Public enema number one
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Wii owners buy fewer games
NINTENDO HAS MADE much of the Wii's ability to expand gaming beyond a core audience of enthusiasts, but the downsides of that commendable approach are becoming swiftly obvious - non-gamers don't buy games.
New data out from Wedbush Morgan - albeit from notorious jobbing hack Michael Pacther, who we covered previously - shows that Wii owners buy only 3.7 games a year, compared to 4.7 for the Xbox 360 and 4.6 for the PS3.
Indeed, it seems that many Wii owners - both from statistical and anecdotal evidence - play the Wii Sports game that comes in the box and nothing else.
Hardcore gamers buy more games because they spend more time playing games, obviously. The downside of casual gamers is that they are just that - and given that a large chunk of any console manufacturer's revenue comes from games licensing deals rather than the hardware itself, that's going to mean a shrinking stream of dosh for Nintendo from games companies.
The number of games bought per console - known as 'attach rate' in the industry - has disappointed industry insiders, who previously thought Wii was lined up to be the gaming industries saviour. Top Nintendo titles have been mega sellers for one week of chart sales, before swiftly dropping off as the fanbase for excited gamers is exhausted.
If the Wii has predictably the lowest attach rate, then perhaps it is equally obvious that the Xbox 360 has the highest. Of the two 'hardcore gamer' platforms, the 360 is not only the cheapest in terms of hardware - thus leaving gamers with more cash to purchase software titles - individual games are priced up to £10 cheaper than their PS3 equivalent in high street stores, as retailers gouge PS3 owners for every penny of the many they clearly have.
Those hoping to comb Wedbush Morgan for industry intelligence will have to do so behind the New York Times registration-wall. µ
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...they're so damn expensive compared to the likes of the XBOX360.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Wii and I think it's great (even though it isn't HD), but I think that a year after it's release, charging about £40 for the Zelda Twilight Princess game is asking a bit much. Come on Nintendo, start releasing some titles as Players Choice like you did with the Gamecube!

If Nintendo released some of the earlier Wii games at £20 each I would more likey buy more games.

The last 2 Wii games I bought were Red Steel and Elidees, and that was because they were on offer at 2 for £30.

Rob
Wii games often suffer one problem. Pathetic value for money. Which is the result of this function: Crap Quality * Too Expensive.

If you're a casual gamer you won't realise only Nintendo writes quality Wii software. So when you buy that Ninjabread Man with really cute artwork (1.5/10 at ign) are you really ever going to fork out top dollar for bottom quality?

Nintendo needs to stop the shovelware. They need to set a ground level of quality and if a game is to friggin' awful, then it just shouldn't be allowed to be released.

Also, 360 attach rate is high because you can't copy games. Is there a graph of Xbox-1 game attach rate vs mod-chip attach rate over time?
prior to the Wii my last console was an Intellivision. Since then I hav ebeen a PC man.

My wii was 1 year old yesterday so I decided to play as many games as I could which i own. Unfortunately I only managed 18 of them. I had to resolve to play the other 7 some other time. 

My attach rate seems to be at odds with the data. But am i alone or is it just more Nintendo hating propoganda!!!
If you make a profit on each console sold. Here you are hard pressed to find a Wii on the shelves right now. They still sell and move unlike the ps3/360.

There is an anti-nintendo slant running around because someone is pissed off. These articles are meant to portray this. 

Some people are just jealous that nintendo is unable to keep their product on the shelves. I will admit 3rd party support is failing and nintendo would be wise to fix this.
Maybe we Wii owners buy fewer games because they're better games? I can't imagine ever being bored of my collection: SSB Brawl, SM Galaxy, Zelda TP, Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Kart Wii.

However, I can not see myself still playing Call of Duty 4 and Halo in 20 years time as I do with Zelda on my NES.
I have a Wii and I consider myself a medium level gamer. 

If Nintendo want people to buy some games then release some games that people like me want to buy.

I think I have all the games that are worth playing
The article says
"Indeed, it seems that many Wii owners - both from statistical and anecdotal evidence - play the Wii Sports game that comes in the box and nothing else."

3.7 games per console per year is hardly never buying a game and is not far behind 4.6 and 4.7. There are 2 ways to look at these numbers

1. Nintendo has the larger install base and due to the larger install base actually sells as many or more quantity of games per year than the other 2 consoles.

2. Assuming casual gamers only buy the Wii for Wii Sports then the attach rate is significantly higher for typical gamers who buy the Wii.

Either way Nintendo wins.

PS I own a PS3 and a Wii and love them both. Currently I own more Wii games than PS3 8 to 5 respectively.
that had or has a 360 is getting a PS3 (5 people). Either because of Blue Ray or their 360 gave up the ghost or they just want a a PS3. Too many rings of death and MS sucks you like a leach every month to play online too.
PS3 is free online. The only thing that they say is they wish it had a bigger game selection. That will change this year. Some big titles are getting ready for release.
Oblivion is still keeping me busy when I play it. I am a PC gamer by heart. I do like the PS3 and it is my only box connected to my HD TV besides my satellite receiver.
If you multiply the number of units sold by attach rate the Wii comes on top:

24.54 M wii * 3.7 = 90 M
18.35 M xbox360 * 4.7 = 86 M
(vgchartz.com)

This is another report to try putting in a good light the Xbox 360 or PS3, because every single number that comes out shows the Wii well ahead of PS3 or Xbox 360.
Attach rate doesn't mean nearly as much as total games sold. The Wii sold more systems than the 360 and PS3 and most of the games sold are published by Nintendo. Clearly Nintendo has the winning strategy for themselves. Did microsoft really get it that right with respect to their own bottom lines? The 360/PS3 situation is better for 3rd party publishers though which is better for the industry as a whole. And I suspect the Wii numbers would go down with time whereas the others could actually increase.
The main reason Wii owners buy fewer games is that there are fewer games to buy! Having purchased mine in 2006 with a few Nintendo titles I probably waited over 6 months for another game worth buying to come along!

This was mainly because the developers had chosen to abandon the Nintendo platform following the low sales of the Gamecube and low power of the Wii, a decision which they are now reversing and titles are becoming available.
3.7games/year per Wii owner does not sound too bad compared to the 4.7/4.6 of the 360/PS3; since everywhere you can hear the people crying that Wii owners don't buy games. 3.7 games per year is more than I buy for the PC; and I have some time to play games.

Besides: It is 3.7 games/year PER WII OWNER! If you take into account that Nintendo is already earning money by selling the Wii (thus the relatively high price when compared to the GameCube and - take into account the technical differences - the 360 and PS3), that there are more Wiis that 360s (~20mio vs ~18mio) and that there are only half as much PS3s, this does not seem too bad for Nintendo.

Plus: The PS3 is sold only 10mio times, compared to 20mio for the Wii. And Sony (in contrast to Nintendo) loses a lot of money per sold unit, because it just costs a lot more than what customers have to pay for it. So ... how much games does a PS3-owner need to buy to even things out for Sony?

Taken all these things together I would say that the Wii is the best profit-maker of all consoles.
What people also aren't noticing is that this study is counting purchases of Wii Play that comes when you buy extra controllers. Since most people are buying extra controllers for their system, the attach rate of actual games they are buying for the game itself is somewhere closer to 2.7 rather then 3.7. Ouch.
The industry has to get it into their heads that the idea that it will be possible to get everyone on earth playing video games. The older generation is just never going to get on board. I used to work at a company that wanted to expand beyond its core base and spent money developing a whole additional line of products. They were all scrapped eventually as the market never materialized. The one market they might be able to tap is girls (not women) with some sort of social networking game mmorpg.
Even if users never buy another game does the Big N really care? They still turn a nice profit on each console sold... and a profit is a profit. Can MS and Sony claim the same?

I have a Wii and have spent _far_ too much money buying Virtual Console titles yet only own 2 games on disc. Maybe I'll buy more, Sega fishing and Mario Kart are high on the list but I think I'll finish Zelda first then have another go at that golf target game and a bit of bowling.