Satoru Iwata: Hardware Price Is Not Wii U's Problem

[Karloff]

Satoru Iwata: Hardware Price Is Not Wii U's Problem

Lack of software is what's killing our console, says Iwata.

"If the price is actually an issue, then there is some contradiction between the current sales balance between the Basic and Premium versions of the Wii U," says Nintendo's Satoru Iwata. "The basic version should have sold a lot, but the fact of the matter is that people are buying more of the premium version. So the issue is not there." No, Iwata believes, the real problem is the lack of software, not the hardware price point [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126666-Wii-U-Still-Selling-Below-Cost], and the only solution is to bring out "a number of quality software titles."

There's certainly a lot of truth in that statement, and software-software-software is a mantra that as much as 5 GB [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125851-Shigeru-Miyamoto-Nintendo-Needs-a-New-Franchise] of the Wii U's mind? 8 minus 5 minus X equals not very much at all, and many users will have figured that out, factoring it into their purchasing decision. Lack of software may have killed off future sales, but software may not have been the only reason why Premium outsells Basic.

That said, software certainly is the Wii U's problem now, whether or not it was Basic's problem at launch. A slew of new titles would help bring developers back into the fold. Only time will tell whether or not the Wii U has a future, or whether - as Michael Pachter once put it - Nintendo truly has lost its mojo [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125691-Pachter-Why-Would-Anyone-Buy-A-Wii-U].

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/423771/iwata-wii-u-basic-model-sales-show-price-isnt-the-issue/]


Permalink

 

[woodaba]

Wii U really is a perfect storm of everything that could go wrong going wrong. The console itself is fine, but it's about to be outpaced by both the PS4 and the Xbone, it's way too expensive for what it is, it has zero appeal to the Wii's casual audience that made that console successful, it's still lacking a killer app, and third parties won't touch the bloody thing. I don't think the Wii U is Nintendo's Dreamcast, but I do think that it's their Saturn: the beginning of the end for Nintendo as a leading home console manufacturer.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Makes you wonder why they even released the damn thing when they did, instead of just waiting for the holidays. All it's doing now is getting bogged down by its own games lacking image.

 

[Jumwa]

You're still repeating those erroneous "facts" about the day one update being both mandatory and several gigabytes in size?

That was debunked thoroughly by day two. The estimation of it being up to 5GB was based on one persons download speed, and how much they could usually download in that time. However, keeping in mind that Wii U actually had amazing day one sales (despite what happened after), their servers were taxed and the patch (which was under a gig) took especially long to download.

The speed issues were resolved even before the end of the first day and anyone with a Wii U can easily determine that the system files aren't taking up that much space.

As for "had to endure", you only "had to" if you wanted to access the eShop and a few other extraneous features. Games all ran on the system fine as of day one without any update. So if you considered a stop to the eShop a necessity on day one, then for that morning you had a bit of a wait. Though by the evening it was already a quick load.

 

[Hunter Lemley]

This is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen from developers. There are no games on the Wii U which is hindering sales but the developers don't want to make games for it since the sales are bad. Does anyone have balls to do ANYTHING anymore? Take a risk you fools and make a Wii U game! The Wii U has made many sales from Monster Hunter fans who wanted to play 3 Ultimate online. So make the next system seller already!

 

[Simalacrum]

Anybody can tell that a lack of games is the Wii U's current problem. Why, were there people saying that the Wii U is too expensive? Its the cheapest of the next-gen consoles!

 

[MrBaskerville]

I want one (because i´ve gotten a lot out of my Wii recently), but i don´t really dare to buy one until they solve the software issue. I just don´t trust that it stays on the market if things continue as they do now.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

This is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen from developers. There are no games on the Wii U which is hindering sales but the developers don't want to make games for it since the sales are bad. Does anyone have balls to do ANYTHING anymore? Take a risk you fools and make a Wii U game! The Wii U has made many sales from Monster Hunter fans who wanted to play 3 Ultimate online. So make the next system seller already!

Most devs got burned by the Wii, as well as the fact that Nintendo first party titles are system movers and not those pesky 'risk adverse' dev offerings.

At this point companies are not going to invest in the WiiU as it isn't worth it (see ZombieU), in the beginning of a consoles life console makers generally either pay devs to make console exclusives or outright own the devs in question.

Besides, nearly everyone else is gearing up for the next gen console release.

 

[Colt47]

I read this statement and it feels like what he meant to say is "the system needs games that people want to play" more than "quality games". The system has quality games, it's just that they are the same game that people can play on an older system that is still in circulation. Also, still trying to figure out why they went back to 2d and planar based mario games. The dynamic camera angles of Super Mario 64 made that game a lot more interesting than Mario Land 3d or the Coin collecting madness that's the 2d platformer versions.

 

[Dragonbums]

Makes you wonder why they even released the damn thing when they did, instead of just waiting for the holidays. All it's doing now is getting bogged down by its own games lacking image.

Because a lot of third party devs "backed them" and then at the last minute they all didn't really keep their end of the deal. Leaving them high and dry for the most part. Oh well. At least this year looks promising.

 

[Dragonbums]

What are they going to do with the basics though?

I'm serious. For the most part, the basic Wii U's are literally just sitting there. (also black is a sexy color.) are they going to recall them eventually?
Or have they just basically stopped producing them and are now just waiting for them to sell away leaving only the deluxe left.

 

[Teoes]

snip

I was torn between this and the Captain Obvious one.

Of course the Wii-U has a future. It may not do as well as the Wii but it's not going anywhere and neither are Nintendo.

 

[Dragonbums]

I read this statement and it feels like what he meant to say is "the system needs games that people want to play" more than "quality games". The system has quality games, it's just that they are the same game that people can play on an older system that is still in circulation. Also, still trying to figure out why they went back to 2d and planar based mario games. The dynamic camera angles of Super Mario 64 made that game a lot more interesting than Mario Land 3d or the Coin collecting madness that's the 2d platformer versions.

They didn't go back to the 2D aspect of Mario.

On average, for every Nintendo system they make one full 3D Mario game.

N64 had Super Mario 64.
Gamecube had Super Mario Sunshine.
Wii had Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2.

The Wii U has yet to get a 3D Mario game.
The whole Mario classic thing from what I've seen from the kids in my family and beyond is to introduce the children of this generation to the old fashioned Mario games that they otherwise wouldn't of realized existed, and they seem to like them a whole lot. Since those games sell units by the millions.

 

[mew4ever23]

Yeah.. It's sure as hell not the price. It's that you got not a damn thing to do with the thing once you hook it up. Don't get me wrong, Pikmin 3 is great, but it's.. short. We need moar.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Makes you wonder why they even released the damn thing when they did, instead of just waiting for the holidays. All it's doing now is getting bogged down by its own games lacking image.

Because a lot of third party devs "backed them" and then at the last minute they all didn't really keep their end of the deal. Leaving them high and dry for the most part. Oh well. At least this year looks promising.

I thought that was only Ubisoft with delaying Rayman Legends though.

I just think Nintendo jumped the gun trying to get a headstart. They didn't really have any game in the past 9 months to launch the system into the public's eye. Had they waited they would've had The Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, and Wind Waker HD as a launch line-up. Not too shabby.

Nintendo could just as well have waited for the Holidays, in order to ride the wave of the next gen hype.

 

[Colt47]

I read this statement and it feels like what he meant to say is "the system needs games that people want to play" more than "quality games". The system has quality games, it's just that they are the same game that people can play on an older system that is still in circulation. Also, still trying to figure out why they went back to 2d and planar based mario games. The dynamic camera angles of Super Mario 64 made that game a lot more interesting than Mario Land 3d or the Coin collecting madness that's the 2d platformer versions.

They didn't go back to the 2D aspect of Mario.

On average, for every Nintendo system they make one full 3D Mario game.

N64 had Super Mario 64.
Gamecube had Super Mario Sunshine.
Wii had Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2.

The Wii U has yet to get a 3D Mario game.
The whole Mario classic thing from what I've seen from the kids in my family and beyond is to introduce the children of this generation to the old fashioned Mario games that they otherwise wouldn't of realized existed, and they seem to like them a whole lot. Since those games sell units by the millions.

I forgot about Mario Galaxy. Also I think I purposefully forgot Super Mario Sunshine, as that game was just felt all kinds of weird to play. You're probably right that they are meant to attract and introduce a younger generation to the older style Mario Games, just like with Ocarina of Time and the Wind Waker are there to introduce Link. It's just that they already did that with the Wii versions of the games that are still playable.

 

[Vivi22]

"If the price is actually an issue, then there is some contradiction between the current sales balance between the Basic and Premium versions of the Wii U," says Nintendo's Satoru Iwata. "The basic version should have sold a lot, but the fact of the matter is that people are buying more of the premium version. So the issue is not there."

Or maybe people are buying the premium version because the flash memory is so stupidly small as to be utterly useless and people don't like buying the shitty version of a console. Just a thought I had.

There's certainly a lot of truth in that statement, and software-software-software is a mantra that developers aren't going to want to work with the Wii U [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125851-Shigeru-Miyamoto-Nintendo-Needs-a-New-Franchise].

Not strictly true. If history has proven anything over the last three or four Nintendo consoles it's that third parties can't sell shit on them. Even on the Wii which was their most successful home console, third party sales were so dismally low that they couldn't justify making much besides shovelware for the thing. I don't expect things to be any different once production swings in favour of the PS4 and XBone and porting to the Wii U becomes pretty much impossible without building a completely separate version of a game.

But all of that aside, Nintendo's price really is screwing them. Why in the hell would I buy a last-gen console with a poorly thought out controller for only $100 less than I could buy a PS4 in a few months? The simple answer is that I wouldn't. And all of those casual gamers that bought into the Wii are a bit too busy with their smartphones and actual tablets to give a shit either.

 

[rasputin0009]

New Zelda, and a 3D Mario would be good starters. Or how about a Starfox? Or Metroid? Or goddamn anything? Nintendo has a ton of beloved IP they could be using.

I think they're just 2 years too late. They should have started developing for the Wii U a looooong time ago. They did save the 3DS, but it took them 2 years to get the ball rolling. I'm confident that they'll put out great games, but 2 years into a launch is a long time. It actually might be better for me because I'll be out of University by the time there's a reason to buy the Wii U. But in the meantime, I'll keep playing PC games. Battlefield 4 should keep me occupied for 2 years.

 

[Zelgon]

Not strictly true. If history has proven anything over the last three or four Nintendo consoles it's that third parties can't sell shit on them. Even on the Wii which was their most successful home console, third party sales were so dismally low that they couldn't justify making much besides shovelware for the thing. I don't expect things to be any different once production swings in favour of the PS4 and XBone and porting to the Wii U becomes pretty much impossible without building a completely separate version of a game.

But all of that aside, Nintendo's price really is screwing them. Why in the hell would I buy a last-gen console with a poorly thought out controller for only $100 less than I could buy a PS4 in a few months? The simple answer is that I wouldn't. And all of those casual gamers that bought into the Wii are a bit too busy with their smartphones and actual tablets to give a shit either.

Except the WiiU is a next-gen console. N64 and Gamecube had some pretty successful 3rd party hits. It's not Nintendo's fault that their 1st party games blow sales charts most of the time and make 3rd party games seems less successful.

I need to ask, have you played with the wiiu gamepad? I don't find it uncomfortable at all. and even if, your rarely ever limited to that controller. There is the Pro controller, or even the Wiimote if you please.

 

[Dragonbums]

Makes you wonder why they even released the damn thing when they did, instead of just waiting for the holidays. All it's doing now is getting bogged down by its own games lacking image.

Because a lot of third party devs "backed them" and then at the last minute they all didn't really keep their end of the deal. Leaving them high and dry for the most part. Oh well. At least this year looks promising.

I thought that was only Ubisoft with delaying Rayman Legends though.

I just think Nintendo jumped the gun trying to get a headstart. They didn't really have any game in the past 9 months to launch the system into the public's eye. Had they waited they would've had The Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2, and Wind Waker HD as a launch line-up. Not too shabby.

Nintendo could just as well have waited for the Holidays, in order to ride the wave of the next gen hype.

This has got to be the first console release(that I can remember anyway.) where Nintendo has done something like this. They were never the "jump the gun" types, and they don't come off as a company to make such a console that early with no games in sight. Especially when Iwata has been there for a good long while, so clearly it has nothing to do with change of infastructure.

The only thing I can think of is that Iwata went crazy long enough to pull a move such as this, or there were supposed to be a decent line up of games to choose from from outside publishers and they all agreed to it. Which made Nintendo spend more time on their games. It then turned out that those games were no show.
Especially if this is the same scenario with the 3DS.

Nobody can say for sure, but Nintendo doesn't strike me as that stupid to release a console with no games.