Potential in the Press

Gray Lady Discusses Wii's Poor Attach Rate

A New York Times article this morning looks at a problem belied by the Wii's tremendous success, a problem Nintendo fans are already well aware of. 

I named this blog "Wii Potential" because the Wii has a lot of potential, mostly unused. An article in the Times today, "New Wii Games Find a Big (but Stingy) Audience", focused on that untapped resource. It's not often that video games garner a careful observation by the mainstream press, unfortunately.

An important thing in video games is the attach rate of a console, which refers to the amount of games purchased per console. The Times quotes one source saying the Wii's is 3.7, compared to 4.7 for the Xbox 360 and 4.6 for the PS3. This comes off a great month for Nintendo: in March, Nintendo sold 720,000 Wii's in the U.S. alone (a ridiculous amount, easily beating other systems by more than double) in addition to having the bestselling game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Unfortunately, many retailers are surprised by how quickly sales of smash dropped off:

"Some major retail chains – including Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us – have already begun bundling the Smash Bros. game with Wii machines for sales online, a sign that the base of hard-core gamers who went looking for the game has been depleted."

It's something I fear all the time: that there are mostly people out there just buying Wii Sports, getting bored with it, and letting their Wii gather dust. Nintendo hopes to expand the casual market, and that's fine, but until they do that they must work harder to attract hardcore gamers to the console. Just this morning an article on Spong, "Epic: Nintendo's Wii Like a Virus", quoted an interview with the head of Epic Games, the makers of Gears of War. Apparently Epic Games has refused to develop for the Wii; here's what he, Mike Capps, said:

"It's a virus where you buy it and you play it with your friends and they're like, 'Oh my God that's so cool, I'm gonna go buy it.' So you stop playing it after two months, but they buy it and they stop playing it after two months but they've showed it to someone else who then go out and buy it and so on. Everyone I know bought one and nobody turns it on. Obviously there's a class of people who really love it and enjoy it and are getting into the games but I'm still waiting for that one game that makes me play it. Who knows, maybe Wii Fit will be it."

I'm not sure if he was being facetious by saying "Wii Fit" or not, because that of course is a game directed at the non-gamer –exactly the people he wishes not to develop for, and the ones he sees not playing the Wii after two months with Wii Sports. The entire interview with Mike Capps can be found here, at IGN's Xbox 360 Channel.

One analyst quoted in the Times Article would agree with Capps; his name is Colin Sebastian, and he had this to say about the Wii's user base:

"My in-laws from Texas have a Wii sitting on their living room floor next to the TV, which to me is kind of amazing. They have Wii Sports, a Brain Age game, Wii Play. That's about it."

Can't say I'm surprised. This is exactly what Nintendo wanted, but it could so easily backfire. And it already backfires for third party publishers who still can't seem to grapple, or are loathe to try like Capps, this new demographic. According to the articles by Sean Malstrom about the disruption theory and Nintendo, Nintendo hopes to raise a new, greater generation out of these non-gamers and casual gamers. If they succeed we'll be in gaming paradise, if not –we'll remember the fad that was the Wii and Wii Sports. 

For the time being I have high hopes for growing the Wii base with Mario Kart Wii, set to be released on the 27th, and Wii Fit. 

How do you feel about the games available on the Wii? If you only play Wii Sports, is there more you'd like to know about what's available for the Wii? Or are there types of games you'd like to see made in the future that aren't available right now?