Topic: Wii Achieves Eight Million Sold in Japan

[Kairon]

But despite being far ahead of the competition, there's reason to agree with Nintendo's president that the Wii is in an "unhealthy condition" in its home market.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18282

 Two years and four months after its launch in the Japanese market, Nintendo's Wii system has crested eight million units sold in its home market. This places it millions of units ahead of its competitors, a triumph given the fact that Nintendo was a distant second in the last era of gaming consoles.    

However, revolutions are never a smooth ride. Earlier this month, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata declared that despite leading the pack, his company's console was "in the most unhealthy condition since it hit the Japanese market" and that this was "not the position we wanted to be in more than two years after launch and after selling almost 8 million consoles."    

Though the eight million unit sales mark is a significant achievement, Iwata must be watching the weekly sales figures of his console, which have been in the doldrums as of late. For the past several weeks, weekly Wii sales have hovered below the 20,000 unit mark. This is low enough to allow Sony's PlayStation 3 to lead the home console hardware charts in weekly sales, and even Microsoft's anemic Xbox 360 managed to outdo the Wii during one seven-day sales period.    

However, Nintendo's sudden slowing could be indicative of shifting business conditions in the companyÂ’s console market, which Iwata described as "not very strong right now overall." Rejecting the possibility of a price cut, Iwata claimed that it was key software titles that drove the Wii's growth, probably referring to the same games that Famitsu has recently revealed lead Wii lifetime-to-date unit sales in Japan:    

Top Five Wii Games by LTD Sales in Japan    

 
• 1. Wii Sports - 3.5 million units*

 
• 2. Wii Fit - 3.3 million units

 
• 3. Wii Play - 2.7 million units

 
• 4. Mario Kart Wii - 2.2 million units

 
• 5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 1.8 million
 

   

*Note: Wii Sports is not packaged with the Wii in Japan, and is sold separately.    

With Wii Sports at the top of that list, could Iwata be hoping that titles like upcoming sequel Wii Sports Resort (which has been given a June launch date in Japan) could revitalize sales for the little-console-that-could? And where will Nintendo's major fall 2008 releases, Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk, measure up when their sales data is revealed in Nintendo's upcoming fiscal year report?    

One thing's for sure, Nintendo's CEO is talking about the situation as if it's an immediate and pressing challenge. This could, however, be more a show of prudence than defeat. Despite Iwata's statements that suggest doom and gloom, Sony's second-place PlayStation 3 sits at only three million units sold in Japan, a full five million consoles behind Nintendo.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Nintendo will be in a healthy position this week as Monster Hunter G came out and sold 92,000 copies on the first day.

[NWR_pap64]

I personally believe the sales slump might stop once big Wii title are released. The Wii was pretty much dormant last year after the release of Fit, Brawl and Kart. Not to mention that the Yakuza 3 and Resident Evil 5 bundles helped the PS3 gain some footing in Japan, while the Blu-Ray version of Advent Children with the FFXIII demo moved more consoles.

But once Monster Hunter 3 and Wii Sports Resort are release sales could go up.

[TJ Spyke]

Re to FOC:
Which is not bad for a port of a PS2/PSP game. Wii sales should definitely be up a lot this week.

[Mop it up]

I'd say Nintendo is in a pretty good position right now, as they have quite a few options they can bust out to boost sales. If through some bizarre event the upcoming games like Wii Sports Resort and Monster Hunter don't produce satisfactory sales, they could introduce new colours for the Wii system and controllers. Failing that, they could also play the price cut card, and since they've gone this long without one, they'd still be making a profit on systems sales as well.

[NWR_pap64]

I'd say Nintendo is in a pretty good position right now, as they have quite a few options they can bust out to boost sales. If through some bizarre event the upcoming games like Wii Sports Resort and Monster Hunter don't produce satisfactory sales, they could introduce new colours for the Wii system and controllers. Failing that, they could also play the price cut card, and since they've gone this long without one, they'd still be making a profit on systems sales as well.

And by the time the Wii is dying on the market it might be time to introduce the Wii 2.

Not to mention that the system is still seeing massive growth in other parts of the world.

[Mop it up]

The vibe I'm getting from Nintendo is that they would release a redesigned Wii before they introduced any true Wii successor. In fact, the Wii Motion Plus is sort of like a controller redesign, and its popularity will probably determine when we'll see a redesigned Wii. It's the trend with the business world as of late, improve as little and as slowly as possible to maximize profit.

[KDR_11k]

Besides, there's no real point to replacing the little box next to the TV, the Wii's focus features are its game library and motion controls, both can be improved without replacing the console itself.

[Mop it up]

Once those features grow stale then Nintendo would probably come up with some other gimmick to sell Wii systems. More internal storage and HD are two things which they could do, although both are unlikely. There are probably other things they could do too that I haven't thought of.

[GK]

New gimmicky channels maybe? Wouldn't mind added internal storage myself. Or maybe a friend code finder where once you exchange Wii numbers with someone you can check over wifi for titles you both have & auto-register their friend code.

[KDR_11k]

Once those features grow stale then Nintendo would probably come up with some other gimmick to sell Wii systems. More internal storage and HD are two things which they could do, although both are unlikely. There are probably other things they could do too that I haven't thought of.

The hardware doesn't sell the system, it's just an enabler for the thing that does: The games. The hardware features don't grow stale, they merely get surpassed by the technological progress and if the current gen gets surpassed too much one of the companies in it will pull the trigger and go to the next gen. If that next gen is sufficiently better it'll cause a migration from the previous gen and obviously you don't want to sit there while somebody else siphons your customers away.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Once those features grow stale then Nintendo would probably come up with some other gimmick to sell Wii systems. More internal storage and HD are two things which they could do, although both are unlikely. There are probably other things they could do too that I haven't thought of.

The hardware doesn't sell the system, it's just an enabler for the thing that does: The games. The hardware features don't grow stale, they merely get surpassed by the technological progress and if the current gen gets surpassed too much one of the companies in it will pull the trigger and go to the next gen. If that next gen is sufficiently better it'll cause a migration from the previous gen and obviously you don't want to sit there while somebody else siphons your customers away.

That's why we only saw one version of the gamecube (not counting the Panasonic Q), and three versions of the gameboy.

[AV]

just curious . is wii sports resort coming out on Saturday ? are they doing that deal where they release a game on saturday because releasing it on a work day will cause truancy at schools. I think they do that for Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

[TJ Spyke]

AFAIK, Nintendo has not announced a release date for Wii Sports Resort other than "June 2009" in Japan and "July 2009" for other territories.

[GK]

If it follows the tradition of the Wii itself, Brawl, & Mario Kart Wii it'll probably be a midnight release on a Saturday at midnight for those who reserved it(not sure if you even can yet) with everyone else able to pick it up the next day. But who knows?

[nickmitch]

Nintendo just needs to make the console more appealing.  The market is getting over-saturated, the only way to fix it is to change the product.  The easier way is to add more colors.  (Yeah, I'm beating that horse again.)  Same Wii, new coat of paint.

[Mop it up]

The hardware doesn't sell the system, it's just an enabler for the thing that does: The games.

If that were true, not only would we not have seen all of the redesigned Game Boys and DS, but they wouldn't have boosted sales of the system. I don't believe the "it's a handheld" excuse either, as it is still the same as a console in that it's an enabler to play games.

[KDR_11k]

The hardware doesn't sell the system, it's just an enabler for the thing that does: The games.

If that were true, not only would we not have seen all of the redesigned Game Boys and DS, but they wouldn't have boosted sales of the system. I don't believe the "it's a handheld" excuse either, as it is still the same as a console in that it's an enabler to play games.

The hardware in those cases improved the games. Better screens = better playing. AFAIK the GBA Micro didn't boost much and the DSi adds new game delivery methods and new toys (which are also part of the software that sells the system). HD is nowhere near as important as proper lighting and battery life on a handheld, never mind it would not be compatible with all the old games.

[Mop it up]

HD is still something they could add though and something which might be an attractive feature soon, even if it doesn't enhance current games. Neither does Wii Motion Plus and that's probably going to be a hit. More internal storage may also be a nice feature because then people don't have to bother with the SD card hassle. There are also probably other possible features which we haven't thought of that they could add.

[oohhboy]

I reckon they need to integrate Motion Plus into the controller as a Wiimote 2. Sell the add-on as is to update the older controllers.

It would send a clear message that motion plus is the future of Wii and avoid the expansion pak add on problem.

[BlackNMild2k1]

but the built in M+ wouldn't happen until M+ attachment sales have slowed down.
gotta maximize your potential profits.
Nintendo gets to sell a M+ for every controller present and past & future.
3rd parties get to release accessories with M+ attachment in mind
once that market is tapped, Nintendo releases the WiiMote+ (M+ built in) & now its half the size different between regular Wiimote & Wiimote w/ M+ attached. Now they get to sell a ton of Wiimote+ and 3rd parties get to do the accessory shuffle all over again.

[Mop it up]

Putting the Wii Motion Plus tech into the regular Wiimote would raise the price of it, and I don't think Nintendo wants to do that.

[ShyGuy]

360 recently hit one million sold in Japan. lulz.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

360 recently hit one million sold in Japan. lulz.

ahahahhhahahh and people try to discus "wii sales saturation".  600K last month on the Yankee market? ahahahahhahahah

[oohhboy]

but the built in M+ wouldn't happen until M+ attachment sales have slowed down.
gotta maximize your potential profits.
Nintendo gets to sell a M+ for every controller present and past & future.
3rd parties get to release accessories with M+ attachment in mind
once that market is tapped, Nintendo releases the WiiMote+ (M+ built in) & now its half the size different between regular Wiimote & Wiimote w/ M+ attached. Now they get to sell a ton of Wiimote+ and 3rd parties get to do the accessory shuffle all over again.

For that to happen Nintendo would have to be pretty short sighted. They know and have plenty of pass experience of what happens to add-ons. Profits are nice, but are pointless if it kills you in the long term. Sure there are your gun mounts etc, but outside of the nun-chuck none of them are mandatory to play games.

They can't risk splitting their user base, real or imaginary. If they release a Wiimote+it will force everyone to update. The point to motion plus is to increase potential future profits, not to make a profit in itself. I am not asking Nintendo to make a loss on motion+, that would be a first.

The Wiimote and all the things to do with it are expensive enough as it is. Wiimote+ would eat into it's margins at current prices, but they have to recognize this isn't boom town anymore. They have to bend a little to avoid poisoning the well.