Topic: Wii U Sells 57K Units in January

[Pixelated Pixies]

I agree with what many people have already said, that the market is not what it was in 2006 and consumer's are more hesitant to purchase now than they were then. However, based purely on my discussions with those around me (friends, family, colleagues etc., so far from scientific) I get the sense that people are actually crying out for a new console. The current generation of home consoles have all but run their course, and people really do seem to want something new. The excitement surrounding the upcoming Sony announcement I think speaks to that anticipation.
 
The Wii U for all it's qualities, however, does not seem to be convincing gamers that it in fact offers anything new. Even I, a long time Nintendo fan of some 20 years, am not yet convinced by the system. Proponents of the system rightly say that new games are coming and that the software library will become healthier with time. All of which is true, but my being a fan of Nintendo's systems has always been conditional. I support those systems which support me, and at the moment the Wii U does not have a single release that interests me.
 
If the Wii U isn't an attractive prospect to someone like me (and I'm sure I'm not the only Nintendo fan who isn't impressed), then it's hardly surprising that it's not selling to the broader market.
 
For what it's worth, my opinion is that Nintendo have a small window of opportunity in which to make a dent with the Wii U. If Nintendo sell enough Wii U's before the next Sony and Microsoft consoles hit then the system might have sufficient momentum and mindshare to continue receiving support from third partys. If the Wii U sells poorly or lower than expectations during this period then the system is likely to be left behind by third partys as they move on to develop for the Sony and Microsoft platforms, which by all accounts are far more comprobable.
 
It's going to be an interesting few months.
 

[broodwars]

So Broodwars, did you buy a Wii U simply so you could run into forums saying "oh my god Wii U is such a piece of crap, I know because I own one, that means my opinion carries real weight!" hm? Why do you frequent these forums? I mean seriously why? Why do you own a Wii U, is it not everything you said it would be?

Actually, I bought my Wii U to troll the forums, an effort that didn't seem altogether effective.   : Seriously, though, I had high hopes for ZombiU and Rayman Legends, and Nintendo was talking a good game in the run-up to the Wii U launch.  I wanted to see Nintendo make good on their word and have some big games in their first year marketed towards our interests.  In case certain folks like those on RFN were actually right about the market running towards Nintendo to get away from skyrocketing costs, I wanted to have the console they were running to.  I hate having big games I'm interested in get announced for devices I don't own, and Nintendo does still produce exclusive games I care about on occasion.

A large part of why I bought my Wii U when I did was because I thought Nintendo was really going to milk its GameCube catalog on the Wii U Virtual Console so I figured with the DPP program I would probably see some healthy return on that initial investment in the Deluxe model (little did I know Nintendo's big "plan" for the VC was to spend half the year trickling out a portion of its previous VC library).  And hey, there is just something exciting about being there at the start of a console launch, something I'd never done before.  Times were also pretty good for me around the time the Wii U came out, and these days with the podcast being as it is I felt I needed a Wii U if I were going to talk about it.

As for why I frequent these forums, that's really none of your damn business. And given that I rarely post on the forums anymore outside of Talkback, I think you can just deal with that.

Only person who really has an agenda around here is you

I have no agenda around here, pal. I'm just a guy who likes to play video games more than could be considered healthy (regardless of platform), and as I'm particularly insane I also like to talk about those experiences from time to time.  However, I am no company's fanboy or cheerleader, and I will criticize whenever, wherever, and to whoever I feel deserves it.  I'm sorry if you take so much issue with that.  Nintendo launched the Wii U seemingly without any kind of plan, so they get criticized.

Can't wait til you get Disney'd

I have no idea what you mean by that.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

With the Wii U having only been out for a day shy of four months, it's really too early for any of this conversation. When we get the sales figures this time next year, after all the highly-anticipated games have been released and had time to circulate the market, we will then know enough to have an informed discussion about the health of the system. But not until then.

[Pixelated Pixies]

With the Wii U having only been out for a day shy of four months, it's really too early for any of this conversation. When we get the sales figures this time next year, after all the highly-anticipated games have been released and had time to circulate the market, we will then know enough to have an informed discussion about the health of the system. But not until then.

Where's the fun in that?

[ShyGuy]

I think we will see the first major upswing when Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate hits. It needs heavy promotion in NA and EU.

[Ceric]

I still hold by what I said earlier.  These sales are more indicative of a trend more then anything else.  To some extent the DS had it.  The 3DS had it.  PS3 had it.  360 Had it.  Wii is the exception to prove the rule.

We know the problem is Software.  Plain and simple.
A little bit of Cost as well and Software will get around that.

The Durango and Orbis are going to run into this too.  Big initial launch period but, then it will slow down.  It will probably be worse for those 2 because the 360 and PS3 are pretty capable machines and will probably be getting the big titles like the PS2 did.  Not to mention, if the hardware isn't sold for a large lost, will be more expensive.  And if the rumored architecture is true BC is a non-starter.  All this makes a higher barrier of entry.  Despite that I believe the numbers we'll see here in the States are going to look relatively better but, not really that great.  Now in Fall when the releases really get kicked into gear we will see a pickup.  It really depends on if developers start seriously dropping the PS360 but, I'm not sure that will be the case.

I do think Sony might have an edge here over the others.  Even though BC is a non-starter, I could see them pulling what they do w/ Vita.  Buy one version that lets you get them all across the consoles.  So you buy the PS4 version and you get the PS3 version to play on your current hardware.  Once you get a large enough collection moving over isn't nearly as daunting.  Not to mention PS Plus.  In fact Sony may just make PS Plus free during the "Launch Window"  to supplement till real games tailored for the system comes out.  I think that would put them in a good position to keep at least a little momentum.  I also think they will continue to sell the PS3 for a while.  It is still one of the best Blu-Ray players on the market.

Now I be interested to see how Microsoft kills off the 360.  I expect them to have an aggressive time table to kill off features of Live.  They want people to move over.  I expect them to require companies to port there games to the new system to launch when they launch on the 360.  Which them being able to strong-arm like that is an advantage.  Though that may have a potential to back fire.  I just don't really see it doing so.  Eventually Microsoft will find a way to raise the bar to get onto the 360 effectively forcing developers to move over.  To tell you the honest truth I'm not expecting much more then 360 PC version of games on the system for the first year. 

I do expect both Sony and Microsoft to have their showcase titles at launch unlike Nintendo, Pikmin 3 should have been launch.  I'm expecting at least 1 of them from both Sony and Microsoft to be their Wind Waker HD.  At least for the first year I can't believe that either of those systems won't be a hard sale.  Especially if they take this opportunity to raise the prices of Software.

[Caterkiller]

So Broodwars, did you buy a Wii U simply so you could run into forums saying "oh my god Wii U is such a piece of crap, I know because I own one, that means my opinion carries real weight!" hm? Why do you frequent these forums? I mean seriously why? Why do you own a Wii U, is it not everything you said it would be?

Actually, I bought my Wii U to troll the forums, an effort that didn't seem altogether effective.   : Seriously, though, I had high hopes for ZombiU and Rayman Legends, and Nintendo was talking a good game in the run-up to the Wii U launch.  I wanted to see Nintendo make good on their word and have some big games in their first year marketed towards our interests.  In case certain folks like those on RFN were actually right about the market running towards Nintendo to get away from skyrocketing costs, I wanted to have the console they were running to.  I hate having big games I'm interested in get announced for devices I don't own, and Nintendo does still produce exclusive games I care about on occasion.

A large part of why I bought my Wii U when I did was because I thought Nintendo was really going to milk its GameCube catalog on the Wii U Virtual Console so I figured with the DPP program I would probably see some healthy return on that initial investment in the Deluxe model (little did I know Nintendo's big "plan" for the VC was to spend half the year trickling out a portion of its previous VC library).  And hey, there is just something exciting about being there at the start of a console launch, something I'd never done before.  Times were also pretty good for me around the time the Wii U came out, and these days with the podcast being as it is I felt I needed a Wii U if I were going to talk about it.

As for why I frequent these forums, that's really none of your damn business. And given that I rarely post on the forums anymore outside of Talkback, I think you can just deal with that.

Only person who really has an agenda around here is you

I have no agenda around here, pal. I'm just a guy who likes to play video games more than could be considered healthy (regardless of platform), and as I'm particularly insane I also like to talk about those experiences from time to time.  However, I am no company's fanboy or cheerleader, and I will criticize whenever, wherever, and to whoever I feel deserves it.  I'm sorry if you take so much issue with that.  Nintendo launched the Wii U seemingly without any kind of plan, so they get criticized.

Can't wait til you get Disney'd

I have no idea what you mean by that.

Ok very fair, I legitimately take back that last statement. Mostly...

As for the Disney'd thing, I'm just poking fun. I remember you saying you work or worked there. Eventually they brain wash you to be an ultra super happy zombie.

[NeoStar9X]

I think we will see the first major upswing when Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate hits. It needs heavy promotion in NA and EU.

Sadly it won't get it though. This, Lego City Undercover, and Need for Speed. EA will not push their own games on Nintendo hardware.  They've already written off the Wii U as not being apart of their upcoming plans. The only reason Need for Speed even seems to have so much effort surrounding it I believe is because Criterion actually cares about what their name is attached to.


I actually have no faith in general when it comes to Capcom. So I just expect the worse out of them.


As for Lego City. Well these days Nintendo won't even push their premier IPs. They won't and haven't even advertise for the Wii U system itself or Nintendo Land/NSMBU. I see no reason to think it will be different when it comes to Lego City.


Nope. Don't see an upswing at all any time soon.

[Razorkid]

I still hold by what I said earlier.  These sales are more indicative of a trend more then anything else.  To some extent the DS had it.  The 3DS had it.  PS3 had it.  360 Had it.  Wii is the exception to prove the rule.

We know the problem is Software.  Plain and simple.
A little bit of Cost as well and Software will get around that.

The Durango and Orbis are going to run into this too.  Big initial launch period but, then it will slow down.  It will probably be worse for those 2 because the 360 and PS3 are pretty capable machines and will probably be getting the big titles like the PS2 did.  Not to mention, if the hardware isn't sold for a large lost, will be more expensive.  And if the rumored architecture is true BC is a non-starter.  All this makes a higher barrier of entry.  Despite that I believe the numbers we'll see here in the States are going to look relatively better but, not really that great.  Now in Fall when the releases really get kicked into gear we will see a pickup.  It really depends on if developers start seriously dropping the PS360 but, I'm not sure that will be the case.

I do think Sony might have an edge here over the others.  Even though BC is a non-starter, I could see them pulling what they do w/ Vita.  Buy one version that lets you get them all across the consoles.  So you buy the PS4 version and you get the PS3 version to play on your current hardware.  Once you get a large enough collection moving over isn't nearly as daunting.  Not to mention PS Plus.  In fact Sony may just make PS Plus free during the "Launch Window"  to supplement till real games tailored for the system comes out.  I think that would put them in a good position to keep at least a little momentum.  I also think they will continue to sell the PS3 for a while.  It is still one of the best Blu-Ray players on the market.

Now I be interested to see how Microsoft kills off the 360.  I expect them to have an aggressive time table to kill off features of Live.  They want people to move over.  I expect them to require companies to port there games to the new system to launch when they launch on the 360.  Which them being able to strong-arm like that is an advantage.  Though that may have a potential to back fire.  I just don't really see it doing so.  Eventually Microsoft will find a way to raise the bar to get onto the 360 effectively forcing developers to move over.  To tell you the honest truth I'm not expecting much more then 360 PC version of games on the system for the first year. 

I do expect both Sony and Microsoft to have their showcase titles at launch unlike Nintendo, Pikmin 3 should have been launch.  I'm expecting at least 1 of them from both Sony and Microsoft to be their Wind Waker HD.  At least for the first year I can't believe that either of those systems won't be a hard sale.  Especially if they take this opportunity to raise the prices of Software.

Excellent summary and I agree completely. For me, numbers talk is never productive when it comes to new hardware until after its first year and holiday (not launch period) to get a more realistic picture of where lifetime sales will trend. Nintendo is squandering a much needed head start and is suffering because of it, but hopefully they will right the ship in time to meet the onslaught of their new competition. 

What I'm really interested in is how Sony and Microsoft will combat the software drought that comes shortly after launch of every console released. They are in a better position I think to keep software coming with their superior 3rd party relations and digital library. I didn't consider that the PS3 and 360 ( a Microsoft first) will continue getting support for sometime due to how successful they have become over the last few years.  This will indeed be a very interesting year.

[xcwarrior]

Folks, there will be no price drop. Nintendo knows they need games, not a change in price.

But if you must talk price, remember PS4 and Durango are going to be $600 each. Wii U will be the cheap option come the holiday season. So relax on the price. It's not coming down. It's going to be the bargain.

Monster Hunter is going to start the upswing of games. It's the baby months of the system. Everything is going to be OK, just like the DS and 3DS had slow starts. This too will past.

Go play some Wii games, 95% of you missed a ton of great games on the system for various reasons. You can find those games for cheap now. So go play them.

[ThePerm]

my predicted sales date put into chart form


ill make a more detailed one later

[Uncle_Optimus]

As for Lego City. Well these days Nintendo won't even push their premier IPs. They won't and haven't even advertise for the Wii U system itself or Nintendo Land/NSMBU.

Wait is this true? Have they done that little advertising in the States? I was under the impression they had a decent amount of advertising airtime, just that the advertising itself was not decent, if ya get my drift.


On sales reports, to put things in in a bit of perspective, mighty Wal-Mart reported horrendous store sales for the month of January, with recent reports indicating February will be just as bad. It seems US consumer confidence is low right now?


That said, 57,000 units is really really terrible. Can't sugarcoat that. Especially when the 360 sells five times that. Really curious what the average-sale-price is with the 360s. An especially low ASP would mean their Live-subsidization strategy is doing quite well indeed. If the ASP ends up being in Wii U's ballpark, man I wonder what made Microsoft's marketing efforts so successful?

[Uncle_Optimus]

...But if you must talk price, remember PS4 and Durango are going to be $600 each. Wii U will be the cheap option come the holiday season. So relax on the price. It's not coming down. It's going to be the bargain.
...
Go play some Wii games, 95% of you missed a ton of great games on the system for various reasons. You can find those games for cheap now. So go play them.

If you think either of those competitors will put out $600 boxes you are in for a sticker shock. Or a... reverse...sticker shock? Anyways, its going to be lower. Honestly, above $400 would surprise me.


"WHYYYY!?" you might be thinking.
 In the case of Sony, pricing PS3 at 599 US Dollars did a ton of damage to their market share. They won't make that mistake again. Microsoft must have been doing happy dances those first two years.
Speaking of Microsoft, they already were successful with the $299-399 pricing strategy with Xbox 360 and of the "Big Three" they have the most cash to burn in the name of establishing a rapid foothold for their new box.
Then you can consider that both of those guys are watching U's market reception closely and gauging consumer receptiveness to expensive new living room products. U stumbling at $299-350 must have them scribbling copious notes.


Finally,

Agreed.

[Ceric]

Not going to happen.  Microsoft and Sony are no longer really in position to let the Game division be a huge loss leader.  $400.  I do not see it coming under that without Sony and Microsoft having a WORSE fiscal year then Nintendo did with the WiiU.

[Uncle_Optimus]

Yeah!
They are still likely to be decent loss leaders tho...what with Ninty already losing on their $299-350 skus. The other boys meanwhile are packing higher octane silicon, bigger boxes, large-ass drives, mucho memory and of course each will come with their own party favor i.e. Kinect, Eye and whatever else they feel they need to CONQUER THE LIVING ROOM.


Not cheap.
MS can afford it though. Sony? They can get credit.

[Ian Sane]

I don't own a Wii U because right now there is literally only one title I would want to own on it and that's NSMB U.  But the NSMB series is so generic that it just wouldn't make sense to buy a whole new system just for that.  The Wii U deserves its low sales.

On one hand I think that this sort of thing could be a good swift kick in the ass for Nintendo to get their **** together.  But if the Wii U is just some glorified PS3 with a touchscreen then I'm not sure how much better it can do if it's once again a generation behind the other systems.  A lack of games is something to fix but a key design decision about the console itself cannot be fixed.  I don't know if they can make lemonade out of that lemon.

I think the best case scenario is Nintendo hanging on for a few years with some last gen hardware that gets no third party support until they can release something that can truly compete with current hardware.  But how would Nintendo react to something like that?  Would they cut the Wii U's life short to play catch up or would they wait at least five years and get leapfrogged again?  Would they just go with handhelds?

[Ceric]

...
Would they just go with handhelds?

That's not a bad possibility.  A handheld that acts like a Console.  I've said as much on NFR before.  Especially if they can get Wireless HDMI working well.

[NWR_insanolord]

They could just take the Wii U tech and reverse it. Instead of streaming from the console to the handheld, stream from the handheld to a receiver that connects to the TV.

[NeoStar9X]

As for Lego City. Well these days Nintendo won't even push their premier IPs. They won't and haven't even advertise for the Wii U system itself or Nintendo Land/NSMBU.

Wait is this true? Have they done that little advertising in the States? I was under the impression they had a decent amount of advertising airtime, just that the advertising itself was not decent, if ya get my drift.

There were commercials when the system first launched and yes they were bad. After that there has been nothing at all from what I can tell and what others have also experienced.


Which is why I'm not surprised at the numbers.

[Ceric]

They could just take the Wii U tech and reverse it. Instead of streaming from the console to the handheld, stream from the handheld to a receiver that connects to the TV.

That would be mostly likely except it would need to support a higher resolution, varied resolutions, and more then likely find a way to run off the current an HDMI port provides.  It could be a set top box deal but it wouldn't be as elegant.  Higher Resolution = More Bandwidth.  That all being said I believe that the next "Console" from Nintendo is going to be done in this way.

As for Lego City. Well these days Nintendo won't even push their premier IPs. They won't and haven't even advertise for the Wii U system itself or Nintendo Land/NSMBU.

Wait is this true? Have they done that little advertising in the States? I was under the impression they had a decent amount of advertising airtime, just that the advertising itself was not decent, if ya get my drift.

There were commercials when the system first launched and yes they were bad. After that there has been nothing at all from what I can tell and what others have also experienced.


Which is why I'm not surprised at the numbers.

I've seen more Wii U commercials then Vita.  That's not saying much.

[Stogi]

While the numbers are abysmal, they aren't surprising.

What is surprising is Nintendo's not learning from their mistakes. The Wii's launch was pretty piss poor, all things consider. Even further back, the DS's launch was also really very shitty. And don't get me started on the 3DS.

Nintendo has said point blank that they are working on these mistakes, but you wouldn't know unless they told you.

[Ian Sane]

While the numbers are abysmal, they aren't surprising.

What is surprising is Nintendo's not learning from their mistakes. The Wii's launch was pretty piss poor, all things consider. Even further back, the DS's launch was also really very shitty. And don't get me started on the 3DS.

Nintendo has said point blank that they are working on these mistakes, but you wouldn't know unless they told you.

Nintendo not learning from their mistakes is surprising?

Here's how Nintendo sees it:  the DS and Wii were two of the highest selling videogame systems ever made.  Thus they do not think there is a mistake to learn from.  They don't even learn from mistakes that they suffer from so I'm not at all surprised that they wouldn't learn from ones that they didn't.

The Wii having a weak launch lineup and third party support did not matter.  So Nintendo probably thinks it won't matter here or maybe even that that somehow was an important part of of the successful Wii formula.

Archaic hardware, dumb name, gimmick controller, game with Miis in it, cookie-cutter sequel to a popular Nintendo franchise.  So, uh, am I describing the Wii's launch or the Wii U's?  Considering that the Wii was sold out for almost three solid years would you think Nintendo would look at the Wii launch and think "yeah, that was a bad idea."

We know that the Wii succeeded DESPITE a crappy launch and certainly not because of it.  But on what planet would I assume Nintendo, the master of fucking up the seemingly unfuckable, would figure that out?

[Mop it up]

I think this chart puts things in perspective:



Now I'm not trying to say it's selling well right now, but looking at other systems on that chart, this certainly isn't doom and gloom time for the Wii U.

[Stogi]

I'd like to see the same chart but for handhelds and consoles.

[Uncle_Optimus]

...
Would they just go with handhelds?

That's not a bad possibility.  A handheld that acts like a Console.  I've said as much on NFR before.  Especially if they can get Wireless HDMI working well.

Oh so what you guys want is Apple TV and iPad but with Nintendo games?

I hear Wii U's Miracast streaming tech performs even better than Apple's Airplay tho.
But really, as long as this hypothesized portable-console hybrid can dock with the TV all you really need is a wireless controller.