Nintendo is justifiably proud of its genre-busting Wii console. After all, the Wii has convinced people who would never dream of buying a games console to, well, buy a games console. Normal people. People who liked PE at school.
But what the Wii can't do is to get such non-gamers to buy games. Figures released this week by Wedbush Morgan suggest that Wii owners buy only 3.7 games a year.
3.7 games a year? To me that sounds like a large chunk of a mortgage payment. But then I'm old and I use my PlayStation 2 mainly for playing DVDs, getting my gaming satisfaction with a spinning top, a jigsaw and a comb/tissue paper combination. Apparently the thrusting young bucks who own Xbox 360s and PS3s shell out for 4.7 and 4.6 games a year respectively.
Perhaps Nintendo has been a victim of its own success - so popular is the Wii Sports game that comes bundled with the console, that softcore gamers are satisfied with it and it alone.
And in marketing the Wii as the console for social gamers, Nintendo may have forgotten that people who have actual social lives don't need to buy five games a year to fill the long, lonely hours before the next episode of Skins.
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Comments
DSPC360 said: I wonder what the totals for PC Gamers is I buy plenty of games for PC but not for consoles Nintendo create some of the most easily modded consoles I have a DS with no paid for games and have access to thousands of games to play on it Thats with the aid of a Slot 1 Cartridge - r4dsIm hankering after a 360elite and a chap in work says wait for it Get a wii and get it chipped Ive yet to hear of anyone with a chipped PS3 or 360 - its do-able I know but rare in my neck of the woods
Matt Egan said: Well given that Wii fit isnt yet onsale it doesnt really affect these stats no And you can read the stats yourself theyre on the NYT site I would have linked but it still insists on registrationI play computer games I love computer games I dont buy five games a year I cant actually remember the last game I bought and I dont know where Id find the time to sit and play five different games
Headsome said: There is far too many decent ideas thoughts and fun going on in my mind to even consider infesting it with the wasteful act of gamingI suppose its like a very young kid who gets comfort from watching the same CBeebies show over and over again Or like a book worm
Interested said: I guess only the very lonely of us play video games Of course i guess that must be most of the population considering gaming sales have exceed the uber social event that is the movie industry
Wii Papa Girl Rapper said: Is that why Nintendo cant make enough copies of Wii Fit Been reading some statistics again have we Matt
A No. 1 said: Your figures may be right Matt but not if you included the number of Wii owners who get their console chipped so that they can play downloaded backup copies of someone elses games As with software it is getting harder and harder to stop the file sharers and Free Play