Wii Never Expected This … or Did We!?!
Today VGChartz announced that as of this week the Wii will overtake the XBOX360 and become the best selling console of this generation. This despite the fact that the Wii launched a year after the XBOX360.
Here are the numbers for the consoles:
And for the handhelds:
So what does any of that mean? For the first time since the SNES & GameBoy, Nintendo is completely dominating the gaming scene. Of course, you didn’t need to see something calling the Wii #1 to know that – it has dominated mind-share ever since its’ launch. This is a system that has been perpetually out of stock for over 9 months and has been outselling the XBOX360 by more than 2:1 week to week for quite some time. And that leaves the PS3 scraping up the remaining ~15% or so.
Similarly, the Nintendo DS has continued its’ meteoric rise. It is amazing to thing that when the PSP marked its’ first anniversary it was nearly tied with the 16-month old DS, each with between 15 and 16 million systems sold – of course, that was right before the launch of the DS Lite. Since then the DS has outsold the PSP nearly 5:1, so that while the DS has nearly reached 50 million sold, the PSP has reached just over 22 million. To put it in perspective, that is far more systems than either the GameCube or original XBOX sold, so there is no need to get into ‘PSP r teh fail-yer’ talk. Both systems are benefiting from more handheld users across a broader age and demographic range than ever before. Heck, the copy of Cooking Mama in our house is my wife’s game!
But specific to the console numbers, is there anything to be learned? Well, when Nintendo announced that they weren’t going to try to compete with Sony and Microsoft, people basically laughed at them based on the screens. The intriguing ‘Wiimote’ concept promised novel gameplay unlike anything before, but most analysts seemed to put Nintendo as a 2nd or 3rd place finisher in this console generation as well. And ever since the system has launched, many analysts have continued to predict that failure is right around the corner for the Wii. First it was based on the dry spell after the initial launch. Then it was going to be after people got sick of Wii Sports and Wii Play and some of the other early games. Yet here we are, several months later and people will STILL line up on a Sunday morning for a chance to get the system.
I am not predicting that Nintendo will ‘win’ this generation in terms of profit, they have already done something that is a major win for the entire industry – they have brought millions of new gamers into the fold. While virtually everything about Sony and Microsoft’s strategies are about ‘do it the same but prettier’ with some additions to online gameplay and parental controls, none of it is the sort of stuff that brings in new gamers. Hardcore sites were sick of Wii Sports before Christmas, but guess what? When we had my wife’s sister and her husband for a visit recently, we had another all-out Wii Sports tournament for several hours that was every bit as fun as when we’d done the same thing back in February. The sort of gamers that are broadening the base don’t grind games the way we hardcore gamers do, and therefore don’t tire nearly so quickly. Or, as my wife said – I couldn’t have cared less if the GameCube existed, but I am really glad we have the Wii – it is a blast!
August 24th, 2007 at 8:02 am
I still maintain that Nintendo hasn’t won this game – they’ve invented a new game with themselves as the sole player.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:27 am
Very true Simon … but whatever the game, they sure have sold an awful lot of systems in a pretty short time period!
August 25th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Simon, if this continues they’ll not only have “won the game” and “won the game as sole player” they’ll have “changed the game for the other players.” Unless you think MS and Sony will let Wii have the rest of the world while they quibble over the hardcore. . .
August 25th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
I think if you take a step back and look at it from another angle, you could say that what Nintendo has done is rebooted the games industry, or more accurately, they’ve clocked it. (Is that a regionalism? I know we’re all old enough to know what it means, but..)
It’s something I know I talked about before on the GamerDad forums, but the whole Wii vibe reminds me of what it was like at the start of the home console boom, when the whole family would gather round to play. Dad bringing the game machine into the house, instead of what became the kids begging for Nintendo’s latest and greatest.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Yeah the Wii does remind me of the ATari 2600 era and the included Combat cartridge. And yeah my DAd did bring home the machine. We kids didn’t ask for it.
Anyway the Wii is just reminding us that this is an entertainment business. Not a tech business.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Amen to that. While MS and Sony squabble over who has the more realistic gore, Nintendo is showing that what the majority of people want is to have fun playing games. The control scheme really sells the Wii, though. It’s so simple, my 3-yo can play several Wii games. In fact, the only person in our house (other than my wife, because she doesn’t really like to play video games at all) who doesn’t play on the Wii is my 6-yo, and that’s because he’s currently addicted to Pokémon and spends all his time on his GBA with Fire Red.