Nintendo admits the “Wii has stalled”
We all knew it, but it’s taken a few months for Nintendo to admit it. The Wii has had a relatively bad year, at least by its own incredible standards set during the first two years of its life. And the CEO of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, has admitted things haven’t gone as well as expected over the last few quarters.
Iwata addressed the press in Osaka last week about the latest financial results for Nintendo. These latest figures show operating income down by 59 percent year on year, and Wii sales down 43 percent. The company has had to lower its sales expectations for the Wii from 26 million to 20 million. And Iwata has now admitted that everything is not as rosy as it was once.
Andriasang reports him as saying:
Wii has stalled. We were unable to continually release strong software, and let the nice mood cool. We were unable to show a new game to become ‘the next thing’. In the game market, once you’ve lost the momentum, it takes time to recover.
A lack of must-have games is definitely part of the problem, but it’s not the total reasoning behind the sales slump. The Wii has lost most of its price advantage (which was at one stage huge) over the Xbox 360 and PS3, and it could be just that everyone who wants a Wii now has one. Both of these are going to subdue sales, especially when a recession and a falling market is also taken into account.
The sales figures, profits drop, and Iwata’s comments all make the chances of the Wii 2 appearing in 2010 more likely though.
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46 Responses to “Nintendo admits the “Wii has stalled””
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November 3rd, 2009
2010 for the Nintendo present gen iteration… should be good.
November 3rd, 2009
People are just starting to realize that Wii is nothing but garbage so they just buying the PSP which is almost the same price. But a lot more better must have features and exclusives graphically high profile exclusives. The end is coming faster then i thought for them sweet. Nintendo’s loss is Sony’s gain. Wii never had a must have game LoL ever. Also the Wii should be price at $150 to compete with the PlayStation 3 better. You get nothing for $200 people better off buying the PS2 which has better graphics better controller better online service better way better exclusive games. Plus it plays DVD and you can use keyboard Even PSP is a billion times better then a Wii. mouse plus has 40GB HDD. That’s it for them people are no longer on denial well at least not the Nintendo fans…
November 3rd, 2009
Well all I can say is that the Wii was bound to have a lull, near enough everyone has bought one now.
It can’t keep selling the same amount it has been. It’ll be more successful than the PS3 and the 360 will ever be combined.
But it’s just too casual for my taste, I like to chill out with a joypad when I play my games and not look like a total knob lol.
November 3rd, 2009
To Roca:
Didn’t those phillys look good tonight….lmfao
November 3rd, 2009
Ghost:
Baseball suck and yeah i know i should love baseball but i don’t. Dominican have baseball in their blood i guess I’m really not Dominican at heart i truly am from HELL.
With a name like Wii wow Nintendo are all morons. What now WiiPlus with hard HD and real games.
November 3rd, 2009
LOL, all this is classic.
Firstly Mr Iwata, if that is your real name, 20 million Wii sold is still pretty damn good. And unless I am mistaken still above what the 360 and ps3 are selling. Could be wrong on that but just a guess. And like oldschool said, anyone who wants one probably has one.
I still think they will have another bumper Xmas. The Wii and DS are getting advertised loads here in the UK and every advert virtually shows a different playing experience. Wii Fit Plus will sell I suspect especially in the new year when everyone is fat.
And Ivan, if that is your real name, do you cut and paste all the sony propaganda crap into every post you do? We should all play a game with each new article to see how many time Ivan uses the words “exclusives” and “must haves”. Point for each.
And Ivan your maths are getting worse. The other day you got your maths wrong when trying to work out how long a life the ps3 will have. Remember the 10 years x 42 times stronger = 20 years?!?!?! Now your saying the psp is a billion times better than the Wii. No a slight exaggeration there is it. I man its only a few million times better at the most.
November 3rd, 2009
Sony & Miocrosoft would kill to have their consoles ’stall’ like the Wii supposedly has.
The froth has come off, that’s all.
The Wii sales are still leading everyone by a substantial margin.
They have just cut their price and with some decend X-mas bundles they will continue to lock-out the top selling spot.
The resident shill fanboy’s monthly whine that ‘everyone is going to realise how cr@op the Wii is any second now’ is so old, lame and far from the truth as to be nothing but the usual dumb joke s/he’s rightly well known for.
November 3rd, 2009
I don’t understand how they are having a bad year when they still out sell the 360 and the PS3 almost every single month.
November 3rd, 2009
It’s just bad compared to last year.
That is how it is when you get use to living at a cretin standard it hurts to cut back.
I don’t think Wii 2 will be as successful.
November 3rd, 2009
OH MY GOD….they are being honest that’s a nice change from MS and SONY
November 3rd, 2009
hey robert, u still want it? I havent see you one for a couple of days now
November 3rd, 2009
@roca I know exams have been keeping me really busy for the past few weeks and my girlfriend has gotten very needy aswell I prob won’t be able to get on my ps3 for a good gaming session until next week I might pull a sick day next Wednesday so I can get some MW2 in
and ya I would still like it might be able to spare 5 mins to give it a go…..GOD I hate exams
November 3rd, 2009
damn I forgot MW2 is next week.
November 3rd, 2009
You just opened a wound Roca
…
MW2 can go fuck itself.
November 3rd, 2009
SW, what lvl are you on D.S?
November 3rd, 2009
SW:
Yeah fuck Call Of duty: Modern Warfare 2 i will wait to get MAG instead of this crap.
November 3rd, 2009
145 I think Roca.
Its been about a week since I played.
November 3rd, 2009
Knighthawk (any one remembers him?) messaged me yesterday, he told he just bought Demon’s Soul hopefully he’ll catch up
November 3rd, 2009
The Wii system is even more worthless than than xbox360. I can’t imagine any self-respecting gamer who would even want to own Wii system.
November 3rd, 2009
if wii 2 has blu ray, better looking console, better graphics, and motion snsor in the console id prolly pick one up…go phillys, i hate the fucking yankees
November 3rd, 2009
‘I can’t imagine any self-respecting gamer who would even want to own Wii system.’
Guess you’ve never played mario galaxy, metroid prime 1/2/3, resi 4, smash brothers, etc.
November 3rd, 2009
I don’t think that I will pick up one single more game for my Wii. I have Galaxy (which is good, but I still like 64 better. Also, Mario sounds like a retard in it), Twilight Princess (epic), Brawl (only fun when you have a friend right there with you, but then it is super-fun), and… yes, that’s it. Nintendo has lost momentum. Since the N64 (my favorite console of all time, mostly because of Rare), they lost it with me.
I’m sick. Got a high temp, sneezing like no tomorrow, and my skin hurts. Eating raw Ichiban noodles as we speak. Hope I don’t have swine, or the Norwank or whatever.
November 3rd, 2009
I still find difficult to digest a Wii HD in 2010 or 2011, perhaps if the behavior from last NPD becomes a pattern they will have to retort in some way. However, I fail to see how a Wii HD would help at all.
November 3rd, 2009
has anybody played the game “saw” yet?? was wondering if it was any good?
November 3rd, 2009
Is got above average scores Ghost, I can’t wait to get it, my type of game. Same people behind the original Silent Hill games.
November 3rd, 2009
“Guess you’ve never played mario galaxy, metroid prime 1/2/3, resi 4, smash brothers, etc”
Maybe he is just a fanboy..
November 3rd, 2009
Resi 4 was originally Gamecube, not Wii. You probably already know but I’d thought I’d put it out there anyway lol.
November 3rd, 2009
RE4 really feels better in Wii, same goes to Okami. Perhaps you too will be able to experience it when the Wand comes out, at least for FPS. Still a couple of levels away from a mouse but quite good nonetheless.
November 3rd, 2009
I’ll always stick to the Joypad Akaro. I really don’t like the idea of making gaming an energetic experience, it should be lazy lol. I do enough energetic shit lol.
November 4th, 2009
SW,
“Guess you’ve never played mario galaxy, metroid prime 1/2/3, resi 4, smash brothers, etc.”
I know its sad, but the truth is….nobody thinks about those awesome games when they see a Wii. all the Wii crap tend to stand out more lately
November 4th, 2009
“RE4 really feels better in Wii, same goes to Okami.”
the Wii version of Okami is a poorly done port of the Original
November 4th, 2009
“all the Wii crap tend to stand out more lately”
actually, Metroid Prime Trilogy and Muramasa stood out more lately, as they released just a couple of months ago and are the top rated games on the platform.
“the Wii version of Okami is a poorly done port of the Original”
I didn’t know you owned a Wii roca… what in particular did you dislike about the Wii port?
November 4th, 2009
@oldschool1987:
Yeah it looks like it has some pretty damn cool puzzles? When I went to BestBuy to get Demon’s
Souls I noticed Saw on the shelf, it must have came
out on the same day? I just don’t know if it is worth full price..I don’t rent games very often so if you play it let me know. Same people behind Silent Hill huh very interesting I didn’t know that maybe they will do the game justice then?
November 4th, 2009
I would let you know but my girlfriend has told me not to buy any games until X-mas, except the pre ordered ones: AC2, RAC:ACIT, COD:MW2 lol. So you’ll probably play it before me mate.
November 4th, 2009
“actually, Metroid Prime Trilogy and Muramasa stood out more lately, as they released just a couple of months ago and are the top rated games on the platform.”
actually Wii sports resort, Wii Fit plus, Rayman Raving Rabbits and more wii crap stand out more (to the regular wii ower) than those 2 you mentioned. Most dont even know what muramasa is.
yes I had a Wii, I have said before, why so concern?
November 4th, 2009
Back to Okami, Unfortunately CarlB ,despite the fact that Okami is a awesome game, the game sometimes has trouble recognizing the drawing commands becayse of the imprecise nature of waggling and no it is not compatible with the Wii Motion Plus. So the controls are much better on the PS2.
The colors are crisper on the Wii, so the Wii version is a bit more colorful but I actually prefer the slightly muted color palette on the PS2 simply because it is more true to the Japanese Artistic tradition that inspired the look of the game. Base on Metacritics Okami PS3 avarage a 93 and the Wii version a 90. did you find the wii port to be much better? if so let me what was better on it?
November 4th, 2009
“I would let you know but my girlfriend has told me not to buy any games until X-mas,”
I hate it when they do that.
I now have a list she can’t buy from and one she can.
I bought wii Okami for a friend. It’s not as good as the ps2 version. Maybe it’s due to my unfamiliarity to the wii controls bought I found it a lot more difficult. Oddly enough most of the commands are arc and circles type commands so you would think it would be rather easy.
November 4th, 2009
Just wait until Nintendo releases their revolutionary Wii Vitality. Now instead of playing games, or going to the doctor, we can check our blood pressure from the comfort of our couch. We are living in an amazing time.
/end sarcasim
I could NOT care less about Nintendo. When they start releasing decent games, and not DS ports, maybe I’ll listen.
Seriously, their big holiday title this year is a DS port of a game that came out in 2006 (Mario Brothers).
Why would anyone care about Nintendo at this stage. They hit rock bottom, and I’m not reaching into the gutter to pick them up.
November 4th, 2009
I bought a Wii the first day it came out, played Twilight Pricess on it……OMG wtf is nintendo doing. first of all Link has always been left-handed. (holds shield in right hand) for the Wii version nintendo didnt give a crap about one the best video game character and made him right handed because of the Wii remote (he is still left-handed in the gamecube version). because NOW Link became right-handed the Twilight Pricess map is a mirror of the gamecube version (the original version) so, I a house was on ur left on the GC version, then you going to see that same house on the Right in the Wii version…I bought the gamecube version soon after I got tired of all these nonsense (specially from getting tired of do sword swinging motions with the Wii control)
nintendo needs to show a lil more respect to their game. they are all about money now.
Give me a Zelda game in HD dammit, and stop makeing N64/GC ports for the Wii already!!!!
November 4th, 2009
“to the regular wii ower”
Well, if you’re the “regular wii owner mentioned”, then I can’t argue with that. You can only speak for yourself after all.
“yes I had a Wii, I have said before, why so concern”
Just thought these other two recently released titles might stand out more to you than “Rayman Raving Rabbids” which released three years ago and is on the lower end of the (good) review spectrum.
November 4th, 2009
by stand out I dont mean that they are better game or review better, I meant that *most* Wii owner look for those type of game (wii crap) than the likes of lets say the Conduit, Muramasa, Mad World, No more Heroes and so on. it doesnt necessarily mean that they are better game but they stand out more for the mayority of the Wii owners. Im not arguing the quality of Metroid or Murasama, im just saying those games dont get the credit they deserve on the Wii
November 4th, 2009
Wii is hardly the place for M rated games.
November 4th, 2009
Some companies need to improve the publicity for their games. I learned about Deadspace for the first time because my brother was idly checking out the Nintendo Channel one day, otherwise there is a good posibility I wouldn´t have bothered to search about it and, consequentially, buy it. It´s not just about making a great game but letting the world know it.
That and it seems some gamers won´t take a risk no matter what. Sadly, that happens everywhere (Little Big Planet anyone?). Not only “casuals” are sensible to trends and hypes.
I understand it is awful to end up with a poor game, but nowadays one can check Metacritic, watch videos from you tube, read forums, etc. It leaves one wondering how some games do not get more attention.
November 5th, 2009
Sw,
I’m glad that you find value in the Wii system. Apparently, you and millions of other people agree on this. However, I personally find no reason to own a Wii system. The games that bring me enjoyment are not on the Wii system.
November 6th, 2009
The only reason I WAS gonna get a Wii was for Twilight Princess but I was lucky enough to find a Gamecube version lol.
November 6th, 2009
Lol at Roca for giving ninty hell for making Link right-handed lmao…Even tho I grew up with Link I never knew (noticed) he was left-handed…I guess I learned something new Thank-you Roca for enlightening me hehehe….funny stuff