The ‘Wii Crash' of 2009

Is the honeymoon over for Nintendo and its high-profile games console? Global trends seem to be pointing that way.

We've known for many years that to predict the next wave of videogame fanaticism you need only look to the East. If the Japanese are falling over themselves to buy the latest and greatest gizmo you can bet the farm on feeling the shock waves on a high street near you further down the line. Lately Apple's iPhone is bucking that trend with popularity swelling from the US and across Europe, but we sense it'll take something more affordable to seriously challenge Nintendo DS. However until lately it seemed that Nintendo Wii was infallible, but reports are coming in showing first signs of weakness. Most worrying for Nintendo is how sudden the interest has waned.

The wave of videogame popularity usually rocks Japan first, then the US and finally across Europe and the rest of the world. We've no facts and figures to comment on Europe just now, so going back a step we can talk about what's happening Stateside.

According to Bloomberg Wii sales have dipped 17 percent year-on-year in the US, and this has led to Nintendo shares falling seven percent. DSi is still going strong but you could argue that this is a different market entirely. Again, good luck to the iPhone in halting the march of Nintendo's friendly household handheld.

Japan is where the cracks are starting to show most visibly, however. Recent hardware sales figures are downright pitiful for Nintendo Wii. Last week Wii barely outsold the beleaguered Xbox 360 with 13,349 units versus 10,134 respectively. PlayStation 3 and PSP are now pulling ahead and gaining momentum in Japan, which is still by far the most discerning market in the world for videogames. Even the latest PlayStation 2 games are outperforming Wii Fit in the Japanese Top 10. And this time Nintendo can't blame stock shortages for the dip in form.

By now, and judging by the ongoing failure of anything other than Wii Fit to dominate the UK Top 10, it's fair to accuse Nintendo Wii of being a two trick pony. Folks are picking up Wii to play Wii Sports and Wii Fit and that's about it.

The biggest game on the horizon is a sequel to Wii Sports, "Wii Sports Resort" released in July. But if Japanese sales of a sequel to another best-selling sports title on Wii Deca Sporta (aka Sports Island in the UK) are anything to go by, Wii Sports Resort could nose dive spectacularly. Deca Sporta 2 sold only three percent of its total shipment on day one, roughly 2500 copies, whereas the original opened with 50000.

What with the shares slump and a lacklustre line-up ahead for 2009 this has prompted the leading Japanese technology website Watch Impress to run a feature on Nintendo's change of fortune having a knock-on effect worldwide.

We can't see a way out of this for Nintendo, apart from a hardware upgrade bringing high-definition versions of existing best-sellers. Maybe ‘Wii2', or ‘i-Wii' or ‘Wii-i'...?

Are you becoming weary of Wii too?