The Slump of the Nintendo Wii U

As of December 31st, 2013, the Nintendo Wii U has only surmounted a sales figure of 5.86 million worldwide - to put that into perspective, the Xbox One has sold 5 million units and the PS4 has sold 7 million units to date having a much shorter window of availability. Gamers have complained of not having a vast supply of quality titles for the system, and thus it seems to have reflected on the systems sales. Do you think that the Nintendo Wii U can salvage it's dismal performance so far and still compete with the next generation systems of the Xbox One and PS4? What do you think Nintendo would have to improve on the Wii U to make it a system that more gamers would want to buy? Do you think that Nintendo should scrap being a console provider and just become a company solely making games for other systems?

Discuss!

It's definitely a terrible start for the Wii U, but I'm not ready to see Nintendo give in. I mean, the PS3 was the butt of a million jokes for a long time about failing, no games, etc., but now the XBox 360 sales and PS3 sales are equal and they've definitely bounced back with the PS4. If the start of the PS3, as an overpriced, undersupported console that no one really wanted, could be overcome, than the Wii U definitely can. And even if they can't, they can bounce back in the next generation.

I have faith Nintendo! Ganbatte!

I think Nintendo's problem here is the lack of power and the negatives that come with that. Makes multi-platform titles not possible which is a big loss. So, it's really not a viable alternative.

I love my Wii U though. Off tv play is great. It has a great first-party library so far and announced.

TRIFORCE89 said:

I think Nintendo's problem here is the lack of power and the negatives that come with that. Makes multi-platform titles not possible which is a big loss. So, it's really not a viable alternative.

I love my Wii U though. Off tv play is great. It has a great first-party library so far and announced.

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I think that has always been a negative for Nintendo; the difference in the past is the first-party titles have been big enough to save them from not having multi-platforms. In this case I don't think they had all their chickens lined up, and really it's that first impression that is what gamers see, right?

I think part of the problem though is a positive for Nintendo as a whole, even if it's a negative for the Wii U - games that made the Wii big are coming to 3DS. Super Smash Brothers, for example. I think that Mario Kart will give it a big boost though, that's typically one of the biggest first-party titles that get the Nintendo console on the market.

maybe if they stoped focusing on mario and such and come up with some new decent stuff original stuff.

Eh, Nintendo just needs to put out more of their flagship titles on the WiiU. Super Mario 3D World and DK Tropical Freeze are nice and all, but that's not enough to make everyone wanna buy a WiiU. Not even Smash Bros and Mario Kart 8 is enough to save it (though they certainly help). They need to make a Metroid, Zelda, Star Fox, Fire Emblem, etc for the WiiU. Hell, revive F-Zero and Earthbound while they're at it.
Oh, and some Paper Mario and Mario64/Sunshine/Galaxy-esque game. Then sales will start to pick up, like they always do.

It wouldn't hurt for them to put some good 3rd party titles on the thing too....but Nintendo's never been great at playing with other companies. And a lot of them probably aren't all that inclined to make games for the WiiU.

Gottacatchemall87 said:

maybe if they stoped focusing on mario and such and come up with some new decent stuff original stuff.

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That's similar to the way I view Nintendo at the moment \: There doesn't seem to be a great variety in terms of games besides their flagship titles like Mario, Zelda, etc. I'd like to see them pump out 3rd party titles, but like Salt&PepperDiner mentioned, they've never been great at doing so, and that's the main reason why I haven't indulged myself in any Nintendo consoles since the GameCube (as much as I would like to). In my opinion, the other consoles just seem to have more to offer at this point than the Wii U.

Gottacatchemall87 said:

maybe if they stoped focusing on mario and such and come up with some new decent stuff original stuff.

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Eh, Nintendo just needs to put out more of their flagship titles on the WiiU. Super Mario 3D World and DK Tropical Freeze are nice and all, but that's not enough to make everyone wanna buy a WiiU. Not even Smash Bros and Mario Kart 8 is enough to save it (though they certainly help). They need to make a Metroid, Zelda, Star Fox, Fire Emblem, etc for the WiiU. Hell, revive F-Zero and Earthbound while they're at it.

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These two videos say otherwise. (I highly recommend watching these video channels, though the latter sometimes has strong language in his videos)

In an additional response to Salt&PepperDiner, a new Fire Emblem title is already on the works as a crossover with Shin Megami Tensei, and Itoi has already stated that Earthbound is finished (Mother 3 is the last installment, and we're never getting a new installment ever). There's also more than 100 indie-developed third-party titles on the works for the Wii U, so there's really no need for rely on the more mainstream third-parties. Speaking of mainstream third-parties, they're part of the reason why the Wii U initially flopped due to Nintendo trusting them to sell the system to the core audience, which that alone was doomed to failure to begin with, because Nintendo should know better that hardcore gamers have no idea what they really want. Then there's the fact that this is Nintendo's first HD console, which is far more expensive than they anticipated, so they're taking much of their time developing well-crafted HD first-party titles, which started droughts. Thankfully, Mario Kart 8 is around the corner, and it'll definitely bring the Wii U back on course (see the history of sale records of each Mario Kart installment). Meanwhile, Sony is at a $1.1 billion loss, forcing them to lay off 5,000 jobs, which was estimated to be almost the entire Nintendo work staff, and Microsoft is still having trust problems with consumers ever since their E3 performance last year with the Xbox One. It's times like these that make me wonder if most of the users here only like Pokémon but care less about Nintendo's other popular IPs.

I think the problem has been hinted at here, and it's that there aren't really many big titles that have been currently released. A console is a major purchase, and most people can't justify buying one until several eye-catching games have been released for it. And even though I'm sure plenty of the Wii U's current games are excellent, they aren't really the "killer apps" the system needs to boost sales.

I always hold off on buying a console until it has some games that I'm strongly interested in. After that is when I look into other, perhaps more overlooked games.

I have the wii u, used it a couple of times at christmas, anyway I am more of a pc gamer

fps games, just waiting for a single gpu that is powerfull enough to play in 4k

Pinkie-Dawn said:

These two videos say otherwise. (I highly recommend watching these video channels, though the latter sometimes has strong language in his videos)

In an additional response to Salt&PepperDiner, a new Fire Emblem title is already on the works as a crossover with Shin Megami Tensei, and Itoi has already stated that Earthbound is finished (Mother 3 is the last installment, and we're never getting a new installment ever). There's also more than 100 indie-developed third-party titles on the works for the Wii U, so there's really no need for rely on the more mainstream third-parties. Speaking of mainstream third-parties, they're part of the reason why the Wii U initially flopped due to Nintendo trusting them to sell the system to the core audience, which that alone was doomed to failure to begin with, because Nintendo should know better that hardcore gamers have no idea what they really want. Then there's the fact that this is Nintendo's first HD console, which is far more expensive than they anticipated, so they're taking much of their time developing well-crafted HD first-party titles, which started droughts. Thankfully, Mario Kart 8 is around the corner, and it'll definitely bring the Wii U back on course (see the history of sale records of each Mario Kart installment). Meanwhile, Sony is at a $1.1 billion loss, forcing them to lay off 5,000 jobs, which was estimated to be almost the entire Nintendo work staff, and Microsoft is still having trust problems with consumers ever since their E3 performance last year with the Xbox One. It's times like these that make me wonder if most of the users here only like Pokémon but care less about Nintendo's other popular IPs.

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It's not necessarily a bad thing to not be a fan of Nintendo in general and still be a fan of Pokemon.

I do think you hit on a good point though - the Wii U tried for multi-platform games to draw in people that want those games from the start. They had Arkham City, Deus Ex, Assassin's Creed, FIFA, and then once the new generation came out gamers realized that the Wii U is not going to have the best version of anything because of its underpowered system. I'm curious as to why you claim gamers don't choose the Wii U because they "have no idea what they really want."

Oryx said:

I do think you hit on a good point though - the Wii U tried for multi-platform games to draw in people that want those games from the start. They had Arkham City, Deus Ex, Assassin's Creed, FIFA, and then once the new generation came out gamers realized that the Wii U is not going to have the best version of anything because of its underpowered system. I'm curious as to why you claim gamers don't choose the Wii U because they "have no idea what they really want."

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Having an underpowered system isn't a bad thing though, as it encourages developers to get more creative in their games to get around with the limitations (see the DKC trilogy from SNES and original GB systems). When I said they "have no idea what they really want", I'm referring to people who ask for a specific product to be made (Star Fox, F-Zero, new IP, etc.) but end up not buying them upon their release (which is why games like Wonderful 101 and F-Zero GX flopped in sales).

Pinkie-Dawn said:

Having an underpowered system isn't a bad thing though, as it encourages developers to get more creative in their games to get around with the limitations (see the DKC trilogy from SNES and original GB systems). When I said they "have no idea what they really want", I'm referring to people who ask for a specific product to be made (Star Fox, F-Zero, new IP, etc.) but end up not buying them upon their release (which is why games like Wonderful 101 and F-Zero GX flopped in sales).

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SNES was crafty with Mode7, FX chip, and pre-rendered graphic effects to fend off the awkward 32bit era later in life. But, stacked up against the Genesis, it was able to share multiplatform games - something that the Wii U just can't do now.

Which is not to say there aren't great games or won't be great games, but if you only want one system - it's probably not for you unless you are Nintendo-exclusive

TRIFORCE89 said:

SNES was crafty with Mode7, FX chip, and pre-rendered graphic effects to fend off the awkward 32bit era later in life. But, stacked up against the Genesis, it was able to share multiplatform games - something that the Wii U just can't do now.

Which is not to say there aren't great games or won't be great games, but if you only want one system - it's probably not for you unless you are Nintendo-exclusive

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The GCN also have some good multi-platform games, as well as great third-party exclusives, but even that didn't help the system beating the competition (and no, it wasn't because of the small discs.).

Pinkie-Dawn said:

The GCN also have some good multi-platform games, as well as great third-party exclusives, but even that didn't help the system beating the competition (and no, it wasn't because of the small discs.).

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Nah. Discs weren't a problem.

Sony had some great content.

But against Microsoft... we just had the sudden emergence of bro-dude gamer culture on a large scale. lol

TRIFORCE89 said:

Nah. Discs weren't a problem.

Sony had some great content.

But against Microsoft... we just had the sudden emergence of bro-dude gamer culture on a large scale. lol

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And that is something I can agree with. If the video game industry wasn't so dominated by dude bros, the Wii U wouldn't have this much trouble as of right now.


Now as far as whether or not our upcoming first-party titles will be killer apps, more specifically Smash Bros., there's a large forum community I constantly lurk on that are stating that if Mewtwo and /or Snake doesn't come back or if we don't get playable Ridley and K. Rool, they'll consider the Wii U being doomed and not buy it nor the 3DS version, despite the massive improvements they're doing with the contents, and call Smash Bros. 4's roster worse than Brawl, which concerns me, because Ridley was already hinted as a boss character again, and Mewtwo's competing with Jigglypuff for the slot as the 5th Pokémon rep to balance out with Mario and Zelda's slots. They also find Mario Kart 8's roster to be 'meh' as well because of the return of Metal Mario, and a leak that just came out a few weeks ago showing the MK8 roster having 30 drivers (the last three currently being question marks), which isn't a huge gap compared to MKWii's roster.

I don't think Snake should have even been in Brawl to begin with. K.Rool... maybe. We did see Kremlings after all. But yeah, there are weird Nintendo fans who won't support them unless they cave to fandom.

And somehow, when Nintendo has tried to cater to them things sell less (twilight princess, F-Zero GX). Damned if they do, damned if they don't

I honestly don't have a real desire to own a WiiU. I probably never will. I think the idea of the game pad was nice, but a full-on controller would be nice. Maybe a play on the old SNES controllers or something, but with dual joysticks? I know Nintendo is trying to be original, but sometimes you have to go with what gamers want. Open the system to indie game developers and such, and I'd by one in a heartbeat.

Gym Leader Mark said:

Open the system to indie game developers and such, and I'd by one in a heartbeat.

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Um the system is vastly open to indies. They get a dev kit to test waters for 6 months, support from Nintendo, possible funding if Nintendo wasn't so stubborn. There is over 263 indies coming to the Wii U.

I love my Wii U. It has the titles I want (Nintendo first-parties), with the occasional third party, tons of indie content. I love the gamepad, minus the analog triggers kinda. I really like Off-TV Play, how the gamepad is incorporated in some games (ZombiU, Lego City U, few others.)

I kinda don't like playing with a traditional controller like the Dualshock, and Xbox controllers. Also hate most if not all the games coming on thats non-nintendo/some indies. I was really hoping this gen would be different, and it seemed like it was going to be different from the HD twins gen, sadly it really isn't.

countryemo said:

Um the system is vastly open to indies. They get a dev kit to test waters for 6 months, support from Nintendo, possible funding if Nintendo wasn't so stubborn. There is over 263 indies coming to the Wii U.

I love my Wii U. It has the titles I want (Nintendo first-parties), with the occasional third party, tons of indie content. I love the gamepad, minus the analog triggers kinda. I really like Off-TV Play, how the gamepad is incorporated in some games (ZombiU, Lego City U, few others.)

I kinda don't like playing with a traditional controller like the Dualshock, and Xbox controllers. Also hate most if not all the games coming on thats non-nintendo/some indies. I was really hoping this gen would be different, and it seemed like it was going to be different from the HD twins gen, sadly it really isn't.

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Well, you learn something new everyday. Some people like Nintendo products way more than I do, I'm only a fan of their handhelds really. The Wii was great at first, and now it sits in a box somewhere until I feel like giving it to GameStop. I figure the same would happen to the WiiU if I dared pick one up.