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Nintendo Wii U

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scottcr

scottcr

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you understand capitalism right?

my company (and others) have made profits year on year for past 5 years.

However not as high as they forecast (and would like) and as a result swinging cuts, layoffs and pay freezes.

When a corporation sets its sales targets and doesnt meet them it is a problem/disaster/catastrophe even if they make a profit.

oh I understand that - I've been on the receiving end of 'massive company not making as ridiculous profits this year compared to last'... but last time Nintendo made a loss. Now they have made a profit. That's growth. It's not what they expected - but it's growth from last year.

I'm not saying it's all happy days and party time... but the press seem to want to communicate it as 'is the WiiU already dead'... which is, frankly, a lot of fucking pish and extremely annoying, since it's just click baiting and trolling. I honestly thought Eurogamer were above that (their article yesterday).

We all know the problems the machine has - unless you've used it for a few days, you don't appreciate the good stuff it really does. The use of the Wii brand and the similarity in the design means that people think it's a Wii with a different controller.... that's a marketing thing and something that can be fixed. You know it's going to be host to superb 1st and 2nd party titles and the price is something they can deal with when the time is right.

It's almost like people wish to see Nintendo as a 3rd party - and I don't understand this. People say Nintendo doesn't have any hardcore games... and they announce Bayonetta 2... then the same people then complain that they don't want to buy a Nintendo to play Bayonetta 2. I don't get it.

Assassin's Creed 3 is down to £24 at Amazon, if anyone is interested.

does it have all the bugs and problems that people say the other two have? I'm assuming so...

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squirtle

squirtle

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I got AC3 from Asda at the weekend and I'm really enjoying it so far. Not had any crazy bugs or anything to spoil the flow of it. Admittedly I'm not that far in, about two hours or so, but so far, it's Assassin's Creed in the New World. Runs fine and is playable on the pad which is nice.

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Clipper

Clipper

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Our very own Rudderless seems to think that the WiiU is a 10 on the Dreamcastometer... surely there is no hope!

I dont think either of the extremes are helpful to be honest

your approach which occasionaly swings into "They will RULE ALL" is not helpful

Any point of view saying WiiU is doomed is premature at best.

Basically the EG article on sales yesterday was very good and balanced. It shows that the WiiU launch is middling in US and Japan, weak in Europe and much worse in UK*** (80k sold?)

So there is alot of work to do but it isnt dead yet :) It is likely to become the usual Nintendo 1st party machine though , and to be fair anyone thinking otherwise was living in cloud cuckoo land.

*** Actually can someone explain what is with the UK market? I saw report the other day that 360 sales are poised to overtake the Wii this year to make it #1 seller this gen in UK (currently it is 200000 units behind) and #3 of all time. Now we always point to US market and say oh well that is 360's home best market etc but there the 360 is still substantially short of Wii numbers. In europe generally PS3 stomps all over 360 let alone the Wii. So why is UK so pro-360

(I might try and find sales thread to ask this question)

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scottcr

scottcr

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no idea - but here's an annecdote... 15 year old who lives next door had no idea that his favourite game (Assasins Creed 3) was available on PS3... and had no idea what PS+ was. MS do a much better job of marketing to that key game consuming demographic of teenage boys.

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squirtle

squirtle

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*** Actually can someone explain what is with the UK market? I saw report the other day that 360 sales are poised to overtake the Wii this year to make it #1 seller this gen in UK (currently it is 200000 units behind) and #3 of all time. Now we always point to US market and say oh well that is 360's home best market etc but there the 360 is still substantially short of Wii numbers. In europe generally PS3 stomps all over 360 let alone the Wii. So why is UK so pro-360

(I might try and find sales thread to ask this question)

We speak the same language and our culture is constantly bombarded with stuff from America. It's not that hard to fathom.
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rgraves

rgraves

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Basically the EG article on sales yesterday was very good and balanced.

You honestly think that? It gave absolutely no frame of reference with regards to the current global economy - just basically compared everything together like people were still spending at the same levels as they always were and everything was rosy in the retail sector. I wonder if we'll see the same kind of article from them given the recent downturn in Apple sales/stock as well?

I'm not saying the Wii U has been the breakway success that Nintendo perhaps wanted (they are revising forecasts downwards afterall so clearly they have work to do), but to assume that the market for a console is the same right now as it was when the last generation launched is clearly incorrect.

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Clipper

Clipper

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You honestly think that? It gave absolutely no frame of reference with regards to the current global economy - just basically compared everything together like people were still spending at the same levels as they always were and everything was rosy in the retail sector. I wonder if we'll see the same kind of article from them given the recent downturn in Apple sales/stock as well?

I'm not saying the Wii U has been the breakway success that Nintendo perhaps wanted (they are revising forecasts downwards afterall so clearly they have work to do), but to assume that the market for a console is the same right now as it was when the last generation launched is clearly incorrect.

I do think that , the Pachter quote was ill advised (what professional analyst just comes out with phrase fanboys?) but other than that pretty factual.

You are right that it did not mention current economic position, yes it has an impact on sales obviously, but to all intents and purposes the end result is same.

If Nintendo have sold fewer consoles than they expected and fewer than other bigger consoles then from a business perspective it doesnt matter if it was due to people not liking it, economic position or indeed little green men from mars. The result is that publishers will look at WiiU and think "we arent going to port this or that game to WiiU as userbase is too small to be profitable".

Carriyng on down that line sales will continue to be low if people see WiiU as a low selling machine with very little third party support.

if it sold gangbusters (again reason is irrelevant) then we might well have seen a few more ports etc which creates a better proposition to potential buyers.

So the long and short of it is that it doesnt really matter WHY it isn't selling as well as hoped or as well as previous machines... the fact it is selling less makes it a less attractive proposition to publishers and by extension consumers.

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scottcr

scottcr

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I reckon even if the WiiU sold a gabillion - it would still struggle with the big 3rd parties in the West mainly... as they are not interested in trying to succeed on a Nintendo console with their multi-platform games.

I do think the WiiU is going big for indies though - Unity 3D support, publishers set their own price and sales, no need to have an office.

Ease of access aside, it's *very* hard to make money on iOS. Just see the recent story about Gunman Clive.

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SMD

SMD

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So the long and short of it is that it doesnt really matter WHY it isn't selling as well as hoped or as well as previous machines... the fact it is selling less makes it a less attractive proposition to publishers and by extension consumers.

Of course it matters. What if the answer was 'there isn't enough demand for a new console' and come Microsoft and Sony's offerings they have an even bigger struggle in the market?

There's no point in rolling them off in vast numbers if there's only a small portion of the market ready to upgrade. Likewise, if it's a case of people simply not being aware then they need to crank up the marketing.

It's interesting that the 3DS is obliterating all in its path after a lukewarm (at best) release. And this is with Animal Crossing (outside of Japan), Pokemon and Monster Hunter yet to come.

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rgraves

rgraves

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There was something in the 3DS' path to start with?

Lots and lots of people (many analysts and industry folks certainly) thought Vita was going to blow it away. They said the same about the DS with the PSP.

It's amazing really - Sony have won two generations, and underperformed in at least three (PSP/PS3/Vita) - but you never hear the same screams for them to go third party as you do for Nintendo....makes you wonder if the people screaming are actually Sony fans who just want Nintendo content but don't want to be seen having to stoop to buying Nintendo hardware to get at it <massive winkey woo>.

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rgraves

rgraves

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Yeah, the DS.

Actually, I think it wouldn't be the worst move Nintendo could do to pull a MS and kill the Wii with fire right now. It's taking up retail space in the likes of Tesco/Asda etc that they could do with being shifted over to the Wii U stat.

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SMD

SMD

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Actually, I think it wouldn't be the worst move Nintendo could do to pull a MS and kill the Wii with fire right now. It's taking up retail space in the likes of Tesco/Asda etc that they could do with being shifted over to the Wii U stat.

I dunno, it must be peanuts to manufacture and money is money after all. Also technically speaking there aren't any 'casual' first party games out right now so if someone wanted Wii Sports/Fit/whatever but to upgrade then the competition is Kinect and Move.

They've got that Wii U party game coming out in the summer and Wii Fit U will probably get an airing at E3, so maybe they'll retire the Wii once those are out? So perhaps one last Christmas and then a push to show that all their peripherals will work with the Wii U. I guess maybe emphasise that it's an easy upgrade path and chuck out Wii Fit as a cheap download/disc only package.

I guess it's hard to say that if the Wii vacated that shopping space, it'd be taken up by the Wii U. For all we know the space would be swallowed up by the PS360.

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mushashi

mushashi

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You honestly think that? It gave absolutely no frame of reference with regards to the current global economy - just basically compared everything together like people were still spending at the same levels as they always were and everything was rosy in the retail sector. I wonder if we'll see the same kind of article from them given the recent downturn in Apple sales/stock as well?

I'm not saying the Wii U has been the breakway success that Nintendo perhaps wanted (they are revising forecasts downwards afterall so clearly they have work to do), but to assume that the market for a console is the same right now as it was when the last generation launched is clearly incorrect.

People do seem to love to point to the economy as the primary problem, but I'd love an answer to something which has been bugging me for a while.

If the economic situation is to blame for underperformance of something, can somebody explain the historical situation with Japan, whose economy went south over 20 years ago, the lost decade(s) as people have to now call it. They've also been struggling with a shrinking pool of kids since the 1980s aswell.

Despite that, during this period of economic crapness domestically, the highest ever selling home console and highest ever selling portable console were launched.

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SMD

SMD

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I got NSMBU from my local big Tesco launch weekend. I guess YMMV when it comes to stock.

It's getting more prominent in Game and HMV though. Getting the middle shelving means it faces you as you enter the shop.

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Clipper

Clipper

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its treading over old ground but I was shocked (ok maybe mildly perturbed) on launch day when I went into ASDA to see their pricing and asking at counter after a fruitless search showing nothing not even promotional posters etc.

To be told it wasnt out yet! And then a more knowledgeable fellow said they werent stocking it yet.

and then finding out it was same at all the other supermarkets.

I'd love to know the story of this... the successor to Wii , darling of the casual market isnt stocked by supermarkets on launch day???

And yeah rgraves, the baying for Nintendo to go 3rd party is purrly because owners of other consoles love those exclusives but dont want another console.

Console exclusives are the bane of gaming and mean that the more dedicated(mad) among us have to own more than one console :)

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