Nintendo of America: Wii's Not Dead Yet, At Least In US

[Karloff]

Nintendo of America: Wii's Not Dead Yet, At Least In US

You'll be able to get a Wii for Christmas, if you want.

Earlier it seemed as though the Wii was about to go gently into that good night, but it seems rumors of its death were premature. At least, it's not dead in the US; not yet. The announcement mentioned by Kotaku [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128877-Nintendo-Halts-Wii-Manufacturing] only referred to Japan, according to Nintendo of America. "There is no change in the status of Wii in the United States," a spokesman told GameSpot, "and it is available for purchase this holiday season."

That might be good news for Wii fans, but it's odd news coming from Nintendo. The Wii U significantly underperformed at launch, and had to cut its sales estimates from 5.5 million units to 4 million units more than half a million units [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121778-Wii-U-Sales-Forecast-Cut]. That Christmas, the Wii U didn't have to compete against two new consoles from Sony and Microsoft; now it does, and it's competing for sales in the US against the Wii too? You have to wonder what that's going to do to its targets.

The Wii U does have a strong holiday game line-up, and it's hoping for big things this Christmas. "We think it's pretty simple," Reggie Fils-Aime said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125118-Nintendo-Hoping-for-Strong-Wii-U-Holiday-Sales] a short while back. "As long as we focus on getting our great first-party content out there, we believe the hardware sales will follow." Here's hoping a Wii-shaped iceberg isn't about to scupper Nintendo's Wii U plans.

Source: GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/wii-discontinuation-in-japan-won-t-affect-availability-in-united-states/1100-6415717/]


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[IceForce]

You'll be able to get a Wii for Christmas, if you want.

No thank you.

I can get doorstops for much cheaper elsewhere.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

i feel like this is an easy event to combine the whole "my body is ready" meme and "you're already dead" meme


still, i don't see why they would keep it around when they should be pushing people to get the wiiU

Spoiler: wii's fate

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Nintendo don't need to worry about WiiU competing against Wii. Why? Because as long as a customer buys one, or the other, it means they've bought a Nintendo, and not a Sony or MS console. This is as close to a guarantee as one can get that at least *that* customer will be buying Wii games and "get invested" in the Nintendo platform.

One bonus to the WiiU is the backwards compatbility, something neither of the other two console makers cared enough about. Wii customers may be more inclined to follow the obvious upgrade path with this benefit alone. Keep in mind also, it is significantly cheaper than it's rivals, that it still attracts those filthy casuals more than the others and is more child friendly, the Wii is still a competitive product. It was never a "hardcore" gaming platform but fills the same space in the living room. By depriving Sony and MS of a customer Ninetndo have a victory.

I would bet money on the fact the the majority of 360 owners will migrate to XBone and the majority of PS3 owners, to the PS4. This is because of a combination of shitty things like friends list and online service money investment, as well as the worst reason ever, keeping their achievements/trophies/gamerscore. That is the gamer "ePeen" and people are defensive of it and don't want to be a noob on a new platform. There's also a "brand loyalty" I can't fathom....whom the heck worships a corporation run by shareholders? But Sony/MS/Nintendo fanboys are evidence of that bizarre phenomenon.

 

[Jorpho]

Welp, here's hoping for a $30 Wii Mini on Boxing Day. Darned if I know why they're still making those; it's not like they've ever been that much cheaper than the regular Wii.