Considering the Wii U was on sale for 12 days in November, and the 360 was on sale for the whole month, this isn't as bad as it sounds. And as the article mentions, it's been in and out of stock in many locations (though certainly not to the degree the first Wii was).
Exactly and if you factor that into the figures then you see it did better.
Let us not forget that bundle deals with lots of games there mates have will be a weighted factor for 360 sales for many, especialy given the Wii is new. Also I suspect that many Wii U sales were to owners who already own a Wii.
I think the only fair comparision in sales will be in the new year, once the dust has setteled and a truer sales picture can be obtained.
Nintendo’s latest export has completely exhausted its initial inventory of stock [..] Moreover, the Wii U only had a couple of weeks on sale in November
So, it was only on sale for part of the month, and it sold out quickly, leaving consumers unable to buy. OK, so it's a pretty much useless comparison, then?
I'm highly skeptical of the claim that it sold out. Both Wii U SKUs are easily available in most of the US right now. Supplies were constrained initially, but that has more to do with scalpers buying up every preorder in anticipation of another Wii-style fad, which has clearly not happened. If you look at Wii U auctions on eBay, the few auctions that complete have been selling essentially for cost once eBay fees are factored in.
It may have only been on shelves for 12 days, but people were free to preorder it all month, so you can't just divide the total sales by 12 and apply that to the other 18 days.
Also, a lot of people probably bought it for resale since it's the holiday season and the first new console in 6 years. Prices on Ebay are barely above retail though, so demand doesn't actually seem to be outpacing supply by very much.
If it had been on sale the entire month and (assuming) they maintained the same rate of sales as it did the 12 or so days it was available, it would have sold around 1.06M units.
I would imagine they could have made up the 200K difference their had been more inventory.
Please, please let this be a lesson to Microsoft that gamers aren't interested in gimmicks, and that the casuals who do want gimmicks are far more fickle.
The "lesson" is that the WiiU was sold out and on sale for less than two weeks. It's noncomparable data for any conclusion other than "the WiiU found its price point for the consumers who find it interesting."
I think that remains to be seen. It sold extremely well, but it was also the only console hardware released in several years and came in several bundles. Not to mention the hacking/non-gaming uses many people bought it for.
Besides, how many Kinect games are in the top 50 for Xbox 360? Zero. And how many of your gamer friends play Kinect games? I'm betting it's close to zero.
I'm referring to the Wii motion control and the Wii U GamePad. Traditional gamers don't find those appealing, yet it seems to be where Nintendo has focused a significant portion of their development and marketing attention.
Just curious, why wouldn't traditional gamers like the game pad? I can understand the disdain for motion controls, but personally I quite like the idea of the game pad.
It's somewhat awkward/clumsy and makes controlling standard games more difficult. Sure, in "Super Swipe Dart Throwing!" you'll have better control because of the touch screen, but no one would ever choose it over a PS3/360 controller for something like Call of Duty.
Well, coming from a PC background (CS, Q3 etc), playing FPS games is already extremely awkward on the PS3/360 controllers, so I don't really think that's a great example. Actually, I'd rather use the touch screen like a giant track pad to aim in an FPS (if I can move and fire with the other hand). I also think it adds a lot to managing inventory, switching weapons etc. I haven't tried it though, so could be more awkward than it looks.
But traditional gamers often spend more money than casual gamers over a longer period of time. Casual gamers are more inclined towards single experiences (Wii Fit) whereas traditional gamers often prefer to try many, many games, often at launch price.
The categories themselves are pretty polarizing. I consider myself "casual" when it comes to the time investment and active engagement required for MMOs and certain big budget titles, but "traditional" to "hardcore" when it comes to the indie games I buy off Steam.
Because first party Nintendo games still have some love and heart put into them, in stark contrast to a lot of the "AAA" titles on their biennial churn (Level 5 are one of the few others who keep franchises going yet manage to keep the quality up).
Granted there is a lot of good indie work on mobile but it's not a like for like, we aren't discussing the DS here.
This isn't actually true. Numbers from around the world are hazy but it looks like the 360 is ahead worldwide by a million or so. The lead will be extended over the holiday with Sony potentially surpassing next year since jan-sep are the months Sony outsells the 360 worldwide.
Indeed, in my completely anecdotal experience, the Sony products (PS3, PSP, Vita) seem far more popular overseas (especially in Japan) than the 360. Microsoft has had a hard time getting the 360 going in Japan.
The 360 has sold way better in the US, while the PS3 has sold better in Europe and Japan. Their individual advantages and weaknesses evens out pretty much. Overall, the trend seems to be that the European market is becoming as important as the US market, while Japan is increasingly insignificant (every new generation sells less in Japan)
Not sure how that makes much of a difference, other than the fact that they still chose to purchase a 360 over the PS3 or Wii U after such a hardware failure.
The 360 has the highest games-to-console attach rate of any system ever. If repeat buyers are a significant portion of 360 sales then the 360's attach rate would be absolutely insane. Therefore it's easy to reason that broken consoles make up a very small percentage of total units sold.
I don't follow the video game industry at all, so forgive my ignorance. After looking up 'attach rate', I'm not sure I agree with you, though I do believe I follow your logic.
I wonder how much of that is the stupid, stupid name. Or the DRM. Probably not much I guess, but there is a good chance this is the first Nintendo console I'll sit out since ever, and those are the sole reasons in roughly equal measure.
