Post by: Svevan on November 27, 2006, 10:41:10 AM
WII IS A MASSIVE HIT
600,000 First-Week Purchases Attracting Veteran and New Gamers
REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 27, 2006 - Built on a foundation of pure fun, Nintendo's new Wii™ video game system sold through to more than 600,000 consumers in the Americas in just its first eight days of availability. That's a rate of nearly one per second continuously since the Nov. 19 launch. Including just first-party software and accessory sales, Wii instantly has become a $190 million business in the Americas. During the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend, there was plenty of conversation across the nation about the high demand for the Wii system, with the acknowledgment that if you see one, you'd better buy it.
"Even with sales already in excess of 600,000 units, demand continues to exceed supply, as it's clear this is one of the ‘gotta-have' products for the holiday season," says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. "We've shipped retailers several times the amount of hardware the other company was able to deliver for its launch around the same time - and we still sold out. Given the inclusive nature of Wii game play, we're seeing this new form of video gaming is already a huge hit with gamers and newcomers alike. It continues to be a phenomenal launch."
The system also is succeeding in its stated mission of reinvigorating current players, while attracting new ones. Every Wii system includes the five-game Wii Sports™ software, which is the talk of the Internet, featuring countless reports on how previously devout non-gamers have suddenly been converted via the amazing new way games are experienced using the system's remarkable controller. At the same time, the masterful The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess, a favorite of avid gamers, already has achieved sales of more than 454,000 units in the Americas, representing more than 75 percent of all hardware purchasers.
Licensees, pleased not only with the sales performance of the Wii, but also its creative development capabilities, are publicly sharing their comments:
"Madden NFL 07 is a great example of how the Wii gives players a whole new experience on their favorite games," says EA Studio President Paul Lee. "EA's creative teams are working to build more Wii features into some of our most popular franchises."
"The creativity we've been able to unleash on the Wii system with our game Red Steel has been eye-opening for our development teams," explains Ubisoft President Laurent Detoc. "Having the opportunity to design and develop entirely new game-play experiences using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk is both exciting and rewarding."
Classic games also are proving to be a hit on Wii, which offers downloadable access to 20 years of the best of Nintendo®, Sega Genesis® and TurboGrafx16™ hits via the system's Virtual Console™ feature.
Post by: Pryopizm on November 27, 2006, 11:25:07 AM
Post by: decoyman on November 27, 2006, 11:28:19 AM
Post by: Pryopizm on November 27, 2006, 11:29:42 AM
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on November 27, 2006, 12:43:30 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Pryopizm
What happened to rolling out one million at launch? No wonder every store in my area got so few.
Um I believe that 1 million was an estimate, nothing official, so Nintendo really has nothing to answer too. Regardless I don't have much sympathy for people who didn't wait a couple hours before launch, it isn't like 600k is something to sneeze at and you didn't have to camp out for over 24 hrs to get one.
Post by: BiLdItUp1 on November 27, 2006, 12:53:55 PM
...seriously though, this is a console launch. MR. T SAYS USE YO HEAD, FOO
Post by: nickmitch on November 27, 2006, 12:54:47 PM
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on November 27, 2006, 12:56:11 PM
.
Post by: Svevan on November 27, 2006, 01:32:57 PM
Of course nothing's doom and gloom yet - the system is selling, which is great, and they're outdoing PS3 of course. But four million by year's end is looking less likely (actually it's not going to happen at all).
Post by: Ceric on November 27, 2006, 01:36:22 PM
Post by: Pryopizm on November 27, 2006, 01:43:39 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: VGrevolutionQuote
Originally posted by: Pryopizm
What happened to rolling out one million at launch? No wonder every store in my area got so few.
Um I believe that 1 million was an estimate, nothing official, so Nintendo really has nothing to answer too. Regardless I don't have much sympathy for people who didn't wait a couple hours before launch, it isn't like 600k is something to sneeze at and you didn't have to camp out for over 24 hrs to get one.
Then have sympathy for the fact that I don't own one because I can't currently afford one thanks to my cable company.
Post by: zakkiel on November 27, 2006, 02:27:26 PM
Based on what I remember from my town, if Nintendo had in fact shipped one million, it would just about have filled all the early morning lines. Everyone who got in later would still have missed out, but I'd say it would have more or less satisfied demand. Oh well.
Also: 75% bought TP? Who the hell are the other 25%? Besides Ian?
Post by: Djunknown on November 27, 2006, 02:45:21 PM
Looks like ebayers will be in business for a little while longer...
Post by: BranDonk Kong on November 27, 2006, 03:21:33 PM
Post by: kings x on November 27, 2006, 04:17:36 PM
Post by: TJ Spyke on November 27, 2006, 04:18:07 PM
Post by: Artimus on November 27, 2006, 05:00:12 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Svevan
Who cares if one million was an estimate? (it wasn't, it was a goal) The point is that they wanted it, made it clear they were going to do it, and then didn't. Note the news story: they wanted one million for North America. Now they're saying the system sold 600,000 in "THE Americas." That's a serious misstep. What went wrong, Nintendo?
Of course nothing's doom and gloom yet - the system is selling, which is great, and they're outdoing PS3 of course. But four million by year's end is looking less likely (actually it's not going to happen at all).
Yeah, they WANTED a million but only managed 600,000 (or so). That's such a tragedy. Boo hoo hoo. Seriously. You know they produced as many as possible, it's not a matter of just snapping your fingers. If they got 600,000 then that's all that could have been produced by launch. You can't blame that one anyone, it's just how the business works. It's a large enough number not to make the launch questionable like Sony's, so what's the big deal? They're not holding out on us. They didn't lie.
Post by: Hocotate on November 27, 2006, 05:13:55 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: nintendogamecube86
This is gonna be a monster in Japan, I expect it to be like the DS Lite launch, where people lined up for hours before it launched and was buying them so quickly that Nintendo was easily selling over 100K every week (and the only think stopping the numbers from being even higher was Nintendo not being able to manufacture them fast enough).
I agree, this will dominate Japan. It is already outdoing the PS3 in North America by default. Even if X360 takes the US, Wii's power in Japan will pretty much force all the big name JP devs to support it. This in turn, will eventually make Wii the top console in the USA as well (just like DS).
Quote
Also: 75% bought TP? Who the hell are the other 25%? Besides Ian?
*raises hand* I thought I'd give the other launch games a chance, I know if I bought Zelda nothing else would be played lol. I'll probably buy it in a few weeks here.
Post by: King of Twitch on November 27, 2006, 05:16:18 PM
Post by: TrueNerd on November 27, 2006, 05:34:31 PM
Post by: Dark_Sloth on November 27, 2006, 06:22:47 PM
Pretty crazy about the launch numbers. I wonder if many retailers have gotten more shipments of wii's. I could see it going far with a whole month of sales if they could supply enough.
Post by: Klapaucius on November 27, 2006, 06:38:12 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: zakkiel
VG, if you only had to wait a couple of hours for yours, then you got lucky, plain and simple. So get off that high horse.
Based on what I remember from my town, if Nintendo had in fact shipped one million, it would just about have filled all the early morning lines. Everyone who got in later would still have missed out, but I'd say it would have more or less satisfied demand. Oh well.
Also: 75% bought TP? Who the hell are the other 25%? Besides Ian?
I'm thinking the the other 25% are first time gamers who've never played Zelda before, or more likely are people waiting for the Gamecube release.
Post by: Arbok on November 27, 2006, 08:05:46 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Klapaucius
I'm thinking the the other 25% are first time gamers who've never played Zelda before, or more likely are people waiting for the Gamecube release.
More of the former I would wager. There were a number of people in my line who were getting it for Wii Sports and Red Steel only (while in the opposite camp where the people who read early reviews and stayed clear of the latter).
Post by: Ceric on November 28, 2006, 02:18:06 AM
Post by: BranDonk Kong on November 28, 2006, 02:25:05 AM
Post by: Ages on November 28, 2006, 04:16:56 AM
Post by: Ceric on November 28, 2006, 04:29:38 AM
Post by: Ian Sane on November 28, 2006, 05:43:03 AM
I didn't buy a Wii so I wouldn't count as a statistic. 75% is still incredibly good. Now watch Sony launch their next console (if they launch another console again) with one game so that it beats Zelda's tie-in ratio.
I'm glad Nintendo got more units in stores than Sony but 600,000 isn't all that great. Nintendo made it out like the Wii would be easy to find. 4 million by the end of the year suggests to me that one could probably just walk into a store and get one. Didn't Sony for the PS2 have only 500,000 after promising 1 million? Everyone sh!t on them for that and rightfully so. This isn't much better. Now I'm sure they'll get units out quicker but they're lucky Sony is screwing up worse.
I think Nintendo can deal with it but it isn't great. At least they sold out. It would be much worse if they shipped these few units and they didn't sell.
Post by: Smash_Brother on November 28, 2006, 05:49:41 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Ages Not to mention they're trying to launch in three terrirories in a span of less than a month.
I concur.
Sony isn't even trying to get the PS3 to the world before the year's end while Nintendo is trying to offer the Wii to the world for Christmas.
Post by: Vrgin X1 on November 28, 2006, 07:33:59 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: zakkiel
Also: 75% bought TP? Who the hell are the other 25%? Besides Ian?
I have Zelda:TP, yet I have no Wii to play it on......
Post by: zakkiel on November 28, 2006, 09:23:18 AM
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on November 28, 2006, 09:34:43 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: zakkiel
VG, if you only had to wait a couple of hours for yours, then you got lucky, plain and simple. So get off that high horse.
Based on what I remember from my town, if Nintendo had in fact shipped one million, it would just about have filled all the early morning lines. Everyone who got in later would still have missed out, but I'd say it would have more or less satisfied demand. Oh well.
Also: 75% bought TP? Who the hell are the other 25%? Besides Ian?
And guess what, if I didn't get one I wouldn't be whining about it either, I would have thought I should have got there earlier. I got there 7 hrs early which I thought was cutting it close, I was prepared to go to best buy at 7pm and wait out the night, but the local Fred Meyers had 90 of them and were selling them at midnight and only 50 people were lined up so I went there. 600k is still ALOT of systems and one of the bigger system launches (heck stores getting 90 of them is a big indication of that).
Post by: IceCold on November 28, 2006, 09:57:26 AM
QuoteThey never did that. In fact, there was a press release saying they expected shortages for launch..
Nintendo made it out like the Wii would be easy to find.
Post by: Arbok on November 28, 2006, 10:10:43 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: IceColdQuoteThey never did that. In fact, there was a press release saying they expected shortages for launch..
Nintendo made it out like the Wii would be easy to find.
Yep, he's right:
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=12329
Post by: Svevan on November 28, 2006, 10:12:52 AM
edit: Thanks Arbok.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on November 28, 2006, 01:41:23 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Svevan
Point me to it IceCold - I want to get to the bottom of this before my next Podcast so I can apologize for adding fuel to the "don't pre-order" fire.
edit: Thanks Arbok.
Yeah, the only people who said you can walk right in and get one were those that mock others who disagreed on podcasts, nothing official.
Post by: Pryopizm on November 28, 2006, 03:31:19 PM
