Nintendo's marketing stategy not as good as they'd hoped.

Nintendo has made a lot of their money off of the casual gamers, but I've noticed something about casual gamers; all they need is one game to satisfy them for a few months and then they don't care anymore. My sister asks everyday if we can play Mario baseball. It's not that great a game, but I figure she'll get tired of it soon......... wrong! She still wants to play it!

Then, ther was the games like Wii Fit and Nintendogs. She'd play those for months on end. Now, she barely touches either of them.

So what it boils down to, is that all these commercials about Boom Blox, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic, and Wii Fit may entice people to buy Nintendo's casual games, but they'll only buy one or two then be done with it.

Nintendo, if you hear me, please help us hardcore gamers before we comepletely turn to Sony and Microsoft for our gaming needs............... MAKE MARIO, ZELDA, POKEMON, METROID, PIKMIN, STARFOX, AND A DECENT DONKEY KONG GAME ALREADY!

Nintendo, if you hear me, please help us hardcore gamers before we comepletely turn to Sony and Microsoft for our gaming needs

rockwii13

Who's beating that dead horse?

Oh, its you.

DK needs to go back to being a platformer.-CheeseEater-

^THIS

agreed.

[QUOTE="-CheeseEater-"]DK needs to go back to being a platformer.Pesantez

^THIS

Yes please! DK64 was super happy fun excellent!

aren't you guys been just a bit harsh at Nintendo?

I'm the first one to agree that nintendo Wii has a vast majority of games for casual gamers, but to say there's nothing for hardcore gamers, that's kind of a big leap....

I mean, No More Heroes, Fire Emblem, Super Mario Galaxy, Agatha Cristie, Zak and Wiki, Alone in the Dark, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.... The list is, actually, kinda big.... not to mention the Tales of Symphonia 2, that should be arriving sometime soon... and the Lego Games are pretty cool as well...

The diference is that Sony and Microsoft ONLY have games for hardcore gamers, so you think it's better for hardcore gamers because of that.

I'm tired of people who only buy Nintendo games on a Nintendo console like the OP.

Please, buy some 3rd party games like Tales of Symphonia, Fragile, Kizuna, Little King Story,... You're missing your "hardcore" games.

Four words:
Blue Ocean Strategy = working
Haziqonfire

QFT and I would not be surprised to see Microsoft and Sony copying the same strategy next gen.

BTW, I like your avatar.

I'm tired of people who only buy Nintendo games on a Nintendo console like the OP.

Please, buy some 3rd party games like Tales of Symphonia, Fragile, Kizuna, Little King Story,... You're missing your "hardcore" games.

chris3116

Bingo!

Another person saying Mario and Zelda

They are CASUAL franchises meant for anyone to pick up and play

nintendo has gone down a path I care not to follow.Darthmatt

They've done this since the NES

[QUOTE="Haziqonfire"]Four words:
Blue Ocean Strategy = working
chris3116

QFT and I would not be surprised to see Microsoft and Sony copying the same strategy next gen.

BTW, I like your avatar.

I'm the first one to agree that nintendo Wii has a vast majority of games for casual gamers, but to say there's nothing for hardcore gamers, that's kind of a big leap....

BrunoBear

Who said that there's nothing for hardcore gamers? And no, Sony/MS don't have games only for hardcore gamers. They have casual titles too. Two you've probably heard of are Viva Pinata for 360 and LittleBigPlanet for PS3. There are others.

I'm tired of people who only buy Nintendo games on a Nintendo console like the OP.

chris3116

Why do you assume the OP only buys Nintendo games? In any case, it's irrelevant what the OP buys because his point still stands. We're talking about NINTENDO'S marketing strategy and what CASUAL GAMERS are buying, not 3rd party devs' marketing strategies and what hardcore gamers are buying.

If their strategy wasn't working they would have changed their strategy by now.

Nintendo sells more hardware than the other companies every week (and makes a profit off of each console, mind you), and they sell more software than the others as well.

I don't know where you're getting your information, but they're not in trouble. What I'm seeing here is just another case of "Me, me, me! It's all about me!".

So you have a few options:

1) Give in and buy a new system (it's not a crime to own more than one system, after all)

2) Look into what 3rd party devs have to offer (which is a lot, coincidently)

3) Get a new hobby. Casual games aren't going anywhere any time soon (in fact, they're probably still on the rise), so if it bothers you, maybe you should move on. Or,

4) Of course, you can accept it. There are some good casual-driven games out there, such as Mario Galaxy, De Blob, Mario Kart, Boom Blox, and so on.

* In a Hippie voice* Expand your horizons, man!

[QUOTE="Darthmatt"]nintendo has gone down a path I care not to follow.Jaysonguy

They've done this since the NES

The sad part is no one will admit this, except t hose old enough to understand what games are really for.

And TC, whats wrong with Boom Blox, that was an incredibly fun game that I do intend to buy .. eventually(when I'm not so damned poor). Nintendo is making plenty of money off their core franchies like SMG, TP, MP3, and SSBB.

Another person saying Mario and Zelda

They are CASUAL franchises meant for anyone to pick up and play

Jaysonguy

wtf? zelda? um no.

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Another person saying Mario and Zelda

They are CASUAL franchises meant for anyone to pick up and play

mrjam0

wtf? zelda? um no.

What's the point of your post?

Cake is cake. Black is black. And Zelda IS casual.

It's an easy game that attracts newcomers.

That's basically the definition of casual.

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Another person saying Mario and Zelda

They are CASUAL franchises meant for anyone to pick up and play

mrjam0

wtf? zelda? um no.

Games, in essence, are not hardcore... people who play them are. Would you call a person playing Tetris for 15 hours straight, a casual player? Would you call someone playing a card game for 10-15 hours straight a casual card player? casual/hardcore is not about the game, its about how the game is played.

Nintendo, if you hear me, please help us hardcore gamers before we comepletely turn to Sony and Microsoft for our gaming needs

rockwii13

What I don't get is why people seem to be taking this as an either-or thing, as if once you start playing on another console then you're contractually obligated to only play games on that console to the exclusion of all others. I own two consoles on account of the fact that both have games that interest me. If you want to play a lot of games on another system, buy it; that's what it's there for. Nintendo isn't going to bite your head off for doing so.

He's not saying there's anything wrong with it. He's saying that casual players will buy it and play it for months, but be completely satisfied with just that. They won't feel the need to buy other games, and as a consequence, the attach rate will suffer.

[QUOTE="rockwii13"]

Nintendo, if you hear me, please help us hardcore gamers before we comepletely turn to Sony and Microsoft for our gaming needs

GabuEx

What I don't get is why people seem to be taking this as an either-or thing, as if once you start playing on another console then you're contractually obligated to only play games on that console to the exclusion of all others. I own two consoles on account of the fact that both have games that interest me. If you want to play a lot of games on another system, buy it; that's what it's there for. Nintendo isn't going to bite your head off for doing so.

Perhaps you "don't get" it because you didn't understand what he was saying. He already owns a 360 and PSP, and plays games on them and Wii as well. He's just saying that he finds himself more interested by what's on other plats and might stop playing games on Wii altogether and switch over to others "completely". People can make lists of games to look forward to till they've got carpal tunnel, but the fact is that a substantial number of gamers feel the same way. On a recent IGN podcast, they were confessing that none of them play Wii when they go home. They only play it at work on assignment.

And just in case you're considering locking this thread because plats other than Wii were mentioned, the point of the thread is to analyse Nintendo's strategy. It's impossible to properly focus on analysing Ninty's success without discussing how their attach rates compare and discussing platform abandonment. The focus is still on Nintendo though.

[QUOTE="rockwii13"]

Nintendo, if you hear me, please help us hardcore gamers before we comepletely turn to Sony and Microsoft for our gaming needs

GabuEx

What I don't get is why people seem to be taking this as an either-or thing, as if once you start playing on another console then you're contractually obligated to only play games on that console to the exclusion of all others. I own two consoles on account of the fact that both have games that interest me. If you want to play a lot of games on another system, buy it; that's what it's there for. Nintendo isn't going to bite your head off for doing so.

[QUOTE="bob_newman"]

If their strategy wasn't working they would have changed their strategy by now.

Nintendo sells more hardware than the other companies every week (and makes a profit off of each console, mind you), and they sell more software than the others as well.

clicketyclick

but his point was about software sales. While Nintendo titles on Wii outsell 3rd party titles on Wii, they aren't outselling games on other plats and there aren't that many that are top-sellers. The Wii's attach rate is low.

Wrong. Nintendo is consistently in the top 3 of developers on the software side, and usually number one.

And I don't know what you're talking about with the attach rate. About half a year ago there was a study done to see how many games the average person had. Back then it was 6 or 7, and it's only higher now. And I can bet you that most of those 6 or 7 games are Nintendo-made. They're doing better than they ever have.

In just under a few months, Mario Kart Wii sold better than Double Dash, and almost as well as Mario Kart 64, and Super Mario Kart.

Mario Galaxy has sold more copies than Sunshine, and is set to beat out Mario 64 by its lifetime (keep in mind that Mario 64 game bundled with the console, while Galaxy did not).

Mario Party 8: Best selling Mario Party game to date.

Brawl: Better than the 64 version, closing in on Melee.

TP: Better than WW.

Plus, they've got the Wii series (Sports, Play, Fit, soon to be Music), all selling amazingly well.

Face it, their new strategy is working better than Nintendo could have ever imagined.

[QUOTE="GabuEx"]

What I don't get is why people seem to be taking this as an either-or thing, as if once you start playing on another console then you're contractually obligated to only play games on that console to the exclusion of all others. I own two consoles on account of the fact that both have games that interest me. If you want to play a lot of games on another system, buy it; that's what it's there for. Nintendo isn't going to bite your head off for doing so.

raahsnavj

I wonder if anyone actually bothered to read what the OP said. You guys are completely OT. :roll:

Wrong. Nintendo is consistently in the top 3 of developers on the software side, and usually number one.

And I don't know what you're talking about with the attach rate. About half a year ago there was a study done to see how many games the average person had. Back then it was 6 or 7, and it's only higher now. And I can bet you that most of those 6 or 7 games are Nintendo-made. They're doing better than they ever have.

In just under a few months, Mario Kart Wii sold better than Double Dash, and almost as well as Mario Kart 64, and Super Mario Kart.

Mario Galaxy has sold more copies than Sunshine, and is set to beat out Mario 64 by its lifetime (keep in mind that Mario 64 game bundled with the console, while Galaxy did not).

Mario Party 8: Best selling Mario Party game to date.

Brawl: Better than the 64 version, closing in on Melee.

TP: Better than WW.

Plus, they've got the Wii series (Sports, Play, Fit, soon to be Music), all selling amazingly well.

Face it, their new strategy is working better than Nintendo could have ever imagined.

bob_newman

Attach rate is the number of software sales per console sold and it is released monthly by NPD for the three consoles. I believe there was only one month that Wii's attach rate was higher than the 360's, and it is frequently lower than the PS3's.

The point still stands. While Nintendo's titles have sold better than their titles on the GameCube (not much of a comparison there), they aren't selling as many as devs are on the other plats. And attach rates for Wii are low, so low in fact that despite how successful Nintendo has been, they made a press release addressing this problem rather than just ignoring it a few months back.

A company can't rely too heavily on hardware sales. Most of the money - and especially the long-term money - comes from software sales. They need to make sure that people are buying games continuously. And their approach right now is not so great. Remember how much advertising Metroid Prime got? Exactly.

The Wii's attach rate is low.clicketyclick

That's a popular myth, but it's still a myth. The Wii's attach rate is less than the 360, but higher than the PS3, and is by no means inordinately low.

Perhaps you "don't get" it because you didn't understand what he was saying. He already owns a 360 and PSP, and plays games on them and Wii as well. He's just saying that he finds himself more interested by what's on other plats and might stop playing games on Wii altogether and switch over to others "completely". People can make lists of games to look forward to till they've got carpal tunnel, but the fact is that a substantial number of gamers feel the same way. On a recent IGN podcast, they were confessing that none of them play Wii when they go home. They only play it at work on assignment.

clicketyclick

Perhaps I'm reading more into the original post than was there, but he seemed to be acting as though he was considering completely turning to the other guys for video gaming needs, as if there was no going back once that decision was made. What I'm saying is that every system goes through a lull in releases now and then, and that someone not playing a system for a while is not exactly necessarily a sign of serious trouble. The Wii happens to be in that period at the moment. When more games get released for it (which have already been confirmed to be coming), it will then have games that will cause people to pick it up again. I don't see any huge deal here.

And just in case you're considering locking this thread because plats other than Wii were mentioned, the point of the thread is to analyse Nintendo's strategy. It's impossible to properly focus on analysing Ninty's success without discussing how their attach rates compare and discussing platform abandonment. The focus is still on Nintendo though.

clicketyclick

I wasn't considering locking it. :P

[QUOTE="bob_newman"]

Wrong. Nintendo is consistently in the top 3 of developers on the software side, and usually number one.

And I don't know what you're talking about with the attach rate. About half a year ago there was a study done to see how many games the average person had. Back then it was 6 or 7, and it's only higher now. And I can bet you that most of those 6 or 7 games are Nintendo-made. They're doing better than they ever have.

In just under a few months, Mario Kart Wii sold better than Double Dash, and almost as well as Mario Kart 64, and Super Mario Kart.

Mario Galaxy has sold more copies than Sunshine, and is set to beat out Mario 64 by its lifetime (keep in mind that Mario 64 game bundled with the console, while Galaxy did not).

Mario Party 8: Best selling Mario Party game to date.

Brawl: Better than the 64 version, closing in on Melee.

TP: Better than WW.

Plus, they've got the Wii series (Sports, Play, Fit, soon to be Music), all selling amazingly well.

Face it, their new strategy is working better than Nintendo could have ever imagined.

clicketyclick

Attach rate is the number of software sales per console sold and it is released monthly by NPD for the three consoles. I believe there was only one month that Wii's attach rate was higher than the 360's, and it is frequently lower than the PS3's.

The point still stands. While Nintendo's titles have sold better than their titles on the GameCube (not much of a comparison there), they aren't selling as many as devs are on the other plats. And attach rates for Wii are low, so low in fact that despite how successful Nintendo has been, they made a press release addressing this problem rather than just ignoring it a few months back.

A company can't rely too heavily on hardware sales. Most of the money - and especially the long-term money - comes from software sales. They need to make sure that people are buying games continuously. And their approach right now is not so great. Remember how much advertising Metroid Prime got? Exactly.

Dude, they're doing better than ever. They're one of the most profitable companies in Japan, and in the world. They are on track to sell as well as the NES, and most of their games sell over 3 million.

Yes, the attach rate isn't fantastic, but they don't care. If they're making a profit on hardware ($50 per console, last I checked. That was over a year ago though, it's probably more now), then they don't even need those people to buy their games. Nintendo has no problems selling games either; they sell more games than any other company out there.

The problem is 3rd parties. Unless it's an established franchise, they don't sell Jack **** on the Wii. That is a problem. But does Nintendo care? Probably not, they make more than enough money for themselves.

The whole point of this thread is that the TC thinks their strategy is not as good as they hoped, but at the end of his post it just turns into one of those "We need more Zelda! We need more Mario!" threads. It's quite obvious he's talking about the "core" gamers, and that is not part of Nintendo's strategy right now, so their strategy is working just fine.

[QUOTE="clicketyclick"]The Wii's attach rate is low.GabuEx

That's a popular myth, but it's still a myth. The Wii's attach rate is less than the 360, but higher than the PS3, and is by no means inordinately low.

It's not a myth. As I said, it's lower than the 360's, and frequently lower than the PS3's. You picked data from one month. Interestingly, that very month, the New York Times published an article explaining the Wii's "low attach rate". An analyst detailed how Wii owners by 20% fewer games than 360 and PS3 owners, and buys 3.7 games per year, which is fewer than PS3 (4.6) and 360 (4.7) owners. It noted that SSBB sales dropped 90% after the first month.

Even Yoichi Wada of Square Enix commented on the Wii's low attach rate. Hell, Nintendo has acknowledged the problem as important enough to offer rationalisations in the wake of criticism. It's a problem. You can't just call it a myth and pretend it's not happening, especially when Nintendo acknowledges it.

Perhaps I'm reading more into the original post than was there, but he seemed to be acting as though he was considering completely turning to the other guys for video gaming needs, as if there was no going back once that decision was made. GabuEx

Not at all. He was only saying that, if this strategy keeps up, many gamers are going to have to rely on other plats completely for their gaming needs. There was no implication whatsoever that the decision was irreversible. The whole thread is a criticism of Nintendo's strategy, saying they should change it so people will start buying more games on Wii again.

Yes, the attach rate isn't fantastic, but they don't care. If they're making a profit on hardware ($50 per console, last I checked. That was over a year ago though, it's probably more now), then they don't even need those people to buy their games. Nintendo has no problems selling games either; they sell more games than any other company out there.bob_newman

And that's just the problem. Attach rates aren't good yet they don't seem to care. As you point out, they're leaning heavily on hardware to make their profit. Most of their money comes from the sale of Wiis and DSs I'd wager. They lean on it, as you said, because at the moment, they don't need people to buy their games. But as I said, a company cannot rely on hardware sales. Most of a company's profit comes from software sales, and that trend is not just true of the video game industry. You can buy a printer for cheap; it's the ink that costs you. You can get a computer for cheap; it's the programs that'll cost you. You can get an MP3 player for cheap; it's the music and vids that'll cost you.

And no, again, Nintendo is not doing as well in software sales as other companies. Its two most successful games I believe are Wii Fit (5.27 million copies) and Mario Kart (6.42 million copies.) No doubt that's excellent, but I don't think they broke the sales record (copies sold in ___ weeks), nor did they sell as much as other games, like GTAIV, despite having a far larger appeal that GTA (i.e. it's not rated M.) And I stress, that's only two games that were highly successful. Galaxy was called a borderline failure by analysts.Games on other consoles routinely get up into the millions of sales. Very few games on Wii have.

The problem is 3rd parties. Unless it's an established franchise, they don't sell Jack **** on the Wii. That is a problem. But does Nintendo care? Probably not, they make more than enough money for themselves.

bob_newman

Exactly. That is the problem. As IGN pointed out in a recent podcast, it was Nintendo that set the tone for the Wii, so Nintendo is to blame. If third party devs don't start getting sales, more and more will start thinking like Yoichi Wada and Goichi Suda about the Wii. If third parties abandon the Wii... hello GameCube.

Never forget that the Dreamcast was originally a success. Fortune is fickle and you can't go it alone. You need third party support. Nintendo better start caring.

One of the things that nintendo marketing has done is to entice people to play games with their friends and family. With that in mind its important to know that when you are sick and tired of playing mario party 8 all by yourself its because it was meant to be a party game. Buy party games for parties and 1 player games for yourself to enjoy, make sure that it is an awesome 1 player game. I have a formula to not get tired of games. You can do the following as well.

Buy a game

Beat the game

Buy another game

Beat that game

Do this over and over until you feel that you have spent enough money and then start with the first game you bought and beat it and then go through all the other games that you have. This makes it so you always have a game to beat and you don't get sick of it and decide that those games were a waste of money.

Nintendo has made a lot of their money off of the casual gamers, but I've noticed something about casual gamers; all they need is one game to satisfy them for a few months and then they don't care anymore. My sister asks everyday if we can play Mario baseball. It's not that great a game, but I figure she'll get tired of it soon......... wrong! She still wants to play it!

Then, ther was the games like Wii Fit and Nintendogs. She'd play those for months on end. Now, she barely touches either of them.

So what it boils down to, is that all these commercials about Boom Blox, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic, and Wii Fit may entice people to buy Nintendo's casual games, but they'll only buy one or two then be done with it.

Nintendo, if you hear me, please help us hardcore gamers before we comepletely turn to Sony and Microsoft for our gaming needs............... MAKE MARIO, ZELDA, POKEMON, METROID, PIKMIN, STARFOX, AND A DECENT DONKEY KONG GAME ALREADY!

rockwii13

It's not a myth. As I said, it's lower than the 360's, and frequently lower than the PS3's. You picked data from one month. Interestingly, that very month, the New York Times published an article explaining the Wii's "low attach rate". An analyst detailed how Wii owners by 20% fewer games than 360 and PS3 owners, and buys 3.7 games per year, which is fewer than PS3 (4.6) and 360 (4.7) owners. It noted that SSBB sales dropped 90% after the first month.

Even Yoichi Wada of Square Enix commented on the Wii's low attach rate. Hell, Nintendo has acknowledged the problem as important enough to offer rationalisations in the wake of criticism. It's a problem. You can't just call it a myth and pretend it's not happening, especially when Nintendo acknowledges it.

clicketyclick

I didn't pick data from one month. There's no such thing as an attach rate for one single month. The figures that you see there are the total attach rates to date as of that article. The 5.3 is actually up dramatically from six months previous to it, at which point the Wii had an attach rate of 3.6.

As for the article you link to... it seems to be in direct competition with the data I linked to, and if I have to choose between trusting NPD and trusting Michael Pachter, well, I don't think that's a terribly difficult decision.

And regarding Nintendo acknowledging the problem, that was back in February. The Wii's attach rate in October 2007 was 3.6; in April 2008, it was 5.3. Nintendo said that the attach rate was increasing. That seems to me to be a completely factual statement, and one that does not contradict the idea that today, the Wii's attach rate is not inordinately low.

Not at all. He was only saying that, if this strategy keeps up, many gamers are going to have to rely on other plats completely for their gaming needs. There was no implication whatsoever that the decision was irreversible. The whole thread is a criticism of Nintendo's strategy, saying they should change it so people will start buying more games on Wii again.

clicketyclick

But Nintendo is already making the next Mario and the next Zelda. That's been confirmed. I don't know what more people would like them to do.

Galaxy was called a borderline failure by analysts.clicketyclick

Given that it's sold, to date, around seven million copies, only a million and a few short of Halo 3, I think it's safe to say that that analyst is, quite simply, out to lunch. The job of analyst is one of the few jobs in the world where you can be consistently wrong, despite the fact that your job is to be right, and still keep your job.

you people are dumb. mario, zelda, metroid, donkey kong, starfox, ALL OF THEM, are made so anyone can just pick up and play. if you ask ANY " casual" gamer if they know who mario is, hell even some non-gamers, im sure that they know who mario is, and chances are they could pick one up and play it. nintendo makes games for EVERYBODY, its your " hardcore" whining that keeps YOU from playing games. deal with it, im sick of hearing about it.garrett_duffman

I didn't pick data from one month. There's no such thing as an attach rate for one single month. GabuEx

Attach rates are released monthly, aka. updated monthly, aka. you only provided data from one month, which does not disprove my assertion that they have almost always been below the 360, and frequently are below the PS3. You can't disprove a trend with one data point. Your link provides a data point. My links provide a trend.

And regarding Nintendo acknowledging the problem, that was back in February. The Wii's attach rate in October 2007 was 3.6; in April 2008, it was 5.3. Nintendo said that the attach rate was increasing. That seems to me to be a completely factual statement, and one that does not contradict the idea that today, the Wii's attach rate is not inordinately low.GabuEx

It means it's not a myth. And the attach rate, if you hadn't noticed, is fluctuating. It was soared to 8.11 for one month when Galaxy was released, then plummeted (along with Galaxy's sales). It's an ongoing problem. It didn't disappear that December, and it hasn't gone away now.

But Nintendo is already making the next Mario and the next Zelda. That's been confirmed. I don't know what more people would like them to do.GabuEx

Better advertising, better communication with 3rd parties (they have routinely let 3rd parties down or left them out of the loop, which has become a subject of resentment), and new IP that isn't uber-casual. They've oodles of money. Let's see them use it to develop new games. I made a thread a while ago comparing Nintendo's releases for the first three years of the GameCube's and Wii's lifespan. If I recall correctly, it showed that Nintendo isn't developing as much new IP and the quality of their games was better on GC.

Given that it's sold, to date, around seven million copies, only a million and a few short of Halo 3, I think it's safe to say that that analyst is, quite simply, out to lunch. The job of analyst is one of the few jobs in the world where you can be consistently wrong despite the fact that your job is to be right and still keep your job.GabuEx

No, they were right that the launch wasn't that spectacular. Do you really want me to go to the trouble of listing Wii games that sold over 1 mill against 360 and PS3 games that sold over 1 mill? You'll probably lock the thread if I do, so can't you just recognise that the Wii's list will be significantly shorter?

[QUOTE="bob_newman"]

Yes, the attach rate isn't fantastic, but they don't care. If they're making a profit on hardware ($50 per console, last I checked. That was over a year ago though, it's probably more now), then they don't even need those people to buy their games. Nintendo has no problems selling games either; they sell more games than any other company out there.clicketyclick

And that's just the problem. Attach rates aren't good yet they don't seem to care. As you point out, they're leaning heavily on hardware to make their profit. Most of their money comes from the sale of Wiis and DSs I'd wager. They lean on it, as you said, because at the moment, they don't need people to buy their games. But as I said, a company cannot rely on hardware sales. Most of a company's profit comes from software sales, and that trend is not just true of the video game industry. You can buy a printer for cheap; it's the ink that costs you. You can get a computer for cheap; it's the programs that'll cost you. You can get an MP3 player for cheap; it's the music and vids that'll cost you.

And no, again, Nintendo is not doing as well in software sales as other companies. Its two most successful games I believe are Wii Fit (5.27 million copies) and Mario Kart (6.42 million copies.) No doubt that's excellent, but I don't think they broke the sales record (copies sold in ___ weeks), nor did they sell as much as other games, like GTAIV, despite having a far larger appeal that GTA (i.e. it's not rated M.) And I stress, that's only two games that were highly successful. Galaxy was called a borderline failure by analysts.Games on other consoles routinely get up into the millions of sales. Very few games on Wii have.

The problem is 3rd parties. Unless it's an established franchise, they don't sell Jack **** on the Wii. That is a problem. But does Nintendo care? Probably not, they make more than enough money for themselves.

bob_newman

Exactly. That is the problem. As IGN pointed out in a recent podcast, it was Nintendo that set the tone for the Wii, so Nintendo is to blame. If third party devs don't start getting sales, more and more will start thinking like Yoichi Wada and Goichi Suda about the Wii. If third parties abandon the Wii... hello GameCube.

Never forget that the Dreamcast was originally a success. Fortune is fickle and you can't go it alone. You need third party support. Nintendo better start caring. the dream cast was only out for a little while and did not sell 27 million consols and just think about it look at what they have done with just the siple power of the wii when put up against the more powerful consols they managed to succeed in outselling them by a large margin, and if nintendo's games are selling then nintendo is making money...anyway i own a ps 3 and a wii and am going to buy a 360 soon and buy around 5-10 games a month so this is mostly irrelevant to me

Please, buy some 3rd party games like Tales of Symphonia, Fragile, Kizuna, Little King Story,... You're missing your "hardcore" games. chris3116

Not interested in none of those third party games, there are waaay better ones than this for me.

Yea really im getting a 360 cuzz im tired of this casual garbage. Theres only like 2 games a year that im excited for now. Nintendo has lost like half their fan base with the wii and the casuals will betray nintendo eventually and go to microsoft.doctores143

Are you suggesting casuals will become "hardcore" gamers or that Microsoft will become the developer of casual stuff. If its the latter, then I'm sure microsoft would just lose its fanbase and the casuals on that would just move back to Nintendo or PS3 :P

Stop Crying TC

But I agree

DK: 3D platformer

Zelda: Harder with Wii Motion plus controls built from the ground up on Wii

Star Fox Wii: With Wii controls, and your always in the ship like Star fox 64

Mario: Your not getting another major entry until the next Nintendo system so hang that one up

Metroid: No more 3D Shooters(even though they were great) Nintendo them selves said that they arent gonna be making any more of Primes. Im hoping for 3D action-shooter series

Animal Crossing: the next time around will need serious revisions

Paper : Give me another Mario RPG.... forget make it another real Paper mario