Pachter says, “Nintendo will die unless they release a Wii HD.”

Michael Pachter

Got some salt handy? You might as well go to your local grocery store and buy a big bag of it as this story is about Michael Pachter, the infamous gaming industry analyst whose name keeps coming up again and again in Nintendo news, despite his predictions’ not-so-good accuracy record.

Today, Pachter boldly stated that he believed Nintendo’s doom was imminent unless they were to release an HD-enabled version of the Wii that could compete with Sony and Microsoft in the horsepower race.

You know frankly, the box isn’t as powerful and anybody who has an HDtv (sic) has to think twice about buying a Wii when they can get a 360 or PS3 for not much more.

Out of all he said, this sentence was most believable and is in line with previous reports of the Wii’s slowing sales. Pachter blamed this on Nintendo having gotten accustomed to the Wii’s continuous surge in sales during its first few years on the market.

I don’t think it is a bad thing that sales are down. I don’t think they were sustainable at that level…and I think demand is just tailing off to something much more normal.

So far, I think his reasons make sense, but then the conspiracy begins.

I think Nintendo is kind of going to continue to fade unless they decide to refresh the box, and as we all know that Wii HD should be coming out next month…

I find this last bit contradictory to what Pachter said just before it: if Nintendo is now selling their Wiis at “normal” rates, doesn’t that suggest that sales have stabilized and will stay at this level into the future?

Regardless, Pachter thinks that Nintendo needs to release an HD version of the Wii – not an entirely new console, just an HD version of the one they have – to regain the interest of the public and rise back to the top of the charts. He also mentioned that it would be wise for Nintendo to adopt a strategy like Apple’s, where they release new iterations of a product on an annual basis, incrementally adding new features to it year after year.

I don’t agree with either of Pachter’s suggestions – at this stage, Nintendo is better off dedicating resources to the development of the Wii’s true successor rather than an HD version of the same console; and they’re very unlikely to go the Apple route of annual hardware redesigns. Nintendo’s philosophy is one of delivering a consistent experience to all of their customers and people unwilling to upgrade from an older model of their system could potentially be restricted from experiencing a new game in its full glory.

What do you think of the latest word from Pachter?

Source: Nintendo Universe

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. wiiboy101

    this is like a rewind to 2006 his requating his original wii is a fad nonsence so wii is a fad and under-powered to wii HD in 2010 now its back to 2006 quatation THIS GUY IS NOTHING BUT A PUPPET FOR THE GAMES INDUSTRY vs NINTENDO,its so sad i could never make a fool of myself like that for money wii isnt maxed out and more wm+ games coming red wii selling out globally SHUT UP PACHTER 2011 IS THE YEAR OF 3DS how will nintendo cough faze away idiot man

    • F0

      Haha, your comment just made my day. I’m not sure why everyone – myself included – keeps writing about Pachter. At this stage, I think it’s being done only to ridicule him. I’m pretty sure he lost most of his credibility a long time ago. 😛

  2. Wolvesgod

    I want to shoot that guy, so badly. He’s on the same level, of that guy who threatened rock star about GTA series.

    He’s always saying something negative, about Nintendo… I wonder if he sits there and give h***y Js to Microsoft’s president and Sony’s president…. -_-

    he needs to stop trying to give Nintendo a bad rep, all though it doesn’t work for him, and get a life. apparently he has nothing better to do. He see the Wii sells, heck last year, when the wii wasn’t doing so good, it jumped ahead during November and December.

  3. Wolvesgod

    sorry for double posting:

    Also it’s software and price, and new looks (physical, not technical) that helps the system sell. they have the room, to lower price again, but they are waiting till it will need to be a wild card out to safe them, from their competitions price.