If it was just the economy you'd expect the Wii numbers not to show so well.
NPD September 2008
- Thread starter RobertR1
- Start date
Depends. The wii can still be hard enough to find for most that they are already buying them for holiday gifts knowing they may no see them in the stores again and also knowing they wont see them as door busters on black friday.
I really think its in MS's intrest to offer a 1 day (perhaps 2 or 3 hour sale ) at best buy and put the cores at $150
We know consumer spending is down overall. People are very worried about their financial situations and when that happens they are less likely to spend money on non-essential items. I think there's a strong possibility the Wii sales were effected by this and were still outstanding in spite of it!
Another observation I have is that the fact that the top 3 selling Wii titles being Wii Fit, Mario Kart and Wii play over SW:TFU makes it pretty hard to make the argument that Wii owners aren't a very different breed than what we have seen before. Traditionally, licensed games sell. Period. Even when they're crap. Yet Wii owners don't buy them. That's markedly different then the PS2 userbase by comparison, which is the last console to reach the casuals to this degree. It's time to stop trying to make this about the lack of "quality" titles by 3rd parties. I think it's becoming pretty clear that people buying the Wii are looking for specific types of experiences and only those types of experiences. 3rd parties are going to have an awfully hard time competing with Nintendo in delivering them. Especially when Nintendo's old releases continue to sell so well so long after release.
Another observation I have is that the fact that the top 3 selling Wii titles being Wii Fit, Mario Kart and Wii play over SW:TFU makes it pretty hard to make the argument that Wii owners aren't a very different breed than what we have seen before. Traditionally, licensed games sell. Period. Even when they're crap. Yet Wii owners don't buy them. That's markedly different then the PS2 userbase by comparison, which is the last console to reach the casuals to this degree. It's time to stop trying to make this about the lack of "quality" titles by 3rd parties. I think it's becoming pretty clear that people buying the Wii are looking for specific types of experiences and only those types of experiences. 3rd parties are going to have an awfully hard time competing with Nintendo in delivering them. Especially when Nintendo's old releases continue to sell so well so long after release.
Not strictly true. I think the Lego Star Wars (or maybe the Indiana Jones one) games sold best on Wii. But yeah, otherwise it's a fairly solid point.
now now, lets not inject logic into this thread
Also we know from past data that during a recession gaming/alcohol/entertainment etc is hardly affected, in fact can often experience a boost. OTOH Holidays/cars etc are affected
A bit hard to see what the true software picture is with only 10titles shown (but yes multiplatform wii games typically do a lot worse than on other platforms which is of course logical)
take a look at the latest UK charts
in the top40
11 wii games are 3rd party
6 xbox360 games are 3rd party
6 ps3 games are 3rd party
now would be a terrible time to cut the price, perhaps middle november, if they do it this year ( I actually thought MS would hold out until then )
I doubt we'll see a pricecut from sony until mar2009
A glittering career on wall street beacons a fine young mind like yours
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Sure, but how do we know they were not affected?
They could also just give it away?
It´s the cheapest console out there, it sold better than it´s nearst competitor in a month where everything was doom and gloom. I think it did fine, sadly i am afraid Sony might not be that keen on lowering the prices if the difference isn´t bigger and they know they have some good titles coming out.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Was September a 4 or 5 week month? It kind of affects how I feel about these numbers.
Yep, theres no point in making a hardcore game on Wii, because almost by definition a hardcore gamer will own a HD console instead.
The only market for hardcore on wii would be some kid who's trapped with only a Wii, but wants to play PS360 style games. That market is going to be pretty small.
Exactly. If companies want to release the Nintendo stranglehold over the Wii software revenue, they'll have to take their minds off what's been know to sell on HD and past gen consoles and now focus on what Wii owners buy. Even if they release a hardcore game on the Wii only, there's no guarantee of it selling well (due to lack of HD console competition) since other similar games amongst the 360/PS3 lineup would provide the competition indirectly.
I do believe that 3rd parties outside for GH and RB can hit the Wii market but they either need to think of a creative use of a current peripheral or design a new one. One thing Wii owners have proven is that they're not afraid to collect peripherals and/or pay extra for them: Mario Kart Wii and Wiifit.
Why? Why does PS3 have to match/catch/beat XB360 sales? How will Sony benefit by losing many more millions by dropping the price now? Both platforms are firmly established. Neither is in such poor shape that devs will ignore it. It's not like, if XB360 gets an extra 3 million sales ahead of PS3 over Christmas, all the developers will drop PS3 and it'll become a barren wasteland, a dead console. It'll still have the games, the content, etc. If Sony sell it for as high a price as they can now, and recouperate/reduce their losses, they can profit as much as possible from the platform pushing titles they have coming out. Then drop the price to pull in those who wanted PS3 but coudn't afford one.
Personally, I just want the PS3 at 299 for purely selfish reasons. I agree that it's not completely necessary or even wise financially, but I actually had hoped Sony had a sound enough hardware strategy that they could go $299 without too much worry by now. I still believe they could, but time is running out fast, and it's becoming increasingly unlikely.
On the economic situation, I'd like to point out that console sales have traditionally sooner benefitted from economic crisis than suffered. Rather than go out on expensive holidays, people stay in and play computer games. They are still some of the most bang for the buck in terms of entertainment, and people want entertainment more than anything in times of crisis.
I can see how some expected the 360 to do a little better maybe, but not much. The price-drop came as a bit of a surprise in September and advertising for it only started afterwards. I think the biggest effect of the price drop will start to be seen in October. I could see other companies getting fooled by this (Sony) thinking that the 360's drop had no significant effect. In November / December it's going to be hard to distinguish the effect from general holiday sales, but there is certainly a danger that the PS3 will only sell half of the 360 numbers this holiday and that I think is a risk Sony shouldn't want to take - they are in a good position where they are actually gaining really good momentum against the 360, and if they manage to keep up or even beat the 360 in the U.S. that could mean they wlil catch up in the U.S. during 2009 and beat the 360 worldwide, with no looking back.
For now there is no question that the Wii still stands unchallenged with the non-gamer and the kid crowd. It won't change over this holiday - this will require a lot more casual software on the HD platforms than has been announced so far. On the other hand, the Wii looks like it will lose the hardcore crowd now definitely. Not a big loss I'll admit, but still.
I agree that it's not completely necessary or even wise financially, but I actually had hoped Sony had a sound enough hardware strategy that they could go $299 without too much worry by now. I still believe they could, but time is running out fast, and it's becoming increasingly unlikely. On the economic situation, I'd like to point out that console sales have traditionally sooner benefitted from economic crisis than suffered. Rather than go out on expensive holidays, people stay in and play computer games. They are still some of the most bang for the buck in terms of entertainment, and people want entertainment more than anything in times of crisis.
I can see how some expected the 360 to do a little better maybe, but not much. The price-drop came as a bit of a surprise in September and advertising for it only started afterwards. I think the biggest effect of the price drop will start to be seen in October. I could see other companies getting fooled by this (Sony) thinking that the 360's drop had no significant effect. In November / December it's going to be hard to distinguish the effect from general holiday sales, but there is certainly a danger that the PS3 will only sell half of the 360 numbers this holiday and that I think is a risk Sony shouldn't want to take - they are in a good position where they are actually gaining really good momentum against the 360, and if they manage to keep up or even beat the 360 in the U.S. that could mean they wlil catch up in the U.S. during 2009 and beat the 360 worldwide, with no looking back.
For now there is no question that the Wii still stands unchallenged with the non-gamer and the kid crowd. It won't change over this holiday - this will require a lot more casual software on the HD platforms than has been announced so far. On the other hand, the Wii looks like it will lose the hardcore crowd now definitely. Not a big loss I'll admit, but still.
5 weeks.
upnorthsox
Veteran
Personally, I just want the PS3 at 299 for purely selfish reasons.
On the economic situation, I'd like to point out that console sales have traditionally sooner benefitted from economic crisis than suffered. Rather than go out on expensive holidays, people stay in and play computer games. They are still some of the most bang for the buck in terms of entertainment, and people want entertainment more than anything in times of crisis.
I can see how some expected the 360 to do a little better maybe, but not much. The price-drop came as a bit of a surprise in September and advertising for it only started afterwards. I think the biggest effect of the price drop will start to be seen in October. I could see other companies getting fooled by this (Sony) thinking that the 360's drop had no significant effect. In November / December it's going to be hard to distinguish the effect from general holiday sales, but there is certainly a danger that the PS3 will only sell half of the 360 numbers this holiday and that I think is a risk Sony shouldn't want to take - they are in a good position where they are actually gaining really good momentum against the 360, and if they manage to keep up or even beat the 360 in the U.S. that could mean they wlil catch up in the U.S. during 2009 and beat the 360 worldwide, with no looking back.
For now there is no question that the Wii still stands unchallenged with the non-gamer and the kid crowd. It won't change over this holiday - this will require a lot more casual software on the HD platforms than has been announced so far. On the other hand, the Wii looks like it will lose the hardcore crowd now definitely. Not a big loss I'll admit, but still.
The suits at Sony are more worried about shareholder revolt now rather than some pointless #'s competition with MS that won't even be decided for another 5 yrs. I doubt there'll be any price drop this FY unless the bottom falls out (prob EU) in sales.
As to the Wii, I think it's time to drop the "casual" tag and start calling it what it is, a chicks and kids console. As a dev, if your not targeting one or both of those groups you're just not going to sell well.
Oh and btw, I wouldn't even count on kids anymore as ancedotal evidence from kid central here at my house is that the Wii sits there unused except for an occasional round of SSBB when a new recruit comes by. Heck, the xbox1 gets more playtime than the Wii and that was buried in the closet 6 mos ago. When LBP arrives I might just put the Wii in the closet.
I am actually very interested in the effects for various reasons.
The game industry has not suffered from the crisis so far, in fact it's been breaking all previous sales records through the year - but this might actually already be a result, people turning to cheaper forms of entertainment when they can't spend on trips to Europe or Disneyland.
But when you're loosing your house because of debts you can't pay, then you obviously going to stop buying games as well...
The movie industry was quite strong during the great depression.
That tones things down a little:
Code:
[B]Per Week, Aug -> Sep (% change)[/B]
[B]Xbox 360[/B] 48.8K -> 69.44K (+42.3%)
[B]Nintendo Wii[/B] 113.25K -> 137.4K (+21.3%)
[B]PlayStation 3[/B] 46.35K -> 46.48K (+0.3%)
[B]PlayStation 2[/B] 36.025K -> 34.7K (-3.7%)
[B]Nintendo DS[/B] 129.575K -> 107.36K (-17.1%)
[B]PlayStation Portable[/B] 63.25K -> 47.62K (-24.7%)
[B]LTD[/B]
Wii 12,547,000 (42.8%)
360 11,242,200 (38.4%)
PS3 5,494,400 (18.8%)
[B]YTD[/B]
Wii 5,178,000 (54.4%)
PS3 2,251,400 (23.7%)
360 2,088,200 (21.9%)The source is NDP themselves. Two things to keep in mind is that these numbers are strictly retail while the PC has a bigger digital store market; and the PC market is far bigger in Europe too so I wouldn't be suprised if these games climbed higher in the WW top 10 and/or more games entered the WW top 10 once you factor in those two nuances. No idea why NDP doesn't simply add the PC as yet another "console" in their monthly reports.
Over 200K is decent for a licensed game. It's better than the top-selling versions of Spider-Man 3, Iron Man and Transformers did in their debut months. It's almost as good as Lego Indiana Jones did (top-selling version was on the Wii, BTW). SW:FU has had more hype behind it, but calling it a "hardcore" game is totally missing the breadth of the Star Wars license, which has appeal across all sorts of gaming demographics. It appeals to everyone from kids to guys in their late 30s. We had guys here who were excited about the new physics engine, but there are plenty of kids out there who just like Star Wars (and plenty of older gamers who just like Star Wars and aren't as obsessed with physics engines and game engines as people around here). ~200K in the first month would account for a lot of this sort of gamer, and could very well lead to a million cumulative sales.
