The new NPD video game sales numbers won't be in until Thursday, but it already looks like another awful month for the Nintendo Wii U. The Xbox 720 and PS4 aren't even out, but faith in Nintendo is withering away, and not even a Wii U price drop might help.
According to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, Nintendo only sold 55,000 Wii U systems during March. Not only would that be a 17- percent decline from the previous month, but it would mark the third straight month in which the Wii U sold less than 100,000 units.
The main reason? There just aren't enough interesting, quality games.
"The only key hardware device to underperform our expectations was the Wii U," Pachter said, according to GamesIndustry International, "and its fortunes appear unlikely to improve for several months, even if Nintendo decides to drop the price, as there are an insufficient number of core titles that are generating interest in the console.
"We think that core gamers are far more likely to turn their attention to the PS4 (due in the holiday season) and the next Xbox, which we believe will be unveiled before E3 and have a launch alongside that of the PS4, and believe that the long-term appeal of the Wii U will be severely limited by the perception that the PS4 and next Xbox will be much more powerful, with greater online integration and multimedia functionality."
Worse is that if the PS4 and Xbox 720 are priced affordably, Nintendo would lose the ability to argue the Wii U is a better value.
"Should the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft be priced competitive, we think that Wii U sales may continue to stagnate," Pachter said.
"We think that the next-generation consoles will perform a wide range of multimedia functions," he continued. "We should learn more in the coming months, but we expect the next Xbox to have an IPTV tuner that will allow an MSO to deliver services over the Internet outside of the MSO's regulated geographic boundaries.
"If we are right, any of Microsoft's MSO partners will have an incentive to subsidize the purchase of the next Xbox in exchange for a long-term service commitment (similar to the cell phone model). If the subsidies are steep, it is likely that the next Xbox will appear more affordable to many consumers than currently anticipated, and it may capture market share faster than many expect. We don't expect Sony to sit idly by watching, and believe that the PS4 will follow Microsoft's lead in short order, suggesting to us that next-generation consoles could have lower starting prices than any in history."
