Sony Says Your Wii Was An Impulse Buy
Dave Karraker, spokesperson for SCEA, told the New York Times in an interview on January 30th that the Wii shouldn’t be compared as a competitor of the PS3, labeling it's success as a product of that most maligned of consumer phenomena--the impulse buy .
Karraker insists that the Wii's initial success is due to casual gamers who are pursuing it as a fad while the PS3 caters to a more hardcore and dedicated gaming community that will purchase more software in the long run. Although both systems were sold out and hard to come by during the holiday season, Karraker admitted that "The frenzy that we saw at the holidays has subsided a bit." According to the tales told by people who actually work in video game stores and the sales numbers themselves, that's what I call euphemistic.
What Mr. Karraker is saying would make sense, if Wii's were even available as an impulse buy. Because a huge prerequisite for that is that they have to be on the shelves. When was the last time you walked into a store, saw Wiis lining the shelves and thought, "Why not?" No, the truth of it is that every gamer I know had to plan in advance to get their hands on one, and often waited in lines for hours and hours. If it's constantly sold out... there's not much of an impulse available, is there?
If anything, buying a PS3, until there is a stronger game library and most of it's glitches have been taken care of, has become the impulse buy. Like our own Tiny Dancer, people who buy one often find themselves surprised to actually be going through with it. Sure, the Wii is a bit gimmicky, it may be doomed to always be the "secondary system", and it will be interesting to see how it plays out long-term. But to count them on different playing fields altogether is a mistake. Perhaps Sony's greatest flaw has been forgetting that we play games to have fun.
Sony Exec Calls Wii an Impulse Buy [WiiNintendo.net]
Nintendo's Wii, Radiating Fun, Is Eclipsing Sony Machine [New York Times]
Pirate Prince
Posted to Video Games on 31 January 2007
· Comments (17)
Other stuff like this: console wars, dave karraker, holiday sales, impulse shmimpulse, nintendo wii, sony ps3
Amen, brother. The Wii I stood in line for 8 hours to get. Impulse buy my ass. The PS3 accidentally fell into my shopping bag.
And while I've since had several "impulse buy" moments buying Wii games, I have yet to impulsively pick up a PS3 game. That might be an important question, too, when it comes to impulse shopping.
Considering that Nintendo is holding back their shipments on Wii to artificially create demand, it's not really comperable
He's right on the fad though, within 18 months, Wii will gather dust in most of the homes, and the hardcore Nintendo crew will be the only people buying games, same as with GameCube.
I think Sony needs to hire someone that acts as a filter for their company. Before anyone says anything, that person has to approve it. Lately Sony's been pretty consistent on embarrassing themselves when any of their executives opens his trap.
Since when is "impulse buy" a dirty word?
I'm baffled. The electronics industry is reliant on impulse buys and Sony is certainly no exception. To suggest that making money where you aren't expecting to make money is A BAD THING is just inane.
The fact that Sony has even come up with such a mindf*** of a premise is evidence that they're sincerely worried their long term strategy for the PS3 may not pan out.
So, it seems that Sony doesn't want you to buy its system unless you really, really want it, because (as previously documented) they lose money every time someone buys it. WTF!
I'd love to see the PS3 succeed, but -jesus christ- this thing looks more and more doomed everyday.
I love it when people assume that one company or another holds back shipments to create an artificial demand. If the reported numbers of Wiis sold worldwide are anywhere close to being true, Nintendo is not holding back shipments. I would have loved to see Sony pull a world wide launch..
As for your assertion that the Wii is a fad and will fade into obscurity within 18 months, well, that's yet to be seen, but it's certainly not shaping up that way.
Afaik Nintendo are working their asses of to stock the shelves: even they're surprised by how many they've shifted. My numbers say they've already broken 4 million worldwide.
For contrast: the 360 is doing alright, and it's only just about to break 10 million.
10 million in a year is alright. 4 million in 2 months is amazing.
Back to the topic though, anyone else notice that lately Microsoft and Nintendo talk about their achievements in relation to putting down their opponents, while Sony just do put downs?
MS: [i]We did Live, and have a shitton of highly reviewed games. Sony's network stuff has a lot of catching up to do, doesn't it?[/i]
Ninty: [i]We make really accessible games, both in controls and price. You guys are a bit expensive, and are you sure your gran knows what a dpad is?[/i]
Sony: [i]You guys are totally uncool. We rule.[/i]
Please, PLEASE Sony, reconsider your PR team.
I guess my standing in line to reserve one on the first day that they started issuing reserves was just an impulse buy.
As someone that loved the PSOne, PS2 and the PSP I can't believe how badly Sony has blown the PS3.
awwww how cute, their jealous. :)
i admire how Nintendo has never stooped to a low like that.
and as usual... remember... Japan doesn't care about the American market. We've always been a given...something they just threw bits and scraps to and we would devour and pay for. Hopefully, American and most of Europe has realized how disrespectful Sony has been to us. Sure we got good games...but usually a year or more later than Japan and with literally none of the extras they got with it. Screw you Sony and screw the PS3. This fan boy has left the building and gone home to play with 360 and Wii.
I have to agree, you don't see many "impulse buys" that have people standing in line for 8 hours, in the cold, hoping to get one.
that is what we call demand.
Sony's "we've got PS3s on the shelves, and we promise to release some good games some day!!" sounds like more of an impulse buy to me. . . .
I hear many saying they are waiting for the PS3 price to drop before they'll make the purchase.
Me? I'm waiting for a redesign. (Well that, and games.) IMHO, the PS3 looks like sh*t. It's far too big and the shape, like the PS2, doesn't make any sense to me. I could care less about Sony's PR, just make the thing pretty!
Until then, I'll be happy with my Wii60 combo.
@Dopesexyfuck
Oh bother, Nintendo used to scrape around the bottom of the barrel in the old days.
I smile at every nail being shoved into Sony's coffin...which is weird because I LOVED PSOne and PS2 hardcore. They're not doing anything to rectify mistakes that were made with the PS3.
I was actually very very concerned about the potentially gimmicky gameplay of the wii until I sank my teeth into Zelda. If that standard can be matched, there's nothing to fear.
"...for hardcore gamers..." *lol*
Hardcore Gamers are always short on money! Hardcore gamers want to PLAY and not to view DVDs BlueRay, and all that stuff! Now go and think about that, SONY!
Hmmm.
To be quite honest, and I do have a Wii and 5 games, plus other controllers and an HD component cable (from Nintendo)..
I am very underwhelmed by Nintendo with this venture of theirs... Wii Zelda does NOT look good on my HD 50" plasma, even with component. Wii Sports is great - in my opinion the best game on the console, so far - but it can only keep continuing interest in the Wii so far. All other games are reasonable at best.
I feel like I have really payed a premium price for a Gamecube 1.5 with a new control-scheme. When Nintendo released launch dates for upcoming titles, I can see that Gamecube 1.5 is not just a moniker for the tech specs of the Wii, but also for third-party support. Nintendo risks going the same GC route: good first-party games, and 2 or 3 major developers on board, at most. Say what you will, PS3's launch line-up (in Europe, where I live) is light years better than the Wii's; and pushing Super Mario Galaxies to somewhere late 2007 just confirmed what i thought from the beginning: it was a tech demo for the controller and now they must create a game around it.
So was it an impulse buy? Not in the strict meaning of it; Should I have waited? .... Unfortunately the answer is Yes.
I sold my 360 - and, so far, apart from Dead Rising and PGR3, I can't see anything for it that I want (I don't liek FPS's).
Is the PS3 over-priced? Yes. In Europe, we will pay about 20% more for it than in the US, and even considering we have a much stronger currency. Do I care about Blu-Ray? Not really. My Upscaling DVD does wonders, and costed only 150 €.
I will probably sell my Wii sooner or later; I'm afraid this buying-console-on-day-of-release no longer holds my interest.
Hmm.
T.
What makes it so gratifying to see Sony stumble now is the same thing that made it so great to see Nintendo fall from the throne with the N64: in each case, the company believed it had so much momentum that it didn't even have to try to please its customers. Hubris plus failure equals entertainment.
If Nintendo does end up with the biggest market share, it'll be the first time a company has managed a comeback after losing a generation. But no one's ever tried a paradigm shift (ugh, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little) on the scale of the Wii, so if anyone can do it, it's Nintendo.