Nintendo’s Hardware Sales Aren’t Looking So Hot

13 years ago

July 28, 2011 at 5:30 pm

What a difference a couple of years makes. It seems like only yesterday Nintendo was an unstoppable juggernaut, its consoles and handhelds tearing up the sales charts. In 2011, things are a little different.

Nintendo just put out its financial earnings release for the three months of Apr-Jun 2011, and they’re grim reading, especially for the company’s newest piece of hardware, the 3DS. In short: hardware sales have fallen off a cliff.

Global DS sales are down from 3.1 million this time last year to 1.4 million this past quarter. Wii sales are down by 50% as well, from 3 million to 1.5 million sold. That would be OK if the new 3DS was doing a roaring trade, but in the past three months only 710,000 of the new handhelds have been sold. Worldwide. W

That’s…wow. Compared to the graceful decline of the PS2, those drop-offs will have alarm bells ringing at Nintendo HQ. Here’s hoping for their sake the Wii U is a big hit!

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35 responses to “Nintendo’s Hardware Sales Aren’t Looking So Hot”

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Reign

July 28, 2011 at 5:51 pm

Thank God. I was waiting for Nintendo’s inability to produce decent titles and rely solely on hardware to bite them in the arse.

Reply
1. Justin
  
  July 28, 2011 at 6:17 pm
  
  Really? What a sad, bitter life you must lead.
  
  Reply
  1. BrontoThunder
    
    July 28, 2011 at 6:42 pm
    
    Why does that make him sad and bitter? Once they start realising that shitting on their fans with overused and tired franchises is no way to get sales they’ll be one step closer to rectifying the problem and we gamers will benefit.
    
    Reply
    1. RocK_M
      
      July 28, 2011 at 6:59 pm
      
      You mean like Medal of Honor? Call of Duty? StarCraft? Mass Effect? Street Fighter? Tekken? Diablo? I can recall a lot more “old franchises” here and it might be gawd awful boring IMHO and yet be a must have for other people…
      
      One tired old franchise to one gamer is also an anticipated sequal to another. Just because it doesn’t float your boat don’t mean the games are any better or worse than your choices =P
      
      As for the topic….
      
      3DS has crap all games at the moment.. go figure for the slow uptake. (Well that and their insistance on freaking region locking >.>)
      
      Reply
      1. Jonathon
        
        July 28, 2011 at 7:47 pm
        
        Dude, most of those titles you mentioned are from this century……Games such as Mario, Zelda, Metroid, HELL EVEN POKEMON have been in the industry for decades. Games such as Call of Duty were only concieved in the late 90’s and released in the early 2000’s and at that people are already starting to get fed-up with it. Medal of Honour, you mean all two games of it right?
        
        Mass Effect only came out THIS GEN!
        
        And then again, both Street Fighter and Tekken are albeit slowly fading into obsecurity, mainly being popular with the core, I mean really, this gen, neither one has been a selling point.
        
        So yeh, I think the problem lies with Nintendo’s inability to provide with new QUALITY content, and there lackluster peformance with alot of there remakes which for me atleast, seem extremely half-baked.
      2. Costy
        
        July 28, 2011 at 7:55 pm
        
        Starcraft 2 is overused and tired? There’s only been two of them and they were 11 years apart.
    2. markD
      
      July 28, 2011 at 7:04 pm
      
      Reign, I can’t imagine actually being so passionate about wanting ANY company to fail. BrontoThunder, I don’t really think that’s a problem, Nintendo has had huge commercial and critical success with their big name franchises in the latest generation – their problem with the 3DS has been they haven’t damn released anything for it yet!
      
      Reply
      1. Dark_Templar
        
        July 28, 2011 at 7:57 pm
        
        ZOMG! SC is up to number TWO, HOW DARE THEY!
      2. Reign
        
        July 28, 2011 at 10:21 pm
        
        I don’t lay awake at night praying for Nintendo to go bust. I just said it’s good to see their strategy of neglecting a loyal fanbase in favour of a fickle Wii-Sports crowd bite them in the arse.
        
        I don’t see how that makes me bitter or passionate about the issue.
        
        It’s like Paris Hilton. I laughed when she went crying to jail, but it’s not like I follow her every move.
      3. Terrak
        
        July 29, 2011 at 8:56 am
        
        Nintendo have been doing what they have been doing since the started making video games, making family friendly titles. Nothing has changed. Only think thats changed is that hardcore games have got more violent, and bloodthirsty. SOme hardcore think that equates to a real hardcore games, hence the misguided view that Nintendo has ‘abandoned’ the hardcore gamer. Sorry Nintendo got successful developing games like Mario and Zelda etc. It what they been doing for decades, Nothing has changed so how the F**K can they abandon these so called hardcore gamers? I just think its an excuse for bitter fanboys to complain about NIntendos success with the Wii. Nintendo havent abandoned anyone, its the so called ‘hardcore gamers’ who abandoned Nintendo because Nintendo didnt make violent ‘hardcore games’, and never have.
      4. Thom
        
        July 29, 2011 at 9:10 am
        
        That’s absolutely not the issue. it’s the wiimote wagging that’s the issue and you know it.
      5. Terrak
        
        July 29, 2011 at 9:25 am
        
        Sorry the truth hurts
        
        SO tell me when did Nintendo ever make an uber violent game? yeah so nothing has changed.
        
        So yeah if Nintendo has been making the same types of games over the last few decades how is it they have changed (ie abandoned gamers)?
        
        The Wiimote was simply a new way to play games, but they still made the same games. why is it wrong to try something new. It was successful.
        
        Why should Nintendo change anyway, they have always been a profitable company. Their big titles are always hits. Its like telling Blizzard to stop making World of Warcraft. Get over it. Success is success, even if your not part of it.
      6. Terrak
        
        July 29, 2011 at 9:29 am
        
        Oh remember the Gamecube, better graphics then ps2 same dual analog controls same Nintendo games, yet the hardcore still abandoned Nintendo, so care to recheck your statment?
wooktree

July 28, 2011 at 5:53 pm

Because they don’t release any games! ffs. One of the main reasons I never liked the Wii or DS is because the only games anyone ever had on them (when at another person’s house who owned one) was wii sports. And the only game on DS that anyone plays is Pokemon which after finishing Pokemon blue years ago I never bothered with the other trillion games in the “series” if you can even call it that. Same game with slightly different things? pff. Nintendo just don’t understand that people want games to play on their new consoles that they just paid for.. And on top of that they want them to look nice as well as have good stories. Nintendo just pumps out the same few games (mario, zelda, metroid) and expects them to sell well along with the other garbage that third parties release. Not going to happen. From what I hear, nobody wants a 3DS unless they have Ocarina of Time for it and even then, is it worth it? NO. There’s is next to nothing good going for the wii now and the 3ds is just the same thing with 3d chucked in. I’m betting that the wii-u won’t be that big either unless they announce some huge games AAA to go along with it.

Reply
1. markD
  
  July 28, 2011 at 7:18 pm
  
  I couldnt resist looking up the sales for Nintendo’s core franchise games after reading this:
  
  “Nintendo just pumps out the same few games (mario, zelda, metroid) and expects them to sell well along with the other garbage that third parties release.”
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_Wii_video_games
  
  From what I can see they have sold over 90 million games with just their core franchises on the last console, I think they have every right to think that pumping out some more will sell just fine mate 😉
  
  Reply
  1. wooktree
    
    July 28, 2011 at 10:50 pm
    
    This article states that their strategy is coming to a swift end though 😉 , mate.
    
    Reply
    1. markD
      
      July 29, 2011 at 12:33 am
      
      The strategy still seems to be valid, for some god knows why reason they haven’t employed it with their latest console! 😛 ‘Should we release a mario game on launch and make a tonne of money? nahhh we got heaps’
      
      Reply
Aidan

July 28, 2011 at 5:55 pm

Interesting.

I wouldn’t be relying on the Wii-U, perhaps :-/

Reply
LDX

July 28, 2011 at 6:06 pm

overpriced hardware and not very many games.

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Jake

July 28, 2011 at 6:06 pm

Don’t set your hopes on the Wii U. It’s weird and not a conventional controller, and it’ll cost more than PS3/360 (judging by EB price estimates) for graphics that are “on-par”. It won’t have as much support as the PS3/360.

PS3/360 fanboy wars rage on, but the fact is that they’re damn similar, you can port really really easily. I’m not sold on the Wii U, where you have to have a separate inventory screen. It’ll cost more and people won’t bother.

Reply
1. Sleeper
  
  July 28, 2011 at 6:50 pm
  
  Agh!
  Innovation!
  
  Reply
  1. Terrak
    
    July 29, 2011 at 9:02 am
    
    Ok
    
    Not a conventional controller? So everyone has to use the same controller and not even try to change things, look for new ways to play games?
    
    Cost didnt stop the ps3 from closing in on the 360 despite having launched 1 year later.
    
    Graphics on par? We havent seen finalized game so please dont comment on things that clearly you dont have knowledge on. Firstly the graphics card is 2 generations better then anything in the other 2 consoles and the console has significantly more RAM, so unless 5 years of technological improvement and better hardware = on par with outdated hardware then your statement is completely wrong
    
    None of the reasons you gave are legimate reasons why the Wii U will do badly.
    
    Reply
Glen

July 28, 2011 at 6:16 pm

The problem with going after the casual market is that its a casual market. It can be fickle!

Reply
Astroboy440

July 28, 2011 at 6:17 pm

I would suggest that the ‘mum and dad’ gamers out there that made up a large number of the Wii purchasers, only to have the console gathering dust several weeks after purchase, have had their fingers burnt and will be less likely to jump on the innovation bandwagon with the next console. I think we can see remnants of that with the 3ds-lack of games aside, the novelty factor just isn’t enough to shift units. I think Nintendo really need to pull out their big guns on their next console or we could be seeing them go the way of Sega.

Reply
1. raptor1001
  
  July 28, 2011 at 6:46 pm
  
  What do you mean by big guns though? Just uber powerful? They’ll all be expensive and the multiplayer and developer market will be split. If they are gonna go down they might as well go down innovating.
  
  Reply
Average

July 28, 2011 at 6:47 pm

This, Ninty, is what happens when you try to sell a console without games.

Reply
1. Terrak
  
  July 29, 2011 at 9:04 am
  
  We have a winner!!!. Consoles dont sell if there is no compelling reason to buy them. So no games, no reason to buy. Simple
  
  Reply
N0NEoftheAB0VE

July 28, 2011 at 7:14 pm

Just on that – the Wii has been virtually non-existant this year, like they’re selling the software in shops but where are the new releases? Bizarre that Nintendo expected to be able to get away with a whole year of no games, even in the dark days of the N64 it was never this bad.

Reply
Thomas

July 28, 2011 at 8:15 pm

I quite love some of Nintendo’s stuff but there’s no way they get any more of my money for hardware until there’s an actual catalogue of games to play on it.

Reply
z

July 29, 2011 at 12:22 am

There’s very little chance of the Wii U seeing the same sort of success as the Wii.

If you consider the vast numbers of nongamers who bought a Wii for something like Wii Fit and put it away forgotten in a closet after a month or two, what possible reason would they have to buy a Wii U?

The only people who would be interested in a Wii U are normal gamers, so the Wii U at best will see similar sales to 360/PS3.

It’s possible that nintendo might pull off some kind of amazing marketing that will make nongamers irrationally buy it, but considering how they didnt manage it with the 3DS despite a cooler gimmick, I doubt they can. They’re not Apple, after all 😛

Reply
1. Terrak
  
  July 29, 2011 at 9:14 am
  
  I disagree, The Wii U has more possibility for success then the Wii ever had.
  
  Firstly it has conventional controls right out of the box, so games that normally wont make it to the Wii (because its out of the box controls are Wiimote nunchuk not dual analog) can be ported to the Wii.
  
  Secondly it has significantly better graphics then any other console so far
  
  Thirdly if developers use the new controller in new and innovative ways the games will play differently that might add that something extra, which might give the Wii U the edge when deciding which console to buy multiplatform games.
  
  Fourth, third party support is significantly stronger this time round.
  
  Finally it already has full Wiimote controls compatibility built in, so all those casual games can still make it to the console.
  
  Wii U is in a better position then the Wii ever was, they just need quality software that showcases the consoles abilities, just as any successful console does.
  
  Reply
  1. Ad
    
    July 29, 2011 at 10:52 am
    
    Do you own Nintendo shares or something?
    
    Reply
    1. Terrak
      
      July 29, 2011 at 2:12 pm
      
      Truthfully no i dont have shares in Nintendo, wished i did but i dont, I have a Wii but havent played it for almost 2 years, never had a DS either. Im mainly a PC gamer first and foremost, but i respect Nintendo and what they do & the company they are. They are far from perfect, and have made mistakes. I dont simply buy everything they make.
      
      If there are comments i see that i disagree with i comment, thats all, nothing more nothing less.
      
      Reply
gggggg

July 29, 2011 at 3:59 pm

with the 3ds price drop and nintendo games b4 2011 ends, their sales will get better, especially in the holiday season. as for wii u, people arguing about its graphics, dont until you see its official graphics card and gpu. as for wii, i see y sales declined. no games. they have a good catalogue of games though, 1st n 3rd party(there are good 3rd party games) but is overlooked. and i h8 the steryotype that people buy a wii n then put it in their closets. its getting so damn annoying and overused

Reply
1. 4len
  
  July 30, 2011 at 10:08 am
  
  To be completely fair, i’d say the stereotype is fairly realistic. Between friends and family who share that view, and customer/ parents who often tell me their Wii has gone the way of the dodo, generally because the DSi has been more fun for the kids, then I don’t see it being annoying and overused. It’s a pretty standard expectation.
  
  That said, IF the Wii U can provide a genuine and intuitive experience for BOTH casual gamers and ‘core’ gamers, then I think we WILL see a cool mould of the two sharing console duties.
  
  Using the Wii motes will be familiar and cost effective for parents/ people who already bought the Wii, and the new controller (hopefully) could make for interesting advances in terms of core games that are shared between consoles.
  
  If the Wii U is going to make an impact and really save the Big N, then it better give ME and U a reason to choose X game to play on the Wii U over the XB###/ PS### version…
  
  Reply

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