Wii Sales Are All Downhill From Here

NintendoGal.com muses on why the Wii's sales will not return to the levels they once had.

[tacosRcool]

The Wii has been just a gimmick since day one. Shows that people don't want to buy something they will hardly use

[Shoko]

It's 70+ million units strong, and 4 years-old. OF COURSE sales are going to start declining. Mostly everyone who wanted a Wii has one by now. Think man.

[tacosRcool]

So who actually still plays their Wii? Most of my friends don't play it at all so its a sales gimmick and people are not falling for it anymore

[-Alpha]

The Wii is not a gimmick, but it has a poor ratio of shovelware to good games. The motion isn't nearly as sophisticated as Move, but for the time it was innovative to use. And some games used them well. A lot of crappy developers used it AS a gimmick, but by nature the motion wasn't gimmicky or bad.

The declining sales do not prove anything bad except that it's peaked its popularity-- a peak, mind you, that is far above anything MS or Sony has reached this gen.

The Wii has had some good games this gen, hell SMG2 is well on its way to being GOTY (if going by Metacritic overall scores).

Additionally Nintendo has a good list of games down the road. Kirby's Epic Yarn has also gotten strong scores.

Just because the Wii isn't always argued over in console wars doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, count, or is being enjoyed by people.

I do still have some strong criticisms about the Wii. It's outdated in terms of graphics and online. These things should be something that Nintendo focuses on. Their hardware limitations have limited a huge list of multiplats found on the other 3 major platforms

[xXxSeTTriPxXx]

and it's 140million sold.it's not because it's the fastest selling console or because it's four yrs old.it's because it saturated it's tragiced market.alot of core gamers are not into the wii and are not apting to buy one.and the demography the wii tragiced isn't into all the upgrade such as a new console every x amount of years, soccer moms and granparents still have the same SD t.v they've had for many years so getting them to buy everything nintendo is going to be a very hard sale.so for there next consoles cycle nintendo well have to crawl back to the very demography they neglected for two console cycles in a row(witch is the core gamers).it's a slappery slop nintendo is going down right now, with M$ and sony gearing up to cut into there market share, there might not be a reason to own a wii in the furture, besides the diehard fist party nintendo fans. and whoever diagrees is either a fanboy or, the truth hurts.nintendo did great but a quick buck gimmick is always never furture proof and thats a fact.

[Cratos8780]

wii is dead

[UltraNova]

I will agree with xxx above despite his harsh way of putting things.

And Alpha you should appreciate competition, something that the Wii didn't have in its 4 years. Its not a coincidence that their sales decline now that their new found competition is offering what they are but with 10 times more quality all around (talking about Move for now, Kinect has a lot to prove).

Does anybody here think that if Move and Kinect were around at their respective system's lunch, Nintendo would have the same results? I for one say, HELL NO!

[Mahr]

"Its not a coincidence that their sales decline now"

Right, it's not a coincidence because their sales have been declining for a while.

[UltraNova]

@mahr

Wii sales started to decline since the announcement of both Move and Natal, not to mention their price cuts.

Only now that Move has been proven its worth and its out for sale did the huge decline start, not to mention Kinect's market push and near release day.

I mean look at the month over month numbers for the last year, its amazing how much momentum the Wii lost!

Now how's that for a coincidence? ;-)

[Mahr]

"Wii sales started to decline since the announcement of both Move and Natal"

Move and Natal were not announced in 08, so, no.

"Only now that Move has been proven its worth and its out for sale did the huge decline start"

'Only now'? Wii sold 244,300 in August in the US. Then Move came out in September, where the Wii sold 254,000. If by 'huge decline', you mean 'small increase', okay.

"I mean look at the month over month numbers for the last year, its amazing how much momentum the Wii lost!"

Right, and it's been down month-on-month for the past several months.

"Now how's that for a coincidence? ;-)"

Er, post hoc ergo prompter hoc. Being down month-on-month for September doesn't mean that the Move caused that. If it did, then we would have to blame the Move for the PS3 also declining from 491,800 in September of 09 to 312,000 in September of this year.

[johnthe5th]

Exactly. Since every human being seems to own one (and has absolutely no excuse not to) I don't see where else the sales can go :P

[Orionsangel]

It was a gimmick and a good one. People were curious. Nintendo knows how to lure them in, a smart move on their part coming from prior gen which saw the Gamecube coming in last place. Nintendo knew they'd get the Zelda, Mario, Metroid fans for their next console, but it would be a repeat of the cube. How can we impress not just Nintendo fans, but the world. Motion control. It worked and made them millions. From a business stand point it's brilliant, from a modern gamers pov, who likes the best graphics, HD and his crowded online community with friends, not so good.

[eagle21]

Call me when the other consoles have sold 75 million. :)

Wii had 5 out of the 10 best selling games of 2010 so far in the NPD report yesterday. 360 had 3 and PS3 had 1.

I bet Wii will sell millions this holiday. :)

[Enigma_2099]

... and yet this "gimmick" is now being copied by it's two main competitors...

Why rip off a potential "failure?"

As for the article itself... did they expect sales to remain strong right up to it's retirement? The market is saturated with Wiis at this point. People aren't buying as many because they probably already have one.

It also doubles as a kick@$$ GameCube.

[matey]

wii graphics as of late are amazing and better than 360 in some cases and with about 2 years left in the current wii it doesnt matter if they sell a quarter of what they did 2-4 years ago as the wii has smashed the ps2 in terms of records ect so the wii has done its job already it needs to simmer down now so we get the wii2 that metroid creator says will leave u with your jaw on the floor

[Calm Down Sunshine]

I'm still not sure why I bought one of these..

[pcz]

Nintendo are still laughing all the way to the bank.

[Seferoth75]

When you are the fastest selling console in history it happens. Especially since Nintendo is getting their honestly unlike Sony who had to have a console with a 100% failure rate until a class action lawsuit.

Of course many nongamers will make "why did I buy it comments" I don't know but if you are not using it for the truckload of games out you must not be a gamer.

Still it isnt like sales matter. Not stopping me from enjoying the console

[Calm Down Sunshine]

"truckload of games"

Oh jesus no.

There's about 10 worth getting, most of which don't offer anything overly fantastic, or anything at all, in the multiplayer department.

[Calm Down Sunshine]

Anyone going to prove me wrong?

It's all too easy to press disagree then dash in to the night.

[PirateThom]

I, frankly, don't disagree... for all the talk of "great new gameplay experiences", there's very little on Wii that is "new" never mind great.

Multiplayer aside, because it's irrlevent to me, there is a handful of a good Wii games... that just DIDN'T need to be on Wii with that controller.

[Enigma_2099]

... but since lack of multiplayer = fail in your eyes, what's the point?

[Eu]

"Especially since Nintendo is getting their honestly unlike Sony who had to have a console with a 100% failure rate until a class action lawsuit."

??? Im looking at my launch PS2 here, that still works perfectly, and Im still trying to discover what you're talking about....

Besides some BS you've said, Wii sold more on price alone than quality of its shovelware and a the fery few and sparce good games that came out to it.

Nintendo will keep selling on price for the next few years. That and the eventual good game that is.

[Seferoth75]

Yes kid I am sure you are looking at your launch console PS2.... Not going to argue facts with some first gen child too stupid to look into things before running their.

Sony being sued into fixing the PS2 is common knowledge. Why don't you pull your head out of your a$$ for 5 minutes and Google some history

[Britney Spears]

lol seferoth is mad wii has crap graphics and most of the owners are not even real gamers. ps3 is currently outselling wii in japan and it cost more...

[Seferoth75]

LOL someone is a poor delusional fanboy.. Sad that you live in the US and have to pull up Japan to have an area where PS3 sales are decent.

Too bad PS3 is 36million behind Wii with no chance of catching up..

Who is more upset? Me with the console with the highest rated games this gen, or you who paid for so much more and cant even get a better game than a last gen console?
2 biggest areas PS3 fails. Not a single PS3 game is rated as high as SMG2 and not a single PS3 game can touch the highest selling Wii game.

In fact 4 years into the consoles life MGS is still one of the best selling. It isnt selling any more and hasnt for a long time but PS3 gamers are not game buyers. All those great PS3 exclusives that came out in the last 5 years have failed to match the sales on a 4 year old game. Why? Because most of the PS3 user base is a bunch of casual gaming children like you who know nothing about gaming.

[Venoxn4g]

it has a lot of good games, not some, but a lot, really. So yeah, many peeple bought it and this is the case that sales are declining..many people have it..

[Justin_bristoe]

Wii KNOW

[Orionsangel]

Ah finally. The gimmick is wearing off. The gimmick that fooled millions of people to get into gaming via a motion controller. They were never serious about gaming. It was a fad to them. They've moved on. The Wii's motion control will be looked back upon on one of those VH1 look back at the decades shows.

I gotta hand it to Nintendo though. Pairing up motion control with what was essentially a Gamecube disguised in a white case was brilliant. They made millions luring in suckers. All that's left now are real Nintendo fans. It'll be interesting to see what Nintendo does for their next console. Now that the wow factor of motion control has worn off. We're left to assume it'll be something like the 3DS. 3D glasses free console for your TV?

If anyone disagrees with this post. You'll have 5 years of bad luck.

[Apotheosize]

I'm not sure "everyone already has one" is a good enough reason. The DS is still selling like crazy everyone also has one of those, the PS1 got to 100m, and the Ps2 got to 140m, and now the 360 and the PS3 are outselling it the Wii. I really dont think its "everyone already has a wii". I think its more so that the competition has just more to offer in terms of services and value. With Kinect and PS Move, the reason to own a Wii (all ages gaming) has been adapted by the competitors and people are just ready to step it up. Now of course the Wii isnt doing horribly or anything, it still is selling quite a bit, but just not as great as it used to and I think its because appealing to the casual market is going in for the quick buck, Nintendo excelled at this, but now the consumers have gotten over it and are ready to move on

[spektical]

i called it a loong time ago.
most wiis are jsut stored away, until a party arrives thats when the wii pays for itself.

[DaBadGuy]

Can't be declining that much, the thing still has monster sales. New adopters aren't going to buy a 360 with Kinect or a PS3 with Move when you can get the whole shebang with a wii for 150. Yeah I don't play the shovelware but against all odds and no matter how much it makes Jesus cry, they buy it. I only really buy Nintendo franchise stuff like Kirby, Metroid, Mario, etc. but on occasion a Madworld or No More Heroes comes along and rocks my junk.

Also: here's a bunny rabbit.
(\ /)
( . .)
c(”)(”)

[Eu]

And the fact that some people only buy Nintendo games is one of the many reason Wii is suffering with decreasing sales. 3rd Party doenst really wants to make games to it because it simply doesnt sells as well as 1st.

We all complain aboout the shovelware, but Nintendo canibalizes the games sales so much in their consoles its no fun to try and lauching some quality games in there, so its easier to sell 1-2 million units of shovelware and make quick buck there.

[Vizion26]

Remember last christmas gamers thought the Wii 'fad' was over but then the NPD numbers showed the Wii sold more units than any other console ever?

Prepare for another Wii domination especially with the NSMB Wii bundle.

Gamers will eat crow once again. History tends to repeat itself.
You guys never seem to get it right with the Wii.

[DNAbro]

^this

Plus wii actually has a good line up with Kirby, Donkey Kong, Mickey, and sonic.

[Matthew94]

well with 70m units who is complaining?

also didnt wii make a profit from the outset unlike ps3 and 360 which made horrendous hardware losses

[SkylineR]

So if the Wii was a gimmick from day 1, what does that make Move and Kinect? Gimmick follow ups?

Like alpha-male said, the Wii has it's share of shovelware but it also has great games that talented developers put the hardware to good use.

But I agree that Nintendo need to update their hardware. The Wii is pretty much running a beefed up GameCube processor and personally I think it looks sub-par for today.

[Dogswithguns]

Time for a price drop. now I gonna buy one finally.

[Eu]

Get ready, because its coming fast. Before Christmas for sure...

Well, maybe not, Nintendo will look weak for its investors and so...

Ah whatever...never gonna buy that either way.

And before someone bash me, besides Fire Emblem, theres nothing on Wii that makes me want to buy it, none of the old IPs and teh shovelware are really worth IMO.

[BrutallyBlunt]

It's really a simple question. Aside from 1st party games and a few exclusives like Epic Mickey what does the Wii offer? The online isn't very good compared to what else is out there, the hardware isn't very good compared to the Playstation 3 and the XBOX360. So it's now come down to the exclusives and price. Well the price isn't really that enticing now with the XBOX360 starting at $199 and the Playstation 3 starting at $299 and the exclusives are not enough in my opinion.

The Wii fad is over and now that the Move has proven it's effectiveness on what it can do the motion controls on the Wii have become a lot less of a selling point. Kinect will further hamper the demand for the Wii. Nintendo did a poor job at working with 3rd party developers like always. Now they have two other platforms to release motion controlled games on which will result in better sales for them, and as time went by with people getting into high def and the online component suffering consumers will gravitate elsewhere.