How dead is the Wii?

[RCBH928]

I went over to VGchartz to check sales of the Wii U , only I was surprised that Wii numbers for Japan is 771 units sold or so. Japan where Nintendo is most loved. In comparison the ps3 sold 12,500 units or so. The Wii U sold 3,300 .

For a console that sold 100m units it seems like it is dying too soon. I went to see upcoming games for the Wii, there seems to be almost none. What about the installed base? When we compare the Wii to a console that sold almost just as much (ps2) , I believe ps2 still got at least 1 or 2 releases in the past year or 2. That is 6 years after the ps3 release. I also read an article that Nintendo is ceasing production of the Wii after 7 years or production, compared to ps2 that ceased production January this year. How about digital games like VC and WiiWare?

What are your thoughts on this? Did Nintendo pull the plug too quickly specially when we consider the 100m user base?

[alienjesus]

I went over to VGchartz to check sales of the Wii U , only I was surprised that Wii numbers for Japan is 771 units sold or so. Japan where Nintendo is most loved. In comparison the ps3 sold 12,500 units or so. The Wii U sold 3,300 .

For a console that sold 100m units it seems like it is dying too soon. I went to see upcoming games for the Wii, there seems to be almost none. What about the installed base? When we compare the Wii to a console that sold almost just as much (ps2) , I believe ps2 still got at least 1 or 2 releases in the past year or 2. That is 6 years after the ps3 release. I also read an article that Nintendo is ceasing production of the Wii after 7 years or production, compared to ps2 that ceased production January this year. How about digital games like VC and WiiWare?

What are your thoughts on this? Did Nintendo pull the plug too quickly specially when we consider the 100m user base?

The PS2 sold about twice as much as the Wii, was popular in smaller markets in eastern europe & south america where it continued to be sold for years afterwards and where Nintendo doesn't really sell, and also had the benefit of being able to survive on ports of games released on PSP and Wii which were newer and of similar power levels. In addition, the price of the HD consoles of the PS2 generation was considered far more prohibitive back then, compared to them being the standard nowadays. It also had massive third party support which kept it running, and was a popular platform for the yearly sports, FPS and rhythm games of the era.

The Wii on the other hand has no comparatively powered consoles to leech releases from (the 3DS is closest). It was mainly supported by Nintendo themselves in it's later years, and they're busy focusing on their newer consoles. It's never been popular for the annual releases such as COD or the usual yearly sports game updates like FIFA (in fact, EA don't even bother updating the gameplay for FIFA games on Nintendo systems now, they just change the teams and pass it off as a new game).

The Wii is dead. It was great, but it was the right time to move on. Nintendo were not going to get anything more from that thing.

[Retrogamer0001]

Keep in the mind that the Wii-U is backwards compatible though, so Wii games will likely still be getting lots of love over the next decade. Also, since the console is older now, I'm sure people are buying lots of used systems for cheap. The Wii may officially be dead, but for gamers it's still very much alive.

[sevin0seven]

any video game consoles never really die in this forum or our community.

[marurun]

PSP and Wii which were newer and of similar power levels

No, I'm pretty sure the Wii was a good bit more powerful than the PS2 and the PSP. The PS2 was, in raw horsepower, the weakest of its generation. The GC was more powerful. The Wii is anywhere from twice to four times as powerful as the GC, depending on how you read the data.

[isiolia]

No, I'm pretty sure the Wii was a good bit more powerful than the PS2 and the PSP. The PS2 was, in raw horsepower, the weakest of its generation. The GC was more powerful. The Wii is anywhere from twice to four times as powerful as the GC, depending on how you read the data.

Be that as it may, it wasn't uncommon that you had titles released across those three consoles, or on the Wii and PS2. While the hardware wasn't that similar, they shared the position of being SD consoles to the HD PS3 and 360.

Most of the releases that would have gone there before are probably mobile or digital releases now instead. Maybe they could port Vita software, but that'd be about the only thing in reasonable range.

[RCBH928]

Keep in the mind that the Wii-U is backwards compatible though, so Wii games will likely still be getting lots of love over the next decade. Also, since the console is older now, I'm sure people are buying lots of used systems for cheap. The Wii may officially be dead, but for gamers it's still very much alive.

yes but Wii games are very limited . No new releases . its very awkward position for a console that is the 2nd or 3rd best selling console in videogame history .PS3 had backward compatibilty but it didnt kill the ps2 that quick. Also the ps2 continued to have releases way after the ps3 was released something we do not see happening with the Wii .

I can be wrong but the Neo Geo seemed to have longer releases than the Wii .

[isiolia]

I can be wrong but the Neo Geo seemed to have longer releases than the Wii .

Because it was. The AES was one of the longest lived consoles, introduced in 1990, discontinued in 2004. It was just a very niche system.
The Wii was 2006 to 2013. Still a very respectable lifespan, and fairly similar to the N64 and Gamecube.

[Fragems]

If its anything like my area their are a crap load of Used Wii systems floating around at insanely low prices so sales of New Wii units are pretty dang low. Hell in the two pawns stores I visit pretty much on a daily basis there are probably 20-30 Wii systems at any given time and they only go for around $30-40 with a controller, nun chuck, and usually a loose game left in the drive. Plus with the Wii-Us backwards compatibility like others have mentioned there really is no reason to buy a new Wii.

[Purkeynator]

I think they just burned out too quickly when the novelty of waggle control wore off about three years ago for most people. Really there were very few publishers with any big hits in terms of sales except for Nintendo and they are not producing any new software. So we may see the occasional shovelware title, the big titles are gone. By contrast there were some unique titles released on PS2 all the way up to last year, with sports titles still produced up to this year. Sports games never really sold on Wii.

Keep in the mind that the Wii-U is backwards compatible though, so Wii games will likely still be getting lots of love over the next decade. Also, since the console is older now, I'm sure people are buying lots of used systems for cheap. The Wii may officially be dead, but for gamers it's still very much alive.

yes but Wii games are very limited . No new releases . its very awkward position for a console that is the 2nd or 3rd best selling console in videogame history .PS3 had backward compatibilty but it didnt kill the ps2 that quick. Also the ps2 continued to have releases way after the ps3 was released something we do not see happening with the Wii .

I can be wrong but the Neo Geo seemed to have longer releases than the Wii .