Nintendo shares fall after surprising drop in Wii demand

Nintendo may have been denying any rumors of a Wii price cut earlier this month, but it looks like it could possibly be reconsidering its options if this latest sales trend keeps up. Apparently, sales in the U.S. for the month of March clocked in at around 601,000 consoles, or about a 17% drop from a year earlier. During the same period, however, Xbox 360 sales were reportedly up a healthy 26%, while PlayStation 3 sales dipped 15% -- although, in sheer numbers, both were still well behind the Wii. That unsurprisingly didn't make investors too happy, with Nintendo shares falling 6.6% on the Osaka Securities Exchange after the news broke, which accounted for it's biggest drop in more than two months. Also contributing to the sell-off was a 19% drop in Nintendo DS sales compared to the previous year, although the company seems to be betting pretty heavily that the DSi will quickly turn those numbers around.

[Mattvega @ Apr 17th 2009 1:29PM]

And the tyranny ends...

[microlith @ Apr 17th 2009 1:45PM]

"tyrrany"

The hilarious inanity of some engadget comments always makes me chuckle.

[霽月瀛台 @ Apr 17th 2009 1:33PM]

it ended an year ago in HK.

[Jon @ Apr 17th 2009 1:39PM]

I havent touched my Wii in well over a year ...


haha ... well thats not true

[Drew -- PS360: uphillbothways @ Apr 17th 2009 1:42PM]

@Jon

Has anyone else?

[Lonecow @ Apr 17th 2009 1:44PM]

I have afte rI installed the Homebrew channel. Now I use it more then any console I have (Thanks ScummVM! And a big FU to LucasArts for not realizing they could be turning a profit if they did it themselves).

[Zak @ Apr 17th 2009 2:28PM]

Why shouldn't it drop. People can't be buying them forever, I am sure that most people who want them have a Wii by now...unlike xbox360 owners who are usually on their second console after the rings of death. I am not bashing 360's by saying that mine was replaced my microsoft and I love it and the games. If it breaks again I will buy another .. I also love my Wii.

[Pedroion @ Apr 17th 2009 4:58PM]

Everybody single person in the world already have a Wii, Nintendo.
Now let's make some more money-printing accesories, shall we?

[Mattvega @ Apr 17th 2009 5:38PM]

I still play once in a while, but since I figured how to connect the Wiimote + Nunchuck to my mac and play Metal Slug on MAME OS X... My Wii just chills there in the corner, glowing a blue light. Day in, day out!

[Brendan H @ Apr 17th 2009 6:33PM]

I would argue that much of the sales of the Wii are a result of the fad aspect of owning one. The sense that it was a "must have" was partly generated in the media. And the shortages, while they may have been real at first, seem to have been prolonged by Nintendo as a way of continuing the belief that the Wii was a rare, exclusive commodity that all your friends have, so you should too.
That said, it's too soon to say its dominance is over. This could be just a lull brought on by the economy, or simply the fact that the Wii is in stock everywhere. People used to have to search for one, and if they found one, they felt even more compelled to buy it. Now, you see piles of them, so people think "well, I don't have to get one right now, I'll wait 'til later, since there's so many of them."

[(01) @ Apr 17th 2009 8:03PM]

Yes, the tyranny...amazing choice of words. Besides, is this really surprising? Not for quality or anything, but for the sheer fucking number of them out there.

[AVG @ Apr 17th 2009 1:29PM]

The thing has been selling out endlessly. Longer than any video game console in the history of the market, I'm sure. So why is it surprising that they are finally hitting a point of saturation?

[mac404 @ Apr 17th 2009 1:36PM]

You're right, it really shouldn't be surprsing. It had to slow down at some point.

I've worked at a relatively large Target over the last few years, and I've seen it go from "sell out in the first 15 minutes" to "sell out that day" to "sell out that week." And I went back to work there over spring break and the fact that we had it in stock the entire week was no big deal. Still had a few ask about Wii Fit, but we still had plenty of Wii's in stock and no one calling anymore.

[Chuckles McGee @ Apr 17th 2009 1:38PM]

Nintendo was pretty smart then not to invest too much in increasing Wii production capabilities.

[Massmass @ Apr 18th 2009 2:20PM]

Investors have replaced independent thought for shiny coins and talking papers. They only think what they are told to read.

Still, my prediction towards a new color/s this year is right on track. Price cuts, if any, only come after Nintendo shoots their systems into a rainbow. Sometimes the rainbow explodes raining many pretty colors, and sometimes it only chips giving you indigo....


AHAHAHHA!!!

[Jonny @ Apr 17th 2009 1:32PM]

its the economy, stupid.

[sk @ Apr 17th 2009 1:40PM]

If it would be the economy only than how do you explain a 26% increase in xbox sales?

[m3nphls @ Apr 17th 2009 1:49PM]

@sk

those 26% are most likely not from new customers. most likely are from existing customer base that get a hardware failure and its cheaper to buy one instead of fixing it.

[insky @ Apr 17th 2009 3:44PM]

So re-buying it is cheaper than getting it replaced for free?

[teej @ Apr 17th 2009 4:19PM]

a crappy economy brings a more refined taste to the consumer... meaning they spend whatever little money they have on 1 console instead of buying all 3, and maybe that choice is the xbox. imo- best bang for your buck!

[famin @ Apr 17th 2009 9:34PM]

Because xbox price dropped so much.

[lawschoolbound @ Apr 17th 2009 8:06PM]

Could be. Xbox is technically the cheapest console you can buy. Of course I don't think many people would go for one without a hard drive, but the average mom might not know better and instead just be happy that she saved $50

[Kwikit @ Apr 17th 2009 9:01PM]

It's just market saturation.

[hammerclawpc @ Apr 19th 2009 7:56PM]

It's called market saturation. For the most part, they've run out of naive little kids, and adults, who don't know anything about video game graphics. to sell the thing to. No offense, to the more discerning, who bought one on a lark. Time for them to pump another billion into advertising. That's what sold the darn thing in the first place.

[Wolfticket @ Apr 17th 2009 1:33PM]

80% of a vast amount is still a hell of a lot.

[sk @ Apr 17th 2009 1:33PM]

stop spreading your garbage around here!

[pika2000 @ Apr 17th 2009 1:35PM]

Surprising? Once everybody got one, obviously the hardware sales go down, right?

[Dave Chappelle @ Apr 17th 2009 11:55PM]

ah noob its only sold 50 million...
your comment does not even apply to the reigning champions of the video game console markets behemoth PS2 which has sold almost three times as much as the Wii.
Regardless unlike M$ Nintendo has not dropped their prices to the absolute floor so they have LOTS of room for sales in the future. But at the same time i dont think it will have the same affect's as the Xbox price drop as the Wii is already reasonably cheap and a lot of adults (people with cash) make up the console's market.... either way i reckon well find out by the end of this year if this thing will make 100 million in the future or not (as by then there should be price drops) and also how soon the next Wii will be coming out based on the same data.

Regardless, am still waiting on the PS3 price drop tho....

[JerkyChew @ Apr 17th 2009 1:35PM]

Nothing to see here, just long term investors selling off their profits - As soon as a decline in sales was announced, those who were in it for (relatively) short term profit saw that it was time to pull out and move on. With the upcoming DSi sales numbers, this will probably be a quick dip and nothing more.

[Alan Weir @ Apr 17th 2009 1:45PM]

Maybe it isn't selling because EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG has one??

The sales figures are phenomenal. Coupled with the fact that most of those are first time buys, and not replacements for broken consoles, I really don't think anyone needs two or three wiis for their household either.

I'm a huge Nintendo kid... but they really need to have their tyres deflated :( Lately all they do is disappoint. I've already lost sega. I don't need this kind of abuse... ;)

[awkward orange @ Apr 17th 2009 1:44PM]

surprising or overdue?

[STINK @ Apr 17th 2009 1:44PM]

I'm waiting for the $99 used Wii at EBWhatever.

I know. Must be patient...

[macgregger @ Apr 17th 2009 1:44PM]

60% of the time it sells out everytime

[BreakingPoint0 @ Apr 19th 2009 7:42PM]

You must live in a small area, if not then I'm surprised. I live in a city and no matter where I go I can find at least 5 in stock. And every time I have gone back the supply is steadily getting larger.

[macgregger @ Apr 19th 2009 8:54PM]

you clearly didn't get the anchorman reference...

[Kimleng @ Apr 17th 2009 1:45PM]

That's not surprising considering just about every person I know owns a Wii now. They don't really feel like buying another one each year to keep Nintendo investors happy. Of course 360/PS3 units will sell more each year. They're a bit more expensive, and they haven't been put into every retirement home in America, yet.

[Richard @ Apr 17th 2009 1:50PM]

Uh oh, this means it's time for Nintendo to unveil the WiiWii, a "new" system that requres two wiimotes to operate for new and improved fun. Once those sales become stagnant they will announce the WiiWiiSee with a built in camera.

[Ed T @ Apr 17th 2009 1:51PM]

Jim Anchower is still rockin' with his gameCube.

[BigTeebo @ Apr 17th 2009 2:01PM]

Considering how inexpensive they are on the used market, he might be onto something. Frugal gaming.

[Deeznuts420 @ Apr 17th 2009 1:52PM]

because EVERYONE HAS ONE.


its an invasion.

[JAmerican @ Apr 18th 2009 1:15PM]

I don't :).

[mugupo @ Apr 17th 2009 1:53PM]

It mean is time for them to release next gen system that actually support true HD.

[zero2dash @ Apr 17th 2009 2:09PM]

...and online play that doesn't involve friend codes.

[Lee @ Apr 17th 2009 1:53PM]

Seriously, there are a finite number of homes that can purchase any single object. After so long, there just simply isn't anyone else to sell them to.

Unlike your little trickery with the DSi, Nintendo, you will not talk me into buying a Wiii - even if it did have an embedded camera.

[NOB @ Apr 17th 2009 1:55PM]

The Xbox360 is really the price/performance sweet spot.

[SteveJ @ Apr 17th 2009 2:24PM]

Certainly. For Microsoft. You have to buy a new one every year or two.

[Joseph @ Apr 17th 2009 2:24PM]

we have 2 wii's at my work, but bought a 360 to play games + dvds + download movies. for the price, its the best home media option. Dell had a deal for $50 off the arcade version.

[cake @ Apr 17th 2009 1:58PM]

And nothing of value was lost.

[Clyde Berry @ Apr 17th 2009 2:02PM]

Isn't this obvious? They sold a butt load in the past year and now sales are down....because a lot of people already have one.

[richard @ Apr 17th 2009 2:03PM]

Of course demand is going to drop when everyone in the world has one already.