Nintendo Wii is the most and only the one negatively hit in the console market dominance war among top three players in US.
Since January 2010, things have taken a decided turn, reports LA times. The Wii fell to No. 3 from No. 1 this year, that too in a three player.
The Wii's sales for the first ten months of 2010 were down 24% compared to the first ten months of 2009. Sales for Microsoft's Xbox 360
are up 34% and Sony's PS3
are up 14%.So once Hot Nintendo Wii
since its release in 2006 (From January 2007, just after it launched, until last May, the Wii was the top-selling game console nearly every month in the U.S.) has really slowed down.On the ‘Games for the device’ front Wii is on a similar downward slope:
Electronic Arts Inc. recently told investors that Wii game
sales outside of Japan fell 34% in the recent quarter(Jul-Aug 2010). EA expects it to be "down sharply" for the full year. Something that has brushed on to people who have bought a Wii already—they have stopped buying new games and let the device gather dust.
Rivals like Sony have made their biggest profits from royalties on games made by other publishers for their device; but Nintendo failed to get the same benefit from this arrangement either; making some experts believe that Nintendo Fad has been fading. One reason, experts believe, the Japanese company recently slashed its revenue forecast for the current fiscal year by 21%.
Bleak times for Nintendo are not for no reason: Nintendo's last console, the GameCube
, launched in June 2006 kept on lingering on at third place, unless Nintendo launched Wii
in November 2006. At that time Wii was a novelty for the industry. The Wii, which was less powerful than competing machines but introduced a motion-sensing wand instead of relying upon the traditional pressing-button controller. No surprise it became an immediate hit, selling 74 million units worldwide. Wii launch was definitely a curve jumping move (something which was never envisioned by a gaming enthusiast ); Something that helped Nintendo tame the untamed market. Nintendo created a new market with Wii and then profited from it.But the problem with the buyers who go for curve jumping products/services/concepts is that they are least loyal; unless constantly fed with curve jumping novelties; they change their loyalties. That is showing in the dropped sales. --------
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