<![CDATA[Email: Nintendo’s December’s Sales Press Release]]>Hey Sean, you’ll find this hilarious.

 
So, if you haven’t seen, here is Nintendo’s press release reporting December 2012 hardware sales: http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=194086&sid=62190d68941e6daa9abd1a71af40ca30
 
Headline: “Wii U Hardware Sales Surpass Wii Sales by More Than $30 Million through First Six Weeks“
 
Meanwhile:
 
““While the Wii launch established new benchmarks in the United States, Wii U has surpassed its predecessor in perhaps the most important category: revenue generation,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “

I’m dying.
 
It goes on, but it doesn’t specifically list the total amount of Wii U hardware sold during December.  However, it provides the total amount of hardware sold, and then it provides the break-down for every other Nintendo hardware on the market except for Wii U, so it is pretty easy to do the math to figure out what Wii U actually moved.
 
Here it is:
 
3DS: 1.25mil
Wii: 475k
DS: 470k
 
And Wii U?
 
Only 455k.
 
Dying, dead Wii outsold the amazing new Wii U at Christmas.
 
It is mentioned that NSMBU moved 580k.  If you look at NPD, you will see it did not chart in the top ten.  Wow.
 
(NPD here: http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=194083 )
 
I’m laughing so hard.  I can’t believe it managed to do quite THIS badly at the holidays.  Hahahaha.I’m not going to analyze the Wii U performance until February NPD as I’ve said before.

I don’t think Nintendo is panicking over the Wii U (like they did with the 3DS). When I saw the NPD and Nintendo’s press release, I was thinking something very different.

The talk of revenue came across in my mind as Nintendo acknowledging how expensive the system is as opposed to sugarcoat ‘bad sales’ like Sony did in 2006. The exchange rate is killing Nintendo.

The most interesting information was Nintendo publicly acknowledging the strong attach rate of NSMB U. NSMB 2 also charted at number 9 (which is good since it was only a single platform game unlike many others in the list).

The story the numbers tell me is that 2d Mario is creating the 3DS and Wii U sales. People are buying a Wii U to get to Mario.

And I’m sure Nintendo sees the high cost of the Wii U as a huge problem. Some people are saying, “You can’t say that, Malstrom! You can’t say that! Everyone is trying to buy the premium black Wii Us and not the cheaper white ones. Therefore, you can’t say price is an issue.”

The black Wii U is more affordable than the white Wii U. With the black Wii U, you save $10 on Nintendo Land, get some additional console ‘stuff’, and those digital download deals. The $50 difference between the two editions is not much of a difference at all.

The people who can’t afford the Wii Us are buying the normal Wiis. Those Wii sales will eventually convert into Wii U sales especially as the Wii U comes down in price.

I think people are going to be very surprised when the PS4 and Xbox 720 launch. Unless they have some sort of special payment deal, they will be costing way more than the Wii U.

The real story is how every console is down from last year and that the Xbox 360 is now third place worldwide.

The 3DS seems to be doing better. The price cut and NSMB 2 seems to have helped.

Ultimately, one cannot say NSMB U or NSMB 2 is hurting Nintendo hardware sales. The strong attach rate with new purchases argues otherwise. Some people were trying to blame 2d Mario for the collapse of Nintendo sales. Sorry hardcore, 2d Mario is the only game that is keeping it going. What’s failing is Nintendo Land…

…and Nintendo’s outreach to ‘hardcore gamers’. Nintendo did everything the hardcore wanted, and they didn’t come. So why should Nintendo bother making hardcore games? Perhaps Nintendo should make games for those people buying 2d Mario. Nintendo should make more Malstrom-type games. 🙂

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