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NPD January 2013 Sales Results [Up7: Wii U 57K (CNET), Vita ~35K, PS3 201K]

The_Lump

Banned
Not just this launch. This is now two launches in a row that went about as badly as launches can go. Why didn't they learn a single lesson from the 3DS fiasco? That's what their shareholders need to be asking. They're literally making the same exact mistakes in the same exact fashion.


Yup. Imo,there's nothing wrong with the product - they just missed their price point by $40/£40 and havn't marketed the damned thing AT ALL!
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Oh man. And I thought the Nintendo fans who liked to ignore economic supply/demand principles would at least get bailed out by the five week period. I was thinking they could still try spinning 90 or 100k. 55k is incredible even for someone who expected carnage.
 

javac

Member
WTF are you talking about? No

And I'm not kinda wrong. Wii exploded right out the gate thanks to Wii Sports and motion controls. And then Nintendo was very smart with the things they did to continue carrying the momentum.

I obviously worded that wrong. I guess that's what happens when you write a reply with one hand while drying yourself after a bath :/
 
BS. A large portion of every third party developer in the worlds futures rest on the 720 and PS4 in some manner. The studios collectively can WILL those consoles to success just by sheer game release support. We saw the same thing happen with the PS3. Against $600, 70k months, a thriving Wii/360 surge, and inferior multiplats, it still found success because the games never stopped coming.

The same things will force the PS4/720 to some level of success guaranteed. These numbers aren't worrisome for anyone but Nintendo.
It's long time since I have agreed so much with one post. Couldn't have said it better.
 
Blaming Reggie or Shibata for Wii U's sales in their respective regions is like blaming Tretton or SCEA's former ad agency for Vita's NA sales.

When new hardware is selling terribly in every territory, the problem starts at the top. Not with regional subsidiaries.

True. Iwata looked at the current lineup, the current price, and said let's go. I'm not sure what Reggie and Shibata could do at this point being hamstrung by NCL's complete control, but I wouldn't mind entire new management everywhere.

Yup. Imo,there's nothing wrong with the product - they just missed their price point by $40/£40 and havn't marketed the damned thing AT ALL!

If the product includes games, Nintendo certainly did mess the product up as well.
 

Replicant

Member
Cheesecakebobby said:
Someone please add "55k warning" to the thread title.

iYFQRJX4OoxWo.gif
 
You better believe MS and Sony are taking note of WiiU's sales. I believe all three vendors need to sell at least decent for this industry (as we've known it)to flourish.
I'm sure they're throwing their copycat tablet controller concepts in the trash right about now. That is, if they ever existed.
 

Hero

Member
The lack of any Nintendo press release probably indicates the 55k number is true or close to the truth.

Emergency Nintendo Direct announcing price drop and new Ambassador program in a week or two.
 

MrDaravon

Member
At this point I really think Nintendo should have held off launching for 8-10 months and launched late summer/early fall with a more powerful system; it seems like it's going to be hard for them to significantly turn around their momentum before PS4/720 come out (unlikely we will get Mario, Smash, MK, etc before then). Once those systems come out they are likely going to at least moderately outstrip the Wii U power-wise which is going to kill the multiplatform ports which as other people have noted certainly helped the PS3 when it was lagging behind.

This definitely seems to be cementing that this is going to be another GC where almost everything top-tier on the system is going to be a 1st party game. Which was the case with the Wii to a large extent as well, but at least that system actually sold regardless of that.

The original Gamasutra tweet would have suggested 270K.

Their correction suggests 55K.

If we change our assumption from units to revenue do we have any idea what that would be? I still just can't believe this is actually true.
 

Pachinko

Member
I wonder if people will actually start realizing just how bad off this industry is when PS4/nextbox fail to light the world on fire sales wise. The general public worldwide play videogames on their tablets and phones now. The thought of buying a new console , handheld or otherwise is just no longer an appealing idea, especially not for more then 199.99. Vita, 3DS, Wii U, how many of these things will falter compared to their previous iterations before people notice it's not just a Vita problem or a 3DS problem or now a Wii U problem.


The audience for traditional gaming devices is on the way out, you can sugar coat it any way you want but that's the cold hard truth, and the real reason why it's taken so long for anyone to make a real move.


I have no doubt in my mind that Nintendo will turn things around in time for this coming holiday season but it's going to take a huge amount of work and the release of TONS of software. For the next 6 months they are instead turning their focus to the 3DS , this holiday they will go back to the wii U. Better marketing and more than likely a lower price (I'm thinking at least 100$ price drop is a strong possibility if that 55K figure is accurate), something will require a very large re-think here to really push just what the system is for to get people to buy it and spending any more then 249.99 will be a major no-no.
 

Kazerei

Banned
Ten years ago...


January 2003 NPD (4 week period):



January 2013 NPD (5 week period):




Even back then, the poorly-performing GameCube managed more than the Wii U did...

That was in the middle of the GC's lifespan though. Makes more sense to compare the consoles launch-aligned ... and Wii U has apparently fallen behind already.
 
Which is absolutely mind-boggling. The only thing I can think of is sheer arrogance.

Didn't the 3DS rescue package obliterate their profits? Maybe they were too locked in to the WiiU to make any major changes to strategy, but now are too financially pressured to do something similar with WiiU (price cut, early adopter program, etc).
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
I wonder if people will actually start realizing just how bad off this industry is when PS4/nextbox fail to light the world on fire sales wise. The general public worldwide play videogames on their tablets and phones now. The thought of buying a new console , handheld or otherwise is just no longer an appealing idea, especially not for more then 199.99. Vita, 3DS, Wii U, how many of these things will falter compared to their previous iterations before people notice it's not just a Vita problem or a 3DS problem or now a Wii U problem.


The audience for traditional gaming devices is on the way out, you can sugar coat it any way you want but that's the cold hard truth, and the real reason why it's taken so long for anyone to make a real move.


I have no doubt in my mind that Nintendo will turn things around in time for this coming holiday season but it's going to take a huge amount of work and the release of TONS of software. For the next 6 months they are instead turning their focus to the 3DS , this holiday they will go back to the wii U. Better marketing and more than likely a lower price (I'm thinking at least 100$ price drop is a strong possibility if that 55K figure is accurate), something will require a very large re-think here to really push just what the system is for to get people to buy it and spending any more then 249.99 will be a major no-no.

With the way 360/PS3 keep selling, I'm starting to waver on how I feel. I wonder if the next systems hit with lackluster sales, too.
 

Coolwhip

Banned
At this point I really think Nintendo should have held off launching for 8-10 months and launched late summer/early fall with a more powerful system; it seems like it's going to be hard for them to significantly turn around their momentum before PS4/720 come out (unlikely we will get Mario, Smash, MK, etc before then). Once those systems come out they are likely going to at least moderately outstrip the Wii U power-wise which is going to kill the multiplatform ports which as other people have noted certainly helped the PS3 when it was lagging behind.

This definitely seems to be cementing that this is going to be another GC where almost everything top-tier on the system is going to be a 1st party game. Which was the case with the Wii to a large extent as well, but at least that system actually sold regardless of that.



If we change our assumption from units to revenue do we have any idea what that would be? I still just can't believe this is actually true.

Nintendo definately should NOT have launched with more powerful hardware. They should have launched with cheaper hardware without a swiss knife controller.
 
Not just this launch. This is now two launches in a row that went about as badly as launches can go. Why didn't they learn a single lesson from the 3DS fiasco? That's what their shareholders need to be asking. They're literally making the same exact mistakes in the same exact fashion.

As did Sony with Vita. It's baffling how these companies can make these decisions when we can see this happening a mile off. No one in their right mind thought Vita would be a success. And the Wii U reactions at both E3 2011 and E3 2012 spoke volumes.

Of course, then the Wii always gets brought up - "Analysts and 'the Internet' said Wii would be a disaster, and it became the fastest selling console of all time!" An anomaly.
 

boiled goose

good with gravy
So if Nintendo goes out of business, suddenly the games industry will collapse


Keep dreaming

It would be bad though. Most growth last gen was due to the Wii, even with third party publishers completely ignoring it.

That said, the WiiU is not the right approach for Nintendo (and I'm not talking about hardware power fyi)

Abysmal numbers on Wii U. Nintendo needs to start providing incentive for publishers to start porting their games NOW, or else the system is in real trouble. Nintendo can't push this thing all by themselves.

Ports won't help at this point. Wii didnt get support, why would WiiU?
The fact that games like ME trilogy and Tomb raider and Tiger woods are not coming is extremely worrisome, because those games fit well with Nintendo's audience.
 

Dartastic

Member
Abysmal numbers on Wii U. Nintendo needs to start providing incentive for publishers to start porting their games NOW, or else the system is in real trouble. Nintendo can't push this thing all by themselves. Using some of that money that they've earned over the years to do this is something they really need to do.
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Didn't the 3DS rescue package obliterate their profits? Maybe they were too locked in to the WiiU to make any major changes to strategy, but now are too financially pressured to do something similar with WiiU (price cut, early adopter program, etc).

Yes, but Nintendo has publicly stated that all it takes right now is one game purchase to give them a profit on Wii U. Most people who have this buy Mario anyway.

I'll bet we get a price cut at E3.

Even so, nothing is going to change this until they release quality software. I cannot believe they thought Mario and ZombiU would get them through to E3.
 

hatchx

Banned
55k?!

Bomba total.


By this point, Gamecube had Rogue Leader, Monkey Ball, Luigi's Mansion, Waverace, Pikmin, and Smash Bros. A very healthy lineup, with Resident Evil coming in April, Eternal Darkness in June, and Mario/Metroid/Zelda within the year.


WiiU has NSMBU, which is largely a direct sequel, Nintendo Land, and ZombiU. It just doesn't have the lineup.


Nintendo should get GCN games on the Virtual Console fast and cheap. Even Smash Bros. Melee as a downloadable with off-screen-play would be big.
 

MrDaravon

Member
Nintendo definately should NOT have launched with more powerful hardware. They should have launched with cheaper hardware without a swiss knife controller.

The only problem with that though is that the controller is really the only main hook for the entire thing; it apparently makes up like half or more of the unit cost, and if you take that away all they did is put out a 360/PS3 equivalent that will still be outstripped by the end of the year. Would be a lose-lose there.
 

Xellos

Member
Abysmal sales for Wii U. None of the spring/summer games will change anything either. They desperately need a new marketing campaign (and probably a price drop) if they want to turn this around. It's Ambassador program 2.0 or Gamecube 2.0 at this point.
 

Coolwhip

Banned
The only problem with that though is that the controller is really the only main hook for the entire thing; it apparently makes up like half or more of the unit cost, and if you take that away all they did is put out a 360/PS3 equivalent that will still be outstripped by the end of the year. Would be a lose-lose there.

The controls should have consisted of evolved Wii motes imo.
 
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