Report: Wii will rule the holiday season
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 12:43pm by Jack
According to the analysts at U.K.-based Screen Digest, Nintendo’s current success with the Wii means great things for the company during the important holiday quarter, and further realignment towards the Wii at the publisher level is set to continue as it has throughout 2007.
86 titles are scheduled for release on the Wii in Q4, compared with 47 for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and just 38 for the PS3. Furthermore, a quarter of the Wii releases are exclusive to the platform, compared with eight for the Xbox 360 and five for PS3. Screen Digest sees Nintendo’s success and external support for Wii only accelerating, primarily thanks to the quickly growing installed base and lower cost of development on the platform. The firm “expects that the number of games available for Wii will surpass Xbox 360’s library in early 2008 at current release rates.”
Hardly a surprise, I know, but it does give some finality to it all as we approach the holiday. Eighty-six titles in Q4? A quarter of those are exclusives? Are we sure this is a Nintendo system? A lot of those titles will be junk, but as Blake has pointed out here at Infendo before, that’s the exact same dynamic that exists for the PS2. More games equals more crap, but it also means more great games too.
October 9th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
But the internets tells me that the Wii has no 3rd party supports. How is this possibles?
October 9th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I’d be interested to know the development time and budget of the average Wii title vs. PS3 and 360. I’m certainly not making any assumptions about cost vs. quality, but perhaps that would be a telling figure as to why there are so many more Wii games than PS3 or 360.
Also, how many PS2 games are coming out this quarter?
October 9th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Soul Calibur Legends, Godzilla Unleashed, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, NiGHTS Journey of Dreams, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, and Ghost Squad all look like prime 3rd party software to me. Mix that with Nintendo’s own DK Barrel Blast, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl and we’ve got one heckuva holiday season for Wii owners.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Oh and can’t forget Mario and Sonic!
October 9th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I know I’m pretty psyched.
October 9th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
To make matters worse for the other guys, I’d bet half of those non-exclusives coming to the Wii are direct ports from the PS2 and/or Wii to the PS3 and 360.
It’s a good time to be onboard with Nintendo.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
What everyone needs to keep in mind is that right now we’re getting games that may have started production in early 2006. Think of what is in production behind the scenes right now, that will be hitting us early next year. There’s plenty to be excited about that we may not even know of yet.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
@gojiguy,
How can you forget BWii and Fire Emblem!? Those are the 2 best in the coming 2 months!
October 9th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Super Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros. Brawl are enough to pull in the big numbers for Wii. With the passing of the Halo 3 pandemonium and Grand Theft Auto IV not coming out until 2008, Wii looks to take the holidays by storm. That is to say if people will be able to find some.
October 9th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Still not as excited about the Wii lineup as the 360 lineup. Mostly because online play is most of my life. (And I’m sooooo annoyed that Brothers in Arms 3 will miss Holiday 07- it’s my most anticipated game right now, bar none). I’m sure mario will be fantastic though. Mostly though, Nintendo is delivering the goods on the DS for me. I haven’t even exhausted the back catalogue of the DS though- I’ve had Hotel Dusk waiting in a drawer since it was released. Soon though… as soon as I finish Phoenix… and with Contra and Castlevania…. sigh…
October 9th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Brawl and Galaxy will pretty much finish up the holiday season for me. Possibly GHIII if I recieve some money for gifts and what not.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:52 am
I know of 2 to 3 games from q4 I will buy immediately, 5 later buys, and about 10 rents.
Wifi Smash Brothers. No more Wii’s available signs everywhere.