Market for Wii and DS has collapsed

According to Olivier Comte, vice president of sales, marketing and distribution at Namco Bandai the market for Nintendo’s Wii and DS has collapsed. As one of the main reasons Comte cites the rampant piracy on the platforms, especially on the DS.

“It’s a tough market. DS is the most successful platform ever, but all my kids’ friends at school have a DS with an R4. They have 100 games for no money.”

The R4 is a device that let’s people play pirated games on their DS. The industry has won numerous cases against manufacturers, importers and resellers of these devices, buts o far has been unable to discourage their use.

Apart from piracy Comte also cites the large number of mediocre games for both systems. The release of a large number of crappy titles has dented consumer trust in the platforms according to Comte.

Read the full interview with Comte here: MCV