NYTimes looks at Wii's software sales problem

by Kyle Orland on Apr 21st 2008 12:15PM

Despite consistently strong hardware sales, the Wii has thus far lagged behind its competitors when it comes to the all important software tie ratio. The New York Times looked into the problem today, with an article highlighting Wii owners' reluctance to buy games at the usual rapid pace.

On average, Wii owners only buy 3.7 games a year, compared to 4.7 and 4.6 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively. "These new gamers are content with the games they have, often going no further than the Wii Sports game that comes with the machine," the Times author states. "They don't buy new games with the fervor of a traditional gamer who is constantly seeking new stimulation."

Analysts say fixing the problem will require changing the way third parties market their games to the new audience of casual Wii gamers. "Advertising on Game Informer and 1up.com just isn't reaching this audience," Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter said. Advertising on Joystiq.com, though? Always a great idea!

Source

Tags: new-york-times, nintendo, NYTimes, software-sales, tie-ratio, wii

Reader Comments (149)

Ken my good friend where have you been all morning? Still hungover from all that saki? If you nothice that I did not forget or leave that part out for that matter look a gain my friend. I agree that it is the best analogy.

The Wii is a virus. It must be stopped before it ruins our 2 great HD machines!

fix: "sake"
"1 great hd machine"

Shiiggereno,

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. With our combined forces wii will attack on the Plumber's flanks and surround him. Shane, use the RROD weapon of mass destruction and burn his cavalry, I will colapse his Shiggy's right flank and scare his troops away with Naked pictures of Fernandos wearing only a Princess Peach bonnet on top of his mullet.

BAAAAAAANNNNNNZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAIIIIII!!!!!

Cry havok, and let slip the dogs of War.

Thread... slowly... degenerating...

This isn't surprising to me...

Its just a matter of whos buying the games. Nintendo's targeting a broader market and still getting Nintendo faithfuls and hardcore gamers who aren't stuck on sony. and/or MS only.

These people don't feel the need to buy games every month.

The Wii is doing quite excellent given what it is and what its doing.

Congrats Nintendo. Now do me a favor and create a f*cking online system that rivals Live (while protecting the kids of course).

Just ignore anything name posts - its always pure Sony trolling. Shall we begin to quote him again?

The two games I'd ever want for Wii are Capcom remakes. RE4 and Mhunter 3...basically ports with new control system.

The graphics won't ever tempt me, the control scheme doesn't tempt me, so basically all I'm hankering for is another version of the same game.

Not enough incentive. Now, looking at the library from an actual Wii owners point of view? If you're the archetypical casual gamer that buy the console because it's different, you won't care about stocking up on loads of games...not very casual doing that, after all.

If you're a hardcore gamer...well, there's a real dearth of quality original/ exclusive games. Like I said, for my money its main draw for me = two old Capcom games and one of them may not even be released outside of Japan.

And if you don't like Zelda (a GCN remake ffs!!) then its cutesy Ninty fare all the way.

The poor software sales are no surprise...the software selection for the core gamer is abysmal.

Monster Hunter 3 is a completely new game from the ground up.

name likes to play games with people, what a joker! He doesn't tell you that he is actually one of the high-level Nintendo reps who work under me. He certainly plays the part of a Nintendo detractor well!

1 more game on avg difference and THIS is a story?

I no, rite? Those New York Times guys is soooo tobias!

Your comments are just as creative as your name.

The New York Times needs to worry less about the Wii's tie ratio and more about Hillary's tie ratio.

Come to the promiseland Wiitards!!! Dont be afraid to "Jump In" ;) Get it? Jump in...goodness I am so creative!

Xbox LIVE -which includes all the options PSN wish it had. I'll spare Nintendo on this one.
XBLA
XNA
Back Compat with all top Xbox titles
The best and most comfortable controller TO DATE
Gamercards
Gamerpics
Gamerscore
Achievements

Halo 3
Halo 4 ;)
Gears of War
Gears of war 2
Mass Effect
Bioshock
Bioshock 2
Ninja Gaiden 2
Dead Rising
Call of Duty 2
Crackdown
Forza M 2
PGR4
Left 4 Dead
Lost Odyssey
Banjo 3
Too Human Trilogy
AlanWake
Dead or Alive 4
Dead or Alive 5

Better Multiplats that come out on time.

GTAIV, COD4, Virtua Fighter5 *w/online, Madden Football, The Orange Box, UTIII which will have all of the best mods for free via XBL marketplace, must I really go on this is embarrassing I know. Even if they are identical we all know every game is better with Xbox LIVE and achievements!

Oh, Shane, Shane, Shane...

You've fallen victim to the e-peen list syndrome! Anyone can go to Wikipedia and copy-paste a list! Come back when you can turn a profit on your hardware and maybe I'll let you sit at the big kids' table.

Whoa, and I thought *I* was a 360 fantard!

Oh Shiggy,

You and your Waggle Rock Machine make me laugh!

Holy crap this is HILARIOUS!!! Ken, Shiggy and now Shane??? This is madness! =P

Now THIS is why I love Joystiq! Kotaku could'nt write this shit if they wanted to!

BTW

Im really diggin this Shane character, best one yet whoever you are! :D

Hey Shane,

For my and other Joystiqers amusment...please goad Fernandos into a list War.

Ken,

I would'nt waste my time with Fernando or as you call him Fernandos. HAHA! He is seriously lacking a real life. He gets all grumpy and mad when people attack his WiiWii and Mario. I think he is like Michael Jackson and maybe never had a real childhood and thats why he feels the need to hang on to Nintendo and its childish characters. So sad Fernando is...

Attack his Wii Wii,

Shane I just laughed sooo hard that I spit up the sushi I was eating with your wife right in her face. Funny thing though...she wasn't mad about it, in fact...she told me to do it again...said it turns her on. So being the gentleman that I am, I did as she requested only this time I upchucked som spicy tuna right into her left eye and let me tell you...her eye looks like a swollen RROD. She got even MORE turned on by this and lunged at me. I will leave it up to you in finding out what happens next. As I am writing this I can see her swinging up and down the cat pole and she's cursing at you...for being too vanilla. I think I better leave b4 she violates me.

Who has less of a life: the guy who gets upset from people attacking his favorite system or the guys who go from Wii thread to Wii thread attacking the system. I think you guys have a lot to learn in life. May god have mercy on your souls.

Well, he's as clueless as the real Shane Kim, at least

Now, to complete the comedy. We need a Reggie

"HAHA! He is seriously lacking a real life."
Funny you say that..yet you have more posts than Fernando in a WII THREAD.So who's lacking a real life now,huh?

Well here is an idea: Make good games on the Wii, and by that i mean other companies need to make good games on it other than Nintendo and Capcom. Lets see... Good Wii games by Nintendo: all of them. Good games by Capcom: 2, RE4, and Okami. Good games by other companies: pretty much 0.

as expected
to reach those casuals 3parties need to reach em not as if they were gamers but as other media does,depending on the style of game and the players demographic.

Still,considering the HUGE amount of wii owners and how many of those are just casuals,its amazing to see that the ratio of games between wii and the others is so close.

a good amount of ppl don't get tired of playing wii sports and wii play. therefore less of a need to go buy another game.

"Holy crap this is HILARIOUS!!! Ken, Shiggy and now Shane??? This is madness! =P

Now THIS is why I love Joystiq! Kotaku could'nt write this shit if they wanted to!"

I actually think it's really, really stupid, and now I don't even want to bother read through this anymore.

Are they real humans, or some form of AI experiment gone wrong?

I think I always thought they were the same "guy"... but OMG there are THREE of them!

The only way to really make money on Wii is to be Nintendo. That has always been how they have run their business. They don't really give a damn about a 3PP ecosystem and don't need to as long as their own games sell like crazy.

it's a waste of time comparing the Wii with the PS3/360. those consoles are meant to appeal to freaks like us ... who not only play and buy games constantly ... but waste most of our "workin time" reading flame wars about games (which isn't helping the people in Darfur)

my Wii ain't shit compared to my 360. but, it absolutely full-on rulez when compared to my Sesame Street Chatters - Elmo Edition. Shut up Elmo. Please for the love of christ, just sit there quietly like your sister the Wii.

I'm glad I have the NY Times to tell me what I'm doing wrong. Stupid me, I've bought seven Wii games (counting Mario Kart Wii, which has been pre-ordered) since I got the thing at Christmas.

I suppose I'll stop looking forward to Wii games I want to buy, now.

not about you.

Ironically, I think maybe the best way to increase the Wii's sales to "non gamers" would be through online downloads... the one thing that the Wii finds very hard because of it's limited storage space.

I have a feeling that Nintendo realises the same thing, hence WiiWare. Online downloads allow cheaper prices, shorter games, and more "spur of the moment" purchases.

I also think Wii games are WAY too expensive for the "non gamer" audience. We have grown used to paying £30-£40 for games, but most consumers are used to the £10-£15 price of CDs and DVDs. I can imagine that if my parents shelled out £120 for a console+game they'd be pretty surprised to have to shell out 25% of that simply for a game.

Still, as the article says, WE ARE NOT the audience that is being talked about, so I think most of the comments here will miss the point.

One thing I always wonder about the tie-in ratio for the Wii, does it take Wii Sports into account?

The Wii was the only console that launched with a pack-in game.. so everyone started one game ahead...

The Wii has poorer game sales because it has had better games, earlier in its lifecycle. Let me explain...

People will still be playing Wii Sports, Mario Party, Brawl, etc., years from now! People don't need to buy five crappy mini-game collections because they already have a better mini-game collection. And those long-play games came out relatively early (

It cut off my message...

... The Wii's long-play games came out relatively early (within a year) of launch, closing the door on sales of second-rate games.

The 360 sold more games because it had a longer time without any games worth playing for longer than a month. Don't get me wrong, the 360 had some great games, but those good games were very short. With Halo 3, people will still be playing Halo years from now. As a result, people no longer need to buy a new shooter every month, but for nearly two years, many people did!

Here's my idea on how they should advertise to this new audience:

1. Make A Commercial.
2. Put It On TV, Radio, Billboards, Etc...
3. ????
4. Profit.

Seriously, beyond the Wii having different controls a new audience following, doesn't mean:

"OH, MAKE THE GAMES FULL OF MINIGAMES!"
or
"OH MAN, HOW DO WE ADVERTISE?"

NOTHING HAS CHANGED, ADVERTISE, AND MAKE A F'N PROFIT.

I honestly think the "gamers" who buy Nintendo consoles just don't want to play non-Nintendo and non-EA stuff.

I know a LOT of people who have played videogames for years AND own a Wii, but they won't take a look at No More Heroes, Z&W, Okami, Elebits, Geometry Wars ... they literally only buy EA/Nintendo/Activision games. It makes me so mad/sad.

Basically I think I was "right" when I predicted Nintendo would have way better 3rd-party support than the GC/64, but wrong when I thought "gamers" would care.

what's the pirate rate on each system?

I own 3 actual wii games

30+ mmm..archived :D ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

Yes how does one get a retirement community to purchase A Resident Evil game? There is a reason beyond $ why console makers stopped packing in games at launch and Nintendo is probably learning this all over again.

I had the wii and I sold it when I noticed this : The wii is a limited console with a limited number of good games and most of them are nintendo games and some of them are even over rated and boring (like zelda).

The strong point at the Nintendo DS for example is about having a good number of third party games; I like Nintendo games but also like third party games.

We're talking about a difference of 1 game a year. How is this a big deal? If it was 12 games to 3.7 games I'd call this news, but 3.7 to 4.7/4.6. Come on.

We know that the Wii has the largest userbase so far, so based on that, coupled with the Wii Sports phenom (i.e. hospitals, nursing homes buying the system), is it that big of a deal?

Seriously. Until it's a 2 to 1 ratio, it's of no interest.

Ummm... is an average of one extra game *per year* for the 360/PS3 really enough to call it a "fervor?"

I agree with the point of the article, and Nintendo certainly needs to improve the ratio, but the language used by the analysts is entirely misleading.

I don't see the problem, more million sellers and rising

Though attach rate could, in the end, be lower, percentages are deceptive. If it ends with a respectable number in total software sales, that will be a greater victory

Fanboys change the terms of the argument. Nintendo fans used to be of the mind that a system was to be judged on the quality of its software, not on its sales, now the mindset is opposite. Sony and MS fans who gloated over the victory against Nintendo last time, basing it sheerly on hardware sales, now swear that Attach Rate is more important, despite the fact that, by the attach rate philosophy, the GC was light-years ahead of the Xbox

Platfrom games SSBB, SMG, MKW, Mario & Sonic, Link Crossbow Training, Wii Play and Zelda TP. Another 12 3rd parties games, too. No problem here. Problem is casual people buying systems, when their money could be put to better use (other than gaming).

Nice, with my Wii games I make up for about 4 casual gamers atm. ;)

I know I'm going to get hell for this, but why is NYT looking into the Wii's software sales problem, when the PS3 has an attach rate far lower, and a tenth of the install base? Seems rather silly to me.

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NYTimes looks at Wii's software sales problem

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