It's that time again, with November NPD results — which cover US physical retail sales — being released; they cover the vital Black Friday week sales, in particular. For Nintendo the focus was on major releases on both Wii U and 3DS, both of which performed rather well, while the Wii U enjoyed a week that was its best since launch in November 2012.
The software charts saw Super Smash Bros. for Wii U — along with sales of the 3DS version — secure third place behind some unsurprising big hitters; the Wii U version has sold 710,000 units to date in the US, while physical and download sales of the 3DS version have passed 1.5 million in the country. Pokémon Alpha Sapphire finished in fifth while Pokémon Omega Ruby was seventh, impressive results considering that they're single-platform releases and — essentially — two halves of almost the same game. Amazingly, these titles have already sold nearly 1.5 million copies (download and physical retail) in the US already.
Quite why Super Smash Bros. for Wii U isn't — like ORAS — treated separately is a mystery; there are arguably more differences between the brawlers than in Game Freak's latest titles. In any case, the top 10 below should be happy reading for Nintendo.
1.) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)
2.) Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
3.) Super Smash Bros. (NWU, 3DS)
4.) Madden NFL 15 (360, XBO, PS4, PS3)
5.) Pokemon Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
6.) Far Cry 4 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC)
7.) Pokemon Omega Ruby (3DS)
8.) NBA 2K15 (PS4, 360, XBO, PS3, PC)
9.) Assassin's Creed: Unity (PS4, XBO, PC)
10.) Halo: The Master Chief Collection (XBO)
Moving onto hardware, no numbers have been given by Nintendo for 3DS, with the press release choosing to emphasize that software on the portable is up 40% on the equivalent month in 2013. For Wii U there have been some figures, with Nintendo stating that "the week of Nov. 23 was the biggest single week of Wii U hardware sales since the system launched in November 2012". While November's Wii U software results were 90% higher than the equivalent period in 2013, the hardware increase was just 10%; though Nintendo's statement on the Wii U enjoying its best week since launch is undoubtedly correct, that increase suggests November unit sales of under a quarter of a million in the US, which isn't the huge number the company may have aspired to. That leaves some pressure on December sales to contribute more towards the company's global target for the year.
Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing, naturally struck a positive note in the company's official statement.
This is a ringing endorsement from families and fans that Nintendo has the best variety, the best value and the best gaming experiences for sale this holiday season. We’re extremely confident in our holiday proposition and look forward to closing this year strong and starting 2015 with a full head of steam.
As a final note, the following was said on amiibo sales.
Nov. 21 also saw the arrival of amiibo, Nintendo’s new platform where gaming’s most recognizable characters can be used in different ways in many compatible games. Sales of amiibo are approximately equal to sales of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U so far, while Link, Mario and Pikachu (in that order) have been the best-selling figures to date.
Overall, Nintendo had an excellent November in the software stakes, with the biggest releases on Wii U and 3DS competing with — and in some cases beating — a range of triple-A multi-platform blockbusters. On the hardware front, we have the positive of the Wii U enjoying a particularly strong week over Black Friday, but disappointment is reasonable in light of the modest increase over the equivalent sales from November 2013, leaving the system behind its Microsoft and Sony rivals over the full month.
[source neogaf.com]
Comments 64
Thats great! Im not a big Smash fan, but glad to see its selling well and that people are enjoying it.
Well, at least one improvement came from Smash 4... too bad it's not gameplay-related.
What does surprise me, is that Assassin's Creed BETA outsold Halo! I would've expected more from that. But I guess that's the consequence of Bungie not making Halo anymore.
They obviously grouped them together because they have the same name + for platform. Very similar to all those multiplatform releases that get to accumulate sales from 50 different platforms. ORAS on the other hand are no more similar than Pokemon Diamond Version and Pokemon Red Version, they are all Pokemon ________ Version, so going purely by names, they'd all be counted as one xD therefore they have to separate any Pokemon games with differing names.
@Kaze_Memaryu though Bungie don't make Halo, the Masterchief Collection does contain the games made by Bungie, just in HD format but with broken online it's no wonder why people aren't buying it. And Assassins Creed is on multiple platforms that helps it, even if you do need to spend several months waiting for patches.
@Kaze
It's simply a case of comparing new games vs old games.
Many Halo fans likely still have their original copies of the 360 games and Master Chief being handcuffed by the XOne (vs AC having 3 systems and a far greater advert budget) it's not surprising.
Just as November's Smash sales were likely 80% Wii U and GTA V was almost entirely the newer consoles, the data can be very misleading.
Were these games released simultaneously and completely new and original, the sales would be different.
Like buying a box set of something, the HD collections will never sell as well as the originals that people have already purchased and played before.
In fact, were Bungie still making quality software and not churning out garbage like Destiny (clearly not the evergreen gem they were hoping for) maybe that would seem like a reasonable statement.
After Reach and ODST, I was more than glad that 343 was given the chance to burn that dying tree to ash and restart the series.
In fact, when Halo V finally launches, I might bite the bullet and join the true next gen.
The Wii U just isn't quite there (at least 3rd party).
Then again, with SFV, Uncharted IV and the next Ys game PS4 exclusives, MS still has quite the hill to climb.
@PvtOttobot I guess so, though they do technically have different names! In any case, I would have been curious to see them separated
@NodesforNoids The Wii U isn't quite there yet? The Wii U has the best games among the 8th gen consoles. It has the most high rated exclusives and extremely well made 3rd party exclusives as well. The PS4 and Xbox are good, but compared to the Wii U their game offerings are bleak in comparison.
SFV is not a PS4 exlcusive, you can get it on the PC as well. But I'll probably get it for the PS4 anyways.
They should be treated separately; the only similarity between the two are the characters. Stages, modes (classic, all-star, Smash Run, Smash Tour, etc.) and others are all different in some way, or exclusive, between the two titles.
Speaking of titles, they both have different ones! The official names of these games are: "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U" and "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS". This is similar to the way ORAS are differentiated, and they are treated separately. This doesn't apply to true multiplats as their titles are the same across all platforms (i.e. Assassin's Creed Unity).
Other than that, great news!
so here's my bit on wiiu sales. It SHOULD have been better, problem? NINTENDO! I have been hounded by Microsoft about there $350 for their console(which is now making me want to get one)but I get nothing for Nintendo (exept for two or three pokemon trailers ones) and thats sad for I want them to do well. but still SOMEONE NEEDS TO GIVE NINTENDO MARKETING CREW A 1,000% INCREASE IN COMMERCIALS PRODUCTION AND PUTTING THEM ON TV AND YOUTUBE!!!!
BUT STITCHSCOUT!!!! there was a 90% increase in software sales!!! yes there was. smash bros and some other very good deals for other exclusives got everyone who has already bought a wiiu got those games(hyrule warriors, smash,pikmen, ext.) but not many were interested (or knew) about the wiiu and its console deals.(that or they still think its a game pad attachment for the wii) its still good new for Nintendo but still they could have done a lot better. as for 3ds I am pleasantly surprise by the hardware sales I expected less or the same as last blackfriday.
The top three Amiibo choices are exactly as I would've predicted. Link beats out Mario simply because it gives you the best reward in Hyrule Warriors.
Not sure what Nintendo's plan is on selling hardware specifically but t wasn't to target Black Friday with any kind of deals (in the US at least). That's for sure.
I'm still thinking Nintendo's primary concern is a solid return to profitability so it can survive and satisfy shareholders. Selling a bunch of consoles at a loss does not get that done fast enough, sadly.
The Smash/MK8 combo and other games for groups are unfortunately for Nintendo best spread throughout the holidays when families gather together and play them. It means that it's going to take awhile for those games to pay off in hardware sales.
2015 is a very important year for the relevance of the Wii U. Zelda, Star Fox, and Splatoon are a great pile up on top of Smash Bros, Mario Kart 8 and Mario/DK/Rayman platforming options. If it can't get attention from a larger audience with that lineup, I don't think it ever will.
Considering the games that beat Smash were being sold across 4 consoles vs just 2 (Wii U most definatly selling the bulk of it) Smash's performance is pretty impressive. I wonder where Pokemon would have placed if both games sales were combined . Considering Pokemon sold on just 3DS and looking at the games on this list , its a pretty good performance as well
I knew when it came to Nintendo talking about the Wii U that we’d get %%% bullsh1t talk again. I was thinking if they talk about hard numbers it’s done well but if they do their usual smoke and mirrors percentages then Wii U didn’t perform that well.
“Nintendo has the best variety.” I’m sorry, I love Nintendo but that’s a lie. As an example it’s smothered with platformers but we have no sports games. Guess who do? The competition. We need them. Like it or not but they're important and they sell.
“Just a few days ago on Dec. 5, Wii U fans got the one-two punch of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, the intrepid explorer’s first stand-alone adventure, and NES Remix Pack, which combines previous digital-only games NES Remix and NES Remix 2 in one convenient physical package. ” Wow! Is that supposed to sell the Wii U? Captain Turd in a nappy and a lazy 8 bit rehash of old games. Nintendo need to cop on. It’s no wonder they’ve had so much trouble.
In the last month I’ve bought the double pack of Bayonetta 2 and Smash Bros. Wii U and they’re great but I won’t be buying any more Wii U games until Zelda and Xenoblade Chronicles X.
And I don’t give a damn about the cheap, awful looking paywall amiibo either. I play video games not collect dolls.
Regarding 3rd party exclusives, we've a little over a handful of them. Yes, Bayonetta 2, MH3U and Zombi U(though that's debatable with a lot of people) are great but what else is there? The Sonic games? Steaming piles of sh1te.
I'm surely enjoying Smash, and I'm happy to see that others are too! Especially the Amiibo.
What person would pay full price for an Assassins Creed game on a next gen console? Little secret, but I buy it for 5 bucks on steam in 6 months. Super Smash in 6 months. Same price. Makes the purchase worth it. Not so with other 3rd party games. Anyways, good news for Nintendo. Keep bringing the games!!
Good to see Smash had an impact on many gamers (even non-Nintendo gamers like us), the Wii U will surely do better in the next years. Meanwhile, I'll do my part for the december NPD chart. I'm getting Smash tomorrow
Not a bad opener for Smash to grab 710k sales. Combined with all regions its already cracked the top 5 in all-time Wii U sales which is kind of sad.
Nintendo's word play about hardware sales doesn't bode too well. It might have done better than prior weeks, but sales since launch have been terrible. Having a 10% increase is pretty paltry especially when their competition is producing numbers by a far greater scale. Nintendo having a lot of sales now makes me laugh when they churned up a crap Black Friday sales run. They better hope they build up a lot of steam heading into Christmas, but here in the states their advertisement campaign is still invisible.
Wow, that's great news! Nice to see something that's not "doom-and-gloom" for once.
BF week is all about sales, and Wii U is only now starting to get them this week and next, hopefullt not too late.
8 player smash should be reason enough for the 2 versions to be separated.
And amiibo support.
And Tour on Wii U and Smash Run on 3DS.
These arent the same game. Might as well include SSB Brawl in there ae well as it can be played on Wii U in Wii mode.
I'm not surprised to see COD Advanced Warfare is number one. People love their cut and paste FPS. Sheesh! Anyway fantastic to see SSB4 in the top 3. Go Nintendo!
@Hy8ogen Let's take off the Nintendo fangirl shades for a moment ok? Clearly MS and Sony have Superior 3rd party titles in comparison to the Wii U. Dead rising, little big planet, titanfall, street fighter, etc.
@darthllama Won't matter, as that momentum will be lost once the holidays are over anyway. They won't regain any until Xenoblade/Star Fox/Zelda release in late 2015 unless Splatoon takes off, which will require a heavy marketing campaign (getting the game into people's hands, FREQUENT TV commercials on multiple channels, a dedicated Nintendo Direct, etc) to do so as new IPs from Nintendo don't have much luck these days.
Wonder if Pokemon would have been top of the charts if it was treated as one game...
In terms of Wii U sales. We shouldn't be running around screaming doom yet. The system has had its best week since it launched and typically Wii U tends to sell best in December
@Joruus_Cbaoth My point still stands. Read my comment in full and understand it first before replying. Please.
@Sligeach
I don't agree with everything you said, especially your dis on caption toad. But allot of what you said is spot on with what I think. Nintendo needs to figure this out.
Great quote: "And I don’t give a damn about the cheap, awful looking paywall amiibo either. I play video games not collect dolls."
However, Its an investing catch 22. If you lock a bunch of great content behind the amiibo, then the purchase price is justified, but if no great content behind the amiibo, then why buy it?
Great news all around
I'm more worried about lack of details on 3DS sales. 3DS was keeping Nintendo afloat whike they squandered every opportunity to do well with the WiiU. If 3DS is struggling, that could be major trouble in the not-so-distant future.
Looks like Smash was able to provide a bump for WiiU, but not too significant. This is very bad, guys. Smash is Nintendo's most popular franchise with the hardcore crowd that couldn't care less about Splatoon, Captain Toad and Yoshi's Woolly World. If Smash didn't provide a meaningful boost to Wii U sales, then we're probably looking at a total of 15mil WiiUs sold when its life cycle ends in a couple of years.
@FragRed I can see multiplatform as a reason, but it's a bit hard for me to get when Assassin's Creed's reputation was ruined even before the official release. And I have no idea about the online issues in Halo...
@NodesforNoids If you put it that way, it does become more reasonable. Ah, whatever. At least it's looking good for Nintendo. ^_^
So... Smash pretty much matched MK8 in that it sold a load of software but barely had any impact on hardware November and December were make or break months for Wii U, and this isn't a good start. 245k sold compared to 225k last November. If MK and Smash don't pull in the crowds I'm not sure what will. Splatoon maybe? We know Zelda, Xenoblade and Starfox don't have a history of causing big hardware spikes no matter how great they are. At this rate they'll just scrape 500k in December.
@Peach64 Please compare the average weekly hardware sales pre-MK8 and post-MK8. Your statement is not based on facts.
@jariw - Unfortunately for the always pessimistic crowd, they have created a bunch of conditions, stipulations, and numbers games in their minds and they can't just look at a piece of positive news without measuring it against these standards and then passing judgement.
When something does sell beyond expectation, like Amiibo...they make a new unlikely scenario and move the goalposts for what truly constitutes success.
Get ready to be scolded for daring to derive a small amount of satisfaction from a small victory here or there.
@Joruus_Cbaoth please take off the troll shades please. Thank you.
@aaronsullivan I thought Nintendo reported a few months ago that they were selling Wii U's without loss now, but I may be mistaken. In any case however, the only thing I find important for the Wii U is that the top-notch first party games come (which they have been, and will definitely continue to in 2015), and that Nintendo is at least making profit for it so they continue to support it and that they don't lose money of off it. Nevertheless, I was really surprised at how well amiibo sold and could very well single-handedly turn the tides of the Wii U's sales should Nintendo choose to capitalise on it.
@jariw
Before and after....the weekly sales still suck lol.
Overall a disappointing sales period for Wii U. XOne sold more than triple the Wii U. PS4 doubled it. Same situation in Europe. That is first class fail.
People keep saying about big titles coming out next year, but those are few and far between. Having a couple positive blips in sale during the course of the year means nothing if you don't sustain it or build upon it. They're going to have months of nothing. Starfox comes out, get a few more sales then back to nothing. Zelda comes out, they'll have a few good weeks of sales then nothing. Then we'll hear the talk about the Super Wii U being primed for 2017 featuring bells and whistles that seem cool, but developers won't touch and specs that will be dated by the time its released.
The Amiibo's are a pleasant surprise to boost Nintendo's profit margin going forward, even if they don't spur sales of games/system.
@darthllama Again, compare the weekly sales pre-MK8 and post-MK8 without counting any peak. I'm not talking about "blips", I'm talking about the new constant level relative to what it was before. And I'm not talking about any other console.
@Action51 Quite frankly I don't care about the console sales. I'm not a Nintendo shareholder. But I don't appreciate when people just produce spam based on non-facts. I think the Wii U has a really good selection of great games, that's all I care about.
@Joruus_Cbaoth I thought you were serious when you mentioned TitanFall and Dead Rising 3. Dead Rising 3 is one of the worst games I have ever played, and not open world as advertised. TitalFall is just CRAP, simple as. They couldn`t even get the multi-player correct, fighting against Bots!!!! The Wii U also has the highest rated Metacritic games of all 3 consoles to date. Did not see TitanFall or Advanced Warfare win any awards the other night. When it comes to making enjoyable, glitch free games, Nintendo is still the best, and rightly won Developer of the Year.
Having said all that, my favourite game of all time is The Last of Us. It will be a while before anything beats that game, for me anyway.
I think Nintendo will have a respectable holiday season when it's all said and done. They should have had some eye catching hardware sales on Black Friday for sure to try and attempt to fend off all the damage that these great XBO deals had, but there are still a couple weeks before the season wraps up. Target's $50 off the Mario 3D World Wii U bundle beginning on Sunday has a chance to help and other deals certainly won't hurt.
I think Smash will have legs in terms of sales that other top games right now don't, especially when people get it for Christmas and word of mouth continues to spread about the game's high quality.
I'm probably overly optimistic but I do think that even though November sales came in list than hoped for that all is not lost.
Even if the total number of Wii U's sold doesn't match up to its competitors, the attach rate for a lot of the games will be very high by the end of its life-cycle. People will still be buying Smash, Mario Kart etc in two or three years time if they haven't already. The Amiibos will also provide a steady stream of revenue - as long as they don't discontinue any, I'm happy.
It's good news that the Wii U finally had a strong sales week, comparatively. But since they aren't interested in releasing actual numbers, that is likely evident that the numbers were well short of what they wanted. Without some kind of Amiibo-exclusive and dependent title, those toys are unlikely to translate into console sales, and thus far, I'm not impressed with their use in any games.
Microsoft was the most aggressive deal-maker over the busy holiday shopping week, and they are more than happy to reveal that they outsold the hell out of everything, including the insurmountable PS4--which I'm sure will return to "normal" after January when Microsoft's price cuts are no longer in effect.
And why are the Pokemon games considered separately? That seems odd.
Still disappointed that I'm not able to play Advanced Warfare on my Wii U.
Nintendo will have a good quarter- but will it be enough? SSB was supposed to be a system seller. Ten percent over last year won't increase the install base enough to bring back third parties. The next system seller will be Zelda. The good news is that Amiibo are selling well, and they will have x2 as many titles coming out over last year- all you know will be good and should produce solid revenue. So, Nintendo isn't doomed by any means, but it looks like the Wii U is not going to catch on, and in spite of having some awesome games, will repeat Game Cube lifetime sales or maybe even less.
@Chubblings Just to be clear, I was talking about the loss Nintendo would take if it had decided to discount the Wii U consoles for Black Friday by some significant amount, or pack in Smash Bros for free.
As a fan of Nintendo games, my family and I are completely satisfied with Wii U. Like you, I want to see it continue, but if it is only marginally profitable it begins to effect what games are made and the approach Nintendo will take to home consoles in the future. Some difficult times to provide course correction can be a great thing, but we don't want the boat to sink!
I'm pretty optimistic myself, but always a bit disappointed when the real numbers come in. I just want people to have as much fun with it as I'm having.
@akaDv8R
"The Wii U also has the highest rated Metacritic games of all 3 consoles to date."
No it doesn't. The two top-rated PS4 games are higher rated than anything on Wii U. Wii U and PS4 have the same number of games scoring 90 and over but the PS4 has more rated 80 and over. I know a lot on here are desperate to cheerleader for Nintendo but let's keep it accurate
Anyway, good news about Amiibo. I've not interest in them and I hope they don't start to become a requirement for unlocking content but it's nice to see Nintendos profits bumped up by something I don't have to buy. Doesn't sound like Wii U or 3DS sales have gone particularly great though.
@Chubblings
"I thought Nintendo reported a few months ago that they were selling Wii U's without loss now, but I may be mistaken."
I know what you are referencing. It was back in April or May I believe. Iwata told investors that the Wii U price cut from $350 to $300 caused them to lose money at first. While they did that, they looked into cutting costs on the production line, cheaper parts, labor, etc.
As I understand it the Wii U is presently very close to the break even mark, and trying to make the money up with software.
@aaronsullivan
"I'm still thinking Nintendo's primary concern is a solid return to profitability so it can survive and satisfy shareholders."
Exactly.
@electrolite77
The bizarre easily-disprovable rhetoric you're fighting against seems more and more common from Nintendo fans these days. I guess a troubling situation breeds self-delusion and conspiratorial thinking.
@aaronsullivan
Nintendo should have taken that loss just to move consoles. After two steady years of losses, they should be getting good at dealing with it by now. Microsoft drastically slashed Xbox One prices (just until January), and they've been dominating in sales because of it. That money will be handily made back by revenue from software sales.
The Wii sold to families because it was cheap. If Nintendo wants to appeal to those people again, it may be time for them to take those drastic measures.
As it is now, it's selling worse than the Dreamcast and the GameCube, and Nintendo has failed to maintain 3rd party support, which will very deeply impact their revenue stream.
@rockodoodle
I will handily argue that Zelda does not sell consoles. The consoles are typically already sold to the Zelda crowd before the game comes out. Zelda has really never been a system seller, and it largely does not appeal to non-Nintendo fans.
will people finally accept that the Wii U wont even match gamecube sales. there is no one game that is going to change the fortune of Wii U.
Its a console that the general public are not interested in.
@MoonKnight7 Oh, thanks for the clarification.
@Quorthon "Nintendo should have taken that loss just to move consoles. After two steady years of losses, they should be getting good at dealing with it by now."
Yep, they are dealing with it. Partly, by NOT taking a loss on the consoles this Holiday season.
"The Wii sold to families because it was cheap" That was part of the equation, but you don't think Wii Sports and the promise of that new style of play had anything to do with it? Plus, once you bought enough Wii Remotes to play Wii Sports with 4 people, it wasn't too cheap anymore.
The Wii U does have a pretty good attach rate and with Nintendo publishing basically the only big sellers, the individual titles are getting consistently large numbers. It's a different kind of equation than the other guys in the console sales business but Nintendo may find a way to make its carved out corner successful.
The apparent strength of Amiibo sales is surprising, too. Not sure what to make of it, but it can't be bad for Nintendo.
I'm also interested what happens to the games now that Nintendo has stated publicly it is going to target dedicated gamers with deeper game experiences and stop trying to attract non-gamers to the industry. It's unfortunate that Nintendo's attempt to wrangle those non-gamers in with the Wii alienated much of its fan base while the mobile game market picked up most of the benefits with its casual gaming options.
Excellent news for both Nintendo software and hardware!
@aaronsullivan
The problem with Nintendo not taking that loss this holiday season is that they are ultimately losing very important sales and market share during a crucial time. It reflects an attitude that they still care only haphazardly about the Wii U, and are unwilling to take necessary chances to succeed. I'm sure it's tough trying to weigh their options, but they still come across as aloof and timid.
Nintendo getting the most sales with their software is good--but for a truly terrible reason: There is no competition on their machine as there is almost no third party support, and that looks bad. Conversely, Microsoft has great sales on their console, and their 1st party stuff is selling really well. This makes it look like Nintendo can only sell their own software well if there is no competition--we know this isn't true, but these analogies, at no point, paint Nintendo in a positive light: Nintendo's software sold great because there was no other games, but Microsoft's still sold great WITH other games, or Nintendo is incapable of selling their own software unless there is nothing else to buy. Sure, the games are good and we can say they're good--but at the end of the day, Nintendo's sales are coming with caveats. To that, I think Smash Bros U's sales actually look rather disappointing. Halo is selling almost as well (if not better now) and it's a box of remakes with a notoriously broken online. The last time Nintendo went it alone and held up a console largely on their software alone was the N64, which had one of the most dismal lifecycles of any console ever. Yes, yes, it had some major hits in there, but Sony had a lot more and they kept coming.
Nintendo is not so magically special that they can survive alone, and indeed, the struggles with the Wii U are evidence to this. Development costs are simply too high these days for them to be trying to float a console without third party support. The last console that didn't have third party support was the Dreamcast (EA famously avoided the system)--and we all know how that turned out. Sadly the Wii U is actually selling worse than the Dreamcast.
So yes, there is some mingling good news, but it's hardly great news, and Smash Bros hardly appears to have helped the console at all. The surprising Amiibo sales seem partly related to constant news stories of questionable inventory in stores, but there's a major downfall to them--there is no software on the Wii U that can strongly link the Amiibo figures to hardware sales. What I'm saying is, there's no dedicated (preferably free to download) software, like a full-blown super-sized Nintendo Land that makes the Amiibos not only truly valuable, but which strongly says "you really need this hardware to get the most out of them."
They're going to collectors, and their current uses in games are minimal add-on features that really don't affect much. Essentially, I don't think Amiibos are helping sell hardware (aside from themselves). Which is kind of a problem. There needs to be Amiibo-specific hardware.
The thing is, these days, Nintendo fans are increasingly fond championing failure as if it's some kind of admirable quality. That Nintendo can struggle through without third parties is a sad and pathetic thing to say about such a grand company (I'm not targeting you on this, more of a rant with a point, here). The reality is, while they may be able to just slink by on twisted positives like "Nintendo software is selling great" on a console with literally no other new software, without third party support and better sales, they will never earn the necessary resources to actually grow and evolve, or to really thrive. Merely surviving is hardly something to brag about unless you're walking away from an apocalypse. Unless Nintendo is thriving, then they're ailing--and that goes for any company or corporation.
They need to take risks, and they aren't doing that. They need to make amiibos valuable for something other than a kind of collectible to eventually fall into a box in a closet. But they haven't revealed a truly amiibo-centric or amiibo-necessary game. They need to make a lot more brand new franchises and products to really wow audiences, and if they want to continue to bring out some classics, they need to step away from everything Mario-Zelda-Pokemon (MZP) a lot more frequently. I'd like a new F-Zero, a new Punch-Out, another Battalion Wars, and a revisit to Eternal Darkness. Instead, we have yet another Zelda remake inbound (that makes 3 in 4 years), and a bunch of franchises related to or spun off from Mario.
I'm also curious to see how the Amiibos evolve and work into their bigger picture, and I seriously hope they have an actual game incoming that makes them feel necessary. But I can't help the feeling that these plastic add-on toys are just the music peripherals of this generation--a fad that will be burned out and tired by 2016. Granted, I also expect to be hearing about new Nintendo hardware that year--or 2017 at the absolute latest, given the sluggish performance of the Wii U.
Oh, and yes, you have a very valid point with Wii Sports, but when it comes to families, price matters. A lot. Nintendo Land can still be the Wii Sports of this gen as it was intended to be--but not with the console priced so far away from it.
@FragRed Well, the online is working in Halo now.
How is the xbox one outselling the wii u? Doesn't it struggle to display in 1080p whereas the wii u manages this easily. Also there is nothing decent to play on it yet, I just don't understand why people are walking past wii u to buy one!
@andyg1971
Xbox One had some great games this fall and with the discounts and bundles MS was offering it was just too good to pass up.
@Quorthon I feel the same. They should have slashed the price at least 50.00 for about a month. I have no doubt the figures would have been much better especially on Black Friday!
The Wii U probably won't make Gamecube numbers in its life. Will this matter? Not much IMHO. 3rd parties are gone and aren't coming back. Nintendo's own software has very high attach rates and with Amiibo they'll return to profitability which will allow them to ride the console out.
@andyg1971 you do realise that the xbox one struggles to run some next gen engines at 1080p right? Wii U is is last gen and not every game is 1080p.
also people are buying xbox one because it is starting to have killer software and is a very good price.
@kobashi100 I don't see anything on xbox one that blows away pikmin 3 or bayo 2 in terms of graphics. I personally own a 360 and love it, I just can't see the need for xbox one or ps4 yet. Only Nintendo needed to get on the hd train because the wii was seriously underpowered. Can't see me getting an xbox one for two or three years yet.
@kobashi100 Exactly what makes Xbox1 next gen, and Wii U last gen? Wii U has dual screen support, never been done before. 2 player local and multi player, each with their own screen, never been done before. Asynchronous multi player, never been done before. Also, it is the ONLY console that is bavkwardly compatible. Nintendo is the only company of the 3 to have enough reserves, to wait out, until the launch of their next console, which is typically every 5 years.
Time and time again, devs are declaring they are finding it almost impossible to maintain native 1080p @60FPS, and the Xbox1 is the hardest to achieve this on, because, as a lot of devs say, 'bottle necking'. They simply cannot process the amount of data needed to achieve these resolutions and FPS, due to the processor not being able to handle the amount of data at the same time.
Nintendo could have dropped their price this holiday, but unlike certain companies, they don't just drop something because sales are not what they expected (Kinect 2.0). A lot of people don't realise that Independent devs, ARE 3rd party developers, of which the Wii U currently has around 500 Independent devs developing software for the Wii U. Some of the latest e-shop titles have been of a quality, easily comparable to traditional 3rd party titles, and in some cases better. It is no small surprise Nintendo was voted developer of the year recently. It has been the same for years, and will continue for some time, that when it comes to creating INNOVATIVE and FUN titles, Nintendo are streets ahead. EA and Activision keep churning out remakes of the same game, year after year,. Nintendo releases Mario and MK games quite often also, the difference is, they always make changes to the formula, and expand the series in other ways.
@andyg1971
Really so pikmin 3 & bayo 2 are on the same level graphically as Ryse, Forza & sunset overdrive? Ok you might wanna get you eyes checked kid. This coming from someone that doesn't own a XbO. I just have eyes not blinded by fanboyism.
on topic: so the wii u couldn't break 250k even with smash. that's pitiful.
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