Nintendo confirms Wii 'successor'
Out next year
Nintendo's next home console will be out in 2012, the videogames pioneer has revealed, though the 'Wii 2' - or whatever the machine will be called - is expected to be shown off at the E3 games industry show in June.
The Japanese company posted its latest financial data, for its 2011 fiscal year, which ended on 31 March, this morning - revenues and profit down 29 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively; 3.61m 3DS handhelds sold - and buried within was the oblique reference to the next Wii.
Well, with numbers like that, it has to give its investors some ray of hope.
Between the start of April 2010 and the end of March 2011, Nintendo sold 15.08m Wii machines - out of a grand total of 86m since Wii sales began in 2006 - and 17.52m DSes. ®
COMMENTS
Sooo...
...they've just killed demand for the Wii when it's replacement isn't out for at least 8 months? Smart.
Re: So is the follow up to the Wii going to be the Pooh?
Yes, but for trademark reasons it will be called the WiiNii.
What demand?
Demand for the Wii has been down for quite a while anyway. It's still king of this generation of consoles on the strength of sales for the first couple years it was on the market, but PS3 and XBox360 have both been outselling it for at least the last couple years. Most people who wanted a Wii have one now and since the things don't randomly die like certain other consoles (*cough* red ring of death *cough*) they aren't likely to buy another. They aren't likely to do much harm to their bottom line by announcing the next generation now.
Sooo... what
The naysayers said it was stupid of Nintendo to have the Wii only support 480p while the others were 1080i or p, and yet it was still a money machine for them. I doubt this will sway potential buys that much.
Besides, how is that any different than any other next-gen console announcement?
