Wii's decent software tie ratio highlighted by SCIENCE

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 6th 2008 at 7:47PM }

It's that time again, readers -- time to roll our sleeves up and get elbow-deep in some graphs. Woo! These examples are from the graph experts at Gamasutra, and smash a myth that has hung around the Wii too long for our liking: that the console has a rubbish tie ratio (the number of games sold per console). Indeed, the PS3 is marginally behind Nintendo's platform in this respect. Not bad for a console that, unlike the PS3, comes with a free game to get started! A second graph at Gamasutra confirms that the Wii's tie ratio has very slightly improved during 2008.

One Wii myth this data does reinforce is that Nintendo totally dominates the Wii software scene; again, it's a familiar complaint, but there's obviously some credibility to it.

Tags: attach-rate, graph, third-party, tie-ratio

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Arex @ Nov 6th 2008 8:27PM

I've had a PS3 for several months now and still have yet to buy a single game for it. But I guess that has more to do with the fact that, given the lack of time I have to devote gaming these days, I'm perfectly content playing free demos. (This is probably why the Big N doesn't want to do demos for VC and WiiWare games.)

As for Wii games, I have about 10 games, four of which are 3rd party titles. Of those 3rd party games, two of those my wife and I picked up at the joystiq post-E3 meet up.

DonWii @ Nov 6th 2008 10:11PM

I have 10 games for my PS3 and 35 for my Wii.

Mr Khan @ Nov 6th 2008 9:07PM

I didn't know Wii Sports and maybe Wii Play counted as 5.5 games

Dumb casuals, that's only maybe 1.5 games

;)

DonWii @ Nov 6th 2008 10:10PM

WiiSports isn't included in that 5.5

Kenology18 @ Nov 6th 2008 9:51PM

Not Ninty's fault they make such great software the sells by the boatload.

il_duce620 @ Nov 6th 2008 11:16PM

Actually, it is their fault...for putting in the time and effort into putting out excellent products.

Not that I'm complaining... :-P

JayVe @ Nov 7th 2008 1:10AM

If you are a 3rd party, you could make a game for Wii and reach a potential 35.46 million people.

Or you could make a game for the PS3 and reach a potential 16.5 million people, but need a bigger budget.

Even with a lower 3rd party sales RATIO, the Wii is selling a TON more 3rd party software than the PS3 is simply due to install base alone.

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Nov 7th 2008 11:13AM

It's even worse than that.

To make profit on PS3/360, game has to sell 500K (often more) copies.

To make profit on Wii, game has to sell 200K or so copies.

Frankly, fact that people buy less Wii games, can be easily attributed to much lower budget of the games which have no spare buck for extra advertisement. (1st party games stand out since Nintendo has "loyal followers" and spends more on game advertisement.)

In case of PS3/360 they have to advertise all games to be sure that all of the console owners would know about the game. Because even good game might become a failure if nobody knows about it. With much more money at stake, publishers can't take the risk.

And here we come to driving consumer behavior principle: people would buy more of what is advertised/advertised well when compared to product advertised poorly/not advertised.

Think about it: Nintendo even doesn't have a channel to advertise games. PS3/360 have dedicated game advertisement and demo channels.

intro94 @ Nov 7th 2008 3:44AM

i love "hardcore" guys (meaning teenager guys and 30 year olds who buy consoles to feel young and never played in their lives, who thinks that HD means hardcore definition), thinking that Wi fit is in the list.I just love them .

Anti-Villian @ Nov 7th 2008 7:15AM

I just bought a wii and I'm glad I chose it over the 360 and ps3^^ next year is looking good too.

Abscissa @ Nov 7th 2008 5:17PM

3.1 > 2.4

So much for the theory that 3rd party titles don't sell on the Wii.

Daryl @ Nov 7th 2008 11:22PM

What we have to remember is that the 360 has been out for a longer time, and its sales are slowing. So of course people who bought their 360s 3 years ago are going to buy more games than someone who just bought their wii yesterday.

It doesn't take a genius to see that these numbers aren't an accomplishment for Microsoft.