No More Heroes Director Says Wii for Non-Gamers
People buy a lot of stuff they don't necessarily use. Stephen Hawkings' A Brief History of Time with sales in the multimillions has the dubious distinction of being one of the most bought, least read books in history. You probably know someone (or are that someone) who bought some kind of exercise machine along the line, only to have it languish in a second bedroom or basement or storage area. We probably use less than half of what we purchase, half as much as we should.
The Wii sold like crazy in 2007, but according to upcoming Wii release No More Heroes (see picture upper left) director Goichi Suda, speaking to CVG, "Only Nintendo titles are doing well." Not just in Japan either, says Suda. It's an international phenomenon.
He's right, and it's something I've been chipping at for months. Nintendo grabs headlines because they continually beat the stuffing out of Microsoft et al. in hardware sales, no question. But -- and leaving aside questions of who has the better games, because that's not what I'm interested in -- Microsoft is clearly and consistently putting the smack on Nintendo in the far more lucrative domain of software dollars.
We play games, not the glorified plastic-shrouded circuit boards they run on, so celebrating hardware numbers as opposed to software figures has always seemed a little daft, especially when the hardware race between Microsoft and Nintendo is this close. While we know there's a rough correlation between hardware sales success and long-term publisher affinity (everyone wants the PS2's miracle-audience), the Wii is a completely unique animal, selling to a new and not entirely understood audience. Commonly held wisdom about what hardware sales figures mean is therefore null and void. If it turns out, as Suda suggests, that only first party games and the occasional niche-y Guitar Hero are sustainably salable, third parties could conceivably abandon the Wii quick as you can say "GameCube."
Lots of "ifs." So let's look at the latest sales data courtesy VG Chartz. The following chart represents a compilation of U.S. "top 50" 2007 software sellers for the Wii and Xbox 360.
Notice the following:
1. The Wii had 11 titles in the top 50 software sellers of 2007; the Xbox 360 had 18.
2. Slighty over half of Nintendo's top 50 software sellers were first party games; only one of Microsoft's was first party (Halo 3), and technically Bungie Studios moved to second party status as of October 1, 2007.
2. Microsoft beats Nintendo in top 50 sales for 2007, but only by roughly 15 percent; Nintendo had a very solid first party driven 2007 lineup. It's important to understand that first party titles were in fact the dividing line between "success" and "complete obscurity" for Nintendo.
3. Total software sales for 2007 were roughly:
48,014,338 - Xbox 360
37,481,345 - Wii
4. Total software sales overall (through 2007) are:
74,076,078 - Xbox 360
42,117,249 - Wii
5. Any analyst worth his or her salt is going to immediately point out that tallying "Wii Sports" with the rest is disingenuous, since it's a freebie add-in. I've left it in the tally because (a) it's what most people seem to be playing the most of and (b) you can make an argument that it's part of the total cost of the system, and should therefore be counted anyway. Pull it, of course, and Nintendo's 2007 software sales drop by nearly 20%.
Point #4, taken with point #2, is arguably the most telling. Since launching, Nintendo's managed to sell roughly one and a half times as many hardware units as Microsoft, ergo the Wii tallying 8.5 million units end of 2007 compared to the twice-as-old Xbox 360's 10.3 million units. At the same time, however, Nintendo's Wii software sales aren't keeping apace. The Wii sold just slightly more software in 2007 than the Xbox 360 did in 2006, but still notably underperformed the Xbox 360 in 2007 sales by over 10 million software units. Read that again. Nintendo undersold the Xbox 360 in its bumper first-party year.
Factor the first-party breakdown and you have a pretty elementary equation for 2008: Nintendo needs to have at least as many (and arguably more) first party successes over the next 12 months as it did in 2007. Trouble is, the only A-list first party titles formally announced to date are Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Fit.
2008 looks at this point like it just might be the year that third parties make -- or severely break -- the Wii.
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yeah, you want to know why people buy more games for the xbox? because they arent marketed to babies and little kids, which is what 90% of all nintendo games are. and you cant really cound the free software as being sold, because they would still sell the wii for same price if they removed the software from the bundle. so you can go ahead an lop off a good 4 million from total sales for the wii.
Actually Yuff, the reason people buy more games for xbox is because the thurd party developers have done everything they can to hamstring the success of the Wii. I would suspect its because they know that they cant match NIntendo's software development skills. The thing I dont understand is why console games try to act like they are some type of hardcore bunch. There are very few console games where a PC equivalent doesnt blow it away in every respect, especially with regards to graphics and competition. But all of this aside, Nintendo needs to begin utilizing the wii-mote, I think its a damn shame that they didnt release a Wii Sports 2 and simply stepped everything up a notch or two. Also third party developers need to start thinking out of the box for Wii development, simply put no one wants to buy their shitty ports. As for me, I am in a gaming rut with the Wii, the game I really want to see on it is Rock Band and in fact thats the only game I have been playing.
This is exactly what I told everyone would happen with the Wii - and it was so frustrating when people wouldn't listen! Everyone thought it was so innovative with a new controller, but the fact of the matter is that once the novelty wears off, you realise that you're left with a bunch of mediocre games. It's only Nintendo that are *really* making games for the Wii. The other manufacturers are releasing what they think is a good game, which it is on another console, but what the Wii needs is games that are specially designed for the Wii....
I have all 3 consoles. I rarely ever play my Wii and here is why. Third Party Titles Are complete crap! Further more, after getting off work, I really don't want to come home and jump around my living room. I'd rather throw in CoD4 or something, sit back, relax, and let the owning begin. As far as PC versions of games being better then Console. Hell yeah they are. You like viewing you're GoW in 1080i? Awesome, computer you're talking about resolutions upwards of 1900 or more.