Grampy

Video Game Industry: One of the Most Attractive Areas to Invest

Any so called expert who claimed that the consumer was frightened off the Wii would have an extremely difficult time explaining the NPD numbers that were announced almost immediately after the publication of your ludicrous column. Your understanding of the current video game market is so completely wrong, I think you should seriously consider early retirement.

Even Grand Theft Auto IV Couldn't Save April for Videogames

The article would have been a lot more complete, interesting and useful if it had included the fact that the dismal month was far from across the boards. In consoles, Nintendo sold almost twice as many as the PS3 and 360 combined while setting new all time records in sales. I realize the article was aimed at software, but in video games the two are tightly linked.
In software, I think it should be pointed out that Grand Theft Auto 4 broke sales records by selling about 3.6 million units on its first day of release and grossing more than $500 million in its first week surprising everyone in the industry. If Mr. Wilson was really expecting more than that, I would seriously question his estimate, not the sales. The surprising thing is that these phenomenal sales did not translate into console sales for Microsoft and Sony and didn’t cause any slowdown of the Nintendo Wii juggernaut.

Video Game Industry: One of the Most Attractive Areas to Invest

It is sad to see that someone who purports to be dispensing reliable information on which people are to make important financial decisions can be so misinformed and biased. Your ignorance about the Nintendo Wii is shocking. The fact that it set all time sale records despite the release of its competition’s biggest game should tell you that consumers know that the Wii in fact represents the future even if you don’t.
The misconception that you can’t sell third party software is based on the fact that most developers, possibly relying on unreliable information from someone like you, have tried to use their third string teams to port over games designed for other systems. The Wii is revolutionary and unique and to succeed, games will need to be developed by top notch teams who understand the control system and its special abilities. The Wii version of Guitar Hero III outsold the other platforms in large part because it uses a unique controller negating the issue of control design. But it also clearly demonstrates that the Wii represents a huge and rapidly growing market. To advise developers to ignore it is to tell them to not tap into to the biggest opportunity there is.

Read Malstrom and you might understand what's actually going on.