Topic: Nintendo Console Sales are Robust Despite the U.S. Recession

[Penguin_Of_Thyme]

According to Satoru Iwata, Nintendo sold around 800,000 Wii systems in the United States during the week of Thanksgiving.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=17338

 In a recent interview with Reuters, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata revealed that Americans had purchased about 800,000 Wii systems in just the last week of November. During that same time frame in 2007, Nintendo sold 350,000 Wii systems. Furthermore, Iwata stated that sales of the Nintendo DS had increased by close to 20 percent over the sales made during the previous Thanksgiving holiday.    

Iwata seemed confident that the recession would not have a negative effect on the sales of Nintendo products. "When the economy is strong, people tend to buy three things from the top of their wish list. But when things are bad, people often buy only the first thing on their list," he commented. "Fortunately for us a lot of shoppers put our products at the top of their list."    

While it seems likely that Nintendo will surpass the 981,000 Wii consoles they sold last November, it won't be confirmed until the NPD Group releases their video game sales numbers on Thursday, December 11th.

[AV]

Nintendo is happy now but the casual gamers will dry up sooner or later. Just wait, and all software sales will dry up and hardware  sales will drop like a rock. They will come begging for support from hardcore gamers who are willing to buy games in bad economic times. I wonder how many Wii's have already been sold to pawn shops to get money to pay the bills. This is all to similar to the crash of Atari , because it got so popular that so many horrible games were released.

I love Nintendo still, but I don't like how they are becoming so damn arrogant again. Sin and Punishment 2, Punch Out Wii are great but I need more than 2 games a year to make me happy.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Nintendo is happy now but the casual gamers will dry up sooner or later. Just wait, and all software sales will dry up and hardware  sales will drop like a rock. They will come begging for support from hardcore gamers who are willing to buy games in bad economic times. I wonder how many Wii's have already been sold to pawn shops to get money to pay the bills. This is all to similar to the crash of Atari , because it got so popular that so many horrible games were released.

I love Nintendo still, but I don't like how they are becoming so damn arrogant again. Sin and Punishment 2, Punch Out Wii are great but I need more than 2 games a year to make me happy.

OMG. ::shakes head::

[Ian Sane]

I think being a little overly cautious about this would be a better approach than the unrestrained optimism Nintendo appears to have.  I'm not thinking they're screwed (mostly because logic and Nintendo's success don't go hand in hand) but they can't just laugh this stuff off.  The Wii is very mainstream focused.  Despite what Nintendo or anyone else living in fantasy land thinks videogames are a luxury item.  I've heard arguments that people spend more on entertainment in a recession to "get their mind off their troubles" but that's got to be cheapo entertainment like going to the movies.  Videogames are in the $50+ mark.  They're not the sort of the stuff most people buy willy-nilly on impulse.  DVD's sure because they end up in bargain bins for less than 10 bucks.  But once you get over 30 bucks you start thinking about cost, particularly when your broke ass can't feed yourself or your kids.

But then THESE days who knows?  The amount of people I know with no kids that have higher paying jobs than me but are somehow always f*cking broke is huge.  In a world of materialistic morons with no financial sense maybe videogames will continue to sell like hotcokes.

Nintendo should still hold back their arrogance - that's what f*cked them up in 1996 and will f*ck them up again at some point in the future.  They learned nothing and history will repeat itself.  But when?  I don't know.

[King of Twitch]

Put the deLorean away and quit fooling with the space-time continuum

[GoldenPhoenix]

Gaming has always remained consistent sales wise in troubling economic times. Granted the history isn't there but from what we've seen, to say contrary to that is baseless at best. Also I fail to see how this arrogance when you believe it will still sell well in economic times? It seems to be basic PR, would you rather him say "Oh NOES the world is collapsing no one will buy our games".

[EasyCure]

I wonder how many Wii's have already been sold to pawn shops to get money to pay the bills.

I miss the Rat

[GoldenPhoenix]

I wonder how many Wii's have already been sold to pawn shops to get money to pay the bills.

I miss the Rat

I bet they sell their Wii's to pawn shops and then go out and buy another Wii, a sign of their enslavementr to Nintendo. That is the only logical way to explain the huge sales numbers.

[Kairon]

I wonder how many Wii's have already been sold to pawn shops to get money to pay the bills.

I miss the Rat

I bet they sell their Wii's to pawn shops and then go out and buy another Wii, a sign of their enslavementr to Nintendo. That is the only logical way to explain the huge sales numbers.

*shrug*

Happened with the PS2.

[NWR_Neal]

Nintendo should still hold back their arrogance - that's what f*cked them up in 1996 and will f*ck them up again at some point in the future.  They learned nothing and history will repeat itself.  But when?  I don't know.

It's not even just Nintendo. Look at what's happening to Sony right now. They were arrogant as all hell preceding the PS3 launch because they were dominant. Look at them now.
The only difference is that Nintendo has the experience and it seems like they're ignoring it and being as cocky as can be.

[Kairon]

I don't think Nintendo's necessarily being cocky. They're basing their optimism, some might even say cautious optimism, on continued sellouts of the Wii console. Only time will tell, but all indicators seem to support them. Stay tuned for November NPD!

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I saw 3 Wii Fit units in stock at Target yesterday.

They're gone today.

[King of Twitch]

So, 3 thinner soccer moms in a few months from now. This is great news.

[Kairon]

So, 3 thinner soccer moms in a few months from now. This is great news.

Now if only we could figure out a way to get the Soccer DADS to be skinnier... hmmm... that'd be the next big hit.

[NWR_Lindy]

A cheap console sells in tough economic times.  Shocker.

[IceCold]

Some 360 models are cheaper..

[AV]

i don't want to sound all doom and gloom and bitter, but its difficult. I was the one who supported them during cube era, I bought n64 games and saved my hard money when i was younger. I supported them in the hard times and now the new people come by and i'm feeling neglected.  I know business is business, but damn man if I DIDN'T buy a Wii and showed it off my casual brother wouldn't of played it, and he wouldn't of bought it and he wouldn't of shown friends who played it as well. I help start the chain reaction in Thanksgiving 06 by showing off Wiisports to family after dinner. I waited in line 12 hours in the cold and it seems more and more Nintendo rather get the money from some soccer mom who will probably play it once every 3 months, versus somebody who plays almost every week.

Club Nintendo better be awesome, I really hope that will help me. If it wasn't for the quality Wiiware and Virtual console of the past two months I might have given up.
I wouldn't be so angry if I had the money to buy a 360, but only Wii and DS things are drying up. I haven't bought any new games in MONTHS and have a job and I might just be jealous that they can buy stuff and I can't buy Dark Knight even though I really want too.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Wii + Wii Play + Wii Fit + Mario Kart is not cheap.

Wii is VALUED in tough economic times.

I couldn't buy stupid Dark Knight Special Edition cuz it was SOLD OUT TODAY.

[NWR_pap64]

Jesus Christ...

First off, I don't see a lick of arrogance anywhere. I've seen WORSE. Iwata is just pleased that despite tough economic times people are still buying games. What did just expect in a POSITIVE PR statement?

"Uh..so we sold some Wii...its cool".

Second, Nintendo has said time and time again that they NEED to keep  gamers interested so the product sells. Are we quick to forget that the DS followed the exact, same strategy and its still selling greatly today? Nintendo did not stop at Brain Age and Nintendogs. They followed that success with rock solid first party titles, many more blue ocean titles and excellent third party titles. And yet, I don't see any slowdown in sales, and the thing's been out since 2004! It will likely keep going once the DSi releases across the globe next year.

The exact, same thing is happening with the Wii. So those claims that "sooner or later the Wii will stop selling" are complete BULLCRAP. Stop it.

Third, guys, the Wii was NOT the only one who saw a major boost during the Holidays. The DS, the 200 dollar XBOX 360, Guitar Hero and Rock Band ALL saw massive sales during Black Friday. Many games across all consoles saw a big boost as well. Are you going to tell me with a straight face that these were really bought by casual gamers and that sooner or later "they will be pawned"? Please...

Oh and Mr.Vega, if you honestly believe that Nintendo will only release two titles in 2009 then you are either ignorant or you are being sarcastic.

Wii Sports Resort promises to deliver the same type of fun Wii Sports did so well, even moreso thanks to Motion Plus. Oooh wait, its an EVIL casual title and in your bitchy little Nintendo fanboy land that's a no no...

Trace Memory was a solid little game on the DS and I am surprised that its receiving a sequel on the Wii. Oh wait, its a title where you have to THINK. Another big no no...

You want to support GOOD third party games? Madworld and Conduit look very promising third party EXCLUSIVE titles. Oh, but I take it you either don't have the time or the money to get them. That's fine. Just don't complain about third party titles not selling on Wii because "its aimed at casuals".

Really, all of this Nintendo angst needs to STOP. Many core gamers are hypocrites. They say they "supported" Nintendo during the N64 and GC years, but jumped ship the minute they saw "better" support on the PS2 and XBOX. They are not the ones to talk about loyalty to a company.

Many people ignored them when Sony and MS launched their systems, because they were big and shiny, while they laughed at Nintendo as they tried to innovate their core franchises and kept appealing to their old fanbase, with constant cries of "juveniler" and "gimmicky". Now that Nintendo is finally number one and is bringing in a lot of new gamers into a fanbase that was once uncool and taboo they have the nerve to tell Nintendo its ignoring their core fanbase?

You wouldn't know loyalty even if it bit you in the balls.

[GoldenPhoenix]

A cheap console sells in tough economic times.  Shocker.

As proven by Xbox 360 Arcade. Oh wait!

[Kairon]

A cheap console sells in tough economic times.  Shocker.

As proven by Xbox 360 Arcade. Oh wait!

Actually, I suspect that the XBox 360 at $200 is what's buoying XBox 360 sales at the moment. MS dodged a bullet there, and their multi-SKU strategy worked out for them in this instance.

[GoldenPhoenix]

A cheap console sells in tough economic times.  Shocker.

As proven by Xbox 360 Arcade. Oh wait!

Actually, I suspect that the XBox 360 at $200 is what's buoying XBox 360 sales at the moment. MS dodged a bullet there, and their multi-SKU strategy worked out for them in this instance.

Yes but my point is that it still got creamed by the Wii which is MORE EXPENSIVE, in overall sales.

[Kairon]

Oh, yeah. Good point.

[NWR_pap64]

Ignoring the angst, it IS impressive that despite a recession videogames sold EXTREMELY well. Then again, its been confirmed that entertaintment venues see great profit during tough economic times. People seek to escape the grim times.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Ignoring the angst, it IS impressive that despite a recession videogames sold EXTREMELY well. Then again, its been confirmed that entertaintment venues see great profit during tough economic times. People seek to escape the grim times.

Also with the Wii you get a system that has quite a few games that families can play together for a one time investment.