Just because it's a worse situation doesn't mean that they shouldn't try.
The thing is...when you say "normal", it implies that Nintendo was a failing company with the N64 and GameCube. Except the N64 sold 33 million WW sales, which looks pathetic compared to Sony's 102 million WW...but actually pretty damned good compared to Sega's 9 million. The "awful" GameCube sales consist of a system basically only doing 21 million worldwide, so in comparison to Sony's monstrous 155 million sales for the PS2, Nintendo should've died that gen. But then Microsoft's XBox only beat Nintendo's system by a mere 3 million consoles, ending with 24 million consoles sold worldwide.
The reality is: Sony's ridiculous sales were always an outlier compared to their competitors. It was only with this seventh generation that there were no "clear losers", as all three console developers exceeded 75 million consoles sold worldwide.
Is the Wii U a miserable failure? Yep. But here's the thing: Nintendo's still profitable. Meanwhile several times it's been brought up that Microsoft has considered cutting the XBox brand (which has only now started to turn a profit) loose. And Sony? The only good news comes from the video game division; Sony articles that don't center around the word "Playstation" tend to be rather dark.
Either way, people thinking Nintendo will cut their losses with the Wii U this early are kidding themselves. But if you're one of the people who think the Wii3 will probably make an appearance at E3 2016 (for a release that holiday), well....I'd say the chances of you being right are increasing by the day.
Even though I have become a fan of the Wii U, please don't do this Lebon. The tide was suppose to change with Pikmin, then it was Wonderful 101, then it was Zelda, then it was Mario 3D World. The Wii U isn't going to make a come back and if you're a fan of the Wii U strictly for Nintendo games that is ok. But let's not make an argument that this system can make a comeback. It's not going to saleswise. I can't wait for Mario Kart 8, Smash, Zelda, and whatever other surprises Nintendo has in store for the system but in terms of sales? It's not going to be pretty.
Even if its wrong, if the number is under 500K this system is in big trouble. Mario Kart 8 and Smash Brothers will not turn the tide.
so when does this bomb drop on us NPD I mean?
Nintendo are fucking old fashioned dick heads, even down to Reggie at VGX. He pretty much slipped about Metroid, so why the fuck didn't they just announce it!? Even just a 20s pre-rendered clip like what ND did for PS4 Uncharted!? Would of got the hype going a bit, but instead it's just his usual bullshit comments of "You always want more, Geoff!" Yeah, because you never fucking tell anyone anything , that's why!!
Fucking Cranky Kong (..will be cool but FFS).
They're not going to discontinue Wii U before 2016. They can limp by with the currently announced lineup for the next two years... But even GameCube numbers are looking increasingly unrealistic. This thing will probably sell no more than 15 million units when it's all said and done.
That is a DISASTER.
To be honest with how things going with WiiU, I don't really expect anything from it sales wise. All I can ask from Nintendo is to give their WiiU owners a great selection of games.
Not really.
His predictions are way off in months that Wii U sold better (except november 2012 but that's was easy to predict because of Nintendo press release).
This is strange. Are you trying to justify just how bad the situation is for the Wii U? Question, were you alive when Nintendo released the Virtual Boy? Were they a compassionate company then? No. And the truth is they have a BAD product on their hands now. Traditionally Nintendo consoles and systems sell very well during this time frame.URGH... Are some people on here STILL preaching this 'worse than GameCube' line of deception!?
First, the Dreamcast was out in North America well after it had been on shelves in Japan. In turn, by the time that it launched, it had more games in its library. You can also see that it had a lower point of entry to ownership than the Wii U. The Dreamcast was the first 6th Generation home console to launch.
You can see very clearly in that graph that the GameCube also had a lower point of entry than the Wii U. The GameCube was the third 6th Generation home console to launch. When both price cuts came into play, their prices are HALF of what the Wii U is now, and that was in a better economic climate.
Skeleton Statistics won't cut it here (that is, simply quoting numbers without flesh/substance). To understand WHY the GameCube is doing better at this point, I'll leave this below:
I went into details about the growth of Nintendo IPs since the GameCube era in that post, but I feel that the above can cast some light on why the GameCube is faring better at a similar point. My position is the same as it's always been - that it needs more of the games that people want, and the biggest selling games (Smash Bros., Mario Kart) aren't there yet; However, I am not in the business of predicting numbers. Super Mario 3D World will continue to do well - However, one must note that the Mario & Luigi Bundle is currently the most popular, and that NSMBU saw a rise, too. I would imagine that there are enough Mario platform games for people to play should they bite now, and would say that those who bought that bundle, and other prospective buyers will most probably buy Super Mario 3D World at some point - This is why they are considered as 'Evergreen'. They might also want to play other games on it, so that they don't suffer from a Mario overload (for want of a better expression) - You can see in threads on here, that some new owners bought Pikmin 3 or The Wonderful 101, for example, and that those waiting to bite are asking for recommendations. There is a sense that its tide is making a turn - More positivity in Wii U-related articles, and a brighter change with regard to perceptions. To reinforce those statements, you can see in the Media Create threads of the last fortnight that following the release of Super Mario 3D World, its numbers picked up, and in the second week, those numbers continued to elevate.
Also, Nintendo released a new LOZ game on the 3DS (According to Iwata, the 3DS is expected to lead Nintendo's drive for 2013-14), and Super Mario 3D World on the same day as the XBox One - that was 22nd November in North America. You had the PS4 launch a week before it, too. So, if we can agree that more or most people had bitten when SM3DWorld released, then one would have to look at what was achieved in the last nine days of that calendar month, and if the majority of units for November were sold in that time, it is actually rather remarkable for a console still with many cards to play, and in the face of two other console launches. I'm saying that a greater insight is needed here. I'm also saying that for a console with such cards available to it, it's in a better position than many on here think it is, and there is no reason for Nintendo to panic. They'll be fine. During its life, it can still hit a profitable $249 point of entry, then a profitable $199, and even a profitable point below that when it reaches its twilight years. It is worth noting that the PS360 consoles did not achieve a full recovery until 2011, some 5 and 6 years after their releases - So, writing off the Wii U at this point is not right or proper, in my opinion. I'm not in the business of predicting numbers. I'm not saying that it will rise to DS heights, and I'm not saying anything about 'winning' the 8th Generation, only that it is extremely misleading to say that it is doing worse than the GameCube, when it's very apparent that without its top cards, without notable support from other parties, and without a stronger marketing drive, it would've suffered a significantly worse fate at the same points.
Furthermore, Nintendo are a compassionate conservative company. They won't kill off the Wii U early, when they've just made a transition to HD game development to release a more powerful system, and potentially quadruple their development costs, which happened with first party studios on the PS4 at launch. They are in a position where a Wii U Fire Emblem game would be viable with sales of 700,000 units - that is profitable to a point of satisfactory return on investment, profitable, or, at worst, breaking even, all on a system showing noticeable steps. With this in mind, I suspect that they will stick with it for quite a while, because it's very much in their interests. Still, the GameCube didn't cease production after having played more of its cards, and it was there for over five years, so it is rotten, premature, fanboyist folly to declare 'death'. As for 'sold at a loss' - No. It has been known that one game makes the transaction profitable, and it won't be sold at a loss forever. Still, this loss is in the U.S. - $299 is NOT the same as 299, or in Britain, £249. They're in the business of making profits, so, where a loss is made, it is natural that they will raise that concern, as investors will want to make the greatest returns possible.
For more details on just how steep a decline would have to be to 'fail harder than the GameCube', I wrote this a while back. It's a lengthy post. Whatever. That's all that I'll write here.
Nintendo are fucking old fashioned dick heads, even down to Reggie at VGX. He pretty much slipped about Metroid, so why the fuck didn't they just announce it!? Even just a 20s pre-rendered clip like what ND did for PS4 Uncharted!? Would of got the hype going a bit, but instead it's just his usual bullshit comments of "You always want more, Geoff!" Yeah, because you never fucking tell anyone anything , that's why!!
Fucking Cranky Kong (..will be cool but FFS).
They're not going to discontinue Wii U before 2016. They can limp by with the currently announced lineup for the next two years... But even GameCube numbers are looking increasingly unrealistic. This thing will probably sell no more than 15 million units when it's all said and done.
That is a DISASTER.
Watch it sell 3 million. More crow eaten than Mario 3dWorld.
These aren't confirmed numbers
i expect the wii u to sell well this christmas wishful thinking
This just seems impossible.
They should make a smart decision, not just throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. If a rebranding won't make any significant difference, then it's a waste of resources.
NPD releases December 12th, after market close (PR releases around 5:30-6:30 PM EST, but we won't get leaks until later or possibly the next day).
Is the Wii U a miserable failure? Yep. But here's the thing: Nintendo's still profitable. Meanwhile several times it's been brought up that Microsoft has considered cutting the XBox brand (which has only now started to turn a profit) loose.
thank you!
now to prep my shelter
the yen issue isn't nintendo's fault, that's an external problem. be nice to them. :'(You do realize Nintendo has been posting its first operating losses in a decade, right? And that even those are substantially worse than they look on paper due to favorable exchange rates making their income look better than their physical sales support?
I'm honestly curious. I get the feeling this is the first you've heard of it.
Mark my words, the next Metroid by Retro will be a 2D sidescroller. Who doesn't love Super Metroid?
He pretty much slipped about Metroid, so why the fuck didn't they just announce it!? Even just a 20s pre-rendered clip like what ND did for PS4 Uncharted!?
Ugh. Now people will remember that dude with the chibiterasu avatar as being off his meds. Thanks a lot !Watch it sell 3 million. More crow eaten than Mario 3dWorld.
These aren't confirmed numbers
What does this mean? They're a business trying to make money, not operating out of the goodness of their hearts.Furthermore, Nintendo are a compassionate conservative company.
Got a source for that?They won't kill off the Wii U early, when they've just made a transition to HD game development to release a more powerful system, and potentially quadruple their development costs, which happened with first party studios on the PS4 at launch.
Isn't that a contradiction? Besides, when people say they're taking a loss, they mean per hardware unit sold. That's not accounting for a game to offset the loss, it's strictly speaking to the loss per unit, which as you've said, is in fact occurring. This comes off as disingenuous at best.As for 'sold at a loss' - No. It has been known that one game makes the transaction profitable, and it won't be sold at a loss forever.
No that's EAD Tokyo's secret project.
I doubt Nintendo will greenlight a second wave Wii U game at this point, especially big budget. Retro will release the trilogy in HD and then move on to whatever hardware future Nintendo is planning to be there at/near launch. Same with the next 3D Mario.
They're not going to discontinue Wii U before 2016. They can limp by with the currently announced lineup for the next two years... But even GameCube numbers are looking increasingly unrealistic. This thing will probably sell no more than 15 million units when it's all said and done.
That is a DISASTER.
Ugh. Now people will remember that dude with the chibiterasu avatar as being off his meds. Thanks a lot !
*clears throat* "I think its stupid that people are writing off the system because of a poor holiday when Nintendo hasn't even released its mega hits like Mario Kart, Smash Bros., Zelda, Bayonetta 2, Fucking Donkey Kong, and Steel Diver 2: Electric Boogaloo. I'm tired of the stupid, short-sighted, biased opinions against Nintendo. If you would for a moment not buy into the conspiracy against Nintendo perpetrated by third parties, you would see it has an incredibly bright future ahead of it. Its just so stupid".
You do realize Nintendo has been posting its first operating losses in a decade, right? And that even those are substantially worse than they look on paper due to favorable exchange rates making their income look better than their physical sales support?
I'm honestly curious. I get the feeling this is the first you've heard of it.
*clears throat* "I think its stupid that people are writing off the system because of a poor holiday when Nintendo hasn't even released its mega hits like Mario Kart, Smash Bros., Zelda, Bayonetta 2, Fucking Donkey Kong, and Steel Diver 2: Electric Boogaloo. I'm tired of the stupid, short-sighted, biased opinions against Nintendo. If you would for a moment not buy into the conspiracy against Nintendo perpetrated by third parties, you would see it has an incredibly bright future ahead of it. Its just so stupid".
Is there some historical context for this? What was the worst November for the Gamecube/Xbox/etc?
In honor of this historic month, I've compiled a full list of November (Black Friday) performances throughout the decades to compare performances to.
Note: these numbers only represent the console in its prime (1996-present), and don't contain the November that the console launched in (because so many of these consoles have November launches).
November (Black Friday) month comparisons (post-launch year, 1996-present):
Sony:
344K (PS1, November 1996)
860K (PS1, November 1997)
977K (PS1, November 1998)
827K (PS1, November 1999)
909K (PS2, November 2001)
1284K (PS2, November 2002)
837K (PS2, November 2003)
696K (PS2, November 2004)
531K (PS2, November 2005)
466K (PS3, November 2007)
378K (PS3, November 2008)
710K (PS3, November 2009)
530K (PS3, November 2010)
894K (PS3, November 2011)
762K (PS3, November 2012)
Lowest month: 344K (PS1, November 1996)
Highest month: 1284K (PS2, November 2002)
Microsoft:
467K (Xbox, November 2002)
462K (Xbox, November 2003)
708K (Xbox, November 2004)
511K (360, November 2006)
770K (360, November 2007)
836K (360, November 2008)
820K (360, November 2009)
1374K (360, November 2010)
1688K (360, November 2011)
1259K (360, November 2012)
Lowest month: 462K (Xbox, November 2003)
Highest month: 1688K (360, November 2011)
Sega:
96K (Saturn, November 1996)
245K (Dreamcast, November 1999)
192K (Dreamcast, November 2000)
259K (Dreamcast, November 2001)
Lowest month: 92K (Saturn, November 1996)
Highest month: 259K (Dreamcast, November 2001)
Nintendo:
764K (N64, November 1997)
718K (N64, November 1998)
465K (N64, November 1999)
275K (N64, November 2000)
424K (GameCube, November 2002)
751K (GameCube, November 2003)
350K (GameCube, November 2004)
272K (GameCube, November 2005)
981K (Wii, November 2007)
2040K (Wii, November 2008)
1260K (Wii, November 2009)
1270K (Wii, November 2010)
863K (Wii, November 2011)
420K (Wii, November 2012)
Lowest month: 272K (GameCube, November 2005)
Highest month: 2040K (Wii, November 2008)
They should get Minecraft on it, or has MS got exclusivity on that as well? It's a good match..
So should we expect the token Kirby game on Wii U next year?
I could see them launch a new "third pillar" system with the hopes of generating new revenue and quietly putting the "Wii U" out to pasture.
bookmarked for future reference.
Ugh. Now people will remember that dude with the chibiterasu avatar as being off his meds. Thanks a lot !
The Wii was, what, 6 years? By the time Zelda comes out in 2015, as many speculate, the WiiU will have been out nearly 2-3 years, 1/3-1/2 its life. It seems a little late to wait until then to decide how well it's doing.I don't know. I feel like the 3DS was in this exact same position. After Kart, Smash, and Zelda, let's talk.
Man, my daughter cried so hard when she saw this last week (the film, not the gif *g*)