The Los Angeles Times ran an article in its business section Monday titled, “Can Wii Prolong Winning Streak?”
The lead-in suggested no: “As it raced past rivals to become the hottest new video-game console, some analysts predicted that Nintendo Co.’s Wii was little more than a fad.”
However, only one skeptical analyst is quoted in the piece – Van Baker, a Consumer technologies analyst with Gartner Inc., based in Stamford, Connecticut.
He says, “Its appeal is primarily to casual gamers, and there’s a serious question about how long casual gamers will stay engaged with the platform,” later adding, “The Wii in a couple of years is going to look like old technology with low resolution, slow performance.”
The rest of the piece cites data, anecdotal evidence, sales figures and developers all at odds with that assessment.
Demand continues to far outstrip supply, Wii unit sales are heavier than its competitors, developers find it easier to code for than competitors and the platform reaches a broader spectrum of people.
The article also cited a revealing statistic: “31% of Wii owners surveyed in March by Frank N. Magid Associates, a media consulting firm, said they expected to play the Wii more often a year from now, compared to 21% of Xbox 360 owners.”
