tomhudson's Journal: [Wii] How Sony and Microsoft lost to Nintendo

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Nintendo is the winner when it comes to sales of 7th-generation gaming consoles, outselling both Microsoft and Soney, even though they started a year later. So, aside from the obvious (the wireless remote controls that make gaming more physical, the Wii Fit that people are buying to "keep in shape", the use of flash memory and SD cards instead of a hard drive, so it runs cool and quiet), why did Nintendo win? Simple - they grew the market.

As an example, here's the alphabetical list of the first 10 titles for each console, from Future Shop:

Playstation 3:

1. Afro Sumari,
2. All Pro Football 2K8,
3. Alone in the Dark,
4. Alpha Protocol,
5. Armored Core for Answer,
6. Army of Two,
7. Assassin's Creed,
8. Baja,
9. Battlefield Bad Company,
10. Battlefield Bad Company Gold Edition

Summary: First Person Shooters, Guy's Sports and Racing Games. Target (and only) market: Males.

XBox360:

1. Ace Combat 6,
2. Afro Sumarai,
3. All Pro Footbal 2k8,
4. Alone In The Dark,
5. Alpha Protocol,
6. Armored Core For Answer,
7. Army Of Two,
8. Assassin's Creed,
9. Assassin's Creed Limited Edition,
10. Baja

Summary: First Person Shooters, Guy's Sports and Racing Games. Target (and only) market: Males.

90% of the games are the same, so it's the same market ...

Nintendo Wii

1. Action Girlz Racing,
2. Active Life: Outdoor Challenge,
3. Alien Syndrome,
4. All Star Cheer Squad,
5. Alone In The Dark,
6. AMF Bowling Pinbusters,
7. Animal Crossing: City Folk,
8. Anubis,
9. Arctic Tale

Summary: Something for Everyone. Target market: Everyone. If you look through their offerings, there's stuff for 8-year-olds, and stuff for retirees, and everyone in between, of both sexes,

As an interesting aside, one of my friends who tried the Wii this weekend was so impressed that he's going to recommend that one of his friends get one as a - get this - replacement for their family computer, because it's always got problems with viruses. He figures that between the Wii, the Opera browser (500 Wii points - about $5), and plugging a usb keyboard into it, they'll be able to do their web surfing and email, which is all they really do online. Same price as a cheapie netbook, without the hassles, and with the added benefit of a free game console ...

Sounds a bit screwy, but it beats having to go and re-install every 3 months.

When the Wii2 (or WiiII) goes hi-def and gets larger SD card support (current limit is 2 gigs), this will be a viable web platform for the masses, something WebTV tried and failed to do.

Game naming

[ThaReetLad]

Why do all but 4 of the 30 titles begin with "A", and those 4 all begin with "B"? Have the console software people decided that console gamers don't have the concentration span to scan the shelves beyond the first row?

On your specific point though, you're right, and even among the XBox 360/PS3 target market, there are times when the more sociable aspects of Wii gaming are appealing.

Re:

[ThaReetLad]

Duh! I just noticed you posted an alphabetical list, not the top 10 games for each platform. Ignore me.

Re:

[tomhudson]

Why do all but 4 of the 30 titles begin with "A", and those 4 all begin with "B"?

No, just picked the first 10 listed, as a quick way to get a representative sample. This way, there's no bias or "cherry picking" in the sampling - I chose the sampling methodology while walking my dogs, then went and looked for the first 10 for each that are available at the local store. :-)

Exactly...

[FortKnox]

The Wii is the console for those that don't game. True brilliance of Nintendo reclaiming the market...