The Video Game Critic

scotland wrote:
I will say the Wii was successful in selling the console, but not necessarily selling software. This may have left Nintendo feeling the need to make a profit on the hardware alone.

I would contest both parts of that. Nintendo has always (until Wii U) aimed for profit on hardware. That has always been their model; making them very different than Sony and their usual (until PS4 which makes it a perfect switch) lose money on the razors to make it back on the blades plan. The Wii had nothing to do with that plan. It was just one more in a long line of hardware Nintendo wanted to turn a profit on selling.

As for the software part, that is a common misconception. Over 100 Wii titles shipped over a million units. I apologize for the Wiikipedia referencing, but it's easier than linking the sources):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Wii_video_games

You will note that those numbers compare favourably to very good selling PS2 titles, and the numbers match up for a long way down the list, with the top selling Wii titles pulling some respectable numbers compared to some very big games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_b ... ideo_games

I would argue the reason people think the Wii didn't sell much software is because the average person making that argument is a gamer (or they wouldn't be interested in that type of argument) and a gamer is usually a person with little interest in things like "Just Dance" which doesn't keep Just Dance 2 from outselling God of War. It also could explain why, in 2015, Ubisoft (one of the largest game publishers on Earth) is still putting their next Just Dance game out on Wii. Or why Activision (the largest game publisher) is still making the next Skylanders game for it. The Wii sold a lot of software. It's just hard to keep that in mind when it sold Just Dance instead of God of War, Skylanders instead of Final Fantasy, and Wii Fit instead of Halo.

Not necessarily true about Sega, they've had some success with the Yakuza series(if it wasn't successful, it wouldn't be a series in the first place) and games like Alien Isolation, so I don't think it's all that farfetched for Nintendo to be able to do well doing something similar.

Atarifever wrote: As for the software part, that is a common misconception. Over 100 Wii titles shipped over a million units.

When 100 million people, many of them families, buy a console, selling a million of a title is a not necessarily a success. The software tie ratio, or the number of games a console owner buys, is another way to look at it. I looked at VGChatz and was surprised at how hig it is for the Wii. Its actually quite respectable.

So, I will put this one down as learning something new today.

A side question is, looking at the best selling Wii titles, I see the best of the motion control games. The Wii U backed away from that, so my guess is that those games sold well until 2010 or so, then peetered out. By 2012, Nintendo may have thought the bloom was off the lily. Yet remove those games from the Wii, even keeping 100 million consoles, and the software sales no longer look so sweet.

We say Nintendo keeps harping on Mario and friends, but they innovated with motion controls and abandoned them as quickly. Wonder if they could not have built on that house instead of foreclosing.

scotland wrote:
A side question is, looking at the best selling Wii titles, I see the best of the motion control games. The Wii U backed away from that, so my guess is that those games sold well until 2010 or so, then peetered out. By 2012, Nintendo may have thought the bloom was off the lily. Yet remove those games from the Wii, even keeping 100 million consoles, and the software sales no longer look so sweet.

We say Nintendo keeps harping on Mario and friends, but they innovated with motion controls and abandoned them as quickly. Wonder if they could not have built on that house instead of foreclosing.

Very good question. It may surprise people, but I am not a huge fan of waggle games and motion control (with a few exceptions like Wii Sports). I was buying stuff in 2011 and 2012 for the Wii like the scattered new Neo Geo VC release (those continued a surprisingly long time) and games like Pandora's Tower and The Last Story. The LAST thing I wanted was them to keep making waggle games. I wanted them to make "gamer games." I was happy with the direction of the Wii U.

The Wii U went high Def. They attracted third parties at launch better than the Wii ever did (Mass Effect, Deus Ex, Zombie U, Assassin's Creed, COD, Arkam, etc.).

Now look at where that got them. Meanwhile, this year, Skylanders and Just Dance are likely to quietly sell a million units on Wii. This year. One million sellers. On Wii.

Perhaps Nintendo should have banked everything on abandoning people like me after all. Maybe an underpowered, $200 waggle machine with something like iTunes support and an app store, with huge focus on dance and sports games would have made them way more money than a HD tablet driven machine playing Bayonetta.

It's an interesting thought.

Waggle games. Thats amusing.

You are right...getting Batman et al not only did not help, but invited unfavorable comparisons. Could it have been better to double down on waggle, and still keep the core Nintendo IPs? A power PC console with better motion controller and a pro controller instead of the gamepad? Focus on family fun, let the gamers go play elsewhere.

New console in the works, so we'll see where they go. Wish them well as gaming would be diminished without a Ninty console.

I admit it, I am a 44 year old chick who likes waggle games, am I a gamer??? Well I play games every single day, do I count??
Nintendo I am your customer, I want family friendly games with a simple to use console, leave the complicated stuff to sony and microsoft.
Yes sony and microsoft are the bees knees for my thirteen year old and my husband. We get it.
I am rooting for you Nintendo, don't let me down !!

scotland wrote:Waggle games. Thats amusing.

You are right...getting Batman et al not only did not help, but invited unfavorable comparisons. Could it have been better to double down on waggle, and still keep the core Nintendo IPs? A power PC console with better motion controller and a pro controller instead of the gamepad? Focus on family fun, let the gamers go play elsewhere.

New console in the works, so we'll see where they go. Wish them well as gaming would be diminished without a Ninty console.

Looking at it now, I wonder if that isn't the better idea. A pro controller for VC stuff (which I think you sell on TV to consumers as the iTunes of old console games, with low price points). A Wiimote for simple family games and selecting stuff on TV and as a low priced second, third, and fourth player controller would be great.

For awhile, the most common way people watched Netflix was on Wii. Everyone can (and did) figure that interface out, and Chromecast and Apple TV really still haven't cemented that space, so Nintendo could certainly have still claimed it in 2012.

It would be interesting if they had done a $200 box with the two controllers, Netflix and Youtube (and a few other simple, popular services), a cheap VC, and the next Mario Kart, Mario Party, Wii Sports, etc. Name that the Wii 2, and maybe you can sell the Wii brand forever.

Conventional wisdom was that the casual-family market was lost to Nintendo to smartphones. I wonder now if anyone, anywhere has that market at all. The four people standing around the TV and playing Wii bowling market certainly isn't playing iPad together. They're still apparently sometimes playing Just Dance together. How much more would they be likely to play a new Wii Sports or Mario Kart on the Wii 2?

What if the NX is merely a VC subscription plan. Subscribe for $10 a month and get unlimited access to whatever is in the vaults.

Use the Wii U, your 3DS, or even the NX (aka Wii U minus the game pad)?

Instead of Nintendo offering Netflix, what if Nintendo's new game plan is to BECOME NetFlix for gamers.

For $10 a month I'd subscribe. If it stunk, well then I'd move on. But the way you'd keep people hooked is to offer seasons of games. Once a week release a new level for Mario or a new dungeon for Zelda. You can either binge play all at once or take it in little by little.

There's a reason NetFlix went streaming it's low cost delivery method combined with high cash flows makes them incredibly profitable. What if Nintendo did the same thing?

ActRaiser wrote:What if the NX is merely a VC subscription plan. Subscribe for $10 a month and get unlimited access to whatever is in the vaults.

Use the Wii U, your 3DS, or even the NX (aka Wii U minus the game pad)?

Instead of Nintendo offering Netflix, what if Nintendo's new game plan is to BECOME NetFlix for gamers.

For $10 a month I'd subscribe. If it stunk, well then I'd move on. But the way you'd keep people hooked is to offer seasons of games. Once a week release a new level for Mario or a new dungeon for Zelda. You can either binge play all at once or take it in little by little.

There's a reason NetFlix went streaming it's low cost delivery method combined with high cash flows makes them incredibly profitable. What if Nintendo did the same thing?

$10 a month is too much IMO. That's $120 a year when XBox Live Gold and PSN are $60 and $50, respectively. And they both offer a steady stream of free games each month. Sure, Nintendo's backlog is much deeper, but after beating say Super Mario Bros 3 in one sitting when am I going to want to play it again? I think videogames are more suited to the quarterly/yearly card format rather than the Netflix format.

Interesting concept Actraiser. I hate it. Here's an idea that is awesome, but completely unrealistic...... How about a machine that plays all old Nintendo games, NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, all Gameboy games & all DS games? It can play using all the original games. To add more to this Nintendo can release "collections". Say Ice Climber, Wrecking Crew & Soccer on a disc as NES Trio #1. That way they can still sell new games based on old games. They could create more advanced Wii Sports games w/ career modes, more early-style platformers NES-style say Super Mario Bros. 4. A new Super Mario RPG in the tradition of the SNES. Here would be a great opportunity to create games for old systems that just never got done.