Topic: Wii Sales Lagging in Japan

[NWR_pap64]

Even with the successful launch of Super Mario Galaxy 2, hardware sales remained stagnant.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=23193

 Despite Super Mario Galaxy 2 having a successful launch, with 340,000 copies sold in its launch week, Wii hardware sales remained minimal. There was a small sales raise when compared to last week's sales data, but it still wasn't enough to dethrone Sony's platforms.    

The hardware charts from Media Create are as follows:    

1. PSP: 25,054 (22,462)    

2. PS3: 20,987 (19,075)    

3. Wii: 20,476 (18,465)    

4. DSi LL: 16,267 (14,108)    

5. DSi: 10,324 (9,356)    

6. Xbox 360: 3,546 (4,656)    

7. DS Lite: 2,961 (2,681)    

8. PS2: 1,463 (1,175)    

9. PSP Go: 1,232 (851)

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Sony's gonna catch up in about 8 years, amirite.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Considering the fact that Sony never officially said this gen has started, they aren't technically playing catch-up yet.

[broodwars]

The PS3's having a really nice stretch right now, and it's not surprising that the Japanese aren't going nuts buying Wiis for Galaxy 2 considering they don't seem to care much for 3D Mario.  Either that, or the Wii has truly hit maximum market saturation, whereas the PS3 still has a lot of run to grow.

[Ian Sane]

I think if you want a Wii you've probably bought one.  And if you haven't been convinced I haven't seen anything that would change your mind.  Early on in a console's life so much is based on potential so one big game can win you over.  You guess what the future will hold and gamble based on that.  But right now we know where the Wii is and where it's going to be in the near future.  I personally think that the Wii is in an N64-like rut where some amazing first party game is released and then we wait and wait until another killer first party game is released and there's not much in between.  And I don't think that's going to change.  The Wii is number one.  If that doesn't convince the third parties to make their big games for it, nothing is.  Unfortunately, and somewhat illogically, this is the Wii's mold.

Meanwhile the PS3 only recently became affordable so there are going to be people that wanted one but couldn't afford it and now they can.  And in Japan there's no Xbox 360 dominance.  The PS3 is the go-to alternative to a Wii.  The PS3 is hot right now in that it has big games, both first and third party, coming out on a regular basis.  You can point out how there aren't many exclusives as most of the third party games are also on the Xbox 360.  Yeah, but again this is Japan.  No one buys X360s there.  Any big PS3 game might as well be an exclusive in the Japanese gamer's mind.

The PS3 has potential while the Wii's mold is very set.  If the Wii didn't interest you enough to buy it then, it does nothing to change your mind now and I don't think anyone thinks things are going to change.

Plus if Super Mario Galaxy 1 didn't convince you to take the plunge why would the vastly similar Super Mario Galaxy 2?

[ThePerm]

Well, thats not considering any great games that could be announced at e3, those holding out might be convinced by a ridiculous Zelda game, or that new franchise that we have been begging for for 10 years...Retro?

[Ian Sane]

  Well, thats not considering any great games that could be announced at e3, those holding out might be convinced by a ridiculous Zelda game, or that new franchise that we have been begging for for 10 years...Retro? 

Well, yeah, a big game can be that last push that puts your purchase over the edge.  But if you look at the cons of a console that would give someone a reason to not want to buy it, for the Wii it's very much third party support.  Is that going to change at E3?  Is it EVER going to change?  I'm predicting "no" for both of those.  And that's the elephant in the room.  That's that one subject that if you're trying to sell someone on a Wii that you dread having come up.  For the Xbox 360 it would be the RRoD.
 
Meanwhile the PS3's big con was the high price.  That no longer applies.  Now it ain't cheaper than the other consoles but it is no longer out of the price range of people considering buying it.  The other big issue would be lack of exclusives but that only applies to someone who owns an X360 (or is considering buying one).  It isn't an issue when you comparing the PS3 to Wii and in Japan that's all you're doing.
 
After those two I think you're getting into real nitpicky stuff like how Sony took out PS2 compatibility.  Well you can come with nitpicky stuff for the Wii as well: friend codes.  So that balances out.
 
But when we're talking about the big stuff that just giftwraps excuses for people to not buy your console Sony has recently eliminated theirs and Nintendo has not.  So I think that's the likely reason why Sony has been making ground in Japan lately.

[NWR_insanolord]

Even if there were nothing worth owning on the Wii from third parties, which is far from true, Nintendo's first party lineup is more than worth the price of the console by a huge margin.

[ThePerm]

also worth noting, world wide sales of Wii are more than 2 times better than Gamecubes, even with Japan sales subtracted

[TJ Spyke]

Closer to 3 times. GameCube sold about 24 million, Wii is is over 70 million.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

So how many of these 70million casual non-gamers are an expensive camera and a couple of expensive glowing ice cream scoops supposed to win over?

Maybe there's a new market that's yet to be tapped (BIGGER IDIOTS than existing Wii owners)?  Maybe these late-gen motion gimmicks are a complete waste of time and money?  Will the new motion initiatives cripple Sony/MS much like FF13 financially crippled Square Enix?

[broodwars]

Will the new motion initiatives cripple Sony/MS much like FF13 financially crippled Square Enix?

Over 5.5 Million copies of FF XIII sold world-wide.  Yeah,  FF XIII has certainly "financially crippled" Square-Enix.   

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Pretty weak for a title that took so long to make, had to go multiplatform, and affected the development of all other S-E projects.  It's the only FF mainline title this gen, and that says a lot.

[ThePerm]

Closer to 3 times. GameCube sold about 24 million, Wii is is over 70 million.

i had 3 times, but I changed it to twice because Cube sold more like 27-8 million, 2 x 30 = 60 + 10 = 70, 71 = wii

[TJ Spyke]

GameCube sold 21.74 million systems according to Nintendo itself. So Wii has actually already sold more than three times as many systems.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

It's more like 92-162 million Nintendo GAMECUBES were sold, depending on 1.5 or 2 Nintendo GAMECUBES being duct taped.

Nintendo GAMECUBE wins this round.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It's more like 92-162 million Nintendo GAMECUBES were sold, depending on 1.5 or 2 Nintendo GAMECUBES being duct taped.

Nintendo GAMECUBE wins this round.

and last round too.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I must agree.

Nintendo GAMECUBE is also set to best the PSP2 and the iSore4.