Nintendo Wii 2 confirmed amid Wii sales slump

Gaming

On Monday, Nintendo released a statement confirming that it will reveal the successor to the original Wii during the E3 Expo tradeshow in Los Angeles — which takes place June 7-9, 2011. The new console, currently codenamed “Project Cafe,” may feature a new “Screen Stream” controller option that will provide each individual gamer with their own touchscreen display, although Nintendo did not disclose any of the console’s new features in its statement. The Japanese gaming firm also announced its earnings for the fiscal year ending March, 2011. Net sales of Â¥1,014 billion ($12.35 billion) were down 29.3% year-over-year and Nintendo’s net income fell 66.1% to Â¥77.62 million ($946,110). Hardware and software sales for the United States, Nintendo’s largest market, also fell year-over-year. Nintendo sold 15.08 million Nintendo Wii units, 3.61 million of its new Nintendo 3DS devices, and 17.52 million of its Nintendo DS portable gaming consoles in the States. By contrast, the firm sold 20.5 million Wii units in the U.S. last year. Globally, the firm sold 171.26 million Wii units, 120.98 million DS devices, and 9.43 million Nintendo 3DS units. Hit the jump for Nintendo’s earnings release, as well as its official statement on E3.

April 25, 2011

To whom it may concern:

Re: Wii’s Successor System

Nintendo Co., Ltd. has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii, which the company has sold 86.01 million units on a consolidated shipment basis between its launch in 2006 and the end of March 2011.

We will show a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications at the E3 Expo, which will be held June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles.

Sales of this new system have not been included in the financial forecasts announced today for the fiscal term ending March 2012.

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14 Comments
  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GP2WYAHXS6CRUREISWBGPUSUGE Michael

    Throw in 1080p support and less “kid games” and it’ll sell. I liked the Wii when i had it. But the lack of serious games was a turn off. I felt like i was 10 every-time i played it.

  • max

    also a blu-ray drive would be nice.

    • Face

      There will never be a blu-ray drive in either a Wii or Xbox console…competing technology

      • Anonymous

        Competing against what?

      • Face

        Nintendo & Microsoft vs. Sony Playstation

        Blu-Ray is Sony technology

      • Anonymous

        @Face

        But Blu-Ray isn’t competing against Microsoft (at least not anymore since HD-DVD failed) or Nintendo in that area since MS or Nintendo don’t have their own optical disc format they’re trying to push. That’s like saying Sony will never use Windows for their PC division, or Apple wouldn’t use Samsung, Sony, or LG parts in their products. All because a company competes in one area doesn’t mean that will alienate them from using competitor products all together. I would expect Microsoft to incorporate Blu-Ray in their next-gen system and wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo did the same with Wii 2.

  • Anonymous

    It should be called the WiiWii :)

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GP2WYAHXS6CRUREISWBGPUSUGE Michael

      i guess you are in the 5-12 year old age bracket the Wii was geared towards.

      • Anonymous

        No, just have a sense of humor. I’m a real gamer, my Wii collects dust in the closet for a few years now. I’ll stick with a real gaming platform, PC, 360, PS3.

    • Anonymous

      that, my friend… was clever… lol…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HHYXLC7BR4UXD3AE4EU5JLJC24 Tanya

    *sigh* “Nintendo Wii 2 confirmed amid Wii sales slump”

    When will Nintendo learn that good games boosts sales???

  • Anonymous

    Maybe it’s not “selling” anymore as frequently as it did…BECAUSE EVERYONE HAS ONE!!!!

    Yall are acting like this was a horrible console. It’s done what it needed to do…without the 720/1080p…without the dvd playback support (of course without homebrew too!), without this, without that, without all that stuff!!!!

    3 years later and it’s finally now slowing down…..of course it’s time for a Wii 2!

    I promise….if I were dumb and read this page, I’d think the Wii was a borderline failure! Got posters suggesting that the Wii needed better games and other such things when clearly it was doing great with the barebones it had!

    • Anonymous

      It sold the most Systems, but the fewest games. It catered to the casual gamer and exercisers. People bought into the marketing and hype. It also has the smallest online presence. It is not a system for gamers. It’s a system for moms, little kids, casual gamers. Not that, THAT is a bad thing, but it is why they have the lowest game sales and attach rates.

  • VXn

    i never owned a Wii, but ironically i play Wii games from the computer attached a big screen TV with Dolphin- a remarkable piece of software engineering, which does allow me to play the games at 1080p in true 3D (with anaglyph glasses). gamecube too! f-zero gx is astounding in 3D.

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