment and learn how to make games that suit the device are making money. In my opinion, the saving grace for Wii could very well be the coming WiiWare service. Thanks to the lower overhead and budget required, this is where we will see developers with the ability to take chances and push the harware a bit to see what it is capable of and what the market response is to some new approaches. These ideas can then be taken to the mass market in a full software development. Nintendo announced this week that there are already over 100 submissions for the service. Let's hope at least 25% are worth playing.

[manny7474]

The problem with 3rd parties is...

they haven't really made a quality, ORIGINAL bestselling hardcore game....at least not yet. There have been some quality ports (RE:4, Godfather) but no original hardcore games. Still there have been plenty of successful 3rd party games; however most have been the dreaded casual sort. Here's an unofficial list of successful 3rd party games:
1.Rayman
2.Madden '07
3.RE: 4
4.My Sims
5.Carnival Games
6.DDR
7.GHIII
8.Red Steel

It's been said before but the reason for the lack of good hardcore games is the fact that most developers did not anticipate the Wii's success and plan accordingly. Deal with it, it's not the Wii's hardware that's the problem (Metroid Prime 3, anyone?). It's not a perfect console but no console is. All it really means is developers need to adjust their business plans and allot their resources appropriately. There really isn't a story here just some gaming journalists who need something to talk about and developers who seem to be scared as to what to do next.

Interestingly for every story I read like this I rarely see one about how many developers have lost money due to the PS3 flop. I don't care if the PS3 somehow resurrects itself it still has cost many game developers a small fortune in loss revenue due to both lack of install base and high development cost. Certainly some of these guys did OK because they could release the same game on the 360 but I guarentee you their sales projections factored in a considerably larger PS3 user base. Monster Hunter 3 and why Capcom switched it off of the PS3 should be plenty of fodder for any journalist who was interested in running down an original story.

[astrokitty75]

Living in the past...

Here's the deal: Gaming reviewers and critics cannot fully grasp the potential of the Wii because they've never seen the like. The closest you can come to a ground-up paradigm change for a console would be the other revolutionary Nintendo product, the Nintendo DS. It's easy to freak out when you don't see "good" games coming to the system from 3rd party developers on the whole...but the Nintendo products put out so far are so good that it really has made the first year exciting, fun, and way more interesting than yet another title doing the same thing as always but with jacked up graphics. What Nintendo is doing here is so amazingly different and probably the most important shift in console gaming since online functionality started with the Dreamcast that we cannot properly map where it is going to go.

The Wii is a success, hands-down, and it will continue to set new standards for ease-of-use and functionality, bring in new player demographics, and be...well...fun. The thing is...it's NOT like other systems and it doesn't NEED to be and judging it from the standpoint of what came pre-Wii is just ridiculous. It's pointless, really, because we have never had a system that has spoken to so many people right out of the box. We're talking a game system that appeals to and instantly converts non-gamers on the spot. You have NEVER had that in the market before. We have gamers starting with Wii sports (arguably the BEST pack-in since Super Mario Bros.) that have never played a video game before and then branching out into Warioware, ExciteTruck, Elebits, and much more. It doesn't stop...these are new gamers that are hungry for new content.

So, the third party developers are slow to learn. Sure, maybe the Wii has a learning curve but it's the future of mainstream gaming. This is not the system of just the "gamer" as we new it. This is the system that your sister, your mom, your dad, your grandma, and your little brother plays. Sure, there can and SHOULD be hardcore gaming titles on the Wii and I'm sure that will happen, but the sales strategy for the Wii is not to cater to the jaded gamer who already owns every other system and will own a Wii just to have it for completion's-sake.

Third party developers DO need to get off their arses and either make games from the ground-up FOR the Wii, original content that is exclusive TO the Wii, and/or continue to make great ports of games like RE:4 and Tomb Raider: Anniversary where the game becomes entirely new and exciting when playing it on the Wii.

Here's a small list of games that make the Wii awesome RIGHT NOW followed by a list of games that will SHORTLY be joining them. Check them out, it's totally worth it. Oh, and don't forget that the virtual console allows you to have the ULTIMATE retro gaming library.

RE:4
WiiSports
Super Paper Mario
Metroid Prime 3
Mario Strikers Charged
Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Sonic & The Secret Rings
SSX Blur
Excite Truck
Warioware
Metal Slug Anthology
Elebits
Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Trauma Center: 2nd Opinion
Wii Play
Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2

annnnd...coming soon!

Victorious Boxers
EA Playground
Guilty Gear XX
Guitar Hero 3
Super Mario Galaxy
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
NiGHTS
Fire Emblem
Battalion Wars 2

More games will be coming soon, as someone pointed out...when the 3rd party developers REALIZE that the Wii IS here to stay and they need to provide content to support it to, well, MAKE money! Novel concept.

Also, don't know those multiplayer minigame collections. They are the stuff parties can survive on. If playing a Wii at a party gets you to buy one, that's a helluva sales technique, I'd say.

Keep the faith, Wii-owners and supporters alike! Don't let articles like this one get you down!

[mdoerty]

Another Wii bashing that somewhat misses the point

Just some quick thoughts.

The IGN (UK) report is nothing more than a re-reporting of what was in the Nikkei Business Daily. It may have been the result of a piece on tech.co.uk -- which reported the same thing. So there has only been truly one real story about this recently -- with multiple re-tellings.

That being said, while I do not necessarily agree with Don Reisinger's opinion, at least he has enough conviction to attach his name to it. That is more than the "unnamed developer" who compared the Wii to an exercise DVD.

Also, it is true for the long-term viabiity of a console, there must be third-party support. However, for Nintendo, this is less true (though still true) becuase they have such strong first-party titles. (And if you don't believe that, just remember they were awarded recently the prize as the top developer).

Basically, no one, not even Nintendo, expected the Wii to be sold out worldwide for 15 months (which is where we are heading).

Prior to its release, some pundits thought Nintendo should get out of the console game and become a software only company -- like Sega. Instead, it has a system that is selling to everyone, gamers and non-gamers alike. And because the non-gamers don't act like traditional gamers, no one, espeically third party developers, don't know what to do with them or for them.

The smart third-party developers realize that if you produce a good product for the Wii, you will be successful. Two of the eight worldwide million sellers are third-party titles, which means it can be done (source: vgchartz.com). And Capcom moving Monster Hunter 3 from PS3 to Wii shows there is momentum building in that area.

Thus, in closing, the premise is right but the conclusion is wrong. The third-party support is coming. And that will help the Wii maintain its position.

Mike from Morgantown