Nintendo Hardware and Software sales - Famicom to 3DS

[Bojay1997]

I wasn't talking about profitability, I was talking purely about attach rates. The general consensus on DP is that people buy the Wii, play Wii Sports and maybe one other game, and then forget about it. I was point out that obviously that isn't the case at all. In fact, people own more games for the Wii than they did for the NES and SNES, which people here on DP consider to be huge successes. It was something I found amusing.

Except that the attach rate data doesn't say that at all. It simply says that an average of 8 games are sold per Wii. There could be 75% of the Wii owners never buying a single game except the pack-in and 25% which buy 32+ games and you'd still have your eight per console. There can also be some other combination of that (i.e. new buyers go out and buy 3-4 cheap games, play the console for a few weeks and then never play it again and a group that buys 15-20 games over the life of the console). They can also buy games for $10 at Costco at Christmas or $50 on launch day. The attach rate doesn't tell us. The point is, unlike the NES and SNES, there is a huge pool of cheap shovelware and impulse exercise or mini-game stuff available on the Wii that I doubt many people played very long after they bought it. Attach rate data simply doesn't make or dispute the point you think it does. The real data to determine that would be some of the average hours played survey data that's out there which although it's more subjective, at least attempts to provide a more accurate picture of what's going on in the real world.

[Rob2600]

Except that the attach rate data doesn't say that at all. It simply says that an average of 8 games are sold per Wii. There could be 75% of the Wii owners never buying a single game except the pack-in and 25% which buy 32+ games and you'd still have your eight per console.

How do we know the same can't be said about the NES and SNES attach rates?

[Bojay1997]

How do we know the same can't be said about the NES and SNES attach rates?

You're right, attach rate says nothing about whether people actually stopped playing their consoles beyond launch or when their purchases were made. Of course, it also doesn't support your argument that they did continue playing or continued buying. It's basically just a useless financial statistic.

[Rob2600]

You're right, attach rate says nothing about whether people actually stopped playing their consoles beyond launch or when their purchases were made. Of course, it also doesn't support your argument that they did continue playing or continued buying. It's basically just a useless financial statistic.

Way to suck all the fun out of this thread

[joshnickerson]

It does remind me that back when I was a kid in the NES days, not many other kids had more than half a dozen or so NES games, and usually consisted of a Super Mario game, one or two other first party games, then the rest filled with Acclaim/LJN garbage.

We're gamers, so of course we're gonna have large libraries. The average person, not so much.

[Collector_Gaming]

someone thats knowledge about the going average sale price of when the units shown were relevant in your every day walmart or whatever and tally up how much money nintendo has made since the Nintendo Entertainment System/Family Computer was first released.

I for one would like to see those numbers.

[rbudrick]

No Virtual Boy listed. Dicks.

-Rob

[Gamevet]

All Nintendo consoles have had pack-ins, so it's a fair comparison to previous Nintendo console attach rates. All three current consoles have had pack-ins too, so again, of course it's a fair comparison.

I'm pretty sure that most of Nintendo's consoles/handhelds have had packages that did not include a pack-in game. The fruity colored N64s didn't have a pack-in game, my GBA SP didn't have a game included, and there was a basic NES set that didn't have a pack-in as well. Are there any Wii consoles that didn't include a pack-in?

[Leo_A]

No pack ins was pretty common for several Nintendo consoles. The later years of the NES, the later years of the SuperNes (From about 1994 or so onwards), the vast majority of N64's, the vast majority of GCN's.

I can't say North America ever got a packless Wii SKU, but Japan certainly did. I believe that was how the console was sold over there for its first several years.

[otaku]

wow the wii and DS were huge hits for them bizarre to see things fall off so suddenly though. The company is a damn good one even seeing some low numbers like the GC and a few bombs like the virtual boy. They seem to be the only ones who have consistently made money in the business unlike MS and Sony. And usually with high quality games (that they publish anyway) and reliable affordable hardware!

[Hep038]

Way to suck all the fun out of this thread

I though this was just another Nintendo propaganda thread.... Where is the fun in that?

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

I wasn't talking about profitability, I was talking purely about attach rates. The general consensus on DP is that people buy the Wii, play Wii Sports and maybe one other game, and then forget about it. I pointed out that the general consensus turned out to be wrong. In fact, people own more games for the Wii than they did for the NES and SNES, which people here on DP consider to be huge successes. It was something I found amusing (the fact that the general attitude toward the Wii is based on BS instead of numbers).

But the question becomes, "Do people PLAY their Wii games as much as they played SNES and NES?" Maybe they need a new stat called "play rate." It seems like people today are still playing the top selling NES and SNES games, but I doubt they are still playing games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit. Maybe they are still playing Marion Kart Wii and Mario Galaxy though.

I think the attitude toward the Wii on DP comes from peoples experiences, not any type of sales figures. I myself got caught up in the Wii excitement of several years ago. I bought a bunch of games that I don't play anymore. The Wii balance board is leaning against the wall in front of me, and I have no desire to go back to it. I also have a bunch of Wii games on the bookshelf, but haven't played one in about half a year.