When asked about how they are going to respond to PlayStation Move, Reggie was confident in saying that they have a clear path in front of them. We want to provide compelling experiences for the consumer. We want to do that in a way that has tremendous value for the consumer and that one-two punch, we believe, is going to continue to drive our business. The consumer today can get a Wii configuration that has two fantastic pieces of software and a Wii MotionPlus for $199, and the consumer is responding. We believe that the consumer will respond to Metroid: Other M, Wii Party, Kirbys Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and to all of these fantastic franchises that were bringing to bear.
While it remains to be seen whether or not Nintendo can have another successful holiday period like that of 2009, Reggie commented that if they manage to execute their goal, they will be able to widen the gap versus the other home consoles despite the availability of their new motion controls. He also went on to say that by driving the console's install base, software sales will increase as well
By the time Move/Kinect drop in price, they'll be competing with 3DS.
In the last six months of NPD data…
Counting from the beginning of November last year through April of this year…
consumers in America have purchased as many Wii consoles as PS3’s and Xbox 360’s combined — in the last 15 months!
That’s more sales for Wii in half a year…than the other home consoles combined …in more than a year.
The relative impact is seen best by comparing sales of Wii during its first four years on the market…to the track record for other leading home consoles.
As you can see, the PS2 is the only other meaningful competitor.
But Wii continues to extend its advantage. After year two, Wii had outsold the PS2 trendline by one-point-two million units in the U.S.
After year three, the difference grew to one-point-seven.
But after last year’s record holiday, Wii has now outsold the PS2 by nearly five million systems at the same point in its life cycle.
And of course, the other current home platforms are losing ground even more quickly.
I think franchises will do a better job of selling Wiis to core gamers who already own a 360 or PS3 or both than new stuff would. New stuff might be better, but it's not going to catch their eye like a familiar, nostalgic franchise game will.
QuoteI think franchises will do a better job of selling Wiis to core gamers who already own a 360 or PS3 or both than new stuff would. New stuff might be better, but it's not going to catch their eye like a familiar, nostalgic franchise game will.
If it didn't work on the Gamecube why would it work with the Wii? From a core gamer perspective the Wii might as well be the Gamecube 2.
If anything I think core gamers are less likely to buy a Wii now than they were a few years ago. The Wii's casual image is very firmly established which wasn't as much the case a few years ago. The Wii has no future potential. Core gamers know exactly what to expect from it. For a core gamer all the Wii offers is Nintendo franchises with waggle controls. Unless you're some Donkey Kong megafan who for some reason isn't interested in other Nintendo franchises, nothing at E3 is going to change your mind if you were already not interested.
The only exception I can see is if you're into Zelda and bought the Cube version of TP so you never ended up buying a Wii because you didn't need to. This is the first Zelda that absolutely requires a Wii to own. That might have some appeal.
