How Wii Is Creaming the Competition 377
CNN has a report on the Wii's success in the games marketplace right now, referring to their sales dominance as 'creaming the competition'. The article tries to break down exactly why Nintendo's console has sold so successfully, discussing the system's marketing, engineering, and philosophy. "Next, engineers settled on a new approach for the Wii's looks. Just as the DS shunned the Game Boy name to appeal to a broader audience, the Wii would adopt a sleek white exterior instead of the toylike loud colors used on the GameCube. Even CEO Iwata got involved in the design process; at one point he handed engineers a stack of DVD jewel cases and told them the console should not be much bigger. Why so small? To work with the motion-sensitive wireless controller Nintendo planned, Iwata reasoned, the console would have to sit directly beside the TV. Make it any larger and customers would hesitate to leave it there. " Their sales strategy is working in spades. CVG reports that at least one analyst thinks that Wii demand won't be met until 2009. This past weekend Chris Kohler had an interesting comment on the 'ambassador programs' Nintendo ran in advance of the Wii's launch, and how that might tie in to the system's financial success.
Re:They're outselling them? (Score:5, Insightful)
PS3 F-ed up, and 360 is too hardcore (Score:3, Insightful)
The Xbox360 marketed itself to "hardcore" gamers who spend all day playing, and has little appeal to casual gamers and the general public at large.
This left 80% of the market open for the Wii to sell to, and they effectively had no competition.
Re:I'm not buying a WII... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They're outselling them? (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, the controller wasn't all that comfortable to use, and having the cord coming out on the side facing the player was a rather poor design decision. The VMU was cool, though.
Because Nintendo and Microsoft work together (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I don't know about this.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Interesting (Score:5, Insightful)
You'd think human centered product design would be a no-brainer, but clearly its harder to do than it sounds. It isn't just getting the details right, its being bold in choosing not to do things. Making shrewd decisions not to do things conventionally thought necesssary characterize the breakthrough designs of the Wii and Palm.
I think the reason that we see so few excellent product designs is that its hard to let go of preconceptions. So much of business runs on swagger.
why the wii wins? (Score:2, Insightful)
fun, quick games, reasonable price point, and finally doing something NEW has put the Wii on top.
Re:Wiiiii (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course there are 1000's of Wii's on ebay. They're there because they are selling.
And because they are selling they don't represent artificial demand. If anything they show there is still significant demand for it above retail price, while accepting ebay hassles and risks. In other words, we haven't even begun to see what sort of demand there will be for the wii from *impulse buyers*.
Most of the Wii's are still being snapped up by pent up demand, by people actively looking for them. They simply aren't on shelves long enough for someone to stroll up and buy one on impulse.
Re:On top of its merits... (Score:3, Insightful)
But now it's up to third parties to exploit the console. I personally feel very bored of Zelda and Mario, and I really hope that third parties see the huge potential in this thing and adjust their platform objectives accordingly.
Meaning - bring on the "adult" games, people! It's ridiculous that so far, only EA has released a decent port of an old game (The Godfather).
With development costs at almost one tenth of what it takes to build a PS3 game, and with a huge installed base already(with no end in sight), it's a no-brainer to release as many games as possible on this console.
But is it creaming were it counts? (Score:2, Insightful)
Console sales are all very nice and all BUT what counts is the sale of software for that console.
I personally think that it says an awfull lot about the game industry that the top scorer for march was God of War 2 for the PS2.
What then does this tell us? That an ancient console beats EVERY SINGLE current console, handheld and regular, in sales?
Oh and number 2 and 3 in software sales (console) went to the 360.
So where is the success of the Wii?
Granted the Wii ain't subsidised, so Nintendo doesn't need to sell X titles per console just to get their money back but still, if the Wii ends up un-used then Nintendo could still end up with a loser. Lots of hardware sales but no software sales.
In a way, its success could even make this more likely. Exactly how many of the games now being rushed to the Wii are going to be piss poor cynical cash-ins? Genuine Wii games will take time to emerge but if Nintendo can't proof it can get games sold they won't be developed especially if the cheap quickie attempts die the death they deserve.
None of this means that the Wii is going to fail, just that pure console sale figures so far don't mean much.
The only one who should really worry at the moment is Sony, the PS3 isn't scoring with the either hardware or software sales. Pity I suppose but with the PS2 still doing well, perhaps they can afford the wait.
Re:I don't know about this.. (Score:4, Insightful)
If I were the developer of a Wii game that I didn't think was that great, I'd be releasing it ASAP rather than improve it to take advantage of the huge number of consoles relative to the meager offering of games - my game would fit right in with alot of the crap that's out there for the Wii.
I don't think the situation will improve - thanks to the success of the Wii, all the big studios have announced ports of their existing games to the Wii, and it's going to make the Wii look bad - watch for some really bad control-schemes for the wireless controller in upcoming games.
All that said, the Wii is the only console that has a chance of making it in the front door of our house. But that's going to wait till I can find one, and there are some decent games.
software sales? (Score:2, Insightful)
1. Wii Sports
2. Wii Play
3. MAYBE one other game (usually Trauma Center)
The only reason they get Wii Play is it comes with the controller and you need to have at least 2 controllers for the Wii.
I also don't know any one that's bought more than 2 controllers.
So far the 360 seems to have great software sales - with a high number of games sold for every console out there.
The PS3 can't seem to sell consoles or software - but that's mostly because they have no real killer games out there driving sales for the system.
It'll be interesting in a year when the Wii has been out there and the non gamers either continue to play or get sick of Wii Sports/Wii Play and get rid of their Wii or if they'll actually end up buying more games and keeping their consoles. The 360 should continue with a step ahead in the number of 'great' games for a while, and once the PS3 starts getting more killer gamers, it'll be interesting if those sales go up or stay stale and behind that of the 360.
Re:I'm not buying a WII... (Score:5, Insightful)
You are most likely male, between the ages of 18 and 25. You are not who Nintendo wants to sell these things to. They want to sell to adults, with careers and families, who want to pick up a game to play for 20 minutes -- not hard core gamers. They want to sell to thirtysomethings (like me) who played NES, SNES, Genesis, Turbografix, etc. back in the day, and want to share the games they used to play with their children.
They want people who can pick up a game and have fun for the short amount of free time they have. It's hard to do that with an Xbox or PS* -- it's not fun getting pwned by some 12 year old with nothing better to do with his time than play Halo for 40 hours a week.
It shocks the hell out of me that they were the first ones to realize this market even exists.
Nintendo is breaking another rule... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:On top of its merits... (Score:5, Insightful)
But now it's up to third parties to exploit the console. I personally feel very bored of Zelda and Mario, and I really hope that third parties see the huge potential in this thing and adjust their platform objectives accordingly.
Meaning - bring on the "adult" games, people! It's ridiculous that so far, only EA has released a decent port of an old game (The Godfather).
The issue is timing. Publishers want to get out to market fast, with a sizeable 'Mature game' but that takes time.
That's why for now we have to be content with: Godfather, Scarface, & RE4 for now, and RE:UC, No more heroes and Manhunt for later.
Say what you will about the Godfather, but I like it. The motion controls make it better, and it's a good looking game (real good by say X-box standards) and it is a very big game. Vice City wasn't created in a day, and it will take some time for these new original properties to get made for the Wii.
Re:I don't know about this.. (Score:1, Insightful)
See, I totally don't get this. Everyone complains about the lack of online multiplayer in Wii games. Why do you want this? I play a game to play a game, to solve the puzzle, to figure it out and enjoy the plot. Like watching a movie, but more interactive. The only thing I've ever seen in online games is shooting the crap out of each other. How is that fun? How is that interesting? How is that a puzzle? Where's the plot? It's mindless repetition. I don't get it. Give me a game like Zelda where there are things to do, puzzles to figure out, that sort of thing.
Re:I'm not buying a WII... (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope. You can either do that or you can attract other customers and expand the market. It doesn't matter if the competition is getting the same absolute number of customers they would have anyway, as long as they're still getting relatively much fewer customers than you.
Re:I'm not buying a WII... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I think Microsoft figured it out with solitare and networked checkers, but they just didnt' figure out how to make money at it.
It doesn't help Wii sales... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They're outselling them? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, its hardware sales have honestly been somewhat underwhelming too - despite what the article here would lead you to believe. That stuff about them not meeting demand until 2009? Makes it sound like customers are just clamoring to get their hands on the Wii, when the truth is they sold 259,000 units last month. That's about average for any game console, and only a little better than the Xbox 360, which has systems sitting on store shelves all over the country.
The truth is one of two things: either Nintendo's having major production problems, or they're artificially and intentionally short-supplying for PR purposes. If it's the latter, it appears to be working - for now. Lots of people talk about how Nintendo "can't keep up with demand", which implies that demand is great. But that will only last for so long, as people see the actual monthly sales numbers.
They're doing better than MS or Sony right now, and selling more units, so I'm not saying this is all completely overhyped. But I would argue that any game manufacturer that can't make more than 259,000 units a month - especially one that's as relatively simple as the Wii, and especially one that's been on the market for six months now - has some serious problems. Their inability to meet demand is only good news if that means they're selling a huge number of units, but that's not the case. They're unable to meet demand because their production capacity is much too low, which just means they're leaving potential customers' money on the table and selling a lot fewer units than they should be.
Re:Half the price my paw (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Because Nintendo and Microsoft work together (Score:2, Insightful)
I might be the market (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'm not buying a WII... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Half the price my paw (Score:5, Insightful)
The Wii IS selling at those prices.
PS3's are not selling at a loss.
Re:PS3 F-ed up, and 360 is too hardcore (Score:2, Insightful)
It's true, though. There's only a finite amount of money that can/will be spent on games, and if people are buying DS games, they can't use that money on Wii games. If people aren't buying Wii games, publishers are less likely to invest in producing new Wii games.
Nintendo still gets paid, but it's harder to establish a new line if sales are being lost to another platform (even your own).
Re:PS3 F-ed up, and 360 is too hardcore (Score:3, Insightful)
Most people don't buy consoles till they're near or under $200. That's why the PS2 still sells so strongly.
The Wii is crushing the PS3 and 360 because it's selling closer to the sweet-spot.
When the 360 and PS3 get closer to $250, they'll be moving units like Nintendo too.
(future developments notwithstanding)
Re:Half the price my paw (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually it would be 'Less than half' the price of a PS3. Since Sony discontinued the 20 gig model, the Wii is now ~42% of the PS3's price (and it comes with a game).
Re:They're outselling them? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, had they produced and shipped more, they might have sold more.
I don't go out every day or call around all of the time, but if I'm in a store that might sell Wii's, I check to see if they have one. I know I want to get my hands on one. Maybe they sold all they produced? If I find one, I'll buy it on the spot, and I bet others are thinking the same thing.
I get the impression that if they could produce more, they would. Of course, I don't know this, but I don't need to think of it as a conspiracy to artifically inflate the price. I'm not even sure that translates into production problems, so much as their capacity isn't near large enough for the apparent demand.
I know I want one. I assume there are others who want them. That could be a simple matter of scarcity of supply.
Why does everything need to be a conspiracy around here?
You would argue that from talking out of your backside, or an actual insight and understanding into their manufacturing process? Seriously, all of the analysts I've read so far don't agree with you. They realize that the demand is high, but they seem to think there are real reasons why they wouldn't be able to keep up with production demand.
Well, if you're selling all you can make, that's good news. They're not really decreasing the number of potential customers -- they're just producing fewer than they could sell if they could produce more. I bet if they could make another 100,000 per month, they'd probably sell those. There is clearly a demand for it. Yes, over time some consumers might say 'bugger it' and forget all about it. Or, people (like me) are really clamouring for the game experience we've heard such lovely things about -- I for one am really looking forward to a change from traditional gaming.
I guess we'll figure out how much demand is out there over the next few months, and more people who wanted them get their hands on them. If demand immediately falls flat at some point, they will have saturated the market and there is no demand. If they keep selling that many consoles for the next several months, then there really is a demand for that many.
Cheers
Re: That is Sony's issue in a nutshell. (Score:3, Insightful)
Nintendo still gets paid, but it's harder to establish a new line if sales are being lost to another platform (even your own).
Welcome to Sony's dilema. The PS2 needs to stick around because it's the only thing making them money right now, but its' longevity doesn't help the PS3 get adopted as a platform.
Customer First, it's that simple (Score:4, Insightful)
So what do Joe and Jane want? Fun, something to play together and with friends, something that's easy. Gameplay first, killer graphics second.
And the thing is: Most of what Joe and Jane want also appears to Harald Hardcore. A fun game simply is a fun game, and even if you could code better graphics yourself on your overclocked PC, it still is a fun game.
And that's the hard part: Coding is the easy part of game design. Making a good game is the hard part. Always has been. Maybe that's why so many PC and Xbox and PS3 titles try to sell on their graphics alone.
Creaming vs. Getting Creamed (Score:4, Insightful)
I can't believe I'm replying to this, but that's exactly what he was saying... you see, he turned the tense and the subject around. Instead of saying the Wii is creaming its competition, he said the PS3 is getting creamed by its own competition. His point was that the PS3 is getting creamed by XBox/Wii more than Wii is creaming XBox/PS3.
At least, that's how I read it.
Re:Half the price my paw (Score:5, Insightful)
The 360 has been on sale for 18 months
The PS3 and Wii have been on sale for 6 months
The Wii has sold about twice as much as the PS3 in about the same amount of time
The Wii has sold about 2/3 as much as the 360 in about 1/3 of the time.
If nothing dramatic changes the Wii will be the best selling next-gen console by the end of the summer. Of course Halo 3 and GTA 4 could very well kick start the HD console sales in the fall. Either way, Xmas 2007 is when the first real battle of this generation will take place.
Wii wins, because its back to grassroots (Score:2, Insightful)
later, gaming was industrialized, and big buck shareholder-run boards have decided that surefire/tried formats, clones of earlier successful games with better graphics and sound was a more surefire way to make more cash.
then gaming took a loooooong slumber. every game out, was repetition of some earlier game, only with better graphics.
ive been playing games since i was 7 at 1982. i am a hardcore gamer. my pastime is gaming. i have seen it all. i got FED up, grew WEARY of more graphics, less entertainment.
it was inevitable that someone would see it, and go back to basics. nintendo did.
and lo, this is the result. i have never played a console, im a hardcore pcer, but im thinking of acquiring a wii sometime.
Re:I don't know about this.. (Score:3, Insightful)
On the other hand, I'm disappointed that the Wii has more green-rated games I want to play than the PS3 does.
The PS3 has 4 beat-em-up games, 3 racing games, 7 sports games. I have zero interest in sports or fighting, and I'm picky about racing games, so right now that leaves the PS3's selection of games very unappealing.
Which goes back to the PS3 being targeted at the hardcore gamer, and the Wii not.
The reason why Wii sold 259k for March in NA (Score:3, Insightful)
-Sudden production problems!
-Nintendo artificially holding them to drive up demand!
-Nintendo artificially holding them because of the end of the fiscal quarter!
And so on.
But instead of focusing on the NPD numbers, take a step back and examine the GLOBAL sales for the Wii. While shipments of Wii DROPPED in North America during March, is that true for the entire world? No. In fact, an INCREASE of Wii systems were shipped to Europe (who has been severely undersupplied so far).
Why on Earth would Nintendo allocate more Wii systems for Europe? And why would Nintendo choose March of all months to do this?
It was because the Playstation 3 was launching in Europe in March.
More Wii systems were sent to Europe to, obviously, not lose any Wii buyers to the PS3 launch craze. Now that the PS3 launch is over, the unit allocation will probably return back to what it has been.
BTW, the Wii sales rate is faster than any other console made. Ever. Why do people keep saying Nintendo is "holding back" or "not producing" them?
What should be looked at is global sales rather than just sales in America (what is next? Are we just going to examine sales in a single state?). Xbox 360 is bombing hard in Japan and in most of Europe (outside the UK). PS3 got outsold by the GBA this month in America, is consistently selling around 14,000 a week in Japan at the same level the six year old PS2 is, and is already four million behind the Wii. It is obvious that the PS3 will probably never catch up to the Wii and that the Wii will overcome Xbox 360 worldwide sales in a matter of months, not years.
Some say that GTA 4, Halo, and Final Fantasy 13s (plural) will rocket the PS3 and Xbox 360 to heights unknown. Halo 1 and Halo 2 managed to get the original Xbox to barely outsell the Gamecube. Two GTA games didn't resurrect the PSP. And Final Fantasy isn't as big as it used to be as sales peaked around 8 and have been steadily declining.
Old franchises (unless they are totally re-invented) are never killer apps to future generations. The killer apps of this generation will be new games that come out of nowhere. It was Nintendogs, not Mario Kart, Brain Age, not Tetris, that shot the DS to the stratosphere. And the reason why the Wii is popular now is not Zelda but Wii Sports.
Anyway, a candid examination of global sales will reveal only a change in allocation of units, not a decrease in shipping or production.