Ex-Sony Dev: Wii U Won't Last Another Christmas

[FalloutJack]

This is the part where we acknlowedge that Sony does dumb things, sometimes. You don't go and besmerch the name of your competitor like a twat. You let their merits keep them up or kill them on their own. That is why the PS4 is outselling the X-Bone. Stamping your little feet at Nintendo - even though it's true that Nintendo's losing out - is not cool.

 

[Olas]

"Wii U won't last another Christmas" Err yes it will. Nintendo just have to keep releasing a steady steam of Mario & Zelda titles.

Since when has Nintendo been releasing a steady stream of Zelda titles for their home consoles? The Wii had exactly 1 Zelda game and the Wii U has zero with nothing planned in the near future.

Face it, it's just Mario and maybe Animal Crossing.

 

[Dragonbums]

Yeah...um compared to the other practices that Sony and Microsoft allow third parties to indulge in these are minor inconveniences at worse.

If Region locking and a stupid digital account system (that they recently announced they just fixed anyway) is the only real problem you have with Nintendo then I would say they have a B+ in terms of consumer respect.

Maybe in the US region locks are minor but elsewhere like here in Australia it's a major deal, don't assume it's trivial just because it doesn't effect you. The lack of region lock on pc and PS3 is why stores finally dropped their prices, having region locks shows that Nintendo want to gouge us and rip us off to which I say they can fuck off.

Right. I'm pretty sure the insane prices in Australia has a lot more to do with the country itself than Nintendos dasterdly schemes in getting more money out of people. Region locking isn't some plan concoted by Nintendo to siphon money out of Australia and other affected regions. Just look at the prices of most games there. Region locked or not those are high prices. I'm glad that its getting better there, but blaming the company for price hikes they probably had no hand in is unfair.

 

[Dragonbums]

This has nothing to do with people buying their system.

Actually, it has everything to do with it. A former game dev came out and has said that the Wii U won't last another Christmas. I'm a little inclined to agree with him. Why? Because of the reasons I posted above. Nintendo hasn't really given anyone a good reason to buy their console. But of course, that may change soon.

You butchered up my comment and continue to argue a point that had absolutely nothing to do with what I was discussing with another user.

I'm talking to someone about who has more consumer respect out of all three. Nowhere does the sale of ANY console factor into that. You just shoehorned it in there.

 

[wulf3n]

the Wii U has zero with nothing planned in the near future.

Well it's got a remake if that counts

Also this [http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/10/15/zelda-wii-u-info-coming-at-e3-2014].

 

[Dark Knifer]

Yeah...um compared to the other practices that Sony and Microsoft allow third parties to indulge in these are minor inconveniences at worse.

If Region locking and a stupid digital account system (that they recently announced they just fixed anyway) is the only real problem you have with Nintendo then I would say they have a B+ in terms of consumer respect.

Maybe in the US region locks are minor but elsewhere like here in Australia it's a major deal, don't assume it's trivial just because it doesn't effect you. The lack of region lock on pc and PS3 is why stores finally dropped their prices, having region locks shows that Nintendo want to gouge us and rip us off to which I say they can fuck off.

Right. I'm pretty sure the insane prices in Australia has a lot more to do with the country itself than Nintendos dasterdly schemes in getting more money out of people. Region locking isn't some plan concoted by Nintendo to siphon money out of Australia and other affected regions. Just look at the prices of most games there. Region locked or not those are high prices. I'm glad that its getting better there, but blaming the company for price hikes they probably had no hand in is unfair.

Actually yeah, specifically nintendo has been a problem with games here, not so much launch prices but in second hand. Mario kart on the original ds is $50 preowned, diamond and pearl I've seen up to $70 preowned but it is only first party nintendo games that are this expensive and this old, I could get the complete edition of skyrim for cheaper preowned.

Importing here is drastically cheaper and nintendo curbing that is extremely annoying.

 

[Amir Kondori]

The correct answer is yes man. Sony got into game development due to a kiboshed plan with Nintendo to make a peripheral for their SNES. Sony's entire game division was formed out of a massive grudge towards Nintendo. Shit trickles down folks. As to his statement, I have to say... No. Nintendo treats their customers with respect, a lot more than what I can say with the other guys.

The idea that an EX Sony developer is holding a grudge over the split that created Sony's gaming division in the first place is beyond unbelievable. This guy didn't even work for Sony back then.

As for the validity of his statement I don't think you know anymore than I do. I do know that if you just look at numbers PS4 and Xbox One are blowing WiiU out of the water. It actually quite reminds me of the Dreamcast, which was a good console with some good games but was one that was completely overshadowed by the much more successful PS2, and to a lesser extent the Xbox.

While I kind of doubt the WiiU will not survive two more years I won't pretend it isn't possible.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

And the first couple of comments didn't read the article and just ragging on Sony even though it was an Ex-Sony, who just wanted to say something to NeoGaf for... reasons. But the idea that the Wi-U could vanish off shelves entirely is something that should be a major concern to the company, and the Super Mario game coming out at the exact same time as the consoles does strike me as Nintendo pushing their luck. Maybe a little bit closer to Christmas and a bit further away from the big two, can't say I'm not a business analyst.

Nintendo treats their customers with respect

Don't know if serious.

 

[captainballsack]

Nintendo still develop the best games, so I'm always going to buy with them. Also, the Wii U experience is so much less convoluted than the experiences I've had with the PS4. I hope people come around.

I think they should also stop releasing games for both the Wii U and the 3DS. If the new Smash was Wii U exclusive, and the Wii U was sitting at a slightly lesser price than what it's sitting at now, I think a lot of people might pick one up.

Same applies with any new Zeldas.

 

[cormacd12]

I think Nintendo should just double down on the 3DS and the handheld market.

Let's face it, they lost the bulk of their 3rd party support in the PS1/N64 era. And if the 100+ million sales of the Wii didn't bring the other publishers back, what hope do 4 million Wii U have?

Following the flop of the Vita, the 3DS is the only viable dedicated handheld. It was the best-selling hardware in the US for months this year, and sales of Luigi's Mansion and Pokemon were strong. The decision to bring out Smash Bros on the 3DS shows Nintendo's lack of faith in it's own home console. It's better to be a king among pygmies than be trampled by giants.

 

[RicoADF]

Right. I'm pretty sure the insane prices in Australia has a lot more to do with the country itself than Nintendos dasterdly schemes in getting more money out of people. Region locking isn't some plan concoted by Nintendo to siphon money out of Australia and other affected regions. Just look at the prices of most games there. Region locked or not those are high prices. I'm glad that its getting better there, but blaming the company for price hikes they probably had no hand in is unfair.

Blaming the price hike on the companies that set the prices is fair, Activision even does it on Steam, it's the publishers that have caused this. Origionally we paid higher prices due to dollar value being less than the US, however when our value went up they kept the prices high because they could. It's only now that most people buy online that they've started to drop them down. Also the government investigating and finding that yes they are artificially raising the price probably helped too, so yes I will hate the companies that intentionally ripped off Australians for as long as they could. Activision being at the top of that list.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Because this mentality is spreading in the gamer culture like a virus and it's ultimately what will kill the industry.

Again, I question whether this ex-Sony dev isn't this guy in disguise because he's been saying the same level of stupidity since Day 1: http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/

No, it's just another idiot who's just as stupid. I just find that this constant bashing of Nintendo seems more desperate than anything. It's like they need to get their high school-level jabs in before Smash Bros. and Mario Kart pop up, causing said douchebags to sulk in the corner for the next console generation. It's just sad

 

[Grumman]

I think they should also stop releasing games for both the Wii U and the 3DS. If the new Smash was Wii U exclusive, and the Wii U was sitting at a slightly lesser price than what it's sitting at now, I think a lot of people might pick one up.

Same applies with any new Zeldas.

So your proposal to save Nintendo is to stop releasing games for the device people actually own?

Brilliant plan. Brilliant.

 

[unstabLized]

Well...that's rather rude and unprofessional.

It's not even that I necessarily disagree with the base ideas some of these Sony folks are throwing around. I feel Nintendo has a lot of learning and evolving to do if they wish to stay relevant (don't quote me to argue about this, please) but they can say these things in a more respectful and professional manner.

Agree with this. I read the whole thing and I just thought "You're not wrong, you're just an asshole". Could've worded it better.. but yeah, he's not 100% wrong, which sucks.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

Um... "u mad bro?"

You don't even work for fucking Nintendo. Hell, the guy doesn't even work for their competition, so it's not like he's trying to save face now by ragging on some console. Not to mention that, at least from my experience, Nintendo tends to have its own fanbase that doesn't overlap with the audiences that the Xbox One and the PS4 are now competing for. Sure, the Wii U won't make profits that Sony or Microsoft will inevitably rake in, but they'll certainly be able to sustain themselves, because in the specific niche of titles and gamers that they target, they're still virtually uncontested. There's still an audience for Mario and Zelda titles, despite many gamers' claims that they're tired concepts.

 

[Arrogancy]

Um... "u mad bro?"

You don't even work for fucking Nintendo. Hell, the guy doesn't even work for their competition, so it's not like he's trying to save face now by ragging on some console. Not to mention that, at least from my experience, Nintendo tends to have its own fanbase that doesn't overlap with the audiences that the Xbox One and the PS4 are now competing for. Sure, the Wii U won't make profits that Sony or Microsoft will inevitably rake in, but they'll certainly be able to sustain themselves, because in the specific niche of titles and gamers that they target, they're still virtually uncontested. There's still an audience for Mario and Zelda titles, despite many gamers' claims that they're tired concepts.

I agree with a fair bit of that, but this comment has little to do with the discussion.

This isn't a debate as to whether Nintendo will remain solvent in the face of the WiiU, of course if will. They're Nintendo. They're obscenely rich and own some of the most valuable gaming IPs there are. This question is whether the WiiU will succeed as a console, and so far this guy looks to be correct.

There is very little third party support for the WiiU, it's sales are abysmal a year on, the competition has hit the scene and is outselling them heavily. On the whole, the WiiU is in a bad spot, and it looks like it might fade into irrelevance. The WiiU doesn't appeal to anyone outside of the dedicated Nintendo fanbase, and even they have limits.

I'm a lifelong Zelda fan myself, it's by far away my favorite game series, but even if they released a new Zelda for the Wii U, I still wouldn't buy it because the price I'd pay for the small number of games I'd actually be interested in playing on it is far too great. The enjoyment I'd get from the console falls below the price of the console as it stands, well below. This is not an isolated sentiment, thousands of people are echoing this, and that's a big part of why WiiU sales are so dismal. Even the Nintendo fanbase is hard-pressed to fork over several hundred dollars for a glorified Mario player.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Nintendo easily has the cash to back production for all the big 1st party titles they need to keep the WiiU going.
The question is whether or not they can get them out in time.

 

[NoeL]

1) The Wii U is already being taken off shelves in some non game-specific brick and mortar retailers.

Back in September a chain here in Australia called Dick Smith Electronics were offloading the premium consoles at half price (214AUD). So spewing I didn't know about it at the time or I would've been down there at the crack of opening. I went there the other day and all they have are clearance bins of Wii paraphernalia.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

You butchered up my comment and continue to argue a point that had absolutely nothing to do with what I was discussing with another user.

I'm talking to someone about who has more consumer respect out of all three. Nowhere does the sale of ANY console factor into that. You just shoehorned it in there.

I was branching off from your comment, not trying to start an argument. Then you said that what I was talking about had nothing to do with people buying their system. Naturally, I denied it.