Nintendo Exec: Two Reasons Why Switch Won't Fail Like Wii U

[Steven Bogos]

Nintendo Exec: Two Reasons Why Switch Won't Fail Like Wii U

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Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime says the company has identified two major reasons why the Wii U failed, and won't make the same mistakes with the Switch.

By now, everyone knows that the Wii U vastly under-performed, selling only 13 million units in its lifetime, compared to the original Wii's 100 million. Nintendo is adamant on not making the same mistakes with its upcoming console, to GameSpot [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/nintendo%20switch?os=%20nintendo%20switch] exactly what those mistakes were, and how it plans on avoiding them this time around.

Fils-Amie says that there were two main reasons the Wii U failed. First, Nintendo did not effectively communicate the novelty of the system, which uses a tablet-like controller to enable different gameplay experiences. The second one, which should be obvious to most gamers, is that there simply wasn't a steady flow of compelling games for the system.

"Nintendo Switch is a home console you can play anywhere, with anyone. Clear. Compelling," Fils-Aime said, addressing the first "mistake" of the Wii U. "We see the reaction by consumers whether it's measured in Twitter trending topics or views of videos on YouTube or just the frequency with which I get called by old high school buddies that I haven't heard from in 30 years who are asking me how to get their hands on Nintendo Switch. We have communicated the proposition clearly and it is compelling."

As for the second point, Fils-Aime says it is deliberately spacing out its games this time around. The Wii U launched with 23 titles, while the Switch will launch with just five, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It will then trickle out games at a more steady pace, with titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe due in April, Splatoon 2 comes out during the summer, and Super Mario Odyssey this holiday.

Source: GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-exec-on-the-two-reasons-why-switch-wont-s/1100-6446987/]

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[JenSeven]

Right ... because what we most want to see on the Switch are new iterations of games that we have huge nostalgic feelings for.

Just fix the virtual console and put loads and loads of your old games that we all REALLY want to have on a handheld system.
Because if you are going to design a handheld system, atleast have games on it that fit a handheld, and what's better than the old games that everyone wants to play again?

 

[MonsterCrit]

I'm sorry. Wut?

Fils-Amie says that there were two main reasons the Wii U failed. First, Nintendo did not effectively communicate the novelty of the system, which uses a tablet-like controller to enable different gameplay experiences. The second one, which should be obvious to most gamers, is that there simply wasn't a steady flow of compelling games for the system.

No, no. You communicated the novelty effective. It's just that it was ass. No one wanted it, It added nothing to actual game play. It was annoying.

"Nintendo Switch is a home console you can play anywhere, with anyone. Clear. Compelling," Fils-Aime said, addressing the first "mistake" of the Wii U. "We see the reaction by consumers whether it's measured in Twitter trending topics or views of videos on YouTube or just the frequency with which I get called by old high school buddies that I haven't heard from in 30 years who are asking me how to get their hands on Nintendo Switch. We have communicated the proposition clearly and it is compelling."

Really?

As for the second point, Fils-Aime says it is deliberately spacing out its games this time around. The Wii U launched with 23 titles, while the Switch will launch with just five, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It will then trickle out games at a more steady pace, with titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe due in April, Splatoon 2 comes out during the summer, and Super Mario Odyssey this holiday.

The reason for that being that your third party support is shite.

Look we all know the real reason Nintendo is so cockiy about this. It's fairly obvious to anyone who knows nintendo. This is the only device that wiull have the next two pokemon games. That's pretty much it. You want another Pokemon game. You're gonna get a switch. Simple as that.

 

[Buizel91]

Right ... because what we most want to see on the Switch are new iterations of games that we have huge nostalgic feelings for.

Just fix the virtual console and put loads and loads of your old games that we all REALLY want to have on a handheld system.
Because if you are going to design a handheld system, atleast have games on it that fit a handheld, and what's better than the old games that everyone wants to play again?

Playing the Pokemon games on the Switch would literally push sales through the roof. Especially if it could communicate with 3DS systems.

I know there is the rumour of a Pokemon game (Pokemon Stars, the 3rd game of this gen) coming to the Switch but being able to play new and old titles would be a huge deal breaker for most, and not just for Pokemon.

Metroid anyone?

 

[RJ 17]

I hate to keep referencing Jim, but I do think his analysis is on point with this one. I agree with him when he says that Nintendo does have all the tools to be THE clear front-runner for console based developers...it's just that their business practices/decisions are absolutely terrible.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

If they make it backwards compatible with 3DS/Wii/Wii U then it will take over the universe.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Fils-Aime says it is deliberately spacing out its games this time around. The Wii U launched with 23 titles, while the Switch will launch with just five, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It will then trickle out games at a more steady pace, with titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe due in April, Splatoon 2 comes out during the summer, and Super Mario Odyssey this holiday.

Why? Seriously, why? WHY?

Can someone give me a clear answer on this?

You're launching a console that's very clearly weaker than that of the competition, while said competition is offering their system at the same price, AND by this point have a huge library of games to choose from. And you deliberately drip-feed titles on your console?!

 

[RJ 17]

If they make it backwards compatible with 3DS/Wii/Wii U then it will take over the universe.

Considering the fact that the "free game service" that comes along with the paid multiplayer works as such:

"You get to play one classic game a month for free, then you don't get to play it anymore unless you buy it."

I highly doubt backwards compatibility will be a thing. Hell, the Miiverse isn't even carrying over.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

That's a lot of hand waving, Mr. "My Body is Reggie", and this isn't a jazz-hands contest.

Look, I get that they have to address these points now that they are gearing up for a console launch and doing their PR in preparation for the Switch, but those excuses suck.

Jim Fucking Sterling Son's video on Nintendo really puts down those "reasons". I will agree, their communication for the WiiU was pretty terrible, and borderline non-existent. I know I wanted to like it, but they never gave me a reason to. And now I want to like and get the Switch, and now I'm probably not going to buy one until sometime after the summer.

Also, I wanna laugh at the point about Youtube and their relationship with it. Good one, Reggie.

 

[hentropy]

Well he might be right, the Wii U might look like a smashing success compared to this thing if they don't make some serious changes. How out of touch do you have to be to think that offering next to nothing at launch and "spacing out" major releases is going to move a bunch of units?

 

[drkchmst]

When will NOA get rid of Reggie? Also good one Reggie that's just hilarious. I'm gonna be laughing all the way to the bank where I'll lock away the money I could use to buy a switch and lock it in a poor but stable investment like a CD

 

[TheScorpion]

Am I the only one thinking the same thing that Ian Malcolm [https://youtu.be/HW4Q0IeTYbA?t=36s] thought?

Like I feel like Nintendo is cutting corners a bit too much with no pack-in game, using MicroSDs(which I know from my custom android system has problems), among other things. Also I'm still not liking how they're making us play for online play like Sony and Microsoft are. At least they made it worthwhile with more of a lineup of decent online titles and them knowing how how give better perks to their users. Nintendo seems to be struggling with both these ideas. I really want Nintendo succeed but its becoming more and more harder to do overtime. I hope they'll find a way to bounce back because I'm really not sure right now.

 

[RJ 17]

Also, I wanna laugh at the point about Youtube and their relationship with it. Good one, Reggie.

I liked the part where he implied that he actually had friends in high school.

Hey-ooohhhh!

 

[oldtaku]

3) You launched the Wii U unfinished - anyone who bought the thing early had to put up with astoundingly slow menus and gigantic updates that sometimes took days to download - and might fail anyhow because you shipped it with a pathetic 8GB of storage because you're such cheapasses. Switch has 32GB, we'll have to wait to find out if it's finished.

4) You called it the Wii U. Most people thought it was a Wii peripheral if they even knew about it at all. Fixed.

5) The second screen was a dumb gimmick. It's great for playing the Wii U 'offline' and it makes a decent map/inventory screen, but Starfox shows how terrible it is when you try to really force the use it and it's not worth making the controller so gigantic and expensive for. Fixed. Joycon is also stuffed with dumb gimmicks, but it doesn't look like they get in your way normally.

The lack of the games is the big thing now, guess we'll have to see.

 

[meiam]

Man he has tough job, having to spin "we got almost no launch title and our most impressive one is a wii U port" into a positive aspect...

And the wii U feature were properly communicated and would have been all the rage with people who posses two pair of eyes and four arms, but us normal human can only focus on one screen at a time and one input device.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Actually, I'd say that the biggest flaw was the marketing starting with the name. Good marketing can push a weak product into a successful one. The name WiiU both looked and sounded like a Wii addon which confused the casual public. The Wii had excellent marketing, it's one of the only electronic products where I can remember the ads/tagline "Wii would like to play ". WiiU had nothing like that, in fact, I heard nearly nothing about the product near its launch that wasn't from a gaming enthusiast sources. It's like they wanted to save money on marketing since the console was sold at a loss.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Also, I wanna laugh at the point about Youtube and their relationship with it. Good one, Reggie.

I liked the part where he implied that he actually had friends in high school.

Hey-ooohhhh!

Ya know, I glossed over that part, and that part is a bit too much.

I think he's trying to switch us onto the new console too hard.

 

[RaikuFA]

When will NOA get rid of Reggie? Also good one Reggie that's just hilarious. I'm gonna be laughing all the way to the bank where I'll lock away the money I could use to buy a switch and lock it in a poor but stable investment like a CD

People have been asking for his job ever since Operation Rainfall. Thought it might be Japan telling him to say/do this crap.

 

[Battenberg]

I made a gif that perfectly sums up my reaction to this story:

 

[Czann]

"or views of videos on YouTube"

That N would then try to steal from the creators instead of using them to promote the damn thing.

I know they can legally do that. That isn't the point. The point is them being stupid and failing miserably by selling only less than 13% of their previously installed base!