GameStop CEO: "Wii U Was Disappointing Everyone, Including Nintendo"

[Steven Bogos]

GameStop CEO: "Wii U Was Disappointing Everyone, Including Nintendo"

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GameStop CEO Paul Raines says that while the Wii U was all around disappointing, he was impressed by the loyalty of Nintendo fans.

The Nintendo Wii U was a pretty disappointing console, as evidenced by the fact that Nintendo has moved its A list daily [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167276-Nintendo-NX-Launches-March-2017-Legend-of-Zelda-Delayed], GameStop CEO Paul Raines echoes this sentiment, and sheds a bit of light on just why the Big N feels the Wii U failed.

"Wii U was disappointing to everybody, including them. They made some bold bets, and maybe some of them didn't work out," said Raines. However, he applauded hardcore Nintendo fans, stating that "They're a very innovative group of people, so we never count out Nintendo. Even now it's incredible how strong some of their IP is-Pokemon, for example. We could have a Pokemon weekend this weekend at GameStop and we would break sales records just because every time they put out a new game they have a very loyal fan base. Super Mario, Zelda, all those IPs have a huge, loyal fan base."

He added that he is very excited for the NX, however, and believes that Nintendo's shift to the mobile market is definitely the right move. "A lot of the kids today have grown up only playing small games on their phones. As you introduce that exciting Nintendo IP and those characters, they're going to want more of that. We think that will push them into our stores to see the big games. They'll go, "Wow, there's actually a game I can play for months and months instead of a few days." That will be good for us. It will be very good for Nintendo, and we're very positive on it."

Were you disappointed in the Wii U? I basically bought mine just for Smash Bros. I'm glad its not my only gaming system, as there just isn't enough games on it...

Source: A List Daily [http://www.alistdaily.com/uncategorized/gamestop-ceo-paul-raines-discusses-nintendo-nx-new-consoles-vr/]

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[Zontar]

It probably doesn't help that third parties abandoned the console despite sales being comparable to the PS3 in its early years.

I'm still baffled by where that stemmed from. The same companies that wholeheartedly supported the PS3 during its struggle to get decent sales numbers while having a ludicrously difficult system to work with where not willing to do the same for a comparatively easy system to work with? I mean sure you need to work around a different controller, but from a programming perspective it was easier to work with then a PS3 ever was.

Thankfully for Nintendo they have enough first party support for the console to be saved from financial loss to simply being a disappointment.

As for consumers, outside of title selections I'm still confused as to what made the WiiU stand out as the looser of this generation. It had a lead in terms of first party titles, and in its first year had more games of decent to great quality then the PS4 or Xbone did, and I find it hard to believe that the default apps anyone with a modern TV, cable, satellite or fibreoptic television system already has was the deciding factor.

 

[FillerDmon]

Super Smash Bros WiiU, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Hyrule Warriors, Pikmin 3, Pokken Tournament, Bayonetta 2, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Nintendo Land, Starfox Zero, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the entire Wii backlog. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. Granted, I didn't by a single one of those from Gamestop because fuck Gamestop, but still.

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

Super Smash Bros WiiU, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Hyrule Warriors, Pikmin 3, Pokken Tournament, Bayonetta 2, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Nintendo Land, Starfox Zero, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the entire Wii backlog. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. Granted, I didn't by a single one of those from Gamestop because fuck Gamestop, but still.

Exactly. Plenty of good games that people were just unwilling to try.

 

[Micah Weil]

I still enjoy mine, to be quite honest. I've got a gaggle of nieces and nephews that we bought one for Christmas. They seem to enjoy the Mario Maker levels I make for 'em. Pokken Tournament, Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart...Most of those still get regular play.

 

[Supernova1138]

It probably doesn't help that third parties abandoned the console despite sales being comparable to the PS3 in its early years.

I'm still baffled by where that stemmed from. The same companies that wholeheartedly supported the PS3 during its struggle to get decent sales numbers while having a ludicrously difficult system to work with where not willing to do the same for a comparatively easy system to work with? I mean sure you need to work around a different controller, but from a programming perspective it was easier to work with then a PS3 ever was.

The third parties jumped ship (without really getting on board in the first place) because they knew the Wii U would not be able to compete hardware wise against whatever Sony and Microsoft cooked up, and they didn't want to have to release cut down versions of their games that wouldn't sell well once they started developing games primarily for the Xbox One and PS4 and left the 360 and PS3 behind.

Nintendo has had serious problems with enticing third parties for two decades now due to their boneheaded design decisions with their consoles. The decision to stick with cartridges on the N64 alienated most third parties that didn't want to eat the extra cost of making the cartridges vs. a CD, and dealing with the storage limitations the cartridges presented. The Gamecube's proprietary mini-disc format had a similar issue, 1.8GB maximum for the Gamecube discs vs. 4.7GB maximum for the DVDs that the PS2 and Xbox used, third parties didn't want to cut down their games or print multiple discs to deal with the storage limitations.

With the Wii, Nintendo effectively stuck with 6th generation hardware and simply bolted a motion sensor onto it to compete against the Xbox 360 and PS3, starting the trend where Nintendo is about a generation behind its competitors in terms of computing horsepower and their consoles started relying on gimmicks like motion controls and the tablet controller to be competitive. That trick worked once with the Wii, as it became the big must own device for everyone to have, but it was very much a fad and the new market Nintendo opened up quickly flocked to smartphones and tablets for their gaming needs and left Nintendo behind.

At this point, Nintendo is pretty much screwed when it comes to home consoles. Two decades of failure as far as the third parties are concerned means no third party wants to touch Nintendo's consoles outside of releasing low budget shovelware for the kids and causals. Nintendo can still put out the strongest first party lineup, but that really isn't relevant when there is literally nothing else on Nintendo's consoles and there are months long droughts in between games because Nintendo can't churn out enough titles fast enough to support a console all by themselves.

 

[Nazulu]

I thought the Wii U machine itself was alright, just wasn't happy with the gimmicky gameboy controller. Didn't care for any of the games either, even Smash Brothers which was the only one I was eager to see, but it is still nerfed crap compared to Melee.

Super Smash Bros WiiU, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Hyrule Warriors, Pikmin 3, Pokken Tournament, Bayonetta 2, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Nintendo Land, Starfox Zero, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the entire Wii backlog. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. Granted, I didn't by a single one of those from Gamestop because fuck Gamestop, but still.

Exactly. Plenty of good games that people were just unwilling to try.

Or people weren't given a good reason to give a shit. Well I guess I don't count since I tried some of them, but they don't look interesting anymore either.

 

[EndlessSporadic]

Im confused - did GameStop say this or did GameSpot?

I support Nintendo's move to mobile. It's better for them to focus their energy and resources there than it is for them to create subpar consoles. Now if only Nintendo would start listening to and understanding their customers...

 

[FPLOON]

No, GameStop CEO, the Wii U didn't disappoint me... and not because of all of the Nintendo-based systems I still have beforehand...

Other than that, I did not know that dude could read minds metaphorically...

 

[Casual Shinji]

It probably doesn't help that third parties abandoned the console despite sales being comparable to the PS3 in its early years.

I'm still baffled by where that stemmed from. The same companies that wholeheartedly supported the PS3 during its struggle to get decent sales numbers while having a ludicrously difficult system to work with where not willing to do the same for a comparatively easy system to work with? I mean sure you need to work around a different controller, but from a programming perspective it was easier to work with then a PS3 ever was.

Probably because the PS3 still had places to go hardware wise. Despite being a ***** to program for it was still the most powerful console on the market at the time. The Wii-U on the otherhand was stuck in the previous generation. The PS3 also didn't skew the market with its controller. Add to that that Nintendo hasn't exactly been in many third-parties' good graces even before the Gamecube.

 

[Something Amyss]

My question is how a CEO of a gaming retailer can be as surprised as he comes off. The next Nintendo console could be a rebranded Apple 2E that cost 20,000 dollars, and you'd still see it defended by the rank and file.

Heck, if I had a nickel for every time I said there weren't enough games that interested me, only to have someone come along and rifle off a list of games that don't interest me, I...would probably buy a New 3DS instead, so I could play SNES games on my handheld.

 

[Saelune]

Says the mobile shift is a good idea. All his views are now invalid.

 

[Davroth]

The tablet was underutilized, but it had tons of quality games on it. It's just still very popular to give Nintendo bad press.

 

[fix-the-spade]

It probably doesn't help that third parties abandoned the console despite sales being comparable to the PS3 in its early years.

That's a somewhat optimistic appraisal. The Wii U's sales tailed off extremely rapidly after release and haven't ever recovered.

By contrast the PS3 was slow by Playstation standards, so Sony cut the prices and stepped up the advertising. Sales of the PS3 actually grew after year one and they had shifted twenty-something million by year three. Wii U had about half that number by November 2015.

More importantly, Sony promotes third party games on it's websites, in it's advertising and it also partially funds some of them. Nintendo do none of these things and sales for third party titles on Nintendo hardware are traditionally terrible. Even for a relatively small install base it's worth publishing on Sony, whilst for Nintendo there's little incentive to get a tiny share of a tiny market.

The Wii U's been a total disaster for Nintendo, I'm not sure anyone would have predicted it selling at half the rate of the Gamecube, even in Nintendo's worst case projections.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

The WiiU wasn't that bad, like the guy said, it's basically the games that make Nintendo consoles and the WiiU had some solid titles (plus backwards compatibility). I think that they try too hard on their gimmicks though. Yeah you can play eight players in Super Smash, but you need a few Gamecube controller adapters or you get this Frankenstein mess of wiimotes, 3dses, the game pad and whatever other controllers you can throw into the mix.

I'm just tired of the gimmicks, Nintendo doesn't really need them. I doubt the majority of people bought the WiiU because of the touch pad.

The store could have benefited greatly by interchanging between the handheld and home console library. I was very disappointed to see that I can't play A Link to the Past or Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow on my 3DS and of course would love to play a Pokemon game on my TV.

 

[cathou]

I'm just tired of the gimmicks, Nintendo doesn't really need them. I doubt the majority of people bought the WiiU because of the touch pad.

Actually, i did. I have two young kids and a wife. Each of them want, at somepoint in the day, to use the television. Usually, when my youngest daugther goes to sleep, the older one want to watch a movie or mlp episodes on the tv, my wife usually goes on the ipad to check her mails and her facebook. Let say at this point, while everyone else is doing something, i want to play some games ? sure, i could go in the basement where there's another tv. But, i dont know, call me an idealistic girl but i like that idea that even if were doing things individualy, we're still in the same room.

So, enter wiiu with the possibility of display on the gamepad for most games, that i can play without using the tv set.

This generation i decided to get a wiiu and upgrade my computer. So far i dont regret it. There's no games i want to play on xbox one or ps4 that i cannot have on my pc.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

snip

This article alternates between GameSTOP and GameSPOT. GameSpot in the URL, GameStop in the title, GameSpot in the subtitle. I get that this is about GameStop based on context, but just thought I'd bring this to your attention.

OT: There are plenty of great games on WiiU, many of them exclusive to the WiiU:

Super Smash Bros WiiU, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Hyrule Warriors, Pikmin 3, Pokken Tournament, Bayonetta 2, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Nintendo Land, Starfox Zero, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and the entire Wii backlog.

Let's add Super Smash Bros. and Super Mario 3D World to that.

Yes, you're not going to find the likes of the big popular online shooters, big western RPGs (minus a junk port of Mass Effect 3), or Dark Souls...so, yeah, I can see how people would be disappointed if they had a WiiU only; I know I would. On the other hand, I think too many core gamers are quick to write the system off, and I really don't understand why someone would buy it solely for Smash and not even try to explore their new options (no offense OP). Surely, of all the games listed above, there must be SOMETHING that a person who is willing to buy a whole system for Smash would also find interesting and fun, many of which can't be played anywhere else.

Also, I prefer to play many multiplatform games on the WiiU if possible. The WiiU has the definitive version of Rayman Legends. The WiiU version of Injustice: Gods Among Us has the ability to put the combos on the WiiU gamepad so that you can see them while you practice. Also, I love the second-screen mode. Being able to play the game on the WiiU gamepad screen is highly useful; I can play while someone else in the house uses the TV. It also works as a wi-fi only tablet for things like Netflix, Hulu, etc. and costs less than a new iPad to boot. (Yes, I know that a regular tablet is better for surfing/work, but how many people buy a tablet just to watch stuff and play games? Exactly.)

We mostly got ours for the kids, but I've been digging Splatoon and Hyrule Warriors like nobody's business. And I'd rather play Shovel Knight on the WiiU than anything else.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

It probably doesn't help that third parties abandoned the console despite sales being comparable to the PS3 in its early years.

I'm still baffled by where that stemmed from. The same companies that wholeheartedly supported the PS3 during its struggle to get decent sales numbers while having a ludicrously difficult system to work with where not willing to do the same for a comparatively easy system to work with? I mean sure you need to work around a different controller, but from a programming perspective it was easier to work with then a PS3 ever was.

Thankfully for Nintendo they have enough first party support for the console to be saved from financial loss to simply being a disappointment.

As for consumers, outside of title selections I'm still confused as to what made the WiiU stand out as the looser of this generation. It had a lead in terms of first party titles, and in its first year had more games of decent to great quality then the PS4 or Xbone did, and I find it hard to believe that the default apps anyone with a modern TV, cable, satellite or fibreoptic television system already has was the deciding factor.

Part of it was, they didn't give third parties development kits until like a month before the system was released. Meanwhile, people had kits for PS4 and Xbox One for like a year if not longer. It was kind of a matter of mutual respect, Nintendo didn't give them enough time or reason to care for the Wii U, and in turn, they couldn't care about making games for them. And it makes way more sense with Sony, at least modernly, as they kind of put out shout outs for little guys. Like their dedicated indie stuff.

So, basically Nintendo is the older kid who is too stubborn to play nice with others.