2012 Availability

Questions Linger After Nintendo Says It Will Ship Wii Successor

April 26, 2011 by Jeff Berman|Top News

Many questions lingered Monday after Nintendo finally confirmed that it’s developing a Wii successor home console. For example, exact ship dates for each market, pricing, the system’s name and whether the device will indeed offer HD as long rumored were still not known. Nintendo said it will ship the system in 2012, will offer a “playable model” and some specifications at E3 in June, and that the Wii successor was not factored into the sales forecast it gave Monday while announcing results for fiscal 2011 ended March 31.

Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment America didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment about Nintendo’s announcement and their own plans for successors to the Xbox 360 and PS3. But Nintendo’s rivals probably won’t say anything soon about their next home consoles. It was widely expected that Nintendo would be the first company to launch a new home console, in part because Wii sales have weakened over the past year or so, while the new Kinect for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Move for the PS3 have given some fresh life to those consoles since the launch of the new motion-sensing systems late last year. The Wii is also the only one of the three current home consoles that doesn’t offer HD. If the new Wii does offer HD, it’s unknown if it will feature a Blu-ray drive.

Nintendo shipped 15.08 million Wiis globally in fiscal 2011, it said. Of those, it said, 7.78 million were in the Americas, 1.26 million in Japan, and 6.05 million in other markets, of which Europe is the largest segment. As usual, it didn’t specify how many of the shipments were in the U.S., but the U.S. accounts for the bulk of shipments in the Americas. The company shipped 20.53 million Wiis globally in fiscal 2010, including 9.86 million in the Americas, 2.38 million in Japan, and 8.3 million in other markets. Cumulative Wii shipments reached 86.01 million, including 41.18 million in the Americas, 11.59 million in Japan, and 33.24 million in other markets, it said. Nintendo predicted fiscal 2012 Wii shipments will fall to 13 million. The company shipped 171.26 million copies of Wii software in fiscal 2011, and life-to-date Wii software shipments grew to 716.09 million. Both figures included software bundled with hardware, it said. It projected that shipments will tumble to 120 million this fiscal year, not including copies bundled with hardware.

The company shipped 17.52 million DS systems globally in fiscal 2011, it said. Of those, 8.39 million were in the Americas, 2.35 million in Japan, and 6.78 million in other markets, it said. Nintendo shipped 27.11 million DS systems in fiscal 2010, including 12.29 million in the Americas, 4.01 million in Japan, and 10.81 million in other markets. Cumulative DS shipments reached 146.42 million, including 55.13 million in the Americas, 32.76 million in Japan, and 58.53 million in other markets, it said. Nintendo predicted that fiscal 2012 DS shipments will tumble to 11 million. It shipped 120.98 million copies of DS software in fiscal 2011, and life-to-date DS software shipments grew to 839.48 million. Both figures included software bundled with hardware. Nintendo projected that DS software shipments will tumble to 67 million copies this fiscal year, not including copies bundled with hardware. The DS hardware and software data didn’t include the 3DS.

Nintendo shipped 3.61 million units of the new 3DS system globally in fiscal 2011, and estimated shipments will soar to 16 million this fiscal year. Of units shipped so far, 1.32 million were in the Americas, 1.06 million were in Japan, and 1.23 million were in other markets, it said. It shipped 9.43 million copies of 3DS software, and predicted that will jump to 62 million this fiscal year.

The company also said lifetime combined shipments of Wii and DS software passed 1.5 billion by March 31, not including games bundled with hardware. Also through March 31, 139 DS titles “exceeded sales of 1 million units, along with 103 for Wii,” it said. Its nintendogs + cats became the first Nintendo-published title for the new 3DS system to reach 1 million sales, it said. Nintendo-published games that “eclipsed global lifetime sales of more than 20 million” copies were New Super Mario Bros., nintendogs and Mario Kart DS for the DS, and Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Sports Resort, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit and New Super Mario Bros. Wii for the Wii, it said. When citing sales in earnings announcements, Nintendo always cites shipments, not units sold through.

The company said fiscal 2011 sales fell to 1.01 trillion yen from 1.43 trillion yen the prior fiscal year. Profit tumbled to 77.62 billion yen from 228.64 billion yen. Nintendo expects to report growth of 8.4 percent in sales and 41.7 percent in profit for the current fiscal year, it said.

Nintendo said the lingering impact from last month’s Japan earthquake was “unpredictable.” The company “has not suffered any direct damage which will significantly affect our production,” it said. But Nintendo said “it can be predicted that there will be an indirect impact from individual consumption patterns or economic conditions in the future.”