Since NPD no longer provides hardware sales data, we now have to rely on whatever the platform holders or analysts can give us. Following yesterday's dismal September sales report, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter noted that the Wii sold just 254,000 units during the month, which is down 45% year-over-year and makes the Nintendo platform the worst selling console in September.
The Wii has definitely struggled more than Nintendo would like in 2010, as sales for the console have slowed and software sales are crawling along. Even Nintendo President Satoru Iwata admitted that the Wii could be in "trouble" this holiday season if Nintendo doesn't step up its game.
Pachter was especially critical of Nintendo, noting that the "Wii continues to struggle due to gamer fatigue and a lack of high-profile releases." He added that on the handheld side, the DS business may also be hurt by the iPod Touch, which is "cannibalizing dedicated game handheld hardware sales; he said to "expect weakness in handhelds to persist until the 2011 introduction of the Nintendo 3DS."
Part of the industry decline can definitely be put on Nintendo's shoulders as there was a decline in Wii software sales (down 24%, and by over $385 million) and a decline in DS software sales (down 10%, and by $90 million). However, the decline of the music genre has been worse, down 69%, and in absolute dollars down by nearly $350 million.
Pachter also once again brought up the "Wii HD" idea, noting that Nintendo may have missed out on a big opportunity. "In our view, the Wii’s malaise is most likely attributable to the rapid increase in household penetration of HD televisions, with new HDTV owners anxious to embark upon an HD gaming experience. This partially explains why the Wii’s unit sales dropped into third place in September, notwithstanding a $100 lower price point and the bundling of two games with each console," he commented. "In our view, the era of standard definition gaming is rapidly coming to an end, and Nintendo may have missed the opportunity to revitalize its large installed base of consumers by offering them an HD version of the Wii before Sony and Microsoft encroach with motion control schemes of their own."
7 Comments
October 15, 2010
Good stuff as usual. As you are a business users website, I think you know, need to cater to business readers. Industrygamers is in desparate need of a mobile website.
October 15, 2010
Nintendo will rebound this November and December as they did in 2009. Maybe not to the tune of selling 4 million Wii's but it will once again be a very large number.
October 15, 2010
I guess it will come down to Wii Party to be the big seller for the Wii this holiday season.
October 15, 2010
And perhaps Santa will bring them a pony! Seriously why would Nintendo's sales rebound unless something changes to make that happen? Nintendo thinks they have a solution to the DS line's woes, but they have yet to come up with anything to help the Wii. What they've tried, as Pachter says, isn't working. I don't think Christmas looks very good for them.
October 15, 2010
This time, Nintendo needed an add on similar to that old-and-discarded SNES-CDROM and the Wii seems to be unable to support something like that (unless they use both USB ports). I believe that we will have a Wii successor as early as 2012. Otherwise, Nintendo might be in several trouble.
October 16, 2010
I love the Gloom and Doom that this is trying to portray...I believe the Wii will still sell extremely well this holiday because thats what Nintendo Does...Sell big number during november and december... Even at this pace it will take Sony and Microsoft TWO years of consistently outselling wii to CATCH up let alone pass the Wiis worldwide sales figures... Will someone tell pachter the Wii HD isnt coming this holiday season either...same as last year and the year before that... Somebody please knock this guy off his "podium".
October 18, 2010
Nothing happens in a vacuum. It can be easy to over-react to short-term trends, but there's definite reason to think the Wii has some problems. Firstly, the PS3 and Xbox 360 are closer to it in price than they were in the past, so much of that advantage has been whittled away. Second, Kinect and Move offer genuine alternatives to the Wii's motion sensing - let's say that captures 30 percent of the customers that would have bought a Wii this holiday; that's pretty big especially if attitudes towards the Wii are cooling in general. Third, even Nintendo says that good software drives hardware sales; they had it in New Super Mario Bros. Wii last year and in years previous they had other titles like Wii Fit and I'm not sure anything is quite that large in 2010. Fourth, Kinect has an "it" factor that is difficult to describe; I'm not sure it'll be the greatest thing for games to be honest, but it has a "shiny and new" quality that I think could make it the next best thing for casual gaming customers that could have in previous years bought the Wii.