NPD February 2013

[BRiT]

Software
1. Dead Space 3 (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts - 605K
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, Wii U PC) Activision Blizzard
3. Crysis 3 (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts - 260K
4. NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC) Take-Two Interactive
5. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3, 360) Konami
6. Aliens: Colonial Marines 2013 (360, PS3, PC) Sega
7. Just Dance 4 (Wii, 360, PS3, Wii U) Ubisoft
8. Far Cry 3 (360, PS3, PC) Ubisoft
9. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3, PSV) Sony
10. Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, Wii U) Electronic Arts

XX. Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS Retail): 117K
Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS Digital): 63K
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon LTD (DS): 250K

Hardware
Xbox 360: 302K (-29.1%)
PS3: 263K (-26.9%)
Wii U: 66K (70% of them were Deluxe consoles.)

Nintendo Ecosystem (DS/3DS/Wii/Wii U combined): 455K
Vita: Up 30% on a weekly basis.

MS February 2013 NPD highlights:
· Holding 41 percent share of current-generation console sales, Xbox 360 sold 302,000 units in February, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, February 2013)

· Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in February (hardware, software and accessories) was the most for any console in the U.S. (Source: NPD Group, February 2013)

· During the month of February, Xbox 360 held five of the top 10 console game titles including: “Crysis 3,” “Aliens: Colonial Marines,” “Dead Space 3,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” and “NBA 2K13.” (Source: NPD Group, February 2013)

Taken from NeoGAF

 

[AlphaWolf]

Big improvement for the wiiu, but still in the pathetic range. It's up around 50% a week from January.

Vita sold 7k a week last month. A 30% improvement would be 9100. 36.4k for the month. If the only product on the market was Vita it would still look awful.

 

[BRiT]

Yes, the weekly improvement for WiiU was a little over 43%. But... there's some rumors floating around that the January 2013 sales numbers for WiiU was really 100K but they had nearly 43K of returns. So it might not really be an improvement at all. The returns were said to be from profiteers that couldn't sell the consoles or make enough of a profit on them as well as users who just weren't happy with the platform overall.

 

[AlphaWolf]

So 20k a week for January sliding to 16.5k. Somehow that actually seems more ominous. Be interesting to see if a title can spark some interest and they can hang around for a profitable gamecube like life cycle.

 

[ninzel]

I said it before and was accused of being racist but I'll say it again.
The problem with Nintendo is at the top,the direction is coming from a bunch of old out of touch Japanese guys trying to understand how to sell a console to young Westerners.
The power structure in Japan needs to be blown up.

 

[Orion]

poor wii u.

 

[MrFox]

I said it before and was accused of being racist but I'll say it again.
The problem with Nintendo is at the top,the direction is coming from a bunch of old out of touch Japanese guys trying to understand how to sell a console to young Westerners.
The power structure in Japan needs to be blown up.

I don't know, I can't call them out of touch old japanese when looking at the 3DS sales. But I do agree a little shake up at the top could help. Incompetence and mismanagement are found everywhere, so I can understand why some people would find your comment filled with age and racial stereotypes. The question is how would the company execute the shake up? It's extremely difficult to find good execs, and Nintendo could end up with an even worse situation very easily. Sony did it but it took years. Kutaragi had the wrong vision for the PS3, he was gone by 2007, Phil Harrison was gone by 2008, it took them too long to get rid of him and the results are obvious. Howard Stringer was partly responsible for Sony's brand erosion for the last 15 years, and he was also replaced too slowly.

The PS2 success caused Sony to have the wrong vision for the PS3: moar power, wacky architecture, devs will figure it out, just like they did with the PS2 (but it worked before!). Ironically the PS4 is trying the PS1 approach again, and I agree with it.
I think Nintendo's success with the Wii caused a very similar wrong vision for the WiiU. I.e. trying to repeat a past success. It's like every time a company has a successful product, they draw the completely wrong conclusions of WHY it actually worked.

 

[dagamer]

I don't know, I can't call them out of touch old japanese when looking at the 3DS sales. But I do agree a little shake up at the top could help. Incompetence and mismanagement are found everywhere, so I can understand why some people would find your comment filled with age and racial stereotypes. The question is how would the company execute the shake up? It's extremely difficult to find good execs, and Nintendo could end up with an even worse situation very easily. Sony did it but it took years. Kutaragi had the wrong vision for the PS3, he was gone by 2007, Phil Harrison was gone by 2008, it took them too long to get rid of him and the results are obvious. Howard Stringer was partly responsible for Sony's brand erosion for the last 15 years, and he was also replaced too slowly.

The PS2 success caused Sony to have the wrong vision for the PS3: moar power, wacky architecture, devs will figure it out, just like they did with the PS2 (but it worked before!). Ironically the PS4 is trying the PS1 approach again, and I agree with it.
I think Nintendo's success with the Wii caused a very similar wrong vision for the WiiU. I.e. trying to repeat a past success. It's like every time a company has a successful product, they draw the completely wrong conclusions of WHY it actually worked.

I think the idea of "throwing everyone out" makes no sense when you've got hardware cycles that last 6-7 years.

 

[expletive]

So 20k a week for January sliding to 16.5k. Somehow that actually seems more ominous. Be interesting to see if a title can spark some interest and they can hang around for a profitable gamecube like life cycle.

To that end, I would think the ability to cost-reduce the controller will be tough for them wouldn't it? At least not a natural downward slope the way you can with silicon as the generation moves forward, impacting their ability for a profitable Nintendo-like console.

 

[AlphaWolf]

There is nothing expensive about that controller. If they are paying more than $40 for it now, they are doing it wrong.

I can buy retail 7" multitouch tablets (with actual cpu/gpu onboard) for $69.

 

[-tkf-]

There is nothing expensive about that controller. If they are paying more than $40 for it now, they are doing it wrong.

I can buy retail 7" multitouch tablets (with actual cpu/gpu onboard) for $69.

But afaik those tablets have a crappy screen, i hope the WII U controller is better than that.

As i see it, the WII U will get a price drop at E3 or when they have the needed software to support a price drop (it could be free, without the needed software they still wouldn't sell much). In the case of Vita i hope Sony can afford to drop the price as well, it competes with a 3DS and in the minds of parents it's expensive and it does "the same".

 

[Cjail]

This is what DF said abut the WiiU pad: In a world where Chinese manufacturers can sell complete Android tablets with capacitive touch-screens for £50, it's safe to say that the Wii U GamePad won't be costing Nintendo too much to construct.e WiiU pad should be around $50 form Foxconn at best, probably even less.

 

[-tkf-]

This is what DF said abut the WiiU pad: In a world where Chinese manufacturers can sell complete Android tablets with capacitive touch-screens for £50, it's safe to say that the Wii U GamePad won't be costing Nintendo too much to construct.e WiiU pad should be around $50 form Foxconn at best, probably even less.

As i said, the screens in those tablets are borderline useless, which the the review you linked so clearly shows. I would much rather have a link that compares the WII U pad to a cheap android device, since i would guess the one thing costing the most money in that pad is the screen.

From the same article: "Image quality on the gamepad is generally very good indeed,"

VS

"The screen itself is just as you'd expect from a bargain basement product like this; colours are washed out, brightness is lacking and viewing angles are mostly dire. When holding the tablet in landscape, the screen becomes almost illegible once the M009S is tilted a few degrees away from you."

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Here is one with a 7" IPS screen with a 1024*600 resolution, for just a bit over £50:

http://www.pandawill.com/typhoon-ta...gb-ram-8gb-dual-camera-ultra-thin-p61690.html


That one has a better, larger screen with higher pixel density than the one in the Wii U pad, along with an actual SoC plus 1GB RAM and 8GB onboard storage, 5-point capacitive panel, micro-SD slot and 3000mAh battery.


And it's selling for $80 with a profit.
Anyone thinking the Wii U pad costs more than this to manufacture is completely delusional IMO.

 

[Cjail]

From what this article says the touchscreen for the iPad mini cost $80.

 

[MrFox]

The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire have a 1280x800 and 1024x600 7" IPS display which are estimated around $35 and $38 by iSuppli.
The WiiU tablet is smaller and is only SD resolution.

 

[Scott_Arm]

My understanding is that the Wii U uses a very cheap touch screen with limited multi-touch functionality because it provides for better latency with gaming. I'm guessing the screen is a good deal cheaper than what's in something like an iPad.

 

[idsn6]

I would be very surprised if the Wii U screen part is not identical to some car GPS unit's.

 

[RobertR1]

The expense can come from unfavorable contract terms similar to nvidia/MS for Xbox 1.

 

[Arwin]

My understanding is that the Wii U uses a very cheap touch screen with limited multi-touch functionality because it provides for better latency with gaming. I'm guessing the screen is a good deal cheaper than what's in something like an iPad.

More importantly, they probably needed something that works well with a stylus, which would give them a better crossover with 3DS functionality.

I've seen the screen though, and while it's not terrible, it's a far cry from what you see in modern phones, tablets and even the Vita. But probably still good enough for its audience.