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Wii could outsell PS2, says Iwata
Wii could outsell PS2, says Iwata
Games Industry - July 16, 2007
Submitted by Making_Waves (706) at 10:59AM PST on July 16, 2007
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said he believes the Wii could outsell PlayStation 2 over the course of its lifetime to become the most popular console ever.
Sony's PS2 sales of 100 million units is an extraordinary number that our home game console business has not achieved, Iwata told Reuters.
But if we can make our bid to expand the gaming population a continued success, we could exceed that.
More than 120 million PS2 units have been shipped since the console launched in 2000. Nintendo sold 5.8 million Wii consoles between December 2006 and March 2007, and is predicting that a further 14 million will be sold by March next year.
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5@MiniRagnarok,
It would be interesting to see the numbers of Core systems shipped as opposed to Premium. At the Wal Mart I worked at we had about equal when the system launched, but then seemed to get mainly Premium systems with the occasional Core. I think that MS and Sony both put out a lower-end system SKU just to be able to make claims about prices, without ever intending on fully supporting both (though MS did seem to put more effort into it).
I've never been a fan of multiple console SKUs...it just confuses consumers and never seems to be of any real benefit.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
4MiniRagnarok posted on Wii (Wii) at 4:50PM PST on July 21, 2007. RE: Wii could outsell PS2, says Iwata@jsmrekar & @pillias_simber
I currently am employed at Meijer and have access to sales. Meijer is like a Walmart for those that do not know, except that Meijer is only in 5 US states thus far in the Mid-East of the country. I can't just click a button and see sales for a upc tallied up automatically but it will show individual store sales. Very few Cores have sold in the company as it seems we've discontinued them at Meijer but we still have sold slim to none when we did have them.
This fiscal year the Wii has sold about 120 in every store. The 60 gb PS3 has sold about 45 and the premium 360 has sold about 35. The core 360 sold about 1 per store. These are current numbers and approximations on my behalf. In no way am I allowed to give out this information so I can't give you a proper source. Please don't downbid me I just want to give everyone an idea with these numbers.
Obviously I can't dispute that they aren't selling like mad in CA since it's possible and California is a completely different market but I would guess that the numbers for the Core aren't good enough to even bring them to the table.[ Veteran ] [ Level 19 ] [ Rank: 471 ]bids
0pilias_simber posted on Wii (Wii) at 3:16PM PST on July 17, 2007. RE: Wii could outsell PS2, says Iwata@jsmrekar,
There was a report released sometime last year that I can no longer find that talked about the number of Cores that had been made in relation to the Premiums.
At that time it was said that for every Core sold there were 10 Premiums sold. I would assume nothing has changed since then. The reason there are fewer Cores is both because MS still loses money on each one sold and because Stores don't like carrying them.
It had nothing to do with personal observations.[ Oracle ] [ Level 22 ] [ Rank: 122 ]bids
1@pilias_simber,
Touché! Or not. Have you been to Costco? In Orange County, CA there are no shortages of either type of 360.
You have to remember that because something is subjectively true, it does not make it universally true.
Where are you writing from?
p.s. There hasn't been a price-cut yet. So you wouldn't be able to chart my speculative competition.
p.p.s. It is already competition, a price-cut will make it more competitive. No way to argue that fact. That is like arguin Taco Bell and Del Taco dont share a market.[ Speaker ] [ Level 19 ] [ Rank: 465 ]bids
1pilias_simber posted on Wii (Wii) at 12:57PM PST on July 16, 2007. RE: Wii could outsell PS2, says Iwata@jsmrekar,
This might be true if MS actually made a decent number of Core systems. The ratio of Cores:Premiums is something like 10:1, most stores do not carry them and those that do don't have many.
I hear the comparison between the Core and the Wii often, but I just don't see many people going for the Core, simply because it lacks the word of mouth Hype and Media hype the Wii has going for it ATM.
It might improve sales for Christmas though, I guess we'll see if/when they do a price drop.[ Oracle ] [ Level 22 ] [ Rank: 122 ]bids
2@pilias_simber,
I think for an entry into the next-gen systems the wii was priced right. There is a rumor circulating about $100 price drops accross the 360 line-up. If this is true the wii could see some more competition, it would be interesting to see.
I agree 15 million easy, not sure about 20 million.[ Speaker ] [ Level 19 ] [ Rank: 465 ]bids
1pilias_simber posted on Wii (Wii) at 12:06PM PST on July 16, 2007. RE: Wii could outsell PS2, says Iwata@Laoldar,
Just wanted to throw in,
The thing that I get tired of seeing are the people who say the Wii is just a fad and any day now the sales are going to drop. It doesn't really seem to be a fad to me, its just that they are not using the same marketing model that Sony used with the playstations (except making a system that appeals to everyone) to make them successful.
Current demand seems to indicate that the Wii will continue to sell out at least until the end of March, and possibly longer so I definitely agree that at least for the rest of the year the Wii will continue to be in short supply all over the world.
Nintendo is currently projecting 16 million shipped consoles by the end of December, since I don't have any info on the exact process they are going through around the world to determine how they came to that figure I think I'll stick with that, which is still very impressive for a console.[ Oracle ] [ Level 22 ] [ Rank: 122 ]bids
4@pilias_simber,
For the first few months, I got rather tired of people saying "why are their shortages? It's old technology!", as if the systems would build themselves because there's no BluRay drive :p
I agree that they'll drop the price when demand slow a bit, but I don't see that happening until maybe next year (maybe). By then they'll be making even more money off each system and will be able to drop the price while maintaining a huge profit margin. Right now the price of the system clearly isn't an issue with consumers.
I will predict that Nintendo will have shipped out 15 million systems by the one year anniversary of the system easily (which would be with only a small increase to current sales levels). If they can get enough new suppliers online in the next couple months, I think 20 million by X-Mas could even be possible (though not very likely).[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
1pilias_simber posted on Wii (Wii) at 11:36AM PST on July 16, 2007. RE: Wii could outsell PS2, says Iwata@Laoldar,
I agree with what you're saying. To keep things in perspective, from what I can gather, the PS2 was at about 10 million sales 1 year into it's lifetime.
Here we are at 8 months and the will is only trailing behind that number by between 1-5-2 million, with them selling approximately 1 million in worldwide sales/month.
Nintendo is opening new factories all around the globe, I remember in particular them announcing a couple months ago one in Brazil. When they get all of these factories running their supply will increase (which I believe is a major focus for them ATM with Christmas upcoming) and monthly sales will continue to go up.
Based on what I saw at the E3 Press Conference I believe they are headed in the right direction to keep up their heavy demand well into next year with the launch of Wii Fit and more titles for both the casual and hardcore audiences, and their expansion of online support with things like Wiiware and inproved functionality with the new Mii channel and interaction with DS'.
Also keep in mind that Nintendo is likely to drop the price of the Wii as soon as demand slows, which will cause another sales boom, whether its a 50 or a 100 dollar drop (my money's on $50).
The PS2 sold over 75 million consoles after they hit the $199 price point. With the increase support from 3rd party titles and their focus on games for everyone I think it will be very easy for them to hit the 120 million mark within 3-5 years.[ Oracle ] [ Level 22 ] [ Rank: 122 ]bids
5@Making_Waves,
I think it's quite possible. The major problem Nintendo has is supply...but many people seem to ignore why that is. Nintendo currently has the two best-selling systems out there (DS, Wii) and neither was expected to be this successful. It takes time to find companies to manufacture parts and assemble the systems and Nintendo has had to try to find partners for both systems. I think we'll see a big increase in Wii supply by this November as Nintendo continues to hammer out deals to pump up the supply of both systems.
If they can get enough Wiis to the market (and I think they could double it and sell consistently sell out right now), it might reach the fabled sales numbers of the PS/PS2.[ Oracle ] [ Level 21 ] [ Rank: 182 ]bids
1Making_Waves posted on Wii (Wii) at 10:59AM PST on July 16, 2007. RE: Wii could outsell PS2, says IwataNintendo president Satoru Iwata has said he believes the Wii could outsell PlayStation 2 over the course of its lifetime to become the most popular console ever. Sony's PS2 sales of 100 million units is an extraordinary number that our home game console business has not achieved, Iwata told Reuters. But if we can make our bid to expand the gaming population a continued success, we could exceed that. More than 120 million PS2 units have been shipped since the console launched in 2000. Nintendo sold 5.8 million Wii consoles between December 2006 and March 2007, and is predicting that a further 14 million will be sold by March next year.[ Elite ] [ Level 14 ] [ Rank: 706 ]
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Laoldar, we had Cores for about the first month. We didn't get anymore until about four months ago and then we discontinued them. That's pathetic, the customers should be benefiting from a console where at least a 20 gb hard drive exists. Instead the Core will always be holding Microsoft down.