Sometimes it’s rather difficult not to see Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter as the herald of the U-pocalypse, but you can’t say he isn’t committed to his job.
According to GamesIndustry International, Pachter has forecast sales of just 55,000 Wii U consoles within the last month, as NPD Group prepares to release official retail figures on Thursday. Pachter’s number represents a 17 percent decline in sales over the previous month and he expects the tune to remain the same for the near future:
The only key hardware device to underperform our expectations [in last month’s numbers] was the Wii U and its fortunes appear unlikely to improve for several months, even if Nintendo decides to drop price, as there are an insufficient number of core titles that are generating interest in the console.
The “core gamer” market, according to Pachter, may further turn their attentions toward the PS4 and next Xbox as their releases near, with the Wii U’s long term appeal shortened in light of perceived superior consoles — especially if their prices are reasonable. He has previously stated that he expected the Wii U will sell 30-50 million units in its lifetime.
Do you have a response to Pachter’s latest predictions?
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 59
Perfectly reasonable. There`s little reason to purchase or even own a Wii U as of now when the Xbox 360 and PS3 have way bigger libraries and cheaper prices. Besides it seems most are holding out for E3 to check the PS4 and 720 anyway. Nintendo has got a lot to prove this year.
Is it that time of the month already?
Everyone knows that the Wii U needs software. The price is fine, just release Pikmin 3 already!
It seems a bit weird that US sales could have gone down when the other regions had a little spike in hardware sales from MH3U and Lego City but there were huge discounts in UK and places...
Maybe Pachter is completely talking out of his arse this time. I'd assumed the lack of bad Wii U sales in US news was because they hadn't been that bad so nobody thought it was worth publishing.
Michael Pachter loves telling people not to invest in Nintendo who have only ever once failed to make a profit during a transitional year. He never mentions stuff like this:
http://www.vg247.com/2013/01/07/xbox-360-and-ps3-losses-total-8-billion-ex-sony-employee-paints-grim-future/
So Pachter is predicting that Wii U sales are -lower- in March, the first month in some time where several new games were released, than they were in February, when there -weren't- new titles?
This guy really needs to get a new job.
A price drop will do some good, I'd buy one that's for sure. But, yea, more titles would make me buy one too
Oi, Pachter, stop stating the obvious. >: /
What Pachter says is pretty much spot on:
'The Wii U will sell less than the Wii'.
'The Wii U needs games.'
'Nintendo produces fantastic games but takes too long to release anything make any sort of decision.'
'A price cut won't help things (in fact it'll just make it seem like Nintendo are panicking).'
The problem is Pachter is pretty blunt and rude, only sees the world from an American perspective (he admits he 'doesn't get Japanese games companies), He doesn't seem to know about people who want an alternative to the mass online-flashy graphics over innovation-rush produced PS3/XBOX model, and is pretty alone as THE business analyst for the games sector (There is something thoroughly annoying about him waving a Skyrim box around as proof he knows about video games).
That and the fact for every 100 words he says about the Wii U, Nintendo says one.
Pachter has spoken.
Ha! We all know the good exclusives will come in time, its Sony and MS that need to watch these pointless sales reports to make sure they dont loose their 3rd party sugar daddies!
Yep its that time of the month when Pratcher can get his name in the press.
Fact is WiiU is his new platform to get headlines, 14 months ago it was the Vita, which according to him would of been abandoned by now.
Fact is WiiU has outsold and is outselling the Vita but its old news so Pratcher never bothers making comments about it as it wont get him the media coverage.
Next year it will be Ps4, or Kinectbox.. depending on which one sells less than the other.
Wait. Didn't Nintendo Life interview Pachter? Pachter said that the U needs a price cut, and now?
I personally think sales of Wii U will be way better than March's, because of NFS:MWU and Monster Hunter.
We have had some of the best games come out recently, Need for Speed, Monster Hunter and Lego City, no complaints here, I have more than enough to keep me busy. What important game are we missing at the moment? nothing I can think of...
It's not Nintendo. It's not Wii U. The video game industry is crashing. Why can't anyone see this?
All this micro-transaction and DLC for things that used to be in the games and always on DRM is turning away consumers. These same problems with sales are going to occur with PS4 and Durango. They just aren't out yet, so we can't see it. And those will be sold at a bigger loss than Wii U currently is.
Nintendo is going to be fine. 3DS is more than making up for Wii U sales. They have dual weapons, which helps. No one seems to remember this. Wii U will be fine in the end - but it won't touch Wii's sales. But PS4 is going to be less than PS3, and Durango less than 360. Especially since those won't be taken off the market when their successors are put on the market either.
Just STOP POSTING PACHTER CRAP!
What he's saying is true this time.
Wow. I can really see why this guy is a highly respected analysts (as far as other commentators believe) I mean its not like every Nintendo fan and the company itself have not been saying the exact same thing for the last several months.
Does he really think that Nintendo doesn't know this? That it might be a shock to them? we all know this, we all know the solution (GAMES!!! = O) and we all know they're coming. Can we move on from this now?
Oh and he also says that these consoles will be the cheapest ever released... Sure, If Sony and Microsoft both want to take $200 to $300 losses again on each console, should be really sustainable, I mean the ps3 was right? /sarcasm
Michael Pachter is the next Jack Thompson. Websites use him to generate fanboy rage by recycling his verbal diarrhoea.
He'll be remembered for being a prick all the way through a generation and a half and then fade into obscurity. To be fair on Pachter, he hasn't made any particularly bold statements in a while but surely investors would be calling for his head if they ignored the Wii U on his advice and invested in Sony or MS in the near future. MS stock will go down immediately after the 720 is announced as with every other hardware announcement. Sony and MS will have to account for billions in R&D and manufacturing costs for new consoles and will probably make a loss for 2-3 years if their other consoles are anything to go by. Nintendo might not do that well but with the weakening yen and the fact that 3DS and Wii U are probably both profitable at the moment, investors have a safer bet with Nintendo even if they do come 3rd in the next console wars.
For some reasons is Pachter frustrated about Nintendo and for some reasons websites gives him attention.
Pachter told us in 2010 that we could play GTA V in 2011. Do I need to say more?
"Do you have a response to Pachter’s latest predictions?"
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Seriously, NL, why, oh WHY do you keep posting Pachter's opinions?
Has this guy not shown time and enough that he's more a troll than a relevant force in the industry?
I just logged in to write this, it angers me so much that sites like NL give him credit by keeping to post his "views"...
Pach-Attack said the same thing about the 3DS. It just makes him look dumber when he turns out to be wrong. lol
off topic, but if the US sales have dropped by all accounts the EU sales are picking up. Considering US sales were reasonable anyway the increased EU sales should counter the downturn for global sales.
Tho Pratcher wont say anything remotely positive about the WiiU... yet.
Interesting to note Shopto own WiiU only sales charts show 4 diferent console bundles in their own WiiU top 10.
Its only a reflection of how shopto's own WiiU sales are going but it does show a mix of quality games (mh3,lcu,nfs etc) and a attractive price point (some really good bundle prices at the moment) and the WiiU will sell.
http://shopto.net/wiiu
@bezerker99 I could swear the big N released some games when they cut the 3DS's price.
Why do so many of you seem to have a personal grudge against this man? What is the point of it?
This is a very logical comment that is probably spot on. I agree with it completely.
@Nintenjoe64 "To be fair on Pachter, he hasn't made any particularly bold statements in a while..." In Adam Sessler's review with Pachter, he said "Wii U is a crappy product". That was like a week ago.
@Jaz007 I don't think lots of us have a "personal" grudge with Pachter, but you'd be lying if you said you weren't jealous. From what I know, he gets payed money, lots of it, for what? Telling the future about an entertainment medium? He doesn't even do a good job of it. Pachter is the luckiest man on earth. If I could have a simple job like that, I would love it.
This video explains everything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv6JqXRVTsY
HeatBombastic
To be fair on Pachter, he hasn't made any particularly bold statements in a while..."
The last bold statement he made i remember was in 2012, about next gen consoles releasing at Xmas 2013. If the Xbox720 releases at Xmas as well he was 100% right, mind you other predictions of his haven't gone so well but we'll soon see whether he is right or wrong.
@Jaz007 Is not personal, Sometimes what he says makes sense... not often but sometimes.
Trouble is he comes out with out there comments eg.. PsVita will be abandoned with 12 months, the DS and 3DS will never be successful, The Ps3 will not find a place in the consumers home at its current price... err ok he was right on this one at the time, he even said that people wouldn't embrace motion controllers and the Wii would become a Novelty product at one time.
He's already assuming ps4 and to a larger degree Kinectbox will be massive successes, even though he has no idea of how well the consoles will actually function compared to how well MS/Sony are saying they will function. (in features, services, reliability and not just in terms of spec performance).
In regards with WiiU.. and Nintendo... and Japanese Publishers for that matter.. he's more or less written them off as lost causes... Its only the American Company attitude of Sony thats stopped Pratcher writing them off so far.
The truth is if its not a Microsoft or a Made in USA Product.. Pratcher will mostly criticise it in some way.
In short 90% of the time he spouts crap, depending on what he thinks will get him the most press coverage at the time.
Way to state the obvious!
To be fair, investors are among the most ignorant people on the planet, so they probably need to be told by an analyst what everyone on this website already knows.
In addition, I think his estimate of Wii U sales is fair and could indeed be accurate. I'm just baffled that he thinks there are AT LEAST 160 million people who want to buy a Nextbox or a PS4.
Pach'd again!
Please, Pachter, go away just like Adam Orth did.
All Nintendo needs to do is announce games like Metroid, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Star Fox, Donkey Kong, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Kirby, etc and the fans will come in flocks.
As much as I want that, I would like Nintendo to secure more 3rd party publisher/developers and for pete's sake get some awesome 3rd party exclusives.
Please stop quoting this terrible person.
I'm not sure pikmin 3 will help,just give us the games that ninja89 mentions.
He is right, no point in buying a Wii U because they still have no games people want to rush out and buy. Again, poor 3rd party support is a big problem and right now they have average 1st party games. I can sense the PS4 in my future...
i'm getting fed up of seeing this exact story over and over. how about release some damn games already so this statement stops getting repeated?
I actually agree with him. The Wii U won't start picking up until around fall, and if Nintendo doesn't unveil a strong holiday line-up at E3 then I think this year will be all about the PS4. If PS4 grabs everyone's attention this holiday, I could see it being very difficult for Nintendo to reverse that in the months following the holiday madness.
I hate to say this, and I hope I'm wrong, but it's really starting to look like the whole Dreamcast situation for Nintendo. The mere announcement of the PS2 killed almost all consumer interest in the Dreamcast, which I believe was doing relatively well before that. So in that sense, I hope history doesn't repeat itself.
Well at least something reasonable. But still I'm tired of these articles because they always bring up what we already know and what most WiiU owners are waiting for: games. Oftnce Pikmin 3 comes out there probably be a spike of console sales. E3 will come along showing why people should get a wiiu this holiday season and by holiday season there will be sure a lot of Nintendo support, Mario Kart will definitely sell consoles and if the new 3d mario comes out by then, im sure that would only sell even more. The thing is we know this so please stop posting stories on this.
Also industry analysis people like pachter I feel are unneeded as the market is unpredictable (how many times has this guy gotten a prediction wrong?) Consumers buy what they want if it captures their attention
Oh COME ON! Every console made by Nintendo nowadays has good sales in the first month, then terrible sales and then Nintendo saves it. This happens literally EVERY TIME
Pachter has his own category now?
I too am getting sick of these doom and gloom articles that appear almost daily on this site. One day Pachter makes a comment, next EA won't support WiiU, then Gamestop says something, etc., etc., etc. I love this site, but these articles are getting rediculous.
Wow. For once, Patcher actually said something smart by saying that a price cut without good software won't boost sales much. Too bad he torpedoed smartness of the statement by then being dumb enough to say that NPD figures for March will be less then Februrary, even though America got Lego City and Monster Hunter and VGChartz reported higher figures for every region that month.
Seriously Patcher, why do have to say something stupid the one time you say something smart?
Also, this clown recently attained a new record for being prove wrong. Remember when it was reported that Nintendo's share price went up 11%? Well apparently, this bozo told some investors the day before NOT to invest in Nintendo. Yeah, spot on Patcher!
@Jaco
YOU SAID IT! SERIOUSLY! WHY ARE GIVING A 10 PEANUTS ABOUT WHAT THIS LOSER SAYS ANYMORE!?!
@Neram
You do realize that Sony's probably gonna charge for online and is gradually alienating themselves out of Japan right? Plus, the boost in sales cause by Lego City and Monster Hunter is significant. While it wasn't much sales itself, it shows software will move units, so imagine what an actual AAA game will do! Seriously people, we got to stop comparing Nintendo to Sega. In fact, I think I am going to soon make a thread about this.
@Neram If you are really serious you're either oblivious to the REAL facts why Sega's Dreamcast went belly up, or (and I'm sorry to say) you're overreacting and talking out of the other hole.
Nintendo's situation wasn't, isn't and is NEVER going to be the same as Sega's, PERIOD. Doomsday prophecies predicting the demise of Nintendo, the ONLY company right now still making a HEALTHY profit and having a healthy bank account are RIDICULOUS, because even with the fewer sales and down scaled profit outlook Nintendo THEMSELVES have published, they're still in a WAY better position than Sony and Microsoft with their billion dollar losses on the current consoles: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/03/nintendo_reportedly_has_8128_billion_yen_in_the_bank
Like Nintenjoe64 already posted: http://www.vg247.com/2013/01/07/xbox-360-and-ps3-losses-total-8-billion-ex-sony-employee-paints-grim-future/
As far as the Dreamcast situation is concerned: for Nintendo to be in the same predicament, they should have been making huge mistakes starting with the SNES and EVERY console thereafter, because THAT, and ONLY that is why Sega failed, by making mistake upon mistake and letting the financial losses build and build and in between trying to patch things by coming up with stop-gap systems (SegaCD, Sega 32x) and new systems WAY too soon that were also underpowered and WAY too difficult to program for (Saturn). Not to mention quite a few VERY stupid executive decisions tied into all of that. The Dreamcast in comparison is an almost perfect console, especially for it's time, and was VERY programmer friendly and had some great software. I still play on it to this day. If only they had included DVD support, Sony would have had a much harder time getting the PS2 into homes...
So, next time you wish to compare Nintendo's current misfortune to Sega's downfall, please check up on actual facts so you don't unnecessarily worry yourself, because there's no need at all...
This comment may come across as harsh, but rest assured it's only my irritation about people in general stupidly confusing these two ENTIRELY different situations and needlessly spelling doom, and NOT something aimed at you personally.
You just happened to be the next one making this unfounded comment...
@NintendoPro64
On second thought, I won't be making the thread. I just posted it, and everyone was faithless and cruel. When you have people defending Patcher on a pro-Nintendo site, something is wrong. Funny thing is, I didn't even write the article, and every fact was full proof. Well Nintendo, guess it's up to you to restore faith, because the Internet is crap.
@TheRealThanos
I wish everyone on this site was like you. YOU KNOW THE FACTS!
@NintendoPro64 People's opinion on Pachter changes at a drop of a hat on this site. When a pro/con article/thread appears about him, everyone agrees with it.
@Intrepid
Yeah, I actually noticed that myself. As great a community as Nintendo Life is, the back and forth can actually get pretty bad. And a lot of the people can be awfully stubborn and rude on this site. The only site I know that doesn't have this problem is Nintendoenthusiast, and that's because their traffic is pretty low.
Bottom line Pachter literally said the Wii U is a "crappy product". If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the entire interview or youtube it. He hates it and obviously anything he says about the Wii U from here on out will be negative.
My question is: Why is Nintendo Life even care what this guy has to say? Bring the Nintendo IP's and advertise better (there are actual people out there that don't even know the Wii U exists or think the gamepad is just an add-on because of Nintendo's crappy advertising or lack of I should say) and people will start buying. With the Wii, EVERYONE knew about that system, from kids to old people to hardcore gamers to casual, etc. Nintendo did an excellent job advertising their product, what is Nintendo waiting for this time around?
Am I the only one who is complacent with my Wii U?
@Link41x
No you aren't! My Wii U has offered me plenty of entertainment already and honestly, I am too busy to beat a game in one day and start waiting for the next. I just wish more "fans" had more FAITH. Seriously, the cynicism all over the Internet is horrific. Just a couple of hours ago, I posted a thread linking to an article that shows that Nintendo is in NO danger of going third party. And what do I get? Tons of idiots commenting on "poor journalism", saying he isn't more credible than Patcher, and how they still think the Wii U is doomed. Honestly, this site is definitely one of the more positive sites out there, but it is not without its own share of ridiculous negativity. I'd sure like to see all these idiots on this site say the Wii U is "doomed" after this E3. Seriously, have we already forgotten the 3DS?
@BlackSpy
Oh, this your first time? Pleasure to have you on board! I'm a bit of newbie myself! The community is really good, but as you can see it is not without its fair share of unfaithful fools.
@link-Personally I love my Wiiu and wish people would stop hating. Im more than happy with my system and 7 games. Im loving Gamepad Offscreen gameplay and Miiverse and the ability to post screenshots is awesome.
I don't understand why Nintendo Life or CNN or any news agency with credence give Michael Pachter any authority. He is Inaccurate about 90% of the time, makes wild claims, infuriates gamers and is an outsider of the videogame industry.
Stop paying attention to this man. He's a huckster, just look at his track record and his job history. He doesn't have the credentials.
I urge you to be the first to ignore him. If he is fooling his clients, let him. You guys should know better, you follow the game industry much closer than he does.
@Nintenjoe64 Pachter is always talking out of his ass... That's what his job is. He guesses things, without being an industry insider or a gamer. Pachter basically just talks out of his ass and people listen to him because he had a prolific job in the oil industry.
He has no authority here, look at his record.
@JettiBlue I agree 100%. I've researched him and he is wrong many more times than he is right. CNN and Fox News loves him but to me it's the blind leading the blind. Michael Pachter doesn't have the credentials to be a video game analyst. I wonder how much money he makes for his BS.
Someone should hire me as a Video Game Analyst, at least I'd be knowledgeable.
OMG, I'm just gonna stop talking about him here and write a blog. It just irks me that video game magazines believe what he says he holds any water. I used to work for people just like him in the loan industry right before it crashed.
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