Reggie: Wii Will Take First Place Very Soon

[Da Ill One]

GameDaily BIZ: Reggie: Wii Will Take First Place Very Soon

With 2.5 million Wiis sold in the U.S. so far Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime is very confident, and for good reason. At the current sales pace, he fully expects the Wii to take over the #1 position within the year. More within...

The Wall Street Journal has conducted a new interview with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime who discussed the success of the Wii, the ability for third parties to do well on the console, and when he believes Wii will take over first place.

"First, we're going to sell more systems. In the past, the consumer that would have looked at this and said 'it's not for me' is now finding experiences that give them enjoyment. The second piece is we will sell more software -- not just us, but third parties as well that create content for this expanded audience," he said.

Fils-Aime also countered the notion that it's hard for third parties to be successful on Nintendo platforms and he defended the company's licensing structure. "...there's a historical view that third-party licensees cannot make money on Nintendo platforms, and it's just false. Today, third parties are doing extremely well both on Wii and DS. That's why they're devoting more and more of their own development resources against these two platforms," he said. "I think our licensing structure is very comparable and competitive with what other platform holders do. That is not the issue. While in the past development teams may not have been up to par, I certainly believe that's changing. When you have Disney or EA creating dedicated centers of excellence on our platforms... the game creation and game content will only get better."

He added, "When you have such a strong publisher as Nintendo, third parties may have looked at our platforms and said, 'It's tough to compete.' But that paradigm has really been broken as key licensees create content that competes just as effectively as Nintendo-published content does. Again, I point to Ubisoft. During the launch window [for Wii], Ubisoft was selling not too many less games than we were from a Nintendo first-party perspective. That's staggering. That's because they made a commitment to the platform."

As for competing with Microsoft and Sony, Fils-Aime noted that Wii is outselling PS3 roughly 3-to-1 and Xbox 360 about 2-to-1. "When I do that math, and analysts have, there will be a crossover point when the Wii is the top-selling system, first, world-wide and then, secondly, here in the United States [on a cumulative basis]. If I'm a competitive platform holder I have to be concerned," he said. "The data certainly suggest it's not some fringe buying the Wii and it is a much more massive consumer group that represents the core and the expanded audience... On a pace of 2-to-1 [compared with Xbox 360 sales], that inflection point certainly happens this year, if not next."

[dragn99]

3-1
YAY!
And um... Reggie is awesome... and... I don't have much else to say

[wiifro]

nice find

the wii has become a real success

[ninjask88]

Yay go Nintendo!!!!!!! HaHa take that Nintendo and Microsoft. IF I would like Sony I would actually feel sorry for them for not selling so many PS3s

[G_master]

The Wii can only do better!
Keep going Nintendo!!

[ninjask88]

When Nintendo lowers the price on Wii they are probably going to sell a whole lot more wiis. Ha Take that Xbox360!!!

[halojames]

xbox 360 is better duh its like tivo u can watch tv in hd noob

[Some1onearth]

I don't particularly care which console becomes the winner. Unless exclusive games on systems move to exclusively to another system I don't have. I'd get annoyed by that. I particularly want the consoles to combine so I wouldn't have to get particular consoles to get the games I want....sigh. T_T

[halojames]

thated be another $1000

[Some1onearth]

more like $1500 where I am, $999 for PS3 here ._.