Just Dance 2020 and the Lifespan of the Wii

[Nester the Lark]

So, Just Dance 2020 is coming to the original Wii (but actually skipping the Wii U this year). It's not surprising at this point, but I was thinking about the implications.

If Ubisoft still finds it worth their time and resources to create a Wii version of Just Dance, then that means it must still be selling really well. And that means that there are a significant number of people who never moved past the original Wii, and to this day, still use it as their Just Dance box.

Either that, or a large number of collectors are buying it solely for the novelty.

But it also marks 13 years of official support for the Wii. This matches the length of time that games were officially released for the Atari VCS/2600 (1977-1990, although some sources say the final game came out in 1989), and one year shy of the 14 years the Neo Geo was supported (1990-2004).

The Wii is one of the longest officially supported game consoles in history, and could go for the record if Ubisoft keeps this up for two more years.

[nocturnal YL]

Well, considering that Mario Kart Wii sales is still going on for some reason, I guess it does make sense to keep making Just Dance. It probably doesn't take them much development time since it's easy to import data that are needed for other versions anyway and make no program changes. so the only problem left is whether it still makes sense to make physical discs.

I've seen a community facility that still has a Dreamcast and a PS1 for the kids there to play. So I guess games for old systems do have a market, provided said systems have a large install base.

[Da Robot]

Mario Kart Wii's sale after all these years is still crazy. I think there was some fact it sold a million copies in the 11 month time period of Mk8 E3 2013 reveal to it's 2014 May release. That's for a 5-6 year old game (that still had MK7 available and the pending MK8 for sequels) is pretty impressive.
Then from March 2018 to Mar 2019 it sold another 100,000 (compared to MK8 20,000), at that point the game is 11 years old has no (official) online multiplayer mode anymore and now exists in a world where MK8 Deluxe exists. To top it off these are all physical copies, there is no downloadable MK Wii version (not even on Wii U's eShop).

Think about those numbers when you have a struggling dev trying to get a newly released good game past their 1st million sold. There really is a large quiet audience of causal owners who refuse to upgrade their hardware or because it still works.

[Nester the Lark]

Looks like my Just Dance theory might be correct. Here are the top five best-selling Wii games for 2018 (according to GoNintendo):

1. Just Dance 2019
2. Just Dance 2018
3. Just Dance 2017
4. Just Dance 2016
5. New Super Mario Bros Wii

[Nester the Lark]

The Wii version of Just Dance 2020 outsold both the PS4 and Xbox One versions at launch in the UK. Switch version was still best-selling overall.

Unfortunately, this is Ubisoft's last Wii game, but what a run. One of the Wii's first major third-party supporters is also the last.

[Da Robot]

A new challenger emerges to be the last Wii title!

www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/06/no_seriously_the_wii_and_wii_u_are_getting_physical_versions_of_shakedown_hawaii_this_year


The Wii version will only be released in PAL regions and limited to 3000 copies though (no NA release).

[Nester the Lark]

Is it weird that I'm more surprised about the Wii U version than the Wii version?