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[Estocolmo]

In a way, I do actually hope that the Wii U is doing as bad as it does saleswise in the future too. I really cant see any other alternative for Nintendo to shift their dinosaur view on video games and consoles.

PS: I know that what im saying is controversial, but I desperately want Nintendo to modernize their views on games and consoles.

 

[Wickerbasket]

One of many.

-Nintendo mistook NSMB sales on the Wii for massive growth in the franchise; when the reality is that the large installed base built up by motion control simply contained a conducive audience within it for games like NSMB, Mario Kart. They're making the same mistake with banking on Mario Kart, 3D Mario, etc. I think - but hey, maybe they'll prove me wrong.

-Nintendo thought this, coupled with a novelty touchscreen (which, in 2012, no one really considers a novelty) and Nintendo Land as their spiritual Wii Sports successor would be sufficient to sell the system to the expanded audience they had on the Wii.

-They did this after letting the Wii languish on the market for years, as they tried to come to terms with HD development (and apparently still haven't.

-They did this in lieu of a more significant jump in hardware power, leaving them with a system of comparable (yes, it's more powerful, whatever, it's still comparable) performance to the PS3 and 360. To their credit, getting such performance in a low power, low profile form is an engineering feat - but it came at a cost.

-Lightning hasn't struck twice. The Gamepad is no Wii Mote. Nintendo are now left with a nominally new system, which looks similar in performance to systems on the market for 7 years, but with far less software and far less software coming, and at a price premium. In other words, a system with absolutely no incentive for someone who has owned a PS3 or 360 for a long time to upgrade.

This is all without mentioning problems with third parties.

It's not just the name, it's not just the marketing, it's not just the sparsity of software. At its core the product is somewhat flawed for the market.

Great post, it's pretty much what I was eluding to when saying the Wii isn't comparable to the Wii U.

I think the people who assume the sales of Wii games will be similar on Wii U are in for an unpleasant surprise.

 

[Plinko]

One of many.

-Nintendo mistook NSMB sales on the Wii for massive growth in the franchise; when the reality is that the large installed base built up by motion control simply contained a conducive audience within it for games like NSMB, Mario Kart. They're making the same mistake with banking on Mario Kart, 3D Mario, etc. I think - but hey, maybe they'll prove me wrong.

-Nintendo thought this, coupled with a novelty touchscreen (which, in 2012, no one really considers a novelty) and Nintendo Land as their spiritual Wii Sports successor would be sufficient to sell the system to the expanded audience they had on the Wii.

-They did this after letting the Wii languish on the market for years, as they tried to come to terms with HD development (and apparently still haven't.

-They did this in lieu of a more significant jump in hardware power, leaving them with a system of comparable (yes, it's more powerful, whatever, it's still comparable) performance to the PS3 and 360. To their credit, getting such performance in a low power, low profile form is an engineering feat - but it came at a cost.

-Lightning hasn't struck twice. The Gamepad is no Wii Mote. Nintendo are now left with a nominally new system, which looks similar in performance to systems on the market for 7 years, but with far less software and far less software coming, and at a price premium. In other words, a system with absolutely no incentive for someone who has owned a PS3 or 360 for a long time to upgrade.

This is all without mentioning problems with third parties.

It's not just the name, it's not just the marketing, it's not just the sparsity of software. At its core the product is somewhat flawed for the market.

Which is why they absolutely NEED new leadership as soon as possible. Total disaster.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Nintendo have their place and it would be a shame to see them fail - not to say it's not entirely of their own making, but obviously they're struggling with the transition to HD gaming. That much is clear with the Wii U software issues, delays, etc.

Sucks they didn't plan ahead on the tail end of the Wii, though. What have they been doing? Hoping for some big news come E3.

It'd be great if they finally started showing great hype reels for games, even if they're 6 months to a year out. Building buzz is everything but they seem content to drop the news of a new game without much fanfare a few months before something comes out, like it just slopped out of their headquarters. ND doesn't seem high profile enough - surely they could release some reveal trailers to the big sites.

As for Wii U sales, I do think people underestimate how much people were burned by the original Wii. Anecdotally I could name numerous friends who wouldn't touch a Nintendo machine (at least until much, much later in its lifespan) due to the sparse release schedule and outright abandonment of the Wii. Most of them moved onto PS3's and 360's, and yes, iPads.

 

[javac]

I think that the Wii U is doomed if you look at its sales up to this point. If a 8 year old console sells 5 times more then a newly released console, then I cant see how the tide will turn with a much tougher and newer competition is released this fall in the form of PS4 & Xbox720.

GBA was outselling DS and PS3 for a while. PS2 was outselling the PS3 for a while. PSP was and I still think it is in some regions outselling the Vita. People like cheap systems with tons of games at its disposal.

 

[Pachterballs]

Ridiculous post by raven.

Just because they have wii sports U won't make people say it's a grandma console.. They just can't ONLY have wii sports U. The problem besides the lack of said wii sports U is that they don't have games for the wiiU.

A whole bunch of TBDs.

And Chittagong mentioned pikmin3. That was a niche title and that was originally a wii game they are "tweaking for wiiU". They just sat on their arses since 2010.

Good attempt at misdirection tho

 

[Unknown One]

It'll have new competition, but it'll also be cheaper and have games

PS3 and 360 will be even cheaper and have tons more games, new ones as well. Wii-U is in a terrible position.

 

[gngf123]

If a 8 year old console sells 5 times more then a newly released console, then I cant see how the tide will turn with a much tougher and newer competition is released this fall in the form of PS4 & Xbox720.

This happens most of the time. At the end of a generation, you get people buying cheap consoles with a load of games over the new console that hasn't yet built up a solid library. The Wii U has significant sales problems, but it is a bad idea to compare against the 360/PS3. The DS was outselling the 3DS for a while, the PS2 was outselling the PS3 for a while, etc.

The PS4 will no doubt do something similar, but nowhere near as bad. It will blow sales figures away in the first few weeks, and then decrease sharply to a point worse than PS3 sales. As the library improves, the PS3 sales will die out and the PS4 sales will pick up.

 

[TreasureHunterG]

Nintendo has simply made the same launch mistakes it's made with the 3DS.

The problems apply to both of them really :

• Games have been sparse so far. While some of the launch titles were great, we're just starting this week to see big name games coming out (and really they're not actually big names - they're just bigger than the average indie title coming out on the eShop). I've downloaded Lego City Undercover, waiting for my NFS:MWU to arrive and seen great things out of MH3U (on the Giant Bomb Quick Look for example). But then we're looking at another small drought it seems. Nintendo will have once again been caught flat-footed and will have to ramp up and change focus like they did with the 3DS. We're now seeing an onslaught of great titles - just this year we've had or will have Fire Emblem, EO4, Luigi's Mansion 2, Animal Crossing, Project X Zone, Mario Golf, Mario & Luigi, Pokemon X&Y and more unannounced. And now people are starting to get interested in it. It's not a coincidence. It now has a great library featuring some 2011 and 2012 titles as well like OoT 3D, Mario 3D Land, Star Fox 3D, Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus Uprising, Pushmo/Crashmo, Paper Mario, Professor Layton and more. With the Nintendo Direct we've seen in January, we know they know there's a problem with the game output we've seen so far and I have no doubt in the end we'll have a nice selection of titles to play. The price is one thing, and yes it may have been priced a tad bit high (though the 3DS was in worse shape price-wise and the 3DS would sell better right now at 250$ than at launch in July 2011 for 170$ with little to no games to choose from), but it's the game output, branding and marketing that've been the biggest problems. Cutting the price does nothing (or not much of significance at least) except please/anger early adopters because of Ambassador Program/paying more than the others. So aside from games we're looking at...
  
  
• Confusing branding/name. Many think the Wii U is simply a tablet for their Wii - an add on. They want to buy the controller by itself. With the 3DS, many thought (and still think) that it was also not a new, more powerful new console with many new features but simply a DS with a 3D mode. The fact they launched the DSi which changed up many of the features of the original DS and DS Lite meant the fact the 3DS had new features didn't necessarily mean to these people that it was a new console. You only have to check listings of customer reviews on 3DS games to see people disapointed with a 3DS game not working in their DS. I have even seen someone selling a newish 3DS game for just a few bucks a couple of days after Christmas because it didn't work with their son's DS.
  
  The Wii U suffers from the same problem - it's not clear it's a new console because it looks the same as its predecessor, shares the same name and was not marketed too well, which brings to the next point
  
  
• The marketing has been atrocious. Most people don't know it exists. The ads, when seen at all, are weak and don't scream ''try me out !''. It's cool to tell people that it is a fun console, but that fun comes from experiencing it and not having the motion controls advantage like last time around makes it tougher to get people to give it a try.
  
  All in all though, it IS a great console and I'm glad to have gotten it day one. There's not a single person whom I've played it with that didn't enjoy Nintendoland - there's just not the novelty factor of motion controls which pressed people to tell their friends about this new tech they saw. But the main point of a console - it being fun - is very much present. Friends, cousins, parents, sister, her friends and more have all had a blast and if you're looking for a way to get someone screaming and getting really into something, getting them to play with this console is a great way.

All of these plus no appealing titles for Wii U release, lots of PS3/360 ports and no solid evidence that Wii U is a bump from current generation are hurting the sales.

Wii U name was a terrible choice, no doubt. It wasn't lack of advice or experience either, hence 3DS had similar issues like you said.

 

[javac]

Which is why they absolutely NEED new leadership as soon as possible. Total disaster.

The new leader won't do much better, and you can bet your arse the next leader will also be from within Nintendo, so business as usual.

 

[SolarPowered]

But what about the 100 million Wii owners? Or the 20 million I'm guessing hardcore Nintendo fans who bought the GameCube? The 30 million people who bought the 3DS?

I don't get your question. What about them? I was talking about how this console does absolutely nothing to entice the "hardcore" 360/PS3 demographic.

Nintendo fans not biting could be the result of several things. It could be shifting tastes(Wii owners who left for greener pastures when Nintendo stopped making games for Wii), the lack of major Nintendo games on the Wii U(Gamecube launch blew it's load in comparison to Wii U), the fact that the system feels outdated on the online front(lack of universal accounts, no crossgame voice chat/parties), the lack of third party titles compared to the current gen consoles or the load times that caused a lot of tooth gnashing.

Hell, maybe it's too expensive or Nintendo fans don't care much for the tablet(surely they'd be more informed than your average "casual" gamer)? The $350 tag is a pretty hefty one that Nintendo exclusive fans have never really experienced before. PC gamers, 360 owners and PS3 folks got used to higher hardware prices a long time ago. *shrugs shoulders*

 

[MarkusRJR]

This happens most of the time. At the end of a generation, you get people buying cheap consoles with a load of games over the new console that hasn't yet built up a solid library. The Wii U has significant sales problems, but it is a bad idea to compare against the 360/PS3. The DS was outselling the 3DS for a while, the PS2 was outselling the PS3 for a while, etc.

The PS4 will no doubt do something similar, but nowhere near as bad. It will blow sales figures away in the first few weeks, and then decrease sharply to a point worse than PS3 sales. As the library improves, the PS3 sales will die out and the PS4 sales will pick up.

Yup this is definitely the case if you look back on prior generations. I doubt the Wii U situation will be the same as the PS4/720 though. The problem with the Wii U is that the Wii audience isn't there anymore since Nintendo stopped decently supporting the Wii after 2010 (arguably earlier) and the casual players moved over to iOS and other pastures. Where the PS4/720 will see adoption from PS3/360 owners there isn't much a casual Wii audience coming back for the Wii U. I'm sure The Nintendo fans and kids/families will get the Wii U but that might amount to GameCube or N64 numbers and not something like the Wii.

 

[RoadHazard]

Do the people in here saying "release Pikmin 3 already!" actually belive that game is gonna do anything substantial for this system's sales? It won't do shit. Loyal Pikmin fans will rush to buy it, but the strength of that rush will be akin to a gentle summer breeze. That 101 game won't do anything either, looks like a pretty safe flop bet to me. Lego City probably has the most potential to drive sales out of the games coming up, but I really doubt it's gonna do much either.

Note that this isn't a comment on the quality of these games. I'm sure Pikmin will be absolutely lovely. But it won't do much for the system. There's nothing coming out in the near future that will.

 

[Pachterballs]

and the problem with wiiU is that unlike the 3DS which they priced high because they got greedy and thought they could - and there was leeway to drop price.

the wiiU, doesn't have that luxury. How much of a blood bath is nintendo willing to take? lets see in the coming weeks.

 

[Mithos]

There's nothing coming out in the near future that will.

And THAT is Wii U's problem, when 1 year had gone by I had 14 Gamecube games, I don't even see 5 games I want on Wii U so far.

 

[SmokedMeat]

It'll have new competition, but it'll also be cheaper and have games

So will the Xbox 360 and PS3 which will continue to outsell everything else this holiday season, especially with GTA V hitting.

The casual market will lap up those two up with their vast libraries and cheap entry price, while those who want a premium next gen system will opt for PS4 or Durango.

Wii U is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not as cheap as comparable current gen systems, and not nearly as powerful as next gen consoles. Why bother?

 

[Chinpoko_Master]

and the problem with wiiU is that unlike the 3DS which they priced high because they got greedy and thought they could - and there was leeway to drop price.

the wiiU, doesn't have that luxury. How much of a blood bath is nintendo willing to take? lets see in the coming weeks.

Dropping the price isn't going to help much anyway.

 

[shinra-bansho]

This happens most of the time. At the end of a generation, you get people buying cheap consoles with a load of games over the new console that hasn't yet built up a solid library. The Wii U has significant sales problems, but it is a bad idea to compare against the 360/PS3. The DS was outselling the 3DS for a while, the PS2 was outselling the PS3 for a while, etc.

The PS4 will no doubt do something similar, but nowhere near as bad. It will blow sales figures away in the first few weeks, and then decrease sharply to a point worse than PS3 sales. As the library improves, the PS3 sales will die out and the PS4 sales will pick up.

Yes, but normally this is due to two distinct markets - late adopters and early adopters for the last and next gen system respectively. It may happen with the PS3/360 and PS4/XBX3.

The issue here is that beyond the initial launch burst of early adopter (the Nintendo core), I don't think the lower Wii U sales than PS3 and 360 sales are due to overlapping heads and tails of adoption curves.

I think the Wii U is essentially competing (or rather failing to compete) for the late adopters, within the same curve as the PS360.

 

[Estocolmo]

This happens most of the time. At the end of a generation, you get people buying cheap consoles with a load of games over the new console that hasn't yet built up a solid library. The Wii U has significant sales problems, but it is a bad idea to compare against the 360/PS3. The DS was outselling the 3DS for a while, the PS2 was outselling the PS3 for a while, etc.

The PS4 will no doubt do something similar, but nowhere near as bad. It will blow sales figures away in the first few weeks, and then decrease sharply to a point worse than PS3 sales. As the library improves, the PS3 sales will die out and the PS4 sales will pick up.

I really think that the Xbox720 and PS4 will totally crush Wii U. Just like the iPhone changed the whole mobile gaming platform and made the PSP nearly obsolote, the PS4/X720 will crush the Wii U forcing Nintendo to modernize.

Right now we dont have so many tools to measure how much the PS4/X720 is going to sell. But if we take something like the views for the PS4 Youtube trailer, it had 26 million views in 10 days. Compare that to the 9 million views the Wii U E3 trailer has after 7 months! This just shows that gamers are more hungry for the PS4.

 

[SmokedMeat]

But if we take something like the views for the PS4 Youtube trailer, it had 26 million views in 10 days. Compare that to the 9 million views the Wii U E3 trailer has after 7 months! This just shows that gamers are more hungry for the PS4.

Or hungry to finally see what a true next generation console could do. I'm sure the Durango would've been just as popular had it been the first console to reveal.

 

[ikioi]

The Wii U's launch is worse then the 3DS.

The 3DS was at least a promising piece of hardware.

Nothing will save the fact the Wii U is technically crippled, and gimped with this expensive controller.

 

[flatearthpandas]

Do the people in here saying "release Pikmin 3 already!" actually belive that game is gonna do anything substantial for this system's sales? It won't do shit. Loyal Pikmin fans will rush to buy it, but the strength of that rush will be akin to a gentle summer breeze. That 101 game won't do anything either, looks like a pretty safe flop bet to me. Lego City probably has the most potential to drive sales out of the games coming up, but I really doubt it's gonna do much either.

Note that this isn't a comment on the quality of these games. I'm sure Pikmin will be absolutely lovely. But it won't do much for the system. There's nothing coming out in the near future that will.

I think a lot of that is just Wii U owners crying "Give me something to buy already!"

But even if Pikmin isn't a sales megablast, it will still be something. Even niche games will sell more systems than no games and considering that it was originally supposed to come out for Wii, it seems like it ought to be ready by now.

 

[AZ Greg]

Lots of people in here seem to think that the current WiiU struggles will be unique to Nintendo and MS/Sony have nothing to worry about

Some don't want to admit that the WiiU is struggling due to lack of games, bad marketing, high price for what it is, bad public perception, lack of the lightning in a bottle the Wii had, etc...

It has to be the struggling worldwide economy!

 

[Barack Lesnar]

Prior to the launch, no one seemed to consider the notion that games like NSMB on the Wii didn't in themselves move hardware and didn't reach their sales heights on their own, they had the juggernaut of Wii Sports/Motion Control behind them. It's now playing out as expected, considering this notion. And this notion applies to Mario Kart as well.

This is the key right here, great point.

 

[Le Singe]

It's not just the name, it's not just the marketing, it's not just the sparsity of software. At its core the product is somewhat flawed for the market.

That's all it is. Nintendo fans will buy their consoles, the hardcore gamers will never buy their consoles en masse and the casual gamers need to see something fun and exciting which isn't a tablet and regurgitated IP's. Not really sure what people are expecting to happen with it. It's too bad since the Wii was such a brilliant success.

 

[Pociask]

All all seriousness... Nintendo didn't need the game-pad controller. They could had just improved the motion controllers, and make them compatible entirely with "pro games" (dual analogs, triggers and everything on the standard wii-mote and nun-chunk combination) .

This generation was in need of an evolution not a revolution.

Yeah, I think that Nintendo actually had the right idea keeping everyone's old controllers compatible. They should have done NOTHING with the controllers - Wii Remote Plus & Nunchuck is a great control scheme that got a ton of people on board. They should have just made a Super Wii. It should have been as big a graphical beast as they could make and sell at break even at 299. And it should have released in 2011. They could have absolutely stolen a march on Sony and Microsoft, caught them with their pants down, and cleaned up with hard core gamers looking for the best looking games.

Ah well.

Do the people in here saying "release Pikmin 3 already!" actually belive that game is gonna do anything substantial for this system's sales? It won't do shit. Loyal Pikmin fans will rush to buy it, but the strength of that rush will be akin to a gentle summer breeze. That 101 game won't do anything either, looks like a pretty safe flop bet to me. Lego City probably has the most potential to drive sales out of the games coming up, but I really doubt it's gonna do much either.

Note that this isn't a comment on the quality of these games. I'm sure Pikmin will be absolutely lovely. But it won't do much for the system. There's nothing coming out in the near future that will.

Yeah, if Smash, Mario Kart, and Pikmin were enough to raise a console to heaven, then Gamecube should have destroyed the PS2 and Xbox. But that didn't happen.

 

[Joeshabadoo]

Some don't want to admit that the WiiU is struggling due to lack of games, bad marketing, high price for what it is, bad public perception, lack of the lightning in a bottle the Wii had, etc...

It has to be the struggling worldwide economy!

Never implied that the launch wasn't flawed, but people here have an inflated idea of how home consoles will perform out of the gate in the current market. WiiU estimates were inflated, and others will be inflated as well

 

[NotLiquid]

Yeah, I think that Nintendo actually had the right idea keeping everyone's old controllers compatible. They should have done NOTHING with the controllers - Wii Remote Plus & Nunchuck is a great control scheme that got a ton of people on board. They should have just made a Super Wii. It should have been as big a graphical beast as they could make and sell at break even at 299. And it should have released in 2011. They could have absolutely stolen a march on Sony and Microsoft, caught them with their pants down, and cleaned up with hard core gamers looking for the best looking games.

Ah well.

How would that really make things better for them though? I keep thinking back to the Wii U Fit counterargument people often make that "people are not going to buy the same thing twice when they already have a similar product". Most of the casual market has already grown out of the fad and a graphical upgrade would do little to solve that.

Wii U was never going to strike thunder twice and the writing was already on the wall, going from that they already put themselves into a sort of catch-22. They couldn't really bank on the same audience twice, nor could they reasonably put out a similar media hub like Xbox without a drastic restructuring to their entire company so they could fall back on it in case something went wrong with it.

Despite a lot, and I mean a lot of shortcomings, I think the general idea that the console is presenting right now strikes a fair balance for Nintendo to just reach out to a general audience with the problem being way too many setbacks getting in the way of it. For those reasons alone I do think big titles such as a 3D Mario and Mario Kart U could push a respectable amount of units despite NSMBU's lack of performance, because not only can the latter be attributed to the game looking almost identical to the game everyone already owns both in setup and technical prowess, but it's also on a platform most people have no idea that it exists, or consider just an add-on. Nintendo's general audience is bigger than it was in the GC era, it's just a matter of reaching out to them.

 

[gngf123]

I think the Wii U is essentially competing (or rather failing to compete) for the late adopters, within the same curve as the PS360.

On the whole - You are probably correct. I think things will get a little more complicated than that though, to me it seems to almost fit in its own curve. One one hand, you have the late adopters picking the 360/PS3 over it, and on the other you have DS/3DS owners who see potential in the thing, and fans of the games that aren't yet out on the platform. Unfortunately, neither of these groups yet see what they want in the console. Their games aren't out yet, the potential isn't being filled, neither potential WiiU audiences are getting the sales.

The "core gamer" crowd who used to claim the Wii wasn't a current gen console will again not have any interest, so nothing new there. The Wii casual crowd have partially moved on, partially stayed on the Wii, and partially don't yet see what they want on the new machine.

Just like the iPhone changed the whole mobile gaming platform and made the PSP nearly obsolote, the PS4/X720 will crush the Wii U forcing Nintendo to modernize.

And I disagree with this. The iPhone didn't force anything to happen with the PSP, the PSP did that to itself. Sony initially went for an entirely different market - they marketed it as the handheld for console gamers. The iPhone on the other hand caught the casual market who never would have bought a PSP anyway. The DS also ate a lot of the market, particularly in Japan.

Also, Nintendo don't need to modernize all that much. The Wii U's main problems do not lie in how "modern" it might or might not be, they lay entirely elsewhere. Bizarre naming decisions, terrible marketing, a huge gaping hole in game release dates, the list goes on. Nintendo's biggest successes come from offering experiences (ie, games), that you can't find anywhere else.

 

[KAP151]

-Lightning hasn't struck twice. The Gamepad is no Wii Mote. Nintendo are now left with a nominally new system, which looks similar in performance to systems on the market for 7 years, but with far less software and far less software coming, and at a price premium. In other words, a system with absolutely no incentive for someone who has owned a PS3 or 360 for a long time to upgrade.

Ding Ding Ding

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Prior to the launch, no one seemed to consider the notion that games like NSMB on the Wii didn't in themselves move hardware and didn't reach their sales heights on their own, they had the juggernaut of Wii Sports/Motion Control behind them. It's now playing out as expected, considering this notion. And this notion applies to Mario Kart as well.

This, this, oh god this!

NSMB/mario kart was a success after the wii was already established within the minds of the casual audience. If all nintendo had to do was plop out a mario kart and call it a day then the gamecube wouldn't have been a disaster then would it?

 

[The_Lump]

Why would a price cut help if there's still no advertising? You could charge £100 for it and people still wouldn't buy it because there's nothing telling them it's available and how cheap it is.

Nintendo must be planning to 're-launch' soon, hence no immediate action.

Whether that's right or wrong I don't know. But that simply must be what they're doing.

 

[jett]

Ouch. Nintendo really is in deep shit this time.

 

[SolarPowered]

Why would a price cut help if there's still no advertising? You could charge £100 for it and people still wouldn't buy it because there's nothing telling them it's available and how cheap it is.

Nintendo must be planning to 're-launch' soon, hence no immediate action.

Whether that's right or wrong I don't know. But that simply must be what they're doing.

Any action short of discontinuing the product would be better than their current silence.

 

[javac]

Why would a price cut help if there's still no advertising? You could charge £100 for it and people still wouldn't buy it because there's nothing telling them it's available and how cheap it is.

Nintendo must be planning to 're-launch' soon, hence no immediate action.

Whether that's right or wrong I don't know. But that simply must be what they're doing.

People laugh at the reboot assumption but at least in the UK it's the only logical thing. No adverts anywhere. I see PS3 commercials and signs on buses and whatnot everywhere. Not a peep from Wii U. Even the 3DS got a new marketing with the "This is not a DS this is Nintendo 3DS" commercials after it underperformed. Let's see.

 

[AranhaHunter]

Because those developers lose a massive amount of value as exclusive developers.

EA? Sure, because sports games.

THQ, Midway, Eidos? I'm not so sure. Darksiders II would bomb just as bad being exclusive. Tomb Raider would probably sell WiiUs.

 

[pieatorium]

Lots of people in here seem to think that the current WiiU struggles will be unique to Nintendo and MS/Sony have nothing to worry about

From jvm's numbers and estimates for ytd 2012 vs ytd 2013

UK market

Wii software is down 64% yoy
DS software is down 55% yoy
3DS software is down 38% yoy

360 software is down 2.5% yoy
PS3 software is down 4% yoy

US market

So taking into account the 5 week Jan NPD this year we get rough estimates of

360 down 8%
PS3 down 1%
Wii down 50%
DS down 32%
3DS flat

This is after similar large declines for Nintendo platforms last year

The software sales of the PS360 aren't falling off much if at all, there is a consumer base that is still interested in the products that are being released to this market. MS and Sony's job is to convince them that the next systems are where they need to go if they want to continue to get those products.

Whether or not they will is a question but I imagine it is alot easier for them to pull off than for Nintendo to catch that markets attention and vastly more easy than getting the attention of the wii crowd.

 

[Plinko]

Some don't want to admit that the WiiU is struggling due to lack of games, bad marketing, high price for what it is, bad public perception, lack of the lightning in a bottle the Wii had, etc...

It has to be the struggling worldwide economy!

I haven't seen anybody on this board think the economy was the main culprit here.

 

[Pociask]

How would that really make things better for them though? I keep thinking back to the Wii U Fit counterargument people often make that "people are not going to buy the same thing twice when they already have a similar product". Most of the casual market has already grown out of the fad and a graphical upgrade would do little to solve that.

I think clearly, in my example, Nintendo would be making a bid for the core market, having no more blue ocean to reach out for. If Nintendo had made a graphical powerhouse in 2011, they could have gotten all the third parties on board for the entire generation, they would have a platform to release their own games, and they could keep trying to come up with new motion games to go after the casual crowd. You could do worse than being the PS2 of the gen (the weakest, but best selling console). Instead, they spurned third parties and tried an entirely new hook to go after the casual crowd.

I think also not trying to shoehorn in a new gimmick (I hate that word for this, but you know what I mean) would have made developing new titles a bit easier for first and third parties - at least motion gaming was a known quantity.

 

[Pie and Beans]

I haven't seen anybody on this board think the economy was the main culprit here.

You've definitely not been looking comprehensively. Its been made more difficult this month since I and fellow UK'rs got fed up of the "LOL UK MARKET DYIN" nonsense and forcefed statistics down their gaping maws, but before then it was a popular go to defence in these here parts.

One thing thats interesting to remember in this here era of videogame a'selling is that once arrogant and almighty GAME is a mewling kitten eager to please. Imagine what kind of fucking fresh horror Nintendo would have been facing with an unimpressed GAME of years past. Instead even ghosts like Zavvi have more balls to be getting shirty with WiiU failure these days.

 

[Estocolmo]

And I disagree with this. The iPhone didn't force anything to happen with the PSP, the PSP did that to itself. Sony initially went for an entirely different market - they marketed it as the handheld for console gamers. The iPhone on the other hand caught the casual market who never would have bought a PSP anyway. The DS also ate a lot of the market, particularly in Japan.

Also, Nintendo don't need to modernize all that much. The Wii U's main problems do not lie in how "modern" it might or might not be, they lay entirely elsewhere. Bizarre naming decisions, terrible marketing, a huge gaping hole in game release dates, the list goes on. Nintendo's biggest successes come from offering experiences (ie, games), that you can't find anywhere else.

Okay In any way, one year from now we are going to see who was right or wrong I will try to remember this conversation.

 

[javac]

You've definitely not been looking comprehensively. Its been made more difficult this month since I and fellow UK'rs got fed up of the "LOL UK MARKET DYIN" nonsense and forcefed statistics down their gaping maws, but before then it was a popular go to defence in these here parts.

One thing thats interesting to remember in this here era of videogame a'selling is that once arrogant and almighty GAME is a mewling kitten eager to please. Imagine what kind of fucking fresh horror Nintendo would have been facing with an unimpressed GAME of years past. Instead even ghosts like Zavvi have more balls to be getting shirty with WiiU failure these days.

The market is pretty shitty right now tho. No that's not the cause of this, but just in general. Shitty games selling better then they should. Too many unneeded sequels, good games flopping, prices of games dropping after the first week to mega-bomba prices, Vita doing bad, 3DS and Wii U. There's much more to it, but something is up. Assassins creed 4 alone makes me want to puke. Then sim city...

 

[Azure Dream]

I don't say this to slight current owners, but honestly, I wouldn't mind if Nintendo treated the Wii U like the Game Boy Color... keep it rolling for two years with some solid titles and DX releases (Wind Waker HD), but eventually make it clear something more powerful will be down the line very soon. The controller screen just doesn't seem to have the promise to me motion controls had and have (even if those promises may not have been delivered on so well), and I don't like the "settle for less" approach Nintendo forced with the hardware design.

Unfortunately, they've never done this with a console before, only handhelds, and I hate the idea that the Wii U would take Iwata down with it.

 

[bequietdrive]

GameCube-level sales are already here. Take a look at my chart.

This can't be correct - the Wii U launched in Europe on the 30th of November which shifted more than 70 something thousand Wii Us..

 

[The_Lump]

People laugh at the reboot assumption but at least in the UK it's the only logical thing. No adverts anywhere. I see PS3 commercials and signs on buses and whatnot everywhere. Not a peep from Wii U. Even the 3DS got a new marketing with the "This is not a DS this is Nintendo 3DS" commercials after it underperformed. Let's see.

It really is beyond just poor advertising, it's no advertising. Which to me means it's intentional. Which in turn to me means they're planning on effectively 'rebooting'. Ironically that will only work if the product is out of Joe publics minds completely (you can't really reinvent yourself whilst everyone is watching, so to speak)


I really am expecting a big advertising/promotion push in the next couple months. Hearing that Nintendo will be talking to retailers to outline their plans to improve sales "over the next few weeks" only compounds that belief.

 

[javac]

I don't say this to slight current owners, but honestly, I wouldn't mind if Nintendo treated the Wii U like the Game Boy Color... keep it rolling for two years with some solid titles and DX releases (Wind Waker HD), but it's clear something more powerful will be down the line very soon. The controller screen just doesn't seem to have the promise to me motion controls had and have (even if those promises may not have been delivered on so well), and I don't like the "settle for less" approach Nintendo forced with the hardware design.

Unfortunately, they've never done this with a console before, only handhelds, and I hate the idea that the Wii U would take Iwata down with it.

Something more powerful isn't the answer. If it's taken all this time for Nintendo to get Pikmin 3 ready for Wii U imagine if they had to deal with more graphical Bells and whistles. Plus the trust in Nintendo would be at an all time low.

 

[pieatorium]

This can't be correct - the Wii U launched in Europe on the 30th of November which shifted more than 70 something thousand Wii Us..

one chart is Japan and one chart is US. The only accurate data we have for EU is 430k up till the end of December, so one month of sales.

 

[liger05]

Something more powerful isn't the answer. If it's taken all this time for Nintendo to get Pikmin 3 ready for Wii U imagine if they had to deal with more graphical Bells and whistles. Plus the trust in Nintendo would be at an all time low.

Yeah thats where sega started to go wrong by releasing new HW so quickly. The earliest any new Nintendo Console arrives is in 4 years.

 

[Azure Dream]

Something more powerful isn't the answer. If it's taken all this time for Nintendo to get Pikmin 3 ready for Wii U imagine if they had to deal with more graphical Bells and whistles. Plus the trust in Nintendo would be at an all time low.

Pikmin 3 should be out well, well before this happens. And the bells and whistles problem isn't going to go away (more powerful hardware would give them more breathing room, anyway). I'm not saying a hardware upgrade is the singular fix, either.

And how is their trust going to raise if the Wii U never picks up?

 

[Satchel]

Why would anyone buy one, even after the unofficial price cuts?

Can't wait to buy a late port, plug my pad in to recharge three times whilst it slowly downloads, experience hard locks, miss out on DLC and probably the sequel, all the while watching the older, cheaper platforms getting all the other games I want to play!

It just isn't a tempting proposition.

Even with all those issues, its still a cool console. Has to be said.

ZombiU is great and seeing Mario in HD is too good to resist.

Was for me anyway. Got the basic because glossy black is a maintenance nightmare.