Pachter: Nintendo Should "Consider Getting Out of the Wii U Business"

[Canadamus Prime]

Does anyone really care what this guy says? 'Cause I certainly don't. Besides I'd rather see Nintendo's franchise's die then have them on the Xbox or Playstation. ...well maybe I could stomach the Playstation.

 

[SargeSmash]

I was about to say this sounded reasonable... but then I realized, if Nintendo did take this course of action, then all the devs would be skittish about ever supporting another Nintendo console. So instead of throwing a few crumbs Nintendo's way, they'd ignore it entirely, leave Nintendo to fail, and have them have to go multiplatform permanently.

 

[Aeonknight]

I stand by my prior stance on the Wii U. It already has a few games that look fun, but give me that new Xeno game from Monolith Soft and a legit Zelda game, and it'll be my next major gaming purchase. Sorry but multiplayer Mario rehashes aren't enough to sell me on a new console (even if the first one was fun as hell.)

 

[loa]

So nintendo should do the sega 32x and saturn dance?
Yeah, because that ended so well for them.
If the box is out and people invested their money already, you can't just turn around and abandon it and then expect them to buy the "new and improved box that we'll totally support this time for realsies!".

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

No, Pachter. That's not what they need to do.

Six steps to save the Wii U:

• 
  [li]More games - They're making progress on this front, but the I think the turning point will be Mario Kart 8.[/li]
  [li]Better marketing - I recently saw an ad on TV that explained that the Wii U isn't just an add-on. They should've been doing this type of ad all along, and they should've been advertising a lot more.[/li]
  [li]Better bundles - For now New Super Mario Bros. is okay (Nintendo Land was always a bad choice), but before holiday 2014 season, they need to start bundling Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart 8.[/li]
  [li]Stop selling the Wii - This is contributing to consumer confusion. Introducing a new model of Wii (the Wii Mini) after launching the Wii U was a colossal mistake. Continuing to sell either version of the Wii is a bigger one. Both the Wii and the Wii Mini need to be ditched ASAP in order for the Wii U to ever gain any real traction.[/li]
  [li]Stop ignoring franchises - We want a new Star Fox game that builds on the foundation set by the first two (think Assault, but actually make a complete game this time). We want a new F-Zero game at all. A new Puzzle League game would be nice, if it can find a big enough audience (maybe rebranded as a Luigi game?). A new Wars game would be a fantastic fit for the Wii U's gamepad.[/li]
  [li]VIRTUAL CONSOLE - Seriously, they've got a huge backlog of games, a fair few people who would be quite willing to re-purchase them, and very little cost in rereleasing them compared to new games. When the Wii was young, I used to get excited to see what new Virtual Console games would come out every week. It was a fantastic hype builder, and helped keep people's minds where you wanted them. It got regular features on quite a few gaming news sites (read: free advertising).[/li]

The Wii U doesn't have to die. It can be made profitable. But Nintendo really needs to look at why it's failing and fix those problems before that can possibly happen. If something isn't working, the solution isn't do the same thing but more of it. Once Nintendo gets that figured out, I think the Wii U perform do acceptably.

P.S. Thanks

I'd like to Nth what Covarr said...but add that Nintendo should try to lure in a lot of the third party companies to make some good games for the Wii U. I think the hardware has promise, especially since if I had the programming skill I could easily make a functioning RPG using the touch screen to move and command characters. Problem is too many companies aren't really seeing the potential the Wii U has because they see it as too gimmicky.

CAPTCHA: end of story

Well said, Captcha. Well said.

 

[Rad Party God]

Spoiler: Clicky Snip.

No, Pachter. That's not what they need to do.

Six steps to save the Wii U:

• 
  [li]More games - They're making progress on this front, but the I think the turning point will be Mario Kart 8.[/li]
  [li]Better marketing - I recently saw an ad on TV that explained that the Wii U isn't just an add-on. They should've been doing this type of ad all along, and they should've been advertising a lot more.[/li]
  [li]Better bundles - For now New Super Mario Bros. is okay (Nintendo Land was always a bad choice), but before holiday 2014 season, they need to start bundling Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart 8.[/li]
  [li]Stop selling the Wii - This is contributing to consumer confusion. Introducing a new model of Wii (the Wii Mini) after launching the Wii U was a colossal mistake. Continuing to sell either version of the Wii is a bigger one. Both the Wii and the Wii Mini need to be ditched ASAP in order for the Wii U to ever gain any real traction.[/li]
  [li]Stop ignoring franchises - We want a new Star Fox game that builds on the foundation set by the first two (think Assault, but actually make a complete game this time). We want a new F-Zero game at all. A new Puzzle League game would be nice, if it can find a big enough audience (maybe rebranded as a Luigi game?). A new Wars game would be a fantastic fit for the Wii U's gamepad.[/li]
  [li]VIRTUAL CONSOLE - Seriously, they've got a huge backlog of games, a fair few people who would be quite willing to re-purchase them, and very little cost in rereleasing them compared to new games. When the Wii was young, I used to get excited to see what new Virtual Console games would come out every week. It was a fantastic hype builder, and helped keep people's minds where you wanted them. It got regular features on quite a few gaming news sites (read: free advertising).[/li]

The Wii U doesn't have to die. It can be made profitable. But Nintendo really needs to look at why it's failing and fix those problems before that can possibly happen. If something isn't working, the solution isn't do the same thing but more of it. Once Nintendo gets that figured out, I think the Wii U perform do acceptably.

P.S. Thanks

I absolutely agree with you on every single front and all these are what (I hope) Nintendo's already doing/considering to do and it's the reason they managed to stay afloat for so many decades and Pachter, well, keeps playing guess on the internet.

As for the Virtual Console front, I wouldn't have high hopes for it, considering how dismal Ninty's been treating it lately, as for new audiences for it, it's a sad day when youngsters can't play Super Metroid without asking "Y Cant Metroid Crawl?".

 

[VG_Addict]

Honestly, I don't think ONE bad console gen is going to kill Nintendo, especially after coming off the Wii and DS, both of which were insanely profitable. Hell, it took Sega several consecutive failures to go third party.

 

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Who the hell would buy a Nintendo console in the future if the drop Wii U support in under 2 years.

Doesn't anyone remember what Sega did with the Dreamcast? I'm still upset I spent lot of money I didn't really have to get the console, my first truly-owned-by-me-and-not-borrowed-or-rented Sega console... and they fucked yanked it after 2 years. It took me almost a year to save up a fair chunk of money again to start buying games after I'd gotten it (cause I borrowed from family members and had to repay over time, mainly playing rentals)..

Sorry, going off there. I mean to say after finally getting my first Sega Console (always bought Nintendo thought I loved both companies), they take the console and games off the market and it becomes almost impossible to find any good games. I was outraged, disappointed, and really lost faith in Sega.

They never truly recovered, either, to be honest. They became third party and frequently the butt of jokes, their games having iffy quality (Sonic 2006, anyone?) and getting into fights with people over silly shit.

I don't wanna see that happen to Nintendo, I gotta be honest here. I may not be interested in the Wii U yet, but I'm not interested in ANY of the new consoles. I got a 3DS because my DS broke and I thought it'd be a good investment. I don't even have a PS3, and I only got an Xbox 360 cause my cousin did and I didn't like having to borrow/visit just to play it.

Really, I think Pach is a fool. He's always been heavily against Nintendo.

 

[Covarr]

I'd like to Nth what Covarr said...but add that Nintendo should try to lure in a lot of the third party companies to make some good games for the Wii U. I think the hardware has promise, especially since if I had the programming skill I could easily make a functioning RPG using the touch screen to move and command characters. Problem is too many companies aren't really seeing the potential the Wii U has because they see it as too gimmicky.

Sadly, this isn't so simple a task. The reason most third parties aren't developing for the Wii U has nothing to do with a "gimmicky controller". It's because the console isn't selling well enough, and publishers are afraid games will not sell well enough. The only way Nintendo can get third parties to work on the Wii U at this point is to put in the majority investment themselves, as they did with Bayonetta 2 (and supposedly Sonic Lost World).

Just like every other game on the Wii U was supposed to clear store shelves and didn't? NSMB U, 3D World, Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101, etc...

Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 101 are both excellent games, but they weren't what the system needs. Both are too niche, neither received proper marketing, and the latter doesn't have a "whoa, cool" factor (the former doesn't really need it). New Super Mario Bros. U and Super Mario 3D World couldn't do it because people are starting to get burned out on samey platformers. 3D World may have been stellar, but it had the same look and feel that the franchise has been overusing since 2006. It could've done a lot better if they gave it its own distinct style and personality, like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Sunshine both had.

I do think Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 will help a lot. Neither has oversaturated the market to the extent straight platformers have, both are getting actual hype and marketing, and both have long histories of being system sellers. Hell, Mario Kart is consistently in the top three sellers on virtually every system. It was second on N64, GC, Wii, currently is on 3DS, and was 3rd best seller on DS. This is a franchise that always pushes units, and frankly should've been a higher priority for Nintendo to get out sooner.

That's not to say that "two big games" is all the system needs. As I said in a previous post, Nintendo needs to open up their VC library, bundle better games, ditch the Wii, and stop ignoring their more mature-friendly franchises. But if they get their act together, then these two games will almost certainly be the breaking point, and the console will be able to take off very suddenly.

P.S. Thanks

 

[WeepingAngels]

Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 101 are both excellent games, but they weren't what the system needs. Both are too niche, neither received proper marketing, and the latter doesn't have a "whoa, cool" factor (the former doesn't really need it). New Super Mario Bros. U and Super Mario 3D World couldn't do it because people are starting to get burned out on samey platformers. 3D World may have been stellar, but it had the same look and feel that the franchise has been overusing since 2006. It could've done a lot better if they gave it its own distinct style and personality, like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Sunshine both had.

I do think Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 will help a lot. Neither has oversaturated the market to the extent straight platformers have, both are getting actual hype and marketing, and both have long histories of being system sellers. Hell, Mario Kart is consistently in the top three sellers on virtually every system. It was second on N64, GC, Wii, currently is on 3DS, and was 3rd best seller on DS. This is a franchise that always pushes units, and frankly should've been a higher priority for Nintendo to get out sooner.

That's not to say that "two big games" is all the system needs. As I said in a previous post, Nintendo needs to open up their VC library, bundle better games, ditch the Wii, and stop ignoring their more mature-friendly franchises. But if they get their act together, then these two games will almost certainly be the breaking point, and the console will be able to take off very suddenly.

P.S. Thanks

We'll see what happens but I don't believe either game will make a huge splash.

As for dumping the Wii, yeah I agree now that they are no longer offering a proper Wii. The Wii Mini has to be the worst slim model I have ever seen. They removed the SD card slot, the virtual console, Wiiware and even though it didn't begin with the Wii Mini, it also has no support for Gamecube controllers (a big deal for Smash Brothers fans) or Gamecube games. They also removed support for component cables, a move that makes no sense given that HDTV's have a higher adoption rate now than when the Wii came out.

Yes, it is criminal how they treat the virtual console.

 

[Atmos Duality]

*only reads the article*

"Obviously, If they discontinue the Wii U, they will sell no console software...I think they should reconsider going multiplatform until they release a new console, then they can pull all of their software from the PS4 and Xbox One, and go back to being a proprietary software maker."

By dropping the proprietary gambit, Nintendo could greatly expand the reach of their software sales, and it's no secret that Nintendo's software is their strongest asset (their hardware is underpowered and overpriced even for consoles).

The drawbacks for Nintendo of course, are:
1) If they distribute via Sony and Microsoft, now they're paying royalties to their direct competition in the hardware market, making that counter productive both in the interim and in the long run.

2) Nintendo pulling their games from those systems once they're back in the hardware market sounds like an excellent way to piss off everyone involved. I saw this "Give-and-take" attitude play out for EA's Origin when they pulled from Steam; it wasn't pretty, and left a lot of consumers mad.

(Hey, Sony/MS contract lawyers, if you're reading this and suspect your executive board(s) might follow Pachter's scenario.

Be sure to add a hefty exit clause to penalize Nintendo should they follow Pachter's gambit (bolded). Either that or forbid Nintendo from making exclusive any software they sell via your systems. At least for the life span of your consoles.
Your customers will thank you for it, Nintendo will curse your name, and your investors won't ***** too loudly.

Worst case scenario: Nintendo rejects your offer and loses out on revenue they very badly need right now.)

Simply put: If Nintendo leaves the console hardware business, they need to branch out to every platform they can, and leave the hardware for good. (sell on GOG, smartphones, tablets, not just your own hardware)

Yanking people around with some bootstrap gambit isn't going to end well.
Well, unless people are far more stupid than I think they are. (and I should know better than underestimate human stupidity)