Microsoft claims Wii is a novelty - owners will graduate to an Xbox 360
By Dave Parrack
The Nintendo Wii has been a phenomenal success so far, outselling all of its competitors in every territory around the world. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are both magnificent consoles, but in sheer sales numbers, the Wii is kicking both their arses. But is the Nintendo console a novelty? Microsoft certainly thinks so.
Back in January, Microsoft’s Vice President of Global Xbox Marketing, Jeff Bell, stated that Microsoft was trying to position the Xbox 360 as the second choice for current owners of a Nintendo Wii. In effect, Microsoft had realised that it wasn’t going to be able to beat the sales of the Wii in the short-term, and so were trying to catch those gamers who felt ready to move on from the limitations of the console.
Now, in an interview with Gamasutra, Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, has reiterated the strategy, but added some snark in to the mix for good measure. He started by dismissing the Wii as console for kids, before almost inviting Wii owners to buy an Xbox 360.
In this generation we’re seeing record revenues for the U.S. and globally for the business, and we’re seeing more people buying and playing games than ever before, and the Wii is definitely part of that. And as they grow that pie, that benefits us too, because those customers are eventually going to want to graduate to an Xbox 360 experience.
Notice no mention of graduating to a Playstation 3, which is obviously going to happen too. I also find the comment that the Wii is contributing to the growth in the games industry hilarious, as the Wii is the driving force behind it, rather than just the little cog that Greenburg seems to suggest it is.
He was then asked about “Nintendo’s de-emphasizing of hardware power with the Wii”, and this is where Greenburg pointed both barrels as Nintendo’s white tower of joy. He said:
They’re buying it, it’s like something they break out when people come over, and it’s maybe a fun thing, but it’s almost like the same people that buy a karaoke machine, you know? They’re not really buying it for games, they’re just buying it as a novelty.
Ooh, that’s harsh. There is a certain degree of truth in the comment as a certain proportion of Wii owners will have bought the console to play with friends at a party, but that doesn’t account for the majority of sales.
I find this whole reaction to the success of the Nintendo Wii by Sony and Microsoft bizarre. On the one hand, both consoles deride their high-selling, low-powered competitor, dismissing it as a novelty with a short lifespan, and then on the other, they are both trying to move in to the Wii’s market of casual gamers. I think there’s a word for that: hypocrisy.
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July 8th, 2008
LOL “because those customers are eventually going to want to graduate to an Xbox 360 experience”
well if thats not evidence of m$’s global domination plans, i don’t know what is.
M$ dont be so jealous of Wii, accept they’re owning both ps3 and 360. Ironic that he calls them a childs toy basically, but rumour has it m$ is developing a wii like controller.
July 8th, 2008
he has a point. eventually younger gamers will move on. the 360 is at a better price point to graduate to from the low priced wii. the ps3? value not supported.
i think he’s wrong in valuating the gimmick of the wii. affordability is also a key driver.
July 8th, 2008
I suspect when gamers ‘move on’ the PS3, 360 and Wii will be ‘last gen.’
I love MS, Aaron especially. He’s like a rabid dog attacking anyone and everything whilst spouting crazy statements. Kind of like my old friend Ken used to.
July 8th, 2008
eurgh my ps3 seems to be on the way out, my own fault really, i turned it off before it was ready to shut down. And its a 60gb model so it wont be replaced if the worst happens :(. but luckily i am within my warranty. DONT TURN PS3′S OFF BEFORE THEY SHOW A RED LIGHT
July 8th, 2008
Haha bourne’s ps3 bricked on him! Good luck dealing with sony’s customer support.
July 8th, 2008
Sonys customer support is amazing, at one point when my ps3 had a low, it wasent even broken it turns out lol i fixed it after formatting the HDD lol, but anyway sony replaced my console the next day, a door exchange, lol my frined had to wait for 2 months for the xbox lol
July 8th, 2008
@bourne
Actually, I’m pretty sure that Sony will send you a 60GB if you send them one. At least, they do in North America. (don’t know if you live there)
@harry
Sony’s customer support is incredible. My PS3 broke because I forgot to clean the intake vents. I called Sony and they sent the box (with a pre-paid overnight air-mail label to their repair center) and I had my new PS3 back less than 10 days after I called them.
July 8th, 2008
The reason Gamers will graduate from a Wii to a 360 is because Microsoft is putting their games on Nintendo’s system. Viva Pinata is coming to the DS and there was that DS a while back that had Halo running on it. Even the Arcade on 360 has some old Nintrendo Games. The more games that start to get put on Nintendo will become familiar when it comes time to graduate.
July 9th, 2008
lol its ok, thankfully i managed to repair it, i dont think it was the new firmware, otherwise i’d be in tears right now. I just backed my saved game data on my USB, wiped the whole hard drive and restarted. All i have to do is install the games and music pics etc. But otherwise all my saved data has been saved and everythings spiffy.
July 9th, 2008
@ Bourne, you’re lucky. I would be pissed if I lost my game saves.
Ok boys, I am off to India for work for a month, so I may be scarce on this website. Can’t wait to contract the Delhi Belly….
July 9th, 2008
They are going to buy a 360 because they can play Viva Pinata on their DS? I’m not going to argue that they won’t buy the 360 but come on, they’re going to buy it because they have played Viva Pinata! LOL
July 9th, 2008
Wylie
Viva Pinata is only the begining. Do you not have any vision?
July 9th, 2008
CAD - 20/20 with contacts. Like I said CAD I won’t argue whether they buy the 360, just don’t see Viva Pinata moving very many consoles.
July 9th, 2008
haha wowee.. im not a fan boy by any means in fact i prefer FPS’s over all gaming pretty much, but someone needs to get the douche bag a memo about how the wii is pissing all over the sales of the 360…. i love the 360 but i waited for ms to send me a box for my 360 to send it in for repairs (an elite less than 6 months old) for 2 months…. finally i said eff it and i fixed it myself…. now experiencing that and then reading something in gameinformer with bill gates saying “the 360 will be the most reliable system on the market” is just so freakin ironic…. thank you wii and ps2 for not breaking!