Nintendo | Nintendo President: 'the Wii Has Stalled'
October 31, 2009 – 8:53 pm![]("http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads/common/ad_feedback_120x10_trans.gif" "\"Nintendo"){kind=spacer}
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Though it once appeared to be a tiny sales juggernaut, Nintendo’s top-selling
Wii console has struggled in 2009. In July, the Japanese publisher reported April-June revenues that slid 40 percent from a year prior to 253 billion yen ($2.81 billion). Nintendo didn’t fare much better during its July-September quarter, saying Thursday that sales fell 34.5 percent to 548 billion yen ($6.09 billion) during the first half of its fiscal year.
Nintendo’s slipping performance has not gone unnoticed by the publisher’s president. As reported by Japan’s Mainichi Newspaper and translated by GameSpot, Nintendo executive Satoru Iwata told analysts and investors as part of a post-earnings Q&A that a weak software lineup has contributed to the Wii’s sluggish performance.
(Credit:
Nintendo)
“The Wii has stalled,” Iwata said. “Games of high demand could not be continuously released and the good mood has chilled.” Iwata went on to note that it will be difficult to recover from “the slowdown in demand,” but he also expressed optimism over Nintendo’s ability to continue selling Wiis.
According to Japan’s Nikkan Sports (also translated by GameSpot), Iwata said during the conference that Nintendo misjudged market conditions as they pertained to the publisher’s sales strategy.
“The mood of the market got colder than expected, and there was a difference in expectations,” he said. “Now, we are preparing for next year and thinking about what to do the year after next.” Iwata reportedly went on to note that Nintendo is optimistic about its chance to right the Wii’s downward sales trend going forward.
Notably, reports have emerged that Nintendo is planning a number of enhancements to its console. Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Nintendo would be introducing Netflix’s online video-streaming service to the console, functionality that is already available for the
Xbox 360 and will soon be introduced to the
PlayStation 3.
Analysts and industry insiders also expect the publisher to launch an HD version of the Wii or an all-new system in 2010 or 2011 to better compete with Microsoft and Sony’s consoles.
As for Nintendo’s other hit hardware, Nikkan Sports reports that Iwata downplayed suggestions that the DS was losing ground to Apple’s increasingly ubiquitous iPhone. “Our presence in the marketplace is growing,” he succinctly stated.
Thursday, Nintendo also took the lid off its fourth DS hardware iteration, the DSi XL. The jumbo-size DSi, which features 4.2-inch screens, increased battery life, and a larger stylus, is expected to launch in Japan later this year for 20,000 yen ($220.50). The device’s North American and European launch is expected to follow during the first part of 2010.
Tom Magrino reported for GameSpot.
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- Oh well, the Wii is a pretty lame console anyway considering that it doesn’t have hardcore games. With the xbox 360′s soon to be launched project Natal and the PS3 new wand(or w/e its called) I think the Wii will become obsolete. A HD Wii won’t change anything.
What made the Wii so unique was its controller and how cheap it was but now the other two major console competitors got their own too and sliced their own price a lot.
What do you guys think will happen to Nintendo?
sry for my poor grammar.
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- Most of us don’t play games on a regular basis, so hardcore games are not necessarily what Wii needs. Nintendo needs to go back to its roots and come out with a Zelda and Mario game that all of us can enjoy. Just because I don’t play games everyday doesn’t mean I don’t want a good 3D Mario platformer. An HD Wii would definitely help since HD adoption is going up.
- Not everyone wants hardcore games. The Wii has been a top seller since its release in 2006. It outsold the PS3 and the 360. Three years of strong sales isn’t bad right? That’s a great run in my opinion- for after three years of strong sales to have sales finally begin to decline. Nintendo did stellar because the Wii is innovative, the same reason why Apple is selling extremely well- innovation.
I would expect Nintendo to do what it is doing with the DS, release a modified version of the Wii- either HD, different colors, shrink the size, etc…Or release a Wii 2 in 2011.
- Such a pretty lame console it beat the pants off of PS3 and Xbox.
Interesting how “gam3rz” and XBOX/PS3 “fanb0yz” all bash the Wii, but never mention the fact it ranks #1 amongst all categories of people who play video games.
It’s an amazing console that was able to bring non-gamers and people who normally do not play video games together. That is quite an amazing feat.
“So a pretty lame console?” Ya, if you think being the #1 seller since it came out is lame… well, yes I guess it is then. If you have no idea what your talking about, and have no idea how to successfully run a business… well then, yes.. I guess it is lame =)
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- I wonder how many Wii units would have been sold if the product had not been absent from the shelves for months at a time.
- Sure, it brought non-gamers to video games, but that doesn’t mean that it’s used. How many people do you know who have a Wii but don’t play it? Or how about the ones that play Wii Sports and Wii Fit? The people actually playing games on the Wii are a minority of Wii owners. As a gamer, I don’t care about sales. I care about how many good games come out for the console I own. As the Wii doesn’t fit into this category, I don’t have one.
- I never bought into the Wii hype. The first Xbox served me well from 2005-2009. And I’m now the proud owner of the PS3 slim. There were always three problems with the Wii.1. The machine was basically a warmed over Gamecube with ancient c.2001 technology. Though I do give them credit for the controller. 2. The system has never had anywhere near the level of third party support of the Xbox 360 and PS3. This is a major problem especially since Nintendo’s key games like Mario and Zelda are aimed at children. 3. Failure to match Xbox Live or even PSN for online gaming.
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- Wii is good for what it was meant to be. I have one, and a 360. And I’ll probably get a PS3 next week (due to price drop, blu-ray, Little Big Planet, and Netflix). The 360 does get more play, simply because Nintendo fails to release good titles. It’s far too long between the Mario Worlds, Mario Karts, Zeldas, Mario Party, Pikmin, etc. Way too much crap out there.
I don’t need the HD stuff. It’s nice, but, I like a good game.. a game that plays well, and takes awhile to complete.. one that’s not too linear.. it’s a simple formula really, but, many fail to follow it.
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- I used to be just a PC gamer, and never felt tempted to buy a console. Why should I? PC graphics cards and processing power have always stayed ahead of consoles, and plus I could also use those for doing useful work as well.
But when the Wii came along with its totally new concept of motion control, I had to buy one. There was nothing else like it anywhere, and as someone who found the original introduction of the mouse very appealing, the lure of motion control was too much to resist. When I finally managed to track down and buy a Wii, it was every bit as wonderful as I’d hoped for.
My favorite game was Wii Boxing, which I never got tired of playing. I still go back to that game for the basic primal pleasure of pummeling my opponent with real punching motions, as opposed to the mere visceral feel of button-pushing. I own a variety of Wii games, including Sports Resort with its fun Motionplus sword-fighting combat and table tennis, and Wii Fit Plus with its fun duck-n-shoot snowball fights and its fantastically aerobic Wii Jogging.
I really wish Nintendo hadn’t been so distracted by the worthwhile exercise-gaming market, and had made sure there were more of other kinds of games for Wii (sci-fi, military, fantasy, etc). I’m not just talking about games published directly by Nintendo, but games published by 3rd parties as well, because without these then no console can see its full market potential fulfilled. Instead of only throwing punches in Wii Boxing, I wish I could throw punches as a superhero knocking down walls or bad guys.I also wish I could box against people on the internet. I wish that I could use my Wii Balance Board to duck and reload in a game like Time Crisis or Keisatsukan Police. I wish that I could use my Wii Motionplus to toss grenades at the enemy with deft precision, or to fling a Tron Deadly Disc instead of just a frisbee.
The main reason that 3rd party developers didn’t go after the Wii, was because they were narrowly obsessed with graphics, and were too snobby to care about the fresh untapped potential of motion-based gaming, which they viewed as a mere novelty. Well, this ended up not just hurting Wii, but also hurting those developers themselves, since the rival consoles didn’t have the same large install base as Wii.
I’ve read the latest rumors about a “Wii-2″ or “Wii-HD” that might be released in Fall 2010, supporting 1080p, as well as having a Blu-Ray drive and Motionplus as part of its baseline tech. If that’s the case, then I’d be willing to buy it, but again how much satisfaction I get from it will depend on the quality of the games that come out for it. Unless Nintendo can get more 3rd party developers interested in making good games for it, then even the best hardware platform in the world won’t be able to show what its made of. Nintendo failed to grab the hardcore gamer market, but not so much because of the graphics limitations that the hardcores complain about, but because they couldn’t get enough 3rd parties on board and change their thinking to embrace motion control, so that Wii’s motion control would be exploited to its fullest potential.
I still love Wii Boxing and play it every week, even though I’ve spent more hours with it than any other game in my lifetime. I’m just surprised that its fun adrenaline-inducing punching dynamic hasn’t been replicated even once on any other Wii title. I’ll take superhero punching over boxing any day.
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