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Gathering dust is all Wii is doing

by on11 March 2011
wii

Nintendo needs to launch a successor
Recent surveys indicate that more than half of Nintendo Wii owners participating in the survey had not used their Wii in the last six months. When asked why, many admitted that the novelty of the Wii had worn off and the Wii was just gathering dust. It does seem that the strongest users of the Wii are still families with younger children who not yet old enough for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

Nintendo has recently admitted their past strategy was to focus on the 3DS and Pokemon Black & White, rather than perhaps working on a new home console. It seems now that the technology has become quite stale and actually pretty outdated, considering that Wii was based on technology from the Game Cube to start with.

Analysts that we have spoken with suggest that Nintendo has been working on something new, but what kind of console this might be is hard to say. Still, many believe that it is possible that Nintendo will start talking about a Wii 2 (if that is what they end up calling it) as soon as E3. As one analyst told us, “I just can’t see Nintendo going into this holiday season with Wii and choose to focus their strategy on the 3DS instead of the promise of a new and much more powerful console.”

Retailers that we have spoken with have experienced a drop off in the sale of Wii titles, as well. Although new titles are coming out, they just are not moving as quickly as they used to. Sure, the blockbuster new titles for Wii do well, but even those are not selling like they used to.

Nintendo is at a unique crossroads for this holiday season and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out. While we do think the possibility of another price cut on the Wii is in the cards, we don’t expect it to have much impact. Most of those who wanted a Wii already own a Wii. Nintendo needs to sell the excitement and power of a new console system, and it is about the only thing that really makes sense at this point.


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